The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (3 volume set) - Hardcover

9780943818054: The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (3 volume set)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0943818052 ISBN 13: 9780943818054

Publisher: Macmillan Press, 1985

The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments is the definitive guide to over 12,000 musical instruments from around the world. It encompasses western, non-western, and developing-world cultures, and includes classical, folk, and popular music. It also covers instruments of all ages--from the ancient water organ to the synthesizer.
The Dictionary describes each instrument individually and in the context of instrument families. It charts the history, development, musical function, and inter-cultural links of each instrument as well as its construction, performance practice and technique.
The New Grove Dictionary also explores the cultures and societies that have created these instruments and the various non-musical functions of certain instruments.
The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments includes:
� Unprecedented coverage of Western musical instruments--from early European instruments, to the development of the organ and the violin, and continuing into the twentieth century with computers and synthesizers
� 6,000 articles on non-western developing-world and folk instruments
� Detailed catalogs of the world's private and public instrument collections, a survey of forgery, and a study of restoration and maintenance techniques
� Articles on performance practice and technique--such as tuning, ornamentation, fingering and improvisation
� Biographies of instrument makers--from the Greek inventor Ctesibius to the violin makers of Italy to today's manufacturing giants

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Review:

Do you long to understand the inner workings of the accordion? Are you puzzled by the viola d'amore and its place in the family of stringed instruments? Do you think that "crwth" is a typographical error? You can have almost any imaginable question about musical instruments--Western and otherwise, ancient and modern--answered with a quick look through The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, an exhaustive three-volume reference work that will tell you, for example, that the crwth is a Welsh term for a plucked or bowed lyre. (It doesn't, however, offer a pronunciation guide in such cases, which would be helpful.) While aimed primarily, in terms of price and breadth of content, at libraries and music professionals, this is a fun set to have around for almost any dedicated music lover.

Review:

"It cannot be considered less than essential for any collection..."--Choice

"It is difficult to imagine a more complete reference work on musical instruments...its scope is immense, both historically and geographically."--Music Educators Journal

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