Perspectives on Music (Paperback)

This easy-to-read, visually attractive guide to music appreciation is designed to draw those with no musical background into the rich and varied world of musical styles--American and European, popular and classical--they are likely to encounter both in and out of concert halls. Unique, interactive Listening Activities help readers learn how to listen to music--any kind of music--more actively, and to articulate their observations clearly and persuasively. Learning to Listen. Rhythm. Pitch and Melody. Harmony and Texture. Timbre and Instrumentation. Form and Other Elements. The Blues. Jazz. Rock. Latino Music. Art Music. Eighteenth-Century Music. Nineteenth-Century Music. Twentieth-Century Art Music. Music Combined with Other Arts. For anyone interested in music appreciation, especially those with no musical background.

Donald C. Meyer, associate professor of music at Lake Forest College in Illinois, is a musicologist, an electronic music composer, and an award-winning teacher. He received his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California at Davis in 1994 with a dissertation entitled The NBC Symphony Orchestra. He is the author of articles on American cultural history and rock music and is composer-in-residence for the Taz-Wood Dance Company in Peoria, Illinois.