2 comments about Easy Baroque Duets for Violin.

1. This book is wonderful! The easier songs are at the front of the book and seem to get harder as you progress through. My friend and I get together to play duets every week, and we both think this book is fabulous!



2. My two Suzuki students (books 3 and 4), ages 7 and 10, can play many of these duets together. The pieces are very pretty and enjoyable to play.

1 comments about French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau: Revised and Expanded Edition.

1. Good academic study, a little too long and not enough of a bird view of the baroque musics in Europe and their interrelationship.

1 comments about Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis.

1. Where do you go when you know first year theory, and most books are too smart or too dumb?
   
   Engaging Music does not suppose a large degree of knowledge on the part of its readers, though it does presume basic first year theory, which is what makes it great.
   
   Ostensibly about analysis the book contains a wealth of ideas in many areas. A broad range of genres are covered include the common practice period (classical), modernist, jazz, and rock. Topics covered include phrase rhythm, hypermeter, Schenkerian analysis, twelve-tone theory, form, and musical ambiguity. My favorite essays: "Form in Rock Music" and "Introduction to Musical Ambiguity".

5 comments about Music: An Appreciation, Fourth Brief Edition with Kamien 4.0 Multimedia CD-ROM.

1. would buy from again everything just as promised and recieved book fast



2. This book does a good job of putting music in an overall historical context. For example, it notes how Baroque productions, whether sculpture or music, meant to "fill space." That accounts for elaborate melodies in music, and movement in painting and sculpture.
   
   Music used to be written as much for the mind as the ear. In some vocal pieces, lyrics correspond to melody. For example, if the word "ascending" is used in the song, the notes of the melody also go up. Vice-versa for descending. If the song mentions one person, a single voice is used--three voices come in when three people are in the storyline.
   
   The musical selections are varied and enjoyable to listen to.



3. I ordered this book/ cd set because it was required text for a college class. It is well organized and clearly written. I especially like the way the listening guides in the book refer to specific portions of songs which are recorded so that the entire work can be played seemlessly in its entirity, or specific portions can be accessed individually.
   The only thing this work lacks is impossible for any work that attempts to offer a complete appreciation of music to achieve, complete scope.
   I recommend this set.



4. easy to understand and learn from, it is a textbook so that's what you are getting. Good pictures and diagrams so far. I bought here because it had the best price.



5. The book arrive as described. I thought the audio CD's were included but its still good.

No comments about Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance.

1 comments about Baroque Music (Norton Introduction to Music History).

1. Many have awaited this final volume in the new Norton Music History Series. Manfred Bukofzer's volume in the original series was written in 1947 - clearly, much has been discovered since then.
   
   Hill's text is designed to be for upper level music majors, as the writing can become quite dense. The book begins with an introduction of the social and political factors shaping Europe during the Baroque Era. Other chapters cover the birth of opera and monody, new genres of instrumental music, and other subjects, generally switching back in between France, Italy, England, and Germany (Spain and Portugal are also included in a chapter).
   
   Great aspects about Hill's book first. The scholarship is excellent, and is as thorough (if not more so) than any other Baroque textbook out there. His bibliographical notes at the end of the chapter (as in the other books from the series) are wonderfully helpful. The description on the Doctrine of the Affections is as clear and informative as I've ever seen. His brief explanation of dance steps and tempo descriptions reminds me of Leonard Ratner's book on topics and is an excellent resource. The optional Anthology can prove to be very helpful for teaching or illustrating Hill's explanations as well.
   
   Here are the things I think readers may not like as much, though I was not able to find many. The reading is dense and can be difficult to follow with interest at times, which is not surprising for a 500-page upper-level textbook. Of the books in the Norton Series, I found several other author's writings to be of much lighter prose than Hill's, including Hoppin's tome on Medieval music. Many others will argue over the relative weight of importance of some composers in the textbook (there are many second-tier Italian composers, and Bach only gets about 25 pages), but I believe that any professor worth his/her salt will be easily solve this difficulty by supplementing the text with a few other materials.
   
   Though I would not rank this book as the best in the series, I do think it is certainly an improvement from Bukofzer and Claude Palisca's Prentice Hall textbook (not bad, but much less thorough). Any upper-level course on Baroque music should consider adopting Hill's text and Anthology.

3 comments about 50 Baroque Solos for Classical Guitar.

1. This is a well-produced package overall... The transcriptions are clean and precise, the music well-selected to reflect a clear picture of the Baroque guitar at an intermediate level... Only drawback is the lack of any commentary regarding the pieces or background of Baroque guitar in general by the author... Other books supply that information, though (the Noad Baroque Guitar Anthology includes a wonderful disseration on the subject) so it's only a minor complaint in this context. This book will sit nicely alongside other classical guitar books of this genre, and it will also prove appealing to rock guitarists who enjoy classical guitar and want to play beautiful pieces without undergoing a huge learning curve. The CD is well-recorded and is a nice listen in and of itself as well. All in all, well done!



2. The tablatue notation of the works teaches you to play the songs on the first position of guitar, your fingers will work around the 5 frets most of the time; some of the fingering might feel a bit clumsy if you have practiced mainly cords or scales. There is no indication on which finger to use to plunck the strings, you will need to figure that out by yourself.
   
   The pieces arrenged by Mark Phillips were in major modes and when you listen to the audio cd they sound rather beautiful. Whether your aim is to learn some songs or feel a bit of how the baroque and renaissance music were, both books (50 renaissance or 50 Baroque Solos for Classical Guitar) will suit you. The serious enthusiast might feel suspicious but if you want to show off for a date, family or friends it will do the trick and those books are not really that expensive.



3. 50 Baroque solos for classical guitar seemed to be a great buy, but after I began playing the first songs, I realized they were not a big challenge. I was hoping for something more challenging and hard, instead I found a book great for intermediate players. If you are learning classical guitar in high school or have one or two years of experience, then this is a good buy. More experienced players can take advantage of it by using it to practice and hone sightreading.

2 comments about An Outline History of Western Music.

1. Concise, but inclusive. Would make a valuable text for undergrad Music History or for general graduate study.



2. This is a great source to have! It is easy to read and covers everything all the major music history text books cover. Overall it is a faster, eaiser, and more interesting read than other texts. World history is also linked with music history to help the reader understand what actually happened. I strongly suggest this book for Graduate students reviewing for comprehensive exams!

1 comments about Getting a Handel on Messiah.

1. What do Jonathan Swift and Thomas Bowdler have to do with Handel? Barber does a great job of illustrating these and other historically relevant facts. The book was well written and witty. I read this book in one sitting while listening to the Messiah being performed by the Chicago St. Clements choir using the original baroque style instruments. If only every book had an accompanying orchestral score! The few illustrations were appropriate and funny. I've included some excerpts below:

   Notes:

   * His father wanted him to become a lawyer. His mother helped sneak a clavichord up to the attic. p 18

   * Got his first break when he played organ at a Calvinist cathedral even though he was Lutheran. The previous organist was fired for showing up drunk Sunday morning. p22

   * Soloist Susannah Cibber brought the audience to tears. Dr. Patrick Delany the chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral stood up and shouted "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven." p49

   * The original Messiah chorus had 32 singers -16 boy trebles, 16 men, 32 piece orchestra p32

   * Jonathan Swift was dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral and in an irritable state three years before his death almost cancelled the concert on confusion.

   * Charles Jennens who edited five works of Shakespeare lived a couple houses down from the Bowdler family (his cousin married a Bowdler). Thomas Bowdler(1754 - 1825) took all the "dirty words" out of Shakespeare producing the Family Shakespeare. p62

   * King George II started standing during the Hallelujah chorus. p74

1 comments about The Registration of Baroque Organ Music.

1. Barbara Owen succeeds in condensing more than 200 years of registration practice in a working volume. The book is organized by time period and nationality, allowing the reader to assimilate the trends of each of the organ "schools." Each chapter is prefaced by a list of the relevant composers, as well as stop lists of representative organs. Perhaps Owen's signal accomplishment is a combination of historical awareness with the practical needs of the performance. For instance, after giving the background on the Italian voce umana stop, she suggests that one can replicate the sound on a mechanical action organ by coupling two 8' principals, with one detuned (half drawn). Overall, a practical reference for the performance of 16th, 17th, and 18th-century organ music.