Classical Music for Dummies :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

A bit too sardonic???

2008-07-06
I basically enjoy the "Dummies" books... I find the information often extremely insightful and helpful. It also is a great pleasure to order the books through amazon.com and be spared the 'embarrassment' of having to march up to the local bookstore counter with a "Dummies" book in tow. That being said, this book at times seems painfully silly. Although obviously now somewhat dated, comparing Paganini to "Saddam Hussein," Vivaldi to a "Xerox machine," and commenting that without Beethoven, "we'd have no Barry Manilow," are just a few examples of pithy comments from the authors. Of course, the basic aim of these books is to be entertaining and to reach out to individuals. The book is funny and perhaps needs to be given the fact that most people approach the subject with a lot of trepidation and a readiness to be bored out of their minds. However, fewer sarcastic remarks and far reaching attempts to be 'humorous' is something this book could do without.

classical music appreciation and theory

2007-09-04
This book is incredibly well written. It was totally absorbing, entertaining and informative. By the time I finished it, I felt like I had earned a degree in classical music appreciation and another in music theory.

Great book

2007-08-23
My husband had never been exposed to classical music and when we got married, he wanted to be able to carry on a conversation with the rest of my family. He has loved this book and it has really taught him a lot about classical music.

humor overpowers the content

2007-08-09
You have to be careful with the Dummies series. Some authors use humor with discretion, others, as in this case, lard on so much humor that it gets in the way of learning and turns what should be a pleasure into an ordeal of extracting the useful information from the attempt at clever wise-cracks, puns and general satire.

Yes, there is information here if you are willing to work to get it, but a good 50% of the text is gratuitous laughs. There are other books, such as "The Classical Music Experience" by Jacobson, that treat the reader as someone intelligent who seeks to know rather than to be entertained.

The best advice is to go to the library and look in the music appreciation section. You'll find many superior alternatives to this book.

Really gets you up to speed on classical music

2007-07-08
If you love--or would like to at least understand--classical music, then this is the book to read. It is fun, quick and not so technical or snooty as many books on this subject. In fact, it's not snooty at all. I learned a bunch I had no idea of, reaffirmed things I did know, and corrected several misconceptions. Read this if you are going to be around "high-brow" snooty types and then just smile quietly as they rattle on and on. Little will they know that you "understand the language."

A very good entry level book

2005-09-14
The more you know about classical music, the more you love it. Now, thanks to Classical Music For Dummies, you can achieve a whole new level of insight into both the composers and the compositions that have made classical music one of the great accomplishments of humankind.

Classical Music For Dummies doesn't assume that you have a degree in musicology -- or even that you took a course in music appreciation. Rather, the multimedially gifted David Pogue and renowned conductor Scott Speck explain classical music in terms you can understand, and they describe musical elements so that you can hear them for yourself.

A reference you can dip into at any point, Classical Music For Dummies covers such topics as

The various forms that classical music takes -- from symphonies to string quartets
What goes on behind the scenes and on stage to fill a concert hall with great classical music
How to recognize, by sight and by sound, the many instruments that make up an orchestra
The nuts and bolts of classical music -- from rhythm to harmonic progression

Plus, Classical Music For Dummies comes complete with a CD containing over 60 minutes of masterpieces compiled especially for the book. The CD also includes a demo version of the Angel/EMI Classics For Dummies^TM multimedia interface to try out on your Windows-based PC or Macintosh computer.

Learn & Enjoy

2005-05-16
My music education, having been neglected, is in better shape after I read this book. The appendices direct the reader where to start buying good classical music, the names of the various works, and their difficulty.

The authors do an amazing job of condensing 2000 years of classical music into one slim book.

The attached CD is very helpful. Chapter 5 explains the eight selections on the CD. There is a represenative sample of the best composers on it.

The authors try a little too hard to be funny. They seem to feel they have to end every paragraph with a one liner. I ignored this annoying trait because the rest of the book is so informative.

I plan to start my classical music collection soon.

Awesome

2005-04-14
Okay, so some of the jokes get a little lame or overused, but holy cow, when I read this book the first time, I was crying with laughter - and dangit, I even learned a thing or two! I've recommended this book to my orchestra students (7th and 8th graders) and not only have they read some it, they've enjoyed it as well. And if something like this can impress middle schoolers, you know it's good.

Leaves a Bad Taste in the Mouth

2004-09-15
I bought this book a couple of years ago when I was a true classical music dummy. I can tell you that at the time, I enjoyed the history section as a means of giving me a rough musical chronology, as well as the listener's recommendations. Much of the book, though, is really...silly? Is that the word? Sophomoric? Moronic? We learn, for example, that Berlioz was a lunatic - that's the general impression, we get. The descriptions of the composers and their musical traits sounds a lot like Joan Rivers's red carpet quips on Oscar night. "Love the concerto, darling, but oh! What are going to do about that hair?"
If you have to get this book because it feels safe and easy, then do it. But please realize there's sooooooo much more out there to help you get a grip on the world of classical music. I recommend Schonberg's Lives of the Great Composers as well as Robert Greenberg's outstanding set of lectures available at the Teaching Company website. Check them out!

Just what I needed

2004-04-06
I've always liked listening to Classical Music but didn't know my Brahms from my Bach. I decided recently to try and learn more about this music. There are plenty of books that are hard to read and technical and then there's this book. This is a great crash course in classical music. Learn what all those Allegro con moto things mean. How many movements are there in a symphony, in a concerto?
The book contains a ton of short light biographies on composers along with nice recommendations. Besides that, the book comes with a CD with nine selections of classical music that are broken down moment by moment in the book. It was sheer joy learning how sophisticated and structured the music is. How themes are introduced and worked, how some works tell stories or represent storms, tranquil seasons or the struggles of heros!
If you know almost nothing about classical music and want a great introduction, this is the book. I read it cover to cover in a week and now I can't stay out of the library, I'm too busy listening to classical music with a much greater appreciation!!