How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Technically this is not a book, it's a recorded lecture. But hey, it's my game, so it's my rules.
I keep getting these catalogs from a company called The Great Courses. They sound so cool and there are so many I want to listen to, but, although the catalog advertises that they are 80% off, these CDs range from $20 to $140. Now I have to admit, I'm a bit cheap nowadays. I used to not be so much, which is why I have to be cheap now. Credit cards, man. They are Satan's spawn. Working in a bookstore introduced me to the joys of the Advanced Reader's Copy and I have rediscovered the wonders of my local library, so I can manage to go several months without buying a book and not show signs of withdrawal. One of my discoveries is Audible.com. If you read any of my other posts, you'll see I have quite a few audiobooks.The monthly fee is fairly low, and that brings these lectures well within my reach.
There is supposed to be a guidebook that goes along with the course, which I obviously don't have because I'm not getting this directly from the catalog, but I don't really miss it. The lecturer, Robert Greenberg, starts off a little stiff, but once he gets going - like after a few dates - he really gets warmed up and becomes downright hilarious. In one part he describes the singers rushing in at one point in a religious piece as like groupies storming Jesus's limo. I have learned so much and I've hardly scratched the surface. Take fugues, for instance. I quite like fugues. But I had no idea what makes a particular piece of music a fugue. Now that I do, I am amazed by fugues. There are so many rules to be followed that I had no idea were even there. Mind. Completely. Blown.
This course covers concert music (not classical, Mr. Greenberg stresses) from Greek and Roman songs that in one instance was found carved on some guy's headstone to the 20th century's Arnold Schoenberg, who in 1912 composed a piece called Pierrot Lunaire which reminded me an awful lot of Bjork. The technical discussion got way over my head sometimes, but eventually it got back to something I could understand. The discussions of Beethovan's 5th Symphony, Mahler, Debussy, and Stravinsky really increased my enjoyment of the pieces, knowing some of the background of the artists and their lives at the time. Greenberg even almost gets me to like opera (almost). It helps when you know what they are saying and what the plot line is and he takes time to explain both. I highly recommend this course in particular, if you are interested in music, and (so far) The Great Course in general, if you are looking to add to your knowledge-base, or even if you just want to impress your friends on trivia night.
I keep getting these catalogs from a company called The Great Courses. They sound so cool and there are so many I want to listen to, but, although the catalog advertises that they are 80% off, these CDs range from $20 to $140. Now I have to admit, I'm a bit cheap nowadays. I used to not be so much, which is why I have to be cheap now. Credit cards, man. They are Satan's spawn. Working in a bookstore introduced me to the joys of the Advanced Reader's Copy and I have rediscovered the wonders of my local library, so I can manage to go several months without buying a book and not show signs of withdrawal. One of my discoveries is Audible.com. If you read any of my other posts, you'll see I have quite a few audiobooks.The monthly fee is fairly low, and that brings these lectures well within my reach.
There is supposed to be a guidebook that goes along with the course, which I obviously don't have because I'm not getting this directly from the catalog, but I don't really miss it. The lecturer, Robert Greenberg, starts off a little stiff, but once he gets going - like after a few dates - he really gets warmed up and becomes downright hilarious. In one part he describes the singers rushing in at one point in a religious piece as like groupies storming Jesus's limo. I have learned so much and I've hardly scratched the surface. Take fugues, for instance. I quite like fugues. But I had no idea what makes a particular piece of music a fugue. Now that I do, I am amazed by fugues. There are so many rules to be followed that I had no idea were even there. Mind. Completely. Blown.
This course covers concert music (not classical, Mr. Greenberg stresses) from Greek and Roman songs that in one instance was found carved on some guy's headstone to the 20th century's Arnold Schoenberg, who in 1912 composed a piece called Pierrot Lunaire which reminded me an awful lot of Bjork. The technical discussion got way over my head sometimes, but eventually it got back to something I could understand. The discussions of Beethovan's 5th Symphony, Mahler, Debussy, and Stravinsky really increased my enjoyment of the pieces, knowing some of the background of the artists and their lives at the time. Greenberg even almost gets me to like opera (almost). It helps when you know what they are saying and what the plot line is and he takes time to explain both. I highly recommend this course in particular, if you are interested in music, and (so far) The Great Course in general, if you are looking to add to your knowledge-base, or even if you just want to impress your friends on trivia night.
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