Listening to Western Music (with Introduction to Listening CD)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
Listening to Western Music (with Introduction to Listening CD) Details
Review "The language used struck us as more accessible and conversational. It lacked, thankfully, the pedantic, overly-academic tone that can be an obstacle to many students. I appreciate the fact that Dr. Wright writes in a way that is easily understood by the non-music major. . . . The three greatest strengths of the text are (1) the easy manner and conversational style with which the material is treated, (2) the more global approach to the music of the 20th century, and (3) the connections to pop music that Dr. Wright makes to illustrate both musical characteristics and context.""Strengths: 1.The numerous additional listening selections AND listening guides online. Excellent for those serious students who would go the extra mile. 2.Even though I currently do not have use for it, I am sure instructors in general appreciates the online grading for the listening exercises. 3. Reference to current developments and personalities.""The organization of LISTENING TO MUSIC is excellent and it is a good survey of Western Art Music.""The first chapter is far superior [to the text in use]. I feel that students need an explanation of the current state of popular music with comparisons to the past. . . . Today's students are engrossed in pop music and do not have even a basic understanding of why things are. Because students are entrenched in pop music, many of them are not interested into delving into topics that challenge the ideologies they are accustomed too. I believe your text takes an approach that addresses the aforementioned statement." Read more About the Author Craig M. Wright received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music in 1966 and his Ph.D. in musicology from Harvard University in 1972. He began his teaching career at the University of Kentucky and for the past forty years has been teaching at Yale University, where he is currently the Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Music. At Yale, Wright's courses include his perennially popular introductory course, Listening to Music (also part of the offerings of Open Yale Courses); his large lecture course Exploring the Nature of Genius; and most recently his Coursera course Introduction to Classical Music. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on composers ranging from Leoninus to Bach. Wright has also been the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Einstein and Kinkeldey Awards of the American Musicological Society, and the Dent Medal of the International Musicological Society. In 2004, he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Chicago. And in 2010 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining fellow inductee, banjo player Steve Martin. In addition to LISTENING TO MUSIC and LISTENING TO WESTERN MUSIC, EIGHTH EDITION, Wright has also published THE ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC, SECOND EDITION; LISTENING TO MUSIC, CHINESE EDITION (Schirmer Cengage Learning/Three Union Press, 2012), translated and simplified by Profs. Li Xiujung (China Conservatory, Beijing) and Yu Zhigang (Central Conservatory, Beijing), both of whom worked with Wright at Yale; and MUSIC IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION, MEDIA UPDATE (Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2010), with coauthor Bryan Simms. He is currently at work on a volume titled MOZART'S BRAIN: EXPLORING THE NATURE OF GENIUS. Read more
Reviews
I ordered this book as part of my course and of course, it says that it comes with the intro CD that is required for my class. No brainer, right? I paid over a $100 dollars for this book and I had to download the songs to my computer... okay. Fair enough, I still get the music CD I need to complete my course, WRONG. When I downloaded the music, it wouldn't let me save it for about 15 minutes. Frustrated, I quit and tried again, luckily the second time it worked.Alas, I thought my life problem was solved; it was not. That's because the name of the songs did not match the assignments we got. So I decided to find it by their track number, which there were none of. That's not even the biggest part! It was suppose to come with 6 CDs worth of songs including the Intro CD, but for some reason, I didn't get some of the songs! Why? I had to receive a subpar grade just becaue the tempo of these songs didn't match the ones on YouTube??? Very disappointed
