best music history book, and, self-education

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>i'm looking to start studying music history on my own, so does anyone have any recommendations on what books to start with? the first one i've come across that has caught my attention is 'a history of western music' from norton.</p>

<p>also, would getting something like 'listening to western music' by craig wright by worthwhile? </p>

<p>while i'm already starting a new thread, let me throw this out there: i'd like to educate myself with the same rigor as an academic program but i've only room in my course schedule to take the theory sequence (as well as some theory electives). </p>

<p>i take private lessons already; i'll cover the foundations of theory through courses (i'll take the 2 year theory sequence as well as elementary studies in counterpoint, advanced studies in counterpoint, jazz theory, and a 4 quarter sequence in jazz improvisation; i figure i can study further theory and analysis, should i desire, on my own); self-study music history; and cover aural training in courses (again, a two year sequence). </p>

<p>am i leaving anything out? i've tried to distill the academics found in music programs into a list of subtopics. besides these four (performance, theory and analysis, history, aural training) i've listed composition, improvisation, specified 'theory' courses (such as jazz studies and orchestration), and production, engineering and synthesis.</p>

<p>sorry if this is a bit much. i'm determined to begin this with the new year, and i want to have a clear idea of how i'm going about this before i start. thanks for any advice; there are so many knowledgeable people here!</p>

2

<p>Joe,</p>

<p>can you tell us a little more about yourself and your objectives? That might make any suggestions that come up more valuable to you. For instance, are you in high school looking to become a performance major? Are you already in college and, if so, in what major? What do you hope to do with all this theory, history and aural work? Realize that colleges really want their students to learn theory and aural their way and will not grant credit for self study or AP courses. At most you might place out of a semester or two of theory and there is even some question as to whether that is the best thing to do.</p>

<p>If you are doing this for your own edification, you might want to check out the music offerings over at [Free</a> Online MIT Course Materials | Music and Theater Arts | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/index.htm]Free”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Music-and-Theater-Arts/index.htm)</p>

3

<p>Richard Taruskin’s history of Western music is quite good.</p>

4

<p>A good option for a capable student beginning the study of music history is: “The Enjoyment of Music” by Kristine Forney and Joseph Machlis. It is an easier read than the much drier Grout’s “A History of Western Music” (I believe it now has two other co-authors: Burkholder and Palisca and is in its 7th edition). You can purchase CD sets and study guides to accompany the Forney/Machlis text which is now in its 10th edition, I believe, and comes in several versions (shorter, regular, etc.). There are a variety of good online study aids for the Forney/Machlis text which is published by Norton. Whether the Grout or Machlis is better would depend on how disciplined you are, what your goals are, how much background you already have in music history, and how substantive your academic skills are. My suggestion would be to start with “The Enjoyment of Music” and if you find yourself needing more, then progress to the Grout.</p>

5

<p>hi bassdad. let me clarify where i’m at a bit more:</p>

<p>i’m currently a student at a large public university (ranked in the top 20 national public universities), majoring in english. music is my next passion, but i don’t have the room in my course load to add it as a major. i do, however, have room to take the following courses from the school of music: a two year sequence in both theory and aural training, elementary studies in counterpoint, advanced studies in counterpoint, jazz theory, and a four quarter sequence in jazz improvisation.</p>

<p>i would like to further these studies on my own, if only to enhance my own playing and listening. i would like to compose as well, and although i’m not pursuing a career in music, i would still like to go about it with as much fervor as i would if a career was the goal.</p>

<p>so, i’d like to mirror my own program after a university one. my first theory course starts this upcoming quarter, so i’d like to start the other studies at the same time. i’m very much a planner, so i’m trying to get an idea of how exactly i want to go about this.</p>

<p>i’ve combed through some websites of music departments in an attempt to come up with a list of areas of scholarship:
theory and analysis
aural training
history
performance
composition and improvisation
production, engineering, and synthesis
‘specified theory’ (i.e. jazz studies, orchestration, etc)</p>

<p>theory, aural training, and performance will be covered by courses and private lessons (classical piano and jazz guitar). i intend to pursue the other areas myself. while i’m already interested in production, etc., i’ll get to that later down the road. and the ‘specified theory’ will come after i have the foundations of theory covered. which leaves history (i feel as though composition is something that will get better the more i learn about these other areas; if music composition is similar to english composition, it is hard to actually teach, but rather comes with more listening/reading and practice).</p>

<p>so my questions are: have i left anything out? any tips on how to get about this endeavor?</p>

<p>also, thanks for the book recommendations violindad and cosmos.</p>

6

<p>The main thing that you have either left out or forgotten to mention is actually performing music with other people, i.e. the experience that you would get through the ensemble requirements in a music school. You will certainly get in a lot of playing on your own through your lessons and individual practice time, but nowhere have you mentioned anything about small or large ensembles other than perhaps via the jazz improv classes. If you have time, there are usually lots of ensembles at large schools that accept non-majors.</p>

<p>Although it has been a standard text since I was in school many moons ago, I agree with violadad that the Grout is quite dry (there’s a bathroom pun in there somewhere but it is too late to work it out). The Taruskin that Cosmos mentions is probably the definitive work these days, but be aware that it weighs in at over 4000 pages in six volumes and runs something like $750 if purchased new. Learning music history from Taruskin will require a LOT of your time and cash. You should also be aware that, while way beyond brilliant, Taruskin is highly opinionated, somewhat eccentric and frequently controversial among musicologists. If Grout is dry, dealing with Taruskin is akin to drinking from a fire hose.</p>

7

<p>I just checked and found out that the Taruskin is now out in paperback as of several months ago. The price is under $150 for the main five volumes. Perhaps you still need to buy the hardcover edition to get the scholarly arcana in volume 6.</p>

8

<p>you are quite right about playing with others, bassdad. ideally, i hope to meet others to play with, in a casual fashion (although i would certainly not be opposed to a more serious endeavor as things progressed). i’m not really interested in performing in large ensembles, and i imagine i’ll run into people in the music classes, and i’m always hearing of people just around campus looking to just play and mess around a bit.</p>

<p>as for the history book, i ran across taruskin while searching online a bit ago. i decided pretty quickly against it, as i would like to get a good survey of the history of western music before dedicating the time required in diving into the depth offered by such an extensive work. that being said, i also want more than a quick 200 page run through as well. grout’s ‘a history of western music’ is the book used by my school in its history survey courses. it also very recently released its eighth edition, which is a plus. i’ve never really been bothered by the ‘dryness’ of works, so that is not an immediate con for me. any other suggestions though?</p>

<p>and any tips or advice or criticism on the plan i’ve tried to spell out? again, thanks for the time you all are giving to help me out. i’m very excited to get started with all this.</p>

9

<p>Wait, if you’re just starting to study music history, Taruskin’s gigantic book is not an ideal starting place. Now, I haven’t read any of the work, however, from what I understand it is a book primarily written as a resource or for other music scholars (correct me if I’m wrong). I can’t be sure what to recommend for a beginner, but Taruskin’s work will cover WAY more than necessary for an introduction. I mean, it seems best to begin with a general overview of different periods of music, then move into specifics; with unlimited pages Taruskin does NOT give an overview.</p>

10

<p>There is a substantial difference between looking for people with whom to mess around a bit and making a commitment to perform a major work with a steady group two or three times a semester. I realize that you may not have time for the latter, but there is a reason that component exists in the curriculum of just about every music school. It not only teaches repertoire but also forces students to acquire a set of skills under pressure that working musicians absolutely need to have.</p>

<p>Even if you are not interested in large ensembles over the long haul, the experience of participating in one for a semester or two can be enlightening. You might even consider a choral group at the appropriate level as an extension of your sight-singing training. As both a singer and an instrumentalist, I find that the two overlap in many mutually beneficial ways that people who have not tried both often fail to grasp.</p>

<p>Sorry, but I have no more direct experience with music history texts other than the ones already mentioned. I read Grout back in the day and have breezed my way through sections of Taruskin at the library. Now that I know it is out in a reasonably priced paperback edition, I may just have to start adding one or two volumes a year to my bookshelf.</p>

11

<p>Aye, theorygeek, but here’s the rub: Taruskin makes the subject interesting enough that you want to read about way more than the basics. It is certainly not the ideal place to start for someone who is essentially trying to cover two complete but very different undergrad curricula at the same time. However, I would not characterize it as being written as a resource for other music scholars (aside from volume 6, which fulfills that purpose admirably). It is actually quite approachable to a much wider audience when savored a bit at a time.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>BassDad, 'twas actually violindad and not I who provided the reference to Grout.</p>

<p>And as for the subject at hand being dry, I would have to disagree. As a cement based product, grout should be mixed to a putty like consistency, (neither runny or too stiff) allowed to slake, and mixed again. Recommended application methods call for the surface to be moistened before application. On the other hand, the epoxy grouts are indeed “dry”, as the wetting agent is in the form of a liquid catalyst added to the dry mix powder, with no water introduced into the mix.</p>

<p>Grouting can indeed be self taught, but as in any discipline the end result will vary considerably contingent on the skill and dedication of the student. Technique is critical, and float angles, arm movements, and corner applications are typically stumbling blocks, but can be overcome with practice. I would strongly advise against a novice or amateur attempting the application of the epoxy based variant, as it is exacting to mix, quick to cure, and unforgiving if applied incorrectly. Those wishing to aspire to this next level are best served by spending some months under the tutelage of a master artist.</p>

<p>(Sorry folks, couldn’t pass this one up).</p>

<p>And joexc07, organized structured ensemble experiences will usually expose you to a higher level of peers, and most musicians will benefit by being surrounded by those of equal or greater talent. It is often easier to find “like minds” within the existing structured opportunities than trying to assemble a casual or “pick-up” session where the level and dedication of peers can be unknowns.</p>

13

<p>For anyone who’s looking for a lighter read, David Barber’s *Bach, Beethoven and the Boys: Music History As It Ought To Be Taught *is worth an hour or two of your time.</p>

14

<p>OOPS, sorry about that fellow stringdads. I will try to keep the two of you sorted out in the future, even that late at night.</p>

<p>Violadad, that was more of of a shaggy dog than a pun, but thanks for flushing, er I mean fleshing it out.</p>

15

<p>Well, I admit it was not my best effort, but as the owner of a Newfoundland, I’m well qualified to determine what is and is not a “shaggy dog”. ;)</p>

<p>Anyone wishing to knit with dog hair is free to pm me. I have an inexhaustible source of raw materials at hand and (and foot).</p>

16

<p>Yale online courses (free) offers a course by Craig Wright on music - worth your while to watch. The Yale courses are fantastic. <a href=“http://oyc.yale.edu/music[/url]”>http://oyc.yale.edu/music&lt;/a&gt;
Joseph Kerman (of UC Berkeley) has also written an introduction to music, which also has accompanying CD’s - it’s called Listen.<br>
Richard Taruskin’s book is coming out in individual volumes and he has edited them to some degree to make them more free-standing and has also made some additions, particularly to the 20th century stuff. It is very readable. The book was developed in large part based on his survey course for undergraduates at UC Berkeley - so it is not really aimed at an exclusively scholarly audience. I read through several volumes of it a couple of years ago and I found it fascinating, almost breezy - apart from some of the close analyses of the music.
The Very Short Introduction to Music by Nicholas Cook (Oxford press) is great - it is short and it is a good introduction to thinking about music in interesting ways.
There is also a Very Short Introduction to World Music by Philip Bohlmann of U of Chicago (he’s an ethnomusicologist).</p>

17

<p>If you are looking for something fun and a place to start, I have something different. There is a course on DVD or CD taught be Robert Greenberg, I believe called "
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition" by the teaching company with their great courses series. This is an overview of western music history since the middle ages and besides being one heck of a primer, is also a load of fun because Bob Greenberg is neither dry nor dusty, it is full of humor and warmth as well as information (he got me when he called Berlioz ‘rough trade’ as a composer:) he talks not just about the structure of the music, but the people writing it, and their time and culture, how religion and language played into how Bach or Verdi wrote and what they wrote. </p>

<p>The DVD’s aren’t cheap,but you can often find them in libraries (I think it is around 200 bucks). His other courses on composers and the like are fantastic as well.</p>

18

<p>D is a PHD candidate in Musicology who attends the annual conference every year.She says Taruskin makes people “quake in their boots” when he attends a session and starts asking questions!
If you are looking for a good 20th Century music guide, try “The Rest is Noise” Listening to the Twentieth Century…by Alex Ross</p>

19

<p>thank you all for the book recommendations. i’ll start looking doing some research into each.</p>

<p>violadad, just be to sure, i take it the epoxy based variant is taruskin? and taruskin should not be undertaken by novices?</p>

<p>violadad and bassdad, you have convinced me of the importance of experience in a structured ensemble, so i will also look into that. i did overlook that component when i first started fleshing out this plan. anything else i’ve overlooked?</p>

20

<p>Perhaps the occasional need for sleep…</p>