How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart

Description

FROM ONE OF THE MOST TRUSTED NAMES IN CONTINUING EDUCATION-THE KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED TO UNLOCK 'THE MOST ABSTRACT AND SUBLIME OF ALL THE ARTS' Whether you're listening in a concert hall or on your iPod, concert music has the power to move you. The right knowledge can deepen the ability of this music to edify, enlighten, and stir the soul. In How to Listen to Great Music, Professor Robert Greenberg, a composer and music historian, presents a comprehensive, accessible guide to how music has mirrored Western history that will transform the experience of listening for novice and longtime listeners alike. You will learn how to listen for key elements in different genres of music-from madrigals to minuets and from sonatas to symphonies-along with the enthralling history of great music from ancient Greece to the twentieth century. You'll get answers to such questions as- Why was Beethoven so important? How did the Enlightenment change music? And what's so great about opera anyway? How to Listen to Great Music will let you finally hear what you've been missing

Robert Greenberg began his writing career when he won the best sentence competition in Grade 3, and has published three children's books with Penguin- There's Money in Toilets and Swimming with Skeletons as part of the Aussie Chomps series, and The Greeblies (a book of five funny stories about bugs). Robert is an AFI award-winning scriptwriter for children's television, having written for Lift Off as well as winning an Australian Writers Guild Award for his writing on the internationally popular series Round the Twist. He has written for Li'l Elvis Jones & The Truckstoppers, two computer games using Nickelodeon characters, and most recently he script-produced Dogstar. In 2003, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to the writing of Australian children's television. Robert lives in Melbourne where likes to race competitively on his road bike. He's become accustomed to not winning.