Music: An Appreciation, 7th Brief Edition

Comprehensive yet concise, Music: An Appreciation, 7th Brief Edition is an entry-level textbook for students taking up related electives. Author and professor Roger Kamien successfully explains the time periods of music in great detail, highlighting the most important composers, instruments, and other key concepts. Music: An Appreciation, 7th Brief Edition (ISBN 9780078025099) starts off with the elements of music, discussing sound, pitch dynamics, and tone color, performing media voices and instruments, rhythm, music notation, melody, harmony, and key. It also tackles musical texture and form, performance, and musical style. Kamien divided the book into the different ages of music, starting off with the Middle Ages, then the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods. The listening outlines are very helpful in making learners appreciate this art by expanding the music genres they listen to and letting them go beyond western music. The author also provides a bird's eye view of different instruments, from strings, woodwind, and brass, to percussion, keyboard, and electronic instruments. By the end of the book, students will be fluent in different musical styles and can even critically judge a performance. This 7th edition by Roger Kamien covers Gregorian chant, secular music, sacred music, concerto grosso, and ritornello forms. While it is very useful in class, it is also an interesting read for non-students who are simply interested in developing a more discerning taste in music. Some of the musicians discussed in the book include Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel. and Johann Sebastian Bach.