Discovering Music

"Discovering Music offers the depth, breadth, and context that students need, in a concise format that is visually appealing. Written to inspire students to connect intellectually and emotionally with music from the Western canon and beyond, the text is supported by a suite of online ancillaries, including interactive listening maps, videos and animations, an instructor's manual, PowerPoint presentations, a computerized test bank, and an interactive eBook. Following the established sequence for Music Appreciation texts, the book opens with an introduction to the musical elements; the instruments of the orchestra; and a discussion of how to listen to music. Then, each musical era is highlighted in individual parts, with a brief introduction to the key composers and developments that occurred in music and the related arts. Individual chapters focus on key figures or movements, with detailed Listening Maps offering unique guidance to students on how and why to listen to each work. In between each part, Global Connections allow students to make connections with non-Western musical traditions"--

The Listening Book is about rediscovering the power of listening as an instrument of self-discovery and personal transformation. By exploring our capacity for listening to sounds and for making music, we can awaken and release our full creative powers. Mathieu offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects of music-making, and provides playful exercises to help readers appreciate the connection between sound, music, and everyday life.

Discovering Country Music chronicles the incredible evolution of country music in America - from the fiddle to the pop charts - and provides an insightful account of the reasons and motives that have determined its various transformations and offshoots over the years. In order to understand what country music is, and why, it is essential to understand how it makes its money — the basic revenue streams, the major companies involved, and how country artists are booked and marketed. Author Don Cusic helps readers do that, and goes even further, covering not only the business and the technology that have shaped the industry, but also tackling the question of country's relationship to the other major genres of the American recording industry, including pop, blues, and rock music. Discovering Country Music is broken down into ten sections which include: key musical trends; ancillary business trends such as recording technology, radio, and the recording industry; and prominent artists, including as a small sample Stephen Foster, The Carter Family, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Kenny Chesney. This work should appeal to fans, scholars, educators, libraries and the general reader alike.