# Recommended 'Reading' To Be A Better Listener



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

What books, audio books, instructional videos, etc., do you recommend to help listeners without formal music training become better listeners?

I read Alex Ross' _The Rest is Noise_ a few months ago. I suppose it is good to have some background (historical, cultural, biographical) about the composers, but, aside from listing a small handful of names I had not previously heard, it didn't really give me much knowledge about music theory and informed listening. Still, it was fascinating from the historical aspect.

In a similar vein, I also read Robert Greenberg's _How to Listen to Great Music_. This book is a fascinating account of the relationship between historical events and the development of music. This was witty and entertaining, as well as informative.

Fred Plotkin's _Classical Music 101_ was far more biographical and I found it very dry and difficult to get through.

I just finished Rob Kapilow's _All you have to do is Listen_, which I feel has armed me with ideas upon ideas that will enrich my listening experience (if I can remember even half of them). He examines compositional devices and, by way of notational and video examples, illustrates the intent behind the mechanisms, allowing the listener to decode the musical message. I was rivetted!

I am presently partway through Aaron Copland's classic, _What to Listen for in Music_, which has already impressed me greatly. Copland has excellent chapters on Rhythm, Melody, Harmony and Tone Colour. He also talks about the various musical forms. There is some overlap with Kapilow's book, but concepts are often better absorbed when repeated.

I have also read Daniel Levitin's _This is your Brain on Music_. It is a lively exploration of the scientific aspects of sound and music on mental processes and how the structure of the brain determines our capacity to process music. In the context of this post, the most interesting chapters are probably the first one, a brief guide to music theory, and the one on why we like the kind of music we like.

I am of the conviction that an informed listener is a better listener. Are you aware of any materials (printed, audiovisual, etc.) that are aimed at assisting listeners understand music theory, composition, goals of music, music appreciation, etc.?


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> What books, audio books, instructional videos, etc., do you recommend to help listeners without formal music training become better listeners?
> ...
> I am of the conviction that an informed listener is a better listener. Are you aware of any materials (printed, audiovisual, etc.) that are aimed at assisting listeners understand music theory, composition, goals of music, music appreciation, etc.?


I think it's great what you're up to. My own earliest efforts in learning music theory came from working through a couple of self-paced do-it-yourself textbooks. And it worked. When I later took formal courses in music theory, those do-it-yourself textbooks put me well ahead of most others in the class.

An up-to-date standard college textbook is:
Jonathan Harnum, _Basic Music Theory: How to Read Write, and Understand Written Music_, 4th ed. (2013), $20 paperback.

There are also popular textbooks with insulting names -- which are very very introductory:
Michael Miller, _The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory_, rev. ed. (2005)
Michael Pilhofer, _Music Theory for Dummies, with Audio CD_ (2011)

There is one that I've not seen or read, but it looks to be something like what I had used to get started:
Andrew Surmani, _Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians_ (2004), with two 2 CDs, $40 paperback.

A lot of this will feel a bit like doing math problems, but it helps immensely in the long run. If all that is too introductory for you, let me know and I can recommend much more sophisticated things. For example:
Thomas Christensen, ed, _The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

I should add that such books may also feel a bit removed what probably interests you most: namely, specific composers and their music. For musicological analyses, one standard source that is I use a lot is the many volumes of the Cambridge Companions to Music. Here's a list of some of the volumes on Amazon:
Cambridge Companions to Music
They are more advanced than what you have been reading. They certainly include lots of historical and biographical information, but they also include lot of specific musical examples and more technical musical analyses. Many volumes are devoted to individual composers, everyone from Bach to Arvo Pärt. There are also volumes devoted to individual instruments (piano, violin), to conducting, and to genre (symphony, string quartet).

For the history of Western music, one of the best-written surveys is:
Richard Taruskin, _The Oxford History of Western Music_, 5 vol. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). 
This is my (crazy) idea of fun reading. And I've been moving through it over the last year or so -- deliberately slowly. Whenever he has a musical example, I put on the work itself and follow the printed score and then see if I can follow the details of his analysis (which sometimes requires sitting at a piano and banging things out). This may be too advanced for you at this point, but there is still lots in it that does not require significant musical training.

The standard reference book that you will find in university libraries is _Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians_, a giant multi-volume encyclopedia. It's often where I go first to chase down information on individual composers or technical terms.

One other thing to consider doing: Check out the score of a piano piece or string quartet that you know well. I recommend piano and string quartet because you don't want to start with an orchestral score which has so many lines in it. For a piano score, it's just two staffs; for a string quarter, four lines of music. Just put the music on and follow the score. Even without much background, if it is a work you know well, then you can watch the movement, the ups and downs. There is a huge online free library of scores at : http://imslp.org

Let me know if any of that is helpful.


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

I think that one of the more interesting things a listener can do is learn the basics of notation, then study expression markings in scores and compare them with recorded performances to see how the musicians have interpreted the composition. I don't know if you need a book for this in the age of the internet.

An actual book I'd recommend for understanding the most important musical structure in classical music - the sonata form - would be Rosen's "Classical Style". I think it also gives you a new, deeper appreciation for the three classic composers that the book deals with.

Again, don't know if there's a book for it, but learning to pick up and pay attention to motivic development can be useful in appreciating classical music.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

My intention with this thread is to get recommendations for materials that others have found exceptionally helpful in their attempts at and successes in learning about music, particularly directed at non-musicians (or musicians who are self-taught and lack formal training, etc.). The goal is to become better listeners, by learning about and understanding how music works.

As for my personal goals, I am still working my way through Aaron Copland's book. On the longer term, I agree with both of you that learning to read music can widen one's understanding greatly.

With this in mind, I traded some books last night for this:









How to Read Music by Alan Charlton

There may be better ones, but it was there. It looks to be very well organized, comprehensive, and even has the music for some popular songs/pieces from all genres.

I already do follow the notation sometimes, as many YT videos show the notation, so I have already recognized that piano music, with only a left and right hand, or string quartets, with only 4 staffs, are already at the limits of what I can follow, but still within the range of comprehensibility and learning.

And this is a longterm goal: to learn to play an instrument. My commitments at present are immense; however, in the coming years (retirement), I hope to take up the keyboard (guitar could be an option, but I think keyboard would be simpler), not to become a concert pianist  but to learn to play simple (and perhaps more complex) music that I read from notation.

Presently, however, I just want to understand what is going on musically and raise my consciousness from Copland's sensuous and expressive planes to the purely musical plane (so that I can hear music the way he says it is supposed to be heard: on all three planes simultaneously).

Yes, simple books like the Dummies/Idiots series have already caught my eye: you have to start somewhere. College textbooks, too! Charles Rosen is already in my holds list at the local public library 

Thanks, and remember, this is supposed to be for everyone who wants to know, not just tailored to my personal needs of this moment or vague goals for the future.


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