LibGuides: College of Arts and Letters (OER Hub): MUS 1030: Music Appreciation

OER Materials for Music Appreciation

Understanding Music: Past and Present by N. Alan Clark; Thomas Heflin; Jeffrey Kluball; Elizabeth Kramer
ISBN: 9781940771335
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
The benefits of music in our lives are increasingly acknowledged by researchers and scientist. As human beings, we have taken the existence of music for granted and rarely think critically about music and its purpose. Perhaps for this reason, such critical thinking about music is sometimes perceived as difficult. Understanding Music: Past and Present creates a roadmap from some of the earliest known origins of music to modern day. This linear approach allows the reader to trace the history and evolution of music through the ages. Understanding Music: Past and Present is designed to grow the reader's appreciation of music through improved understanding and listening skills, allowing the reader to develop his or her own informed opinions and express them.

Listed on 4 syllabi at U.S. institutions according to Open Syllabus - OER Metrics as of 4/13/2023.

Music: Its Language, History, and Culture by Douglas Cohen
ISBN: 9780991388707
Publication Date: 2015
Music: Its Language History, and Culture will introduce you to works representative of a variety of music traditions.These include the repertoires of Western Europe from the Middle Ages through the present; of the United States, including art music, jazz, folk, rock, musical theater; and from at least two non-Western world areas (Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Indian subcontinent).

Listed on 4 syllabi at U.S. institutions according to Open Syllabus - OER Metrics as of 4/13/2023.

Music Appreciation by Todd Mueller
Publication Date: 2017
The author of this text has intentionally kept it general in nature in order to create a platform for those who want to expand content into more in depth studies of the mentioned concepts and traditions. I believe that appreciation of any subject comes from open-minded exposure to that topic. With the arts this generally must happen at a moment when the message and meaning of the work resonates naturally with the appreciator.

For the Love of Music by Michael Steinberg; Larry Rothe
ISBN: 9780198036739
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
The power of music, the way it works on the mind and heart, remains an enticing mystery. Now two noted writers on classical music, Michael Steinberg and Larry Rothe, explore the allure of this melodious art--not in the clinical terms of social scientists--but through stories drawn from their own experience. In For the Love of Music, Steinberg and Rothe draw on a lifetime of listening to, living with, and writing about music, sharing the delights and revelatory encounters they have had with Mozart, Brahms, Stravinsky, and a host of other great (and almost-great) composers. In recounting how they themselves came to love music, Steinberg and Rothe offer keys for listening. You will learn how composers have addressed issues as contemporary as AIDS and the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Hearing and Knowing Music by Edward T. Cone; Robert P. Morgan (Editor)
ISBN: 9781400830466
Publication Date: 2009-08-03
Edward T. Cone was one of the most important and influential music critics of the twentieth century. He was also a master lecturer skilled at conveying his ideas to broad audiences. Hearing and Knowing Music collects fourteen essays that Cone gave as talks in his later years and that were left unpublished at his death. Edited and introduced by Robert Morgan, these essays cover a broad range of topics, including music's position in culture, musical aesthetics, the significance of opera as an art, setting text to music, the nature of twentieth-century harmony and form, and the practice of musical analysis.
Interpreting Music by Lawrence Kramer
ISBN: 9780520947368
Publication Date: 2010-11-02
Interpreting Music is a comprehensive essay on understanding musical meaning and performing music meaningfully--"interpreting music" in both senses of the term. Synthesizing and advancing two decades of highly influential work, Lawrence Kramer fundamentally rethinks the concepts of work, score, performance, performativity, interpretation, and meaning--even the very concept of music--while breaking down conventional wisdom and received ideas. Kramer argues that music, far from being closed to interpretation, is ideally open to it. The book illustrates the many dimensions of interpreting music through a series of case studies drawn from the classical repertoire.
Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Music by Robert Sherman; Philip Seldon
ISBN: 9780028616346
Publication Date: 1997-06-01
Provides an easy to understand introduction to the many varieties of classical music, with tips for finding the works readers will enjoy most, recognizing the instruments of a symphony orchestra, and identifying the great composers from their music.

Woodward Library has full-text electronic access to current issues of the following titles (in addition to many other music journals and magazines).

The Musical Quarterly
The Musical Quarterly, founded in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, has long been cited as the premier scholarly musical journal in the United States. Over the years it has published the writings of many important composers and musicologists.
BBC Music Magazine
BBC Music Magazine is the world's best selling music magazine and is a must for anyone with a passion for classical music. Whether you are a classical music connoisseur or a new enthusiast, you will enjoy the fascinating features and reviews of over 120 new releases.
Billboard Magazine
Billboard (stylized as billboard) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry.

The following examples are available from free streaming services. These could be used by students for supplemental listening activities.

Description: The embedded playlist above from Spotify (direct link) contains most of the performances contained in one of the most widely used texts for music appreciation courses (Roger Kamien's Music: An Appreciation). Additional playlists similar to this one can also be searched on Spotify.

IDAGIO
Streaming, reinvented for classical music (sign up for free account)
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Audio streaming is becoming the predominant way of listening to music. But the well-known all-genre services are pop-driven, and their structure only allows for three search categories: song, artist, and album. Classical music is available on these major streaming services, but the criteria that make classical music so special – composer, work, conductor, orchestra, soloist, and more – are missing from the structure. For this reason, classical music lovers who use these services struggle with a lack of user-friendliness and search options as well as confusing and sometimes incorrect search results. Musicians and their recordings can thus only be found with difficulty or not at all, drastically reducing visibility for classical musicians on these platforms.

At IDAGIO, we have developed a proprietary data model and our own unique technological solution to structure and display classical music in a clear, clean way. That is why users, musicians, and labels alike affirm that IDAGIO has developed the very best interface for classical music.

Description: The Playlist example above is from the free streaming service IDAGIO. It is dedicated to classical music and contains playlists with introductions to works from the greatest composers called composer essentials. You can browse through the list of composer playlists. Registering for a free account from IDAGIO is required to stream the audio.

Description: The live performance embedded above is an example of one of the many sound recordings available from the National Jukebox. It is provided by The Library of Congress and makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge.Recordings in the Jukebox were issued on record labels now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which has granted the Library of Congress a gratis license to stream acoustical recordings. At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925, but content will be increased regularly.

The following examples are available from free video services and library subscriptions These could be used by students for the virtual viewing of concerts when unable to attend in person.

Description: The above playlist from YouTube contains pieces used in the listening outlines from Kamien's 9th edition of his book Music: An Appreciation, which is complemented by a 5-CD set. There are many other possibilities available on YouTube.

Description: The channel above (Music Online: Performance in Video) is provided through Alexander Street and is available to students through a subscription provided by Woodward Library. It provides access to thousands of videos with captions included. Students will need to authenticate with their library username and password when accessing these titles off-campus. A new tool from ASP called Video Interaction Functionality is now available to faculty members. This functionality promotes student engagement by allowing professors to embed assessment and pedagogical tools within the videos.

Free Music Books from Project Gutenberg
Over 80 free eBooks on Music (sorted by popularity)
Concert Goer's Guide for Music: An Appreciation (Roger Kamien)
This booklet has been prepared to help you understand and enjoy the experience of concert going and write effectively about the experience.

Music Research Guide
by Michael Hooper Last Updated Mar 13, 2024 110 views this year

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
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Music encyclopedia online (formerly known as Grove Dictionary of Music)
*Oxford Music Online is the electronic version of Grove Music (the definitive music encyclopedia) made up of over 29,000 articles drawing on the expertise of over 6,000 international contributors.

*It contains the information found in both the print New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, (2001, 30 volumes), the print New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 1992 and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2002.
Music Index This link opens in a new window
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Journal articles on classical and popular music
The Music Index is a comprehensive guide to music periodicals and literature featuring digitized content from 1970 to present. Formerly The Music Index Online provided by Harmonie Park Press, this database contains cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts of articles about music, musicians, and the music industry for more than 475 periodicals, as well as book reviews, obituaries, news, and selective coverage for more than 230 periodicals. The comprehensive coverage of the music field and every aspect of the classical and popular worlds of music makes Music Index an invaluable resource for both novice and scholar.

Music Index cites: • Book Reviews • Obituaries • News Periodicals • News and articles about music, musicians, and the music industry
Opera in Video This link opens in a new window
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Opera performances: Music, Theatre
Contains five hundred hours of the most important opera performances, captured on video through staged productions, interviews, and documentaries. Selections represent the world’s best performers, conductors, and opera houses and are based on a work’s importance to the operatic canon.
Academic Video Online: Premium This link opens in a new window
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Streaming video for all subjects
Academic Video Online (AVON) delivers more than 66,000 video titles spanning the widest range of subject areas including anthropology, history, business, counseling, dance, ethnic studies, gay and lesbian studies, film, opera, religion, theatre, and more. AVON includes every kind of video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, and raw footage. Users will find thousands of award-winning films, including Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners as well as the most frequently used films for classroom instruction, plus newly released films and previously unavailable archival material. Publishers include A&E, Bullfrog Films, HISTORY®, Sony Pictures Classics, BroadwayHD™, 60 Minutes, PBS, BBC, Milestone Films and many more.

*Complete details for Academic Video Online: Premium including a full bibliography can be found at www.alexanderstreet.com/avon . A guide is available at http://proquest.libguides.com/AVON