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Get Started In Classical Music
Broaden your musical horizons and gain the knowledge and confidence to extend your musical experiences further
"Complete Guide to Classical Music" is a clear, concise yet comprehensive introduction to the world of classical music for all newcomers to the subject. It takes your listening experience as a starting point and fills in factual details along the way. The text is supported by examples from well-known pieces of music and a full glossary. The book includes extensive advice on starting a collection of recorded music. Includes an audio CD of important extracts to enhance your listening experience New topics are introduced step by step and are presented from your point of view
"Complete Guide to Classical Music" is a clear, concise yet comprehensive introduction to the world of classical music for all newcomers to the subject. It takes your listening experience as a starting point and fills in factual details along the way. The text is supported by examples from well-known pieces of music and a full glossary. The book includes extensive advice on starting a collection of recorded music. Includes an audio CD of important extracts to enhance your listening experience New topics are introduced step by step and are presented from your point of view
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 27, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2016
index doesn't match for the second part.
June 6, 2025
This book tries to teach novice listeners how to start listening to classical music. It tries to teach the reader what to listen for. Most books designed for beginners don't do this very well, or even try to teach this at all. So this book is a fairly welcome effort.
For me, the book falls a little short on teaching how to listen. It's not terrible, but at times, I wished it went half-a-level simpler. The material describing the eras of classical music and prominent composers and the qualities of their music was a bit over my head, at times. Still, this material was very good at describing the classical music landscape and development of classical music historically. I think this portion of the book would be good reference material to come back to as the reader gains more listening experience. It's very good.
For me, the best book for teaching the complete classical novice how to listen is "Classical Music: a New Way of Listening" by Alexander Waugh. This book teaches how the music affects the mood of the listener, and how to listen for this. It does that half-a-level simpler that I mentioned previously.
Knowing what I know now, having read both books, I would read the Waugh book first, and then read the Collins book second. In that way, they would complement each other (even though there'd be a fair bit of overlap in coverage).
For me, the book falls a little short on teaching how to listen. It's not terrible, but at times, I wished it went half-a-level simpler. The material describing the eras of classical music and prominent composers and the qualities of their music was a bit over my head, at times. Still, this material was very good at describing the classical music landscape and development of classical music historically. I think this portion of the book would be good reference material to come back to as the reader gains more listening experience. It's very good.
For me, the best book for teaching the complete classical novice how to listen is "Classical Music: a New Way of Listening" by Alexander Waugh. This book teaches how the music affects the mood of the listener, and how to listen for this. It does that half-a-level simpler that I mentioned previously.
Knowing what I know now, having read both books, I would read the Waugh book first, and then read the Collins book second. In that way, they would complement each other (even though there'd be a fair bit of overlap in coverage).
February 18, 2017
Some fantastic deconstruction of an archetypal classical symphonic piece, and a genuine attempt to introduce varied themes and musical manipulations taken by a few Greats with nine samples of music on a companion CD.
While conceptualised with noble intentions as part of the Get Started series, it's pitched higher than it thinks it is, and Mr Collins is seen digressing and launching into advanced commentaries often that are not particularly instructive to beginners.
I wished that his expository texts on the companion pieces had clear time pointers to help the uninitiated soul pause and reflect at the precise moment of transition that the author is instructing or waxing eloquent about. Instead of this, I saw a few attempts to help one tap the bars, but this was not repeated with any consistency. The result: I found myself playing and replaying pieces finding the exact moment when the overture blended into a minuet or when the expository part of a sonata flowed into the anarchic fantasia of development.
I also found the second half of the book, taking one down the eras of classical music, terribly dry. For the next edition, I would advise publishers to either pack in era-specific playlists in text or clipped versions on the underused companion CD. For now, I would redirect willing readers to any of the tomes dished out by Mr Henley for Classic FM (especially Everything You wanted to know about Classical Music) for this mterial.
On the plus side, the opaque parent commentaries notwithstanding, the small dictionary of typical terms heard in reference to classical music had clear, concise definitions; the boxes on different instruments in a typical orchestra are quite good and having invested a few hours into it, you do come off having had some upgrade of listening skills and musical vocabulary. For that I am grateful
While conceptualised with noble intentions as part of the Get Started series, it's pitched higher than it thinks it is, and Mr Collins is seen digressing and launching into advanced commentaries often that are not particularly instructive to beginners.
I wished that his expository texts on the companion pieces had clear time pointers to help the uninitiated soul pause and reflect at the precise moment of transition that the author is instructing or waxing eloquent about. Instead of this, I saw a few attempts to help one tap the bars, but this was not repeated with any consistency. The result: I found myself playing and replaying pieces finding the exact moment when the overture blended into a minuet or when the expository part of a sonata flowed into the anarchic fantasia of development.
I also found the second half of the book, taking one down the eras of classical music, terribly dry. For the next edition, I would advise publishers to either pack in era-specific playlists in text or clipped versions on the underused companion CD. For now, I would redirect willing readers to any of the tomes dished out by Mr Henley for Classic FM (especially Everything You wanted to know about Classical Music) for this mterial.
On the plus side, the opaque parent commentaries notwithstanding, the small dictionary of typical terms heard in reference to classical music had clear, concise definitions; the boxes on different instruments in a typical orchestra are quite good and having invested a few hours into it, you do come off having had some upgrade of listening skills and musical vocabulary. For that I am grateful
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews