The Cambridge Music Guide

A book to ‘dip’ into at any time. Plenty of illustrations, and explanations of musical terms, instruments etc. Recommended!

A classic guide, has helped me a lot in understanding and listening to music and thus enhancing my pleasure and appreciation of the art. Thank you.

First class. As well as including the various mainly classical musical styles. it also includes more formal details of musical theory. A comprehensive review.

I hoped this would be the most recent edition I could buy: it says "First Paperback edition 1990, 7th printing 2007" inside. As an elderly beginner student, approaching Grade 5 this summer, it seems to contain in chapters 4 to the end a comprehensive account of what I need. There is a big "however" to report: (a) from the preface we read "...give the reader a sense of music as part of the fabric of life, as something that changes as the world does....." but the facing page gives a map of Europe that might have fitted the late 1970s, showing Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Germany with an internal border and all to the east of Poland marked "Russia"; (b ) later in the preface we have: "The absence from this book of any substantial discussion of non-Western music ought not to be regarded as a symptom of ethnocentricity" to tell you that you will have to so regard it and as a final example of awfulness (c) in Chapter 1 the second paragraph tells us: "In Black Africa, for example, where the native population has in general a stronger and subtler command of rhythm than populations elsewhere..." . CUP need to find a competent editor, I think, before the next "printed in China" and might think about how these examples from the first few pages might earn a Zero star rating no matter what the later content.

It is a book every musician must have on its desk.

A handy guide leading to further resources

Excellent book

the book is in very good condition