A history of music for children

Mary Agnes Richards

Book - 2021

Readers will meet along the way a diverse cast of composers, musicians and performers who all make music in different ways in a variety of different genres, from Bach to Billie Eilish, Mozart to Miriam Makeba. Why do we make music? Which instruments make up a classical orchestra? How does music affect our brains and emotions? These are just some of the fascinating questions addressed in this book, which looks at music's transnational and boundary-breaking qualities. All over the world and throughout time, music has been recorded and passed down through different oral traditions and forms of notation. It has always been a powerful catalyst for influencing change and connecting people. And what might the future of music hold? Exploring t...he technology we use to listen to and create music, the authors imagine new possibilities such as computer-generated compositions and robot musicians.

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Subjects
Published
New York, New York : Thames & Hudson Inc 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Mary Agnes Richards (author)
Other Authors
David Aubrey Schweitzer (author), Rose Blake, 1987- (illustrator)
Item Description
Includes an online playlist organized by chapter that children can listen to as they read.
Physical Description
96 pages : colour illustrations ; 29 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (page 93) and index.
ISBN
9780500652473
  • What is music?
  • Exploring music
  • Creating music
  • Feeling music
  • Seeing music
  • Performing and listening to music
  • What's next for music?
  • Timeline of inventions.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Music approached from many angles. Richards and Schweitzer ask young readers to think about many different ways we can make and appreciate music, including creating, feeling, performing, and listening, peppering their invitation with a profusion of examples. Early on, they ask the question, When is a sound considered music? This is answered, in part, with an extensive, eclectic Spotify playlist, tracks from 155 albums including such disparate music as the dawn chorus of birds, John Cage's silent "4'33"," and music composed by artificial intelligence. But the text, set among appealing graphics, including some photographs and art reproductions, stands alone. What distinguishes this approach is its breadth. In a single, early page about the inspiration of bird songs, the authors bring up Bob Marley, Ludwig van Beethoven, Camille Saint-Saëns, Amy Beach, and Olivier Messiaen and his wife, Yvonne Loriod. (In the accompanying playlist that theme continues with selections from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, an anonymous medieval songwriter, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Charlie Parker.) They offer examples from jazz, popular and classical music from many ages, folk music, background music for movies and video games, and music from many countries. They include vocalists, instrumentalists, composers, instruments, emotional effects, storytelling, and different ways we can listen to music. Each chapter is divided into shorter segments; topics are sometimes covered in a paragraph or two and sometimes fill a page. Wide-ranging and accessible, this is a rich resource for musical exploration. (timeline, glossary, listening ideas, sources, list of illustrations, index) (Nonfiction. 9-15) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.