Dr. Joanne Cormac

This book makes western classical music accessible to the layman. Not only does it give a chronological history of famous composers and musicians, it also explains the different techniques and composition styles popularly used in specific periods. The seven sections covered are the Middle Ages, the Renaissance period, Baroque, Classical, 19th Century, late 19th & early 20th century and 20th and 21st century.

Splitting the history of classical music into 7 segments was good because the reader could recognize how western classical music has evolved over time. I particularly liked how each segment was prefaced with a glossary of terms specific to the period. This way, the jargons were introduced in bite-size and I got slowly initiated to the terms which sounded alien to me.

Classical music can be an intimidating subject to learn, but this book gives a great summary and introduces the reader to so many wonderful musicians. The way the content is presented makes the reading fun. I liked how there were notes on the margins and pictures in every other page.

I would highly recommend this book to classical music enthusiasts, people who are new to classical music and people who like music in general. To reap the full benefits of this book, I'd suggest enjoying it a page at a time while listening to the music mentioned on the page.

Note: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review in any way.… (mere)

3.5 Stars

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Know it all Classical Music brings you 50 topics, from different eras of Western classical music in about 30 seconds each. The nice thing about it is that you get to learn a lot of different things in a short amount of time. Of course, the extent of information that can be learned in this style is rather limited. So I would see this, and other works in the series, more like an introduction to the topic. I got some nice little facts from this collection, and also thought the layout was nicely done.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (mere)