UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSIC

Professor Robert Greenberg, The Teaching Company's expert on all things musical, returns with this 16-lecture set on the inner workings of the language of music. Positioned as a course on music theory that does not require the ability to read music, it is necessarily limited to covering the highlights, leaving an in-depth study of theory for the actual classroom. But there is much here for the untutored music enthusiast to profit from, particularly in the later lectures, which clearly present the details of harmony, melody, and texture with many examples. Greenberg's humor can sometimes grate, as can his habit of repetition (meant to serve his pedagogical ends, I realize). But listeners who stick with it will emerge better informed, more attentive music lovers. M.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]