Illustrates and describes string, keyboard, woodwind, brass, percussion, and electronic instruments and traces their development.

Illustrates and describes string, keyboard, woodwind, brass, percussion, and electronic instruments and traces their development.

Once musicians such as Mozart were little more than court servants; now they are multimillionaire superstars wielding more power than politicians. How did this extraordinary change come about? Tim Blanning's brilliantly enjoyable book examines how everything from the cult of the romantic to technology and travel all fed the inexorable rise of music in the West, making it the most dominant and ubiquitous of the art forms. Encompassing balladeers, the great composers, jazz legends and rock gods, this is an enthralling story of power, patronage, creativity and genius.

This volume brings together scholars and artist-researchers to explore the nature and function of musical instruments in creative practices, and their role in musical culture. Through historical, theoretical, critical, practical-artistic perspectives and case studies, the contributors here examine identities and affordances of acoustical, electronic and digital musical instruments, the kinds of relationships that composers and performers establish with them, and the crucial role they play in the emergence of musical experiences and meanings.

A reference guide to musical instruments.

A survey of the origins and development of musical instruments world-wide from Paleolithic times to the present day. Illustrated with pictures of several hundred instruments from all over the world on 120 plates, with five maps for ease of reference to exotic places.

Throughout history, music has been an important accompaniment to other art forms, most notably drama, and to traditional rituals. Today, music dominates the arts. It is broadcast to the farthest corners of the globe by means of radio, film, television, musical theatre, and the Internet. Live performances, meanwhile, have never ceased to entertain, inform, and impact contemporary society. This comprehensive volume examines music notation, sound, and structure; musical composition and form; the various characteristics of instruments as well as their classification and history, including electronic instruments; musical performance and expression; and styles and genres of music in Western cultures.