[.ca] Concise History of Western Music, Third Edition (ISBN 0393928039)

by CCNY STUDENT:
This book is titled as "Concise" edition of Grout's full-scale edition. Barbara Hanning edited it unsatisfactorily. Therefore, I do not agree to the title "Concise." I would warn the novices away from it because of Hanning's lack of knowledge about music.

This book is a lifesaver!:
Upon given one of the most difficult to read textbooks for a music history class, I found this book to be a true lifesaver! This book is very concise, well-written, and very presentable. The format of every page is presented in such a way that it captures the eye. I love this book!

Not much help:
This book was not much help to me when trying to learn about music of the classical and romantic era. The text is very vague and poorly written

CCNY student:
Having studied and done the music program at CCNY, I know the author, Prof. Barbara Hanning. Frankly speaking, I would warn the novices away from this book. This book is not concise due to the lack of Hanning's knowledge in music. Instead, her opera book may be good. Trust me. Been there, Done that.

A better study tool than Palisca's Grout...:
Barbara Hanning's "Concise History of Western Music" is indeed a thinned-out version of Grout's comprehensive survey history of western music. While it's certainly not as concise as a volume of Cliff's Notes, Hanning's edition very successfully accomplishes what it sets out to do: it condenses the Grout, creating an easier reading and teaching text for use with college (undergraduate) musicians and students. If brevity is your thing, and most especially if you are new to music studies, you might instead look at Nicholas Cook's "Music: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford, 1998, reissued 2000). There, you'll find a truly _concise_ text (about 120 pages) that discusses the status of western music in modern society, as well as some of "classical" music's persistent historical themes, composers, and performance trends. If you're not involved with post-secondary music or humanities coursework, you may not consider the Hanning (or the Palisca "History of Western Music," for that matter) the most rewarding text for independent reading. Hanning's text functions quite well (perhaps best) as a book for classroom teaching and discussion, and I prefer it to Palisca's Grout edition.