MEANS OF MAKING MUSIC
Instruments in the History of Western Music. By Karl Geiringer. Allen and Unwin. 318 pp. $27.90.
Thirty five years after it first appeared under a different title and in briefer form, this third, revised and enlarged edition represents the essence of one. of Dr Geiringer’s specialist interests through a long working life. It is not simply a book about instruments. Its aim, and its redounding achievement, is the placing in their historical and cultural contexts the musical instruments of the West from pre-history to the present-day. The scheme is simple. A chapter is devoted to each era containing an introductory description of the music,
the characteristic forms and the social background, and followed by a systematic and detailed description of each instrument in vogue during the period. References to usage vary from the intrinsically musical (Papageno’s use of the glockenspiel in Magic Flute) to the downright domestic (Mesmer’s use of the glass harmonica to enhance hypnosis). . The comprehensiveness is admirable. From the mandolin to the viola; from the baryton to the nail violin, it is all here in” Geiringer’s inimitably succinct text. A chapter on the elements of acoustics is added. For the curious it will explain such things as why gongs are suspended from the edge and struck in the middle and cymbals, vice versa. — JOHN RITCHIE.
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Press, 7 April 1979, Page 17
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222MEANS OF MAKING MUSIC Press, 7 April 1979, Page 17
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