Music Is History combines Questlove's deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years.

Produced in association with the Smithsonian and including images from The National Music Museum in South Dakota, Music: The Definitive Visual History guides readers through the progression of music since its prehistoric beginnings, discussing not just Western classical music, but music from all around the world. Profiles the lives of groundbreaking musicians from Mozart to Elvis, takes an in-depth look at the history and function of various instruments,...

Produced in association with the Smithsonian, Music: The Definitive Visual History guides readers through the progression of music since its prehistoric beginnings, discussing not just Western classical music, but music from all around the world. Profiles the lives of groundbreaking musicians from Mozart to Elvis, takes an in-depth look at the history and function of various instruments, and includes listening suggestions for each music style.

"THE MEANING OF SOUL discusses Black resilience and innovation through soul music and soul logic. Emily Lordi analyzes soul music and musicians from the 1960s, the 1970s, and after, bridging the different valences of soul as a way of moving through the world. The book encompasses soul's racial-political meanings while being sensitive to the details of the music and small details that shaped artists' lives and their relationship to soul. Chapter 1...

Revisiting Music Theory teaches the basics of music theory plus the vocabulary to use in harmonic and formal analysis. The book begins with no assumption of music reading skills, and progresses to include all the basic materials of music from J.S. Bach to John Cage. Based on Blatter's own three decades of teaching freshmen and sophomore music theory at Drexel University, this book is aimed at a one or two year introductory course in music theory,...

How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll rejects the conventional pieties of mainstream jazz and rock history. Rather than concentrating on those traditionally favored styles, the book traces the evolution of popular music through developing tastes, trends and technologies--including the role of records, radio, jukeboxes and television --to give a fuller, more balanced account of the broad variety of music that captivated listeners over the course...

"In a major book for the field, Michel Chion considers film music with his trademark panache. Discussing the historical considerations of film music and the theoretical implications of the crossover between the mediums of music and film, Chion expands on the concepts he has introduced and applies them exclusively to film music. From Sunrise to The Jazz Singer to Birdman to Felicité, The Music of Cinema will be both a strong entry point for general...