This clearly written guide to good listening habits is an excellent introduction to the essential musical knowledge one needs to understand the great musical masterpieces of past and present. Complete with examples and illustrations, this handbook introduces its reader to technicalities such as notation, terminology, and metrics, and will enable him to follow a score, identify instruments, pick out themes, and recognize common musical terms.

Grosvenor W. Cooper was professor of music and professor of humanities in the College, University of Chicago. He was coauthor of The Rhythmic Structure of Music.