The History of Musical Instruments (Dover Books On Music: Instruments)

Many years ago "The History of Musical Instruments" became a must read book for musicologists, composers, music journalists etc. It has been hugely popular for years among students of music theory and music composition. It works also great as a quick and immediate source of information on certain ethnic instruments (helpful while working on a project, and article or a musical piece etc).

I cannot praise this book too highly if your intention is to find material suitable for teaching a class of lay students (not professional musicians). I am reading it for a class I will be giving to kids 8 - 12, and this is perfect, especially the section on the origins of music.The flip side is that this book may not be suitable for the professional, as it is not festooned with references to scholarly works. However, the "Reference" section does give sources in other books, including some not in English, for research into particular instruments. To be sure, you will need a college library and a good interlibrary loan service to get most of the sources, but they are there.Highly recommended.

A very detailed and thorough history. A good reference book to have on-hand. I took lots of notes. Uneven in terms content and depth of detail- more than enough information on some topics, not enough on others.

Excellent

This book is a bit dry at times but it is *very* thorough and it has been an interesting read.

This is exactly the type of book I was expecting. I received it extremely fast, within one week of ordering. I am overall pleased.

this book smelled terrible like it has been in a moldy basement all its life

All good and solid info. Sincerely, Winston Scott

A great book

This book is "must have it" Such a pleasure to read it.

The volume of information is huge and the content fascinating. More images would be helpful.

"The History of Musical Instruments" arrived in perfect condition and has been a pleasure to read and reference so far.

Very happy with this purchase.