An amateur at the keyboard : being an invitation to the keyboard and its pleasures, a discussion and brief history of its literature, and advice how one may serve the community as accompanist, maker of programs, critic, or by encouraging the public music, written for the amateur, or lover of music / by Peter Yates.
| Author/creator | Yates, Peter |
| Format | Musical Score |
| Publication Info | New York : Pantheon Books, [1964] |
| Description | 300 pages ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | The literature of keyboard music. Music for oneself ; Improvising, reading, and performing ; The indispensable music -- Technicalities. Scales, melody, rhythm, harmony, key, tuning ; Structure and texture ; Embellishment -- The instruments. The organ ; The clavichord ; The piano ; The harpsichord -- A brief history of keyboard music. The sixteenth century ; The seventeenth century ; The eighteenth century ; The nineteenth century ; The twentieth century -- The art and pleasure of being an amateur. What is an amateur? ; The wastage of professionalism ; What happens to all the children who study piano? ; The amateur as posterity -- An amateur in the community. Release ; Accompanying, chamber music, and four hands ; Programming ; The critical function ; An amateur in the community -- Appendix 1. Temperament and tuning ; Appendix 2. Rhythm and embellishment. |
| Abstract | This is a stimulating and unconventional book by a man who is becoming known as one of America's outstanding writers about music. Challenging professional habits, sanctified as tradition, in the teaching and the use of music, this book expresses provocative ideas about the musical literature of the keyboard instruments and how an amateur in music can serve the musical life of the community. Addressed primarily to people who have studied or would like to play a keyboard instrument (piano, organ, harpsichord, clavichord) but who have not made music a profession--but addressed to teachers as well--the book discusses keyboard music as a literature to be read. Although music for the keyboard is the largest section of Western musical literature, only a small part of this music has entered into the standard repertoire. The greater part, less known, consists of music to be read by the player in the tradition of the period when it was written. The book includes a brief history of keyboard music, covering the evolution of keyboard styles and providing an introduction to the musical developments of the present century, as well as a valuable repertoire for an amateur to discover by himself. Chapters on embellishment, on the reconstruction of historic tunings and how to apply them, and on the several keyboard instruments provide a remarkable store of information to encourage the amateur in exploring the keyboard art. |
| Biographical note | "Peter Yates, born in 1909 of American parents in Toronto, grew up in the Niagara peninsula, defeated the best efforts of three music teachers but learned to read music at the piano and graduated from Princeton before there was a department of music. An amateur of music in Los Angeles, he founded with his pianist wife in their home the Evenings on the Roof concerts, now--25 years later--the Monday Evening concerts. During the same period, still an amateur, he published hundreds of articles about music and began broadcasting and lecturing, at last resigning from his employment to give his full time to music and the arts. Lecturer on American music at the June 1964 Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, Mr. Yates is now writing a book about twentieth-century music."--Dust jacket. |
| LCCN | 64018306 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | MT220.Y4 A5 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |