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| Image: Candlewick Press |
One vivid memory I have from my senior year of high school has to do with a brand new LA class called "Humanities." It was taught by a brilliant woman named Miss Kehoe. She had that rare combination of control and approachability and she was so cultured! Thanks to her, I can pretty accurately identify the major (and some minor) artists through the ages.
She touched a bit on musicians as well. I recall a bunch of boys rolling their eyes at the idea of classical music and extolling the musical virtue of groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and the Rolling Stones. She was prepared; explaining that most rock and roll musicians had classical training and were even adapting classical pieces in their own music. She used ELP's "Pictures at an Exhibition" as an example. Color me impressed.
Color me impressed by Rhodes' approach in this book. Colorful, cool, and occasionally comic, this LP-sized book will captivate students of music as well as lure readers who are not musicians.
These sixty-plus pages brim with information. In straightforward and conversational text, Rhodes immediately engages the readers making the hundreds-year-old history relevant. He talks about seven classical musicians (acknowledging that they are all white and male) and highlights two pieces from each. You might be wondering how he can do this in print. He created a Spotify playlist for each and readers can log on to hear the examples he provides.
Each musician gets a two-page "Facts of Life" spread followed by pages devoted to explaining the pieces that were chosen. There's added information about orchestras as well as a timeline interspersed among the biographies. Eye-popping sometimes psychedelic illustrations add energy and zest. A two-page vocabulary concludes the book. There are no source notes and specific recommendations for further reading.
Playlist is a first-purchase! Book talk it and display it prominently and it won't sit.
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