"R. Larry Todd is the Arts & Sciences Professor of Music, at Duke University. He has been recognized in the New York Times as ""the dean of Mendelssohn scholars>"" in the United States, having authored the definitive biographies of both Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny (both published by Oxford University Press). He is the series editor for the Routledge Studies in Musical Genres. He has served as a Guggenheim fellow and fellow of the National Humanities Center. Todd is also a performing pianist who has recorded and performed extensively."
"Nothing comes close to Discovering Music in terms of value, quality and extra resources. This book does a fantastic job at giving an overview of music history. It can be difficult to get the balance right talking about too few pieces or too many; or getting too in depth for undergraduates or too shallow. Discovering Music gets it right. It's got a great selection and diversity of pieces without getting too bogged down on any one topic. It is near-perfectly paced for a one semester course on music appreciation. Best of all, it is a great value for students and has lots of complementary resources making it easy for the instructors to prepare and teach."" - Michael Wahlquist, Brigham Young University It ranks up there with the best of Music Appreciation textbooks."" - Kevin Ayesh, Blue Ridge Community College This text provides an overview of music history in a typical chronological order using examples of both the traditional canonic composers and more inclusive multi-gendered and multiracial examples. Audio and video examples are included within the text and integrated multi-level listening guides help students listen deeply to the works."" - Melissa Cummins, Sam Houston State University"