All You Have to Do is Listen: Music from the Inside Out

by Rob Kapilow

Rob Kapilow has been helping audiences hear more in great music for almost twenty years with his What Makes It Great? series on NPR, at Lincoln Center, and in concert halls throughout the US and Canada. In this book, he gives you a set of tools you can use when listening to any piece of music in order to hear its “plot”—its story told in notes. The musical examples are available free for download to help you hear the ideas presented. Whether you are an experienced concertgoer or a newcomer to classical music, the listening principles Kapilow shares will help you "get" music in an exciting, fresh new way. "Kapilow gets audiences in tune with classical music at a deeper and more immediate level than many of them thought possible."
— Los Angeles Times "Rob Kapilow is awfully good at what he does. We need him."
— The Boston Globe "A wonderful guy who brings music alive!"
—Katie Couric "Rob Kapilow leaps into the void dividing music analysis from appreciation and fills it with exhilarating details and sensations."
— The New York Times "You could practically see the light bulbs going on above people's heads. . . . The audience could decipher the music in a new, deeper way. It was the total opposite of passive listening."
— The Philadelphia Inquirer

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2008

About the author

Rob Kapilow has been helping audiences hear more in great music for two decades with his What Makes It Great? series on NPR's Performance Today, at Lincoln Center, and in concert halls throughout the US and Canada.

In his newest book, WHAT MAKES IT GREAT?: Short Masterpieces, Great Composers, he focuses on short masterpieces by major composers to help you understand the essence of each composer's genius and how each piece — which can be heard on the book's web site (or for eBook readers, directly within the text) — transformed the musical language of its time. Kapilow's down-to-earth approach makes classical music easy to grasp, regardless of your musical background.

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm now ready to enter kindergarten at the music school. I'm taking baby steps in understanding this language.

[Sgossard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for both musicians and nonmusicians. No tenchical jargon but clear layman terms instead. Recommmended for people who want to learn to appreciate and enjoy classical music.