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HOW ART AND MUSIC SPEAK TO US by Cornelia Spencer

HOW ART AND MUSIC SPEAK TO US

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Pub Date: May 31st, 1963
Publisher: John Day

The author's approach to the origins of music, dance and painting is fresh and comprehensible. The study is logically organized into three major divisions: music--voice and instruments; dance-- its relationship to music and religious rites; and painting -- its connection with religion and its emergence with the Greeks as a secular art. The extreme basic forms of each ""non-word communication"" are elaborated on; the reader is forced to look at and think about ideas and actions which he has taken for granted. Miss Spencer illuminates the fact that these art forms are inseparable from the culture of the people involved. Moving from India, to China, to America, she points out the different concepts of music; the roots of the ballad form; and the constant changes are soundly researched. The author deserves top marks for venturing into an area which is not often a subject for juvenile books. Both extensive research and a lucid style make it a challenging, but highly readable book. The only criticism can be focused on the lack of photographs; in some instances, certain paintings and illustrations would have been a strong reinforcement of the author's statements.