Leonard Bernstein: The Joy of Music
Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959)
I had expected, based on the title, that Leonard Bernstein's 1959 classic The Joy of Music would discuss some confluence of, well, joy and music. There's plenty of music in this book, but surprisingly little joy. Bernstein, well-known for his ecstatic exuberance on the podium, should have had many insights to share on the subject of joyous music-making, but the book delivers something else entirely.
Ever the teacher, Bernstein begins this book with a selection of Socratic-style dialogues to open the reader's mind about music. The second (much larger) section consists of seven television scripts, which will be rough going for non-musicians due to the number of musical examples provided. (Readers with either strong sight-reading skills or access to the works being discussed will fare much better, of course.)
The second of these scripts, discussing jazz, suffers less than the others by virtue of having an audio recording available. Although Bernstein's narration on this disc is often dated and somewhat stilted, listening to his words is still preferable to reading them--at least in the examples printed here.
The Joy of Music is a book worth reading--especially for Bernstein fans--but go into it with the right expectations to avoid disappointment.