The Curious Listener is a new text that offers you an alternative approach to music appreciation, one that moves away from a traditional, chronological organization and instead helps your students build their critical listening skills in a carefully planned sequence. 

Larry Hamberlin

is professor emeritus of music at Middlebury College, where he taught courses in music appreciation, Western classical music, American music, jazz, and popular music. His books include Tin Pan Opera and, with Richard Crawford, An Introduction to America’s Music. 

“What I like best about [The Curious Listener] are its focus on listening as a skill, the flexibility of the materials, and the organization around how people use music in various ways and the ways that allow the author to draw on a variety of musical styles and traditions that go well beyond the Western classical canon.” 

Rose Pruiksma

University of New Hampshire 

“[The Curious Listener] succeeds in meeting changing needs, particularly the need for a textbook that truly introduces students to music in a broad and varied way rather than focusing exclusively or predominantly on classical music or the traditional survey approach. It also addresses the need for building a solid listening foundation in a sequential way.”