Understanding the Fundamentals of Music

The Teaching Company Course No. 7261 Taught by Robert Greenberg San Francisco Performances Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley (16 lectures, 45 minutes/lecture)

In this course, Professor Greenberg offers a spirited introduction to this magnificent language—nimbly avoiding what for many of us has long been the principle roadblock, the need to read music.

For anyone wanting to master music's language, being able to read musical notation is a necessity. But this course, as Professor Greenberg notes, is a basic course, designed to introduce you to music's language in a way that is similar to the way you learned your own native language, by "discovering and exploring musical syntax through our ears—by learning what the parts of musical speech sound like—rather than what they look like on paper."

Course Lecture Titles

1.	The Language of Music
2.	Timbre, Continued
3.	Timbre, Part 3
4.	Beat and Tempo
5.	Meter, Part 1
6.	Meter, Part 2
7.	Pitch and Mode, Part 1
8.	Pitch and Mode, Part 2
9.	Intervals and Tunings
10.	Tonality, Key Signature, and the Circle of Fifths
11.	Intervals Revisited and Expanded
12.	Melody
13.	Melody, Continued
14.	Texture and Harmony, Part 1
15.	Harmony, Part 2—Function, Tendency, and Dominance
16.	Harmony, Part 3—Progression, Cadence, and Modulation

American Spartans by James Warren read by Dick Hill

Description from publisher's website:

American Spartans
The US Marines in Combat, From Iwo Jima to Iraq
by James Warren
read by Dick Hill
Unabridged

From their heroic performance in the Pacific War, against Japanese troops on godforsaken islands, to their “tip-of-the-lance” leadership in key operations in the two Gulf Wars, the Marines have proven again and again that elite men with elite training are worth entire armies. James Warren’s battle-driven history shows how this elite culture has produced the best warriors in the country, through six decades, several open wars, and many smaller interventions.

I finished listening to this audiobook last night, just before the Red Sox's American League Championship series game. There are sport heroes and there are HEROES.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

Description from publisher's website:

The beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. A collection of talks she gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties. Chödrön discusses:

• Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage
• Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down
• Practices for reversing habitual patterns
• Methods for working with chaotic situations
• Ways for creating effective social action

I read this book this slowly, pausing to absorb each chapter. I'm on the waiting list for the audio cassette version and will comment further after hearing it.