Before Music
Where Instruments Come From
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From award-winning author Annette Bay Pimentel comes an oversize nonfiction picture book exploring how music and musical instruments are made—across time and around the world
Music doesn’t come out of nothing.
It always starts somewhere . . .
with something . . .
with someone.
Discover how music is made in this survey of musical instruments from around the world. Organized by material—from wood to gourds to found objects and more—Before Music marries a lyrical core text with tons of informational material for curious readers.
In the narrative text, readers will encounter makers as they source their materials and craft instruments by hand, drawing the line from the natural world to the finished product and its sound. The sidebars offer much more to discover, including extensive instrument lists, short bios of musical innovators, and more.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From cellos to chigufes, maracas to mbiras, musicophiles will find plenty to peruse in this reference picture book that explores instrument-making. In similarly formatted sections, Pimentel's narrative connects a raw material (e.g., gourds) to musical instruments made from it (e.g., maracas and sitars), categorizing instruments by how they're played, and offering an onomatopoeic description of instrument creation: "After the gourd dries in the sun, someone... fills it with seeds. Ptptptpt." Sidebars throughout explain sound generation, highlight instrument innovators, and offer numerous captioned vignettes of instruments globally. Centering creators and musicians of varying age, skin tone, and traditional dress, Safer's naïf-style multimedia art gives fitting nod to folk traditions featured in this wide-ranging survey of musical instruments that spans centuries, continents, and cultures. Back matter discusses instrument classification and includes instructions for making instruments. Ages 8–12.
