Classical music for dummies / [electronic resource] by David Pogue and Scott Speck ; preface by Zarin Mehta ; foreword by Glenn Dicterow.

System requirements for accompanying CD-ROM: Macintosh or Windows; CD-ROM drive. Musical selections also playable on an audio CD player.

Includes index.

pt. I. Welcome to the classics. Prying open the classical music oyster ; The entire history of music in 80 pages ; How to spot a sonata -- pt. II. Listen up! Dave 'n' Scott's e-z concert survival guide ; A spin through your free CD ; Intermission, Backstage tour -- pt. III. A field guide to the orchestra. Keyboards & co. ; Strings attached ; Gone with the woodwinds ; The top (and bottom) brass ; Percussion's greatest hits -- pt. IV. Backstage in the composer's brain. The dreaded music theory chapter ; Once more, with feeling--tempo, dynamics, and orchestration -- pt. V. The part of tens. The ten most common misconceptions about classical music ; The ten best musical terms for cocktail parties ; Ten great chamber music pieces ; Ten great classical music jokes ; Ten ways to go beyond this book -- pt. VI. Appendixes. Appendix A, Starting a classical music collection ; Appendix B, Classical music timeline ; Appendix C, Glossary -- Index -- About the CD.

CD-ROM musical contents: Water music suite no. 2. Alla hornpipe / Handel -- Well tempered clavier, book 2. Prelude and fugue in C major / Bach -- Piano concerto no. 22 in E-flat. Third movement / Mozart -- Symphony no. 5. First movement / Beethoven -- Symphony no. 4. Third movement / Brahms -- Serenade for strings. Fourth movement / Dvorák -- Symphony no. 6. Fourth movement / Tchaikovsky -- La mer. Dialogue du vent et de la mer / Debussy -- The rite of spring. Opening to the end of Jeu de rapt / Stravinsky.