Our family has the fortune of having Frank Finale as a teacher to both our children.

He has done a wonderful job capturing the Jersey Shore for all of its charms and the many artists who live here.

First, the editors of To the Shore Once should be congratulated. They chose 101 drawings, etchings,and paintings from local New Jersey and some national artists. These works of Art complement Mr. Frank Finale's writing in essays, prose and poetry. You, turn the page and you feel like you are at the beach in Spring Lake, Belmar or Manasquan. Even the carrousel of 1950s Asbury Park is represented. As I think of Frank O'Hara's book on Jackson Pollock, To The Shore Once More will become a classic coffee table book for years to come. Art and prose and poetry, what a nice mix. We have Mr. Frank Finale to thank for such a beautiful book this Summer

I'm not in a place to criticise this book the way an experienced musician/composer would, but as an enthusiast, I have to say that Perle makes everything crystal clear with his ingenious method of explaining, and you can benefit from this work regardless whether you are a master composer or a novice. That is to say that in the first chapter, he makes such an analysis of Varèse's Density 21.5 that you WILL make sense of it if you read carefully. The argument is based on the structural use of dynamics, and Perle explains this by offering his own changes to the original, thereby demonstrating Varèse's point clearly. I also recommend Michael Friedmann's "Ear Training for Twentieth-Century Music" if you haven't yet discovered it. Perle's books will certainly help me along the way... Recommended!

The author has written perhaps the definitive analysis of Berg's Wozzeck. Mandatory backgound reading for true students of Berg's idoms.

A very good book, but you will need patience to
read it. However, once you have understood the
concepts, the amazing structures inherent in the
12-tone scale become apparent. I am presently
working on an extension of the theory to N-fold
divisions of the octave

Perle's book is considered a classic in the theory world, and well so. It gives a thorough analysis of representative works of not only Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, but also of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Babbitt. I was able to learn from it many of the tools of serial music and their application in specific pieces. The world of serial composition is actually much broader than I had hitherto realized.

As a composer, I found this book helpful, but I would recommend Charles Wuorinen's SIMPLE COMPOSITION in addition.

My main problem with this book is Perle's consistent use of the word "atonal." This furthers the myth that there is such thing as "atonal music." First of all, serialist work is more accurately "pantonal;" it encompasses all tonalities, and implies all tonalities. Furthermore, it is a misleading term, as there is no music that uses no tones (all sounds have some frequency, and therefore some tone).

This edition is an improvement over an older one. The older edition, which I read, contained a section in the chapter on simultaneity which I thought was absolutely ridiculous. This edition omits the section.

As far as I can tell, George Perle's books are the only ones that really come to grips with atonality. Others are either 1) simplistic glosses, 2) pieces of propaganda, or 3) attempts to impress or intimidate the reader (so as to entrench their authors in academia). Having heard one of George Perle's piano sonatas on the radio the other day and once a string quartet of his in concert, I can testify that he is himself a first-rate composer, and isn't it better to read the works of one who has an artistic stake in his subject?

However, for a contrasting point of view, I also recommend--with reservations--"Milton Babbitt: Words about Music", edited by Stephen Dembski. Like George Perle, Milton Babbitt is a prominent serialist composer. As it happens, I'm not a particular fan of his music, and I think his analyses tend miss the substance of the music he analyzes, but he is an influential, articulate, and intelligent exponent worth hearing out.

Although I have not delved into an extensive study of books on this subject, Perle's "Serial Composition and Atonality" provides the reader with an easily approchable look into and often misunderstood art form. He covers the development of the Second Vienese Style from "free" atonality through more complex set structures using plenty of musical examples and "speaks" in a "normal" manner rather than trying to bog down the reader with a lot of complex technobabble (the subject is dry enough to begin with) that looses a person within the first sentence.

A book for any Michigan State Football fan who lived through the George Perles era. I was a student at MSU during George's era and liked him as a football coach and for what he brought to the University. In this book, I had hoped he was going to share his insight and perspectives on the games and the players he coached. What the book seemed to focused on was his battle with MSU administration and a calling to the NFL (Packers, and Jet).

The book starts by covering his early years growing up in Detroit and playing High School football. George then leaves the state of Michigan to play college football else where (can't let the cat out of the bag). He then finds himself in the Army surrounded by all his High School friends. The Book next focuses on his meeting with Duffy Daugherty and how that meeting affected his entire career... From his first coaching position to his days with the Steelers to MSU.. Book is good so far... Next we get into the mess with the administration and the downfall of the book.

I would recommend this book to any MSU grad or football fan (Steelers).... I would of given it a much higher rating if the book followed the teams he coached and the players