All,
Not to be simply a contrarian, but perhaps some of this is a little
unfair. I've not read the book, but the author's CV indicates that this
was an MA thesis as part of a degree in classical guitar, not a
doctoral dissertation in musicology. The standards of original research
are usually less with this sort of thing, though fine work is often
produced. Also, VDM Verlag is notorious for printing every academic
work that comes its way and then vastly overcharging for it. It's
really a vanity academic reprint service, and they charge way too much.
There is no editing, proofreading, or any thing of the sort. Caveat
Emptor.
As for publishers learning their lessons from this, I must disagree. It
is not merely publishers that need to be encouraged to publish, but
scholars who need to be encouraged to do this kind of work. Historical
musicology is ceding ground to popular music studies and
ethnomusicology everywhere you look. I'm sorry you paid too much for
it, but we should still be grateful that someone is doing this work at
all.
Best,
Graham Freeman
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Jean-Marie Poirier
<[1]jmpoiri...@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
Ditto !
Thanks David for making things clear.
Nevertheless, I still maintain, even though I encourage all forms of
studies on 17th century lute music, that 112 p. for 52,49 euros is
not a fair price, especially when you consider Rave's thesis (Some
Manuscripts of French Lute Music 1630-1700: An Introductory Study)
is available from ProQuest at 42 dollars ( = less than 32 euros) for
459 pages of rather solid university work... Photocopies would have
been a lot cheaper, or a downloadable pdf file for that matter. I
would not complain if the content was satisfactory, which it is not.
Maybe "publishers should be rewarded for publishing these books",
but they should also be better advised before making such choices.
Jean-Marie
=================================
== En reponse au message du 18-12-2010, 22:03:43 ==
>On 18 December 2010 20:42, Jean-Marie Poirier
<[2]jmpoiri...@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>> I must confess I am very disappointed. This little book is much too
expensive for what it is...
>
>I think price should not be considered in judgement; if it's good,
any
>price is fine. The fact that a book, any book, on 1650-1700 Baroque
>lute music is written is laudable. That a publisher is willing to
>publish it is even more laudable. I am willing to pay just in the
hope
>that more writers and publishers might consider writing and
publishing
>more. So I paid the price and bought the book (Amazon in Germany
had
>it cheaper than advertised on this list). Jean-Marie writes he is
>'very disappointed'. I think he is being extremely polite. Original
>sources are quoted from secondary sources (modern writer X writes
that
>17th century writer Y wrote that ...), incomplete listings of
things
>anybody who would be interested in buying the book in the first
place
>knows already, pop-guitar terminology for French Baroque
ornamentation
>(that was a lark, actually), no original insights or theories,
guide
>lines on how to play Baroque lute music on an 11-string guitar ...
>need I go on? I didn't complain about the less than perfect English
>which indeed at times is obfuscating the point (is there a point)
the
>writer is making. I am not a native speaker and I know my English
is
>far from perfect, this e-mail being a good example, but still, in a
>publication like this pretens to be ...
>
>Having said all this, I still think any writers should be
encouraged
>to write on 1650-1700 Baroque lute music, and publishers should be
>rewarded for publishing these books. But, only if these books have
>some real content. It's a pity this one misses the mark. Widely.
>
>David
>
>
>--
>*******************************
>David van Ooijen
>[3]davidvanooi...@gmail.com
>[4]www.davidvanooijen.nl
>*******************************
>
>
>
>To get on or off this list see list information at
>[5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
========================================
--
Dr. Graham Freeman
Ph. D Musicology
University of Toronto
[6]freeman.gra...@gmail.com
--
References
1. mailto:jmpoiri...@wanadoo.fr
2. mailto:jmpoiri...@wanadoo.fr
3. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
4. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
6. mailto:freeman.gra...@gmail.com
