The Joy of Classical Music

Drawing on her own experiences with classical music, the author, the former wife of senator Ted Kennedy, provides a manual for the uninitiated. She gives suggestions for ways to make classical music a part of daily life, tips on what to expect at a concert, advice about music lessons, guidance on getting children involved with classical music, and an appendix that includes lists of popular classical pieces, representative prices of concert tickets and an elementary bibliography. Kennedy, who studied piano as a child and later continued her involvement with classical music by inviting well-known musicians to Washington, D.C., social gatherings and by becoming an amateur performer and narrator, is obviously earnest, but her book is annoyingly superficial, especially the glib chapters on the history of classical music and dance. Her despair at the low esteem to which classical music has fallen in contemporary American life is heartfelt, and she makes a strong plea for the reintroduction of this music in the public schools. (Nov.)