Score reading provides insights into the musical structure of a work that are difficult to obtain from merely listening. It can enable one to determine the accuracy of a performance, or comprehend the use of specific instruments. Score reading is a practical skill for musicians of all types; it is essential for a conductor who has to direct a performance, and is routinely covered in musical studies. In addition, many listeners and amateurs derive great pleasure from following a performance with score in hand. Following the score helps them to better understand the intricacies of what they are hearing and thus appreciate it all the more. Using a warm, yet no-nonsense approach, Score Reading: A Key to the Music Experience demystifies and explains the subject. It informs about the various types of scores and their uses, about their historical development, about the visual appearances of various kinds of notation, about the techniques of following a score, and about orchestras and their conductors. There are practice examples of increasing difficulty taken from scores of well-known works from various periods. The reader may have recordings of these popular pieces, or can easily obtain them. All in all, this is a useful book to all interested in playing music or listening to it.