To Stretch Our Ears:
A Documentary History of America’s Music

J. Heywood Alexander, Cleveland State University
ISBN  0-393-97411-1   |   paper   |   400 pages   |   2002


"[My Father] would occasionally have us sing, for instance, a tune like The Swanee River in the key of E, but play the accompaniment in the key of C. This was to stretch our ears and strengthen our musical minds, so they could learn to use and translate things that might be used and translated (in the art of music) more than they had been."

—Charles E. Ives, Memos

This rich, unique resource contains source readings that cover all areas of American music history. Many of these are excerpted from larger works, and all are prefaced with thorough introductions by the editor, J. Heywood Alexander. Issued in conjunction with Richard Crawford’s Introduction to America’s Music, To Stretch Our Ears can be used as a supplement or as a primary text.