The most contemporary music dictionary on the market, comprising: Notation and theory terms, Instruments, including folk and ethnic, Pop music, electronic music and music business terms.

More than 450 capsule biographies of composers and musicians, noting dates of birth and death, nationality, historical period, areas of composition and major works.

Also includes Instant at-a-glance summaries of the essentials of music: Notation signs and symbols, Scales modes and keysignatures.