The University of Kansas’ John Tibbetts spent 35 years talking with some of the world’s finest musicians about their instruments and repertoires. From those conversations came a new book, Performing Music History: Musicians Speak First-Hand about Music History and Performance, in which Tibbetts and co-editors Michael Saffle and William A. Everett trace the course of music history from medieval chant to the Great American Songbook.

Tibbetts, an associate professor of film and media studies at KU, discusses the book and insights from performers including classical pianist Emanuel Ax, singer Thomas Hampson, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and composers Philip Glass and John Kander. Joining him—just for fun—is the court jester of classical music, P.D.Q. Bach (aka satirist Peter Schickele).