Throughout his career, the influential new media theorist Vilem Flusser kept the idea of gesture in mind: that people express their being in the world through a sweeping range of movements. He reconsiders familiar actions--from speaking and painting to smoking and telephoning--in terms of particular movement, opening a surprising new perspective on the ways we share and preserve meaning. A gesture may or may not be linked to specialized apparatus, though its form crucially affects the person who makes it.

These essays, published here as a collection in English for the first time, were written over roughly a half century and reflect both an eclectic array of interests and a durable commitment to phenomenological thought. Defining gesture as "a movement of the body or of a tool attached to the body for which there is no satisfactory causal explanation," Flusser moves around the topic from diverse points of view, angles, and distances: at times he zooms in on a modest, ordinary movement such as taking a photograph, shaving, or listening to music; at others, he pulls back to look at something as vast and varied as human "making," embracing everything from the fashioning of simple tools to mass manufacturing. But whatever the gesture, Flusser analyzes it as the expression of a particular form of consciousness, that is, as a particular relationship between the world and the one who gestures.

Where to Place the Grace Note? offers a glimpse into the world of classical piano music through a series of conversations between Lin Li, an amateur pianist and English Literature scholar, and her piano teacher Yu Chun Yee, who was Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music for thirty years. Starting from the seemingly straightforward question in the book's title, their conversations meander through a series of general issues pertaining to phrasing, musical interpretation, teaching, technique, injury and performance anxiety. Supplemented with numerous musical examples, snippets from historical sources, and anecdotes that span Yu's teaching and performing career from the 1950s to the present, this book will delight both general music lovers and music professionals.

The Piano Teacher's Survival Guide is a comprehensive and practical guide providing essential advice for all piano teachers. Aiming to improve and develop confidence in teaching skills and piano technique, the book focuses on the best ways to support pupils and develop their love of the piano.Featuring many case studies, musical examples and problem-solving clinics, this is a rich resource of basic principles, useful tools and thought-provoking ideas.

This volume explores twentieth-century organ music through in-depth studies of the principal centers of composition, the most significant composers and their works, and the evolving role of the instrument and its music. The twentieth-century was a time of unprecedented change for organ music, not only in its composition and performance but also in the standards of instrument design and building. Organ music was anything but immune to the complex musical, intellectual, and socio-political climate of the time. Twentieth-Century Organ Music examines the organ's repertory from the entire period, contextualizing it against the background of important social and cultural trends. In a collection of twelve essays, experienced scholars survey the dominant geographic centers of organ music (France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the United States, and German-speaking countries) and investigate the composers who made important contributions to the repertory (Reger in Germany, Messiaen in France, Ligeti in Eastern and Central Europe, Howells in Great Britain). Twentieth-Century Organ Music provides a fresh vantage point from which to view one of the twentieth century's most diverse and engaging musical spheres.

(Willis). The Edna Mae Burnam Write It Right series is a valuable aid in creating well-rounded young musicians. The delightful lessons and exercises are designed to perfectly correlate with those in Burnam's popular Step by Step series, with specific page numbers linking lessons between the two so that concepts can be reinforced. Through the written exercises the student is able to better assimilate concepts learned in the piano lesson, and the teacher better able to gauge how much a student truly understands those concepts. Endearing classic illustrations add to the appeal of this time-tested series.

The traditions of piano teaching have remained virtually unchanged for generations, beginning with the influential technique of Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), the first composer-pedagogue of the instrument. His was followed by an explosion of sometimes bizarre teaching systems, perhaps most notably Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist"-exacting drills of reinforcement by repetition, often to the disillusionment of beginners. Some 150 years later, these methods-considered absurd or abusive by many students-have evolved and persevered as part of music curricula in higher education. Reflecting the author's belief that learning piano is both gratifying and exasperating, this book critically examines two centuries of teaching practices and encourages instructors to seek more efficient and inspiring exercises.

(Piano Collection). This collection of the 100 most beautiful easy original compositions for piano contains a selection of works that accompany every student in the first years of piano lessons. The volume includes pieces from the high baroque period to the early 20th century. Apart from numerous individual pieces, there are also easy sonatas and sonatinas by Haydn, Cimarosa, Clementi, Mozart and Beethoven included. Complete with fingerings, tempo markings, and notes on the execution of ornaments, this collection is ideal for both piano students and music-lovers.

In The Craft of Piano Playing, master pianist Alan Fraser offers readers an original and comprehensive approach to piano technique, offering over 100 illustrations and a series of unique exercises to guide the reader. Drawing on his many years as a performer and teacher, his long-standing collaborations with pedagogue Phil Cohen and virtuoso Kemal Gekich, and his professional training in the Feldenkrais Method, Fraser introduces his truly innovative piano technique by * Teaching how to move your hands with greater sensitivity, power, and accuracy, and honing the skeletal alignments to help you access your innate, structural potency; * Linking your physical technique to musical expression, creating an "absolutely natural way of moving at the piano that is powerful, flexible, and musical" (Piano News, Germany); and * Keeping your hands healthy while avoiding the threats of tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, focal dystonia, and RSI. This revised second edition joins the DVD of the same name, his study guide, and his latest book, Honing the Pianistic Self-Image, in Alan Fraser's growing line of piano pedagogical materials. This edition includes new chapters, such as "Arm Rhythm" and "The Body's Support of Natural Finger Shape," updated material reflecting evolutions in Fraser's technical and pedagogical thinking, a "cleaner and leaner" literary style, and more extensive, better-organized tables of contents, with cross-references to corresponding chapters in the DVD. For more information please visit www.maplegroveproductions.com, www.craftofpiano.com, or www.alanfraser.net

This is a major collection of organ music for students, players, and church musicians of all levels and abilities. Compiler and editor Anne Marsden Thomas has drawn on her long experience of teaching and playing to select the most attractive, tuneful repertoire in two sets of graded anthologies, one set (3 volumes) for manuals only, the second set (3 volumes) for manuals and pedals. Within each book the pieces are grouped according to service needs into Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, and Postludes. The repertoire spans the 16th to the 21st century, with some new pieces written especially for the collection. A number of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the ABRSM organ syllabus. The result is a wonderful collection of repertoire for all players, containing a wealth of attractive and varied pieces that will offer much practical support for church musicians and enrich and develop their playing.

(Piano Solo Songbook). Solo arrangements with chord names of 20 swinging Latin standards: Agua De Beber * Call Me * Estate * The Girl from Ipanema * Meditation * Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars * Watch What Happens * Wave * more

The Soviet composer Gliere was very much influenced by the 19th-century Russian romantic tradition. As the short pieces in this album demonstrate, he was particularly skilful at expressing a melody in simple and direct terms while at the same time creating a colourful and romantic picture.

This book contains valuable material to help players strengthen their sight-reading skills in preparation for the ABRSM Grade 6 exam. Featuring preparatory exercises that gradually introduce key new elements encountered at Grade 6, along with a comprehensive selection of sample sight-reading pieces, More Piano Sight-Reading supports students with the transition between grades, and encourages them to integrate sight-reading into their daily practice. More Piano Sight-Reading is available for ABRSM Grades 1 to 8, offering additional support for the sight-reading requirements of the current syllabus.

(Faber Piano Adventures ). The new Level 4 Technique & Artistry Book combines two elements of pianism: technical skill and artistic performance. This smooth, integrated approach builds basic elements of piano technique, always directed toward an artistic goal. Four powerful exercises called "Technique Secrets" help intermediate students build a strong technical foundation. "Artistry Magic" pieces at the end of each unit explore expressive playing.

Notes Become Music: A Guidebook from the Viennese Piano Tradition addresses the many unwritten nuances of dynamics, articulation and agogics as an expression of fundamental principles of a common European musical language. It treats the score as an incomplete musical shorthand that outlines the compositional and interpretive imperatives implicit within it, drawing on historical records from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and detailed comparisons of works to underline the author's presentation of Viennese tradition. This book is not primarily concerned with questions of style or interpretation. Rather, it explains the many facets of musical notation that were taken for granted by composers who assumed a knowledge of the piano tradition of their day. Notes Become Music informs not only those students in countries where the central European music tradition is still unfamiliar, but also a younger generation of Europeans who have grown up without a living connection to their musical past.

Harry Abley was a nightmare of a father: depressive, self-absorbed, unpredictable, emotionally unstable. He was also a dream of a father: gentle, courageous, artistically gifted. Mark Abley, his only child, grew up in the shadow of music and mental illness. How he came to terms with this divided legacy, and how he learned to be a man in the absence of a traditional masculine role model, are central to this beautifully written memoir. This extraordinary story will speak to all those who love music, who struggle with depression, or who wrestle with the difficult bonds of love between a parent and a child. Praise for The Organist: "A wise and haunting book." -Martha Baillie, author of The Search for Heinrich Schloegel "The Organist is a rich and wonderful book, a deeply insightful and moving story of a family's journey through the 20th century....Abley's tale is fearless in its revelations, yet also loving, funny, and beautifully told." -Ronald Wright, author of A Scientific Romance and A Short History of Progress "'What does a life add up to?' This question is central to Mark Abley's haunting family memoir, The Organist. Both expansive in the themes it raises and intimate in details required to bring those themes to life, it's a question that draws on Abley's talents as a remarkably clear and thoughtful writer. In The Organist, he ventures bravely into territory that is, for almost everyone, mysterious: what our parents were like before we, their children, became (so we like to imagine) central to their lives. What this compelling book makes clear is that what we don't know about them is often what we don't know about ourselves." -David Macfarlane, author of The Danger Tree "Beautiful, tender, and raging, The Organist comes from where the best writing usually does-deep emotion affirmed by hard-won experience of how humans are in their relationships, and in their own hearts. It has taken Mark Abley nearly a lifetime to produce the book of his life. Not a moment too late, or too soon" -Charles Foran, author of Mordecai: The Life & Times

(Piano Solo Songbook). 12 piano pieces from the 2006 Oscar-nominated film, including: Another Dance * Darcy's Letter * Dawn * Georgiana * Leaving Netherfield * Liz on Top of the World * Meryton Townhall * The Secret Life of Daydreams * Stars and Butterflies * and more.

Vlado Perlemuter had the privilege, as a young man in 1927, of studying all of Ravel's solo piano music with the reclusive composer himself. The origins of this book lie in a series of programmes broadcast in 1950 by Radio Francaise in which Perlemuter played all Ravel's compositions for solo piano and discussed them with Helene Joudan-Morange - a distinguished violinist who had been one of Ravel's closest friends. This is a transcript of their conversations supplemented with numerous musical examples. This edition also deals with the two piano concertos. The value of Ravel According to Ravel is obvious, but the comprehensive background notes which are woven into the conversational fabric give it a much wider appeal. Performers and listeners alike will find it a fascinating guide to the magical sound-world of Ravel's piano music.

Piano Meditations is a beautiful collection of 12 original piano compositions that have been inspired by paintings of a meditative nature. By best-selling composer Pam Wedgwood, these piano solo pieces are perfect for practising mindfulness in music. The book is suitable for intermediate-level players and is accompanied by a stunning pull-out poster of art providing the visual inspiration for each piece.