For the past couple of decades these songs have been passed around and savoured by those who delight in the pleasures of improbable stories and witty verse. Several have been recorded by Jimmy Crowley, Rosie Stewart and others, and some of them have become modern 'folk songs', having entered the living tradition and being transmitted from singer to singer. For the first time the general public can enjoy what has up to now been a treat available only to the few - the comic songs of Con O Drisceoil. Here you will find many intriguing tales: the birthday cake with extraordinary properties; the cockroach who debates nice points of philosophy with his victim; the awful fate of the man who rattled his spoons once too often, and many more. The author's capacity for creating bizarre situations is matched by his ability to capture them, as he himself remarks, "in flawless rhyme" and "in a metre without blemishes" A genuinely funny and captivating collection, both as sing-along folk songs or as stand-alone stories and comic verse.

Building fun foundations for life-long learning, What is music? gives the answers to questions such as these: What is a song? What is an orchestra? What is rhythm? What can you do with music? With delightful illustrations, this first guide to music provides a wonderful introduction to a fascinating subject. Building foundations for life-long learning by using simple language and stunning illustrations to provide answers to big questions, this series includes philosophy, money, history, science, art, music, technology and drama.

Discover the sorcery of The Magic Flute in this musical retelling of the opera - push the button on each beautiful scene to hear the vivid sound of an orchestra playing, and singers singing, from Mozart's score. This classic opera, reworked for the benefit of younger readers, tells a tale of a prince, a princess and a magic flute, which begins in a mountain ridge between two magical lands. Prince Tamino enters, chased by a dragon, but three brave mountain rangers gallop past on horseback to rescue him. His cowardly friend Papageno comes out from his hiding place and they revive the prince. The rangers ask for one favour in return. Their boss, the Queen of the Night, asks Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter, Princess Pamina, from the evil Sun King. She gives Tamino a magic flute and Papageno some magic bells to help them. The story follows Prince Tamino as he breaks into the Sun King's palace, charms the court with his magic flute, and gets caught by the guards. Will the prince escape with the princess? As you and your little one journey through the magical scenes, you will press the buttons to hear 10 excerpts from the opera's music. Readers should press firmly on the pages to activate the sounds, encouraging interactive learning and introducing children to this beautiful piece of music. At the back of the book, find a short biography of the composer, Mozart, with details about his composition of The Magic Flute. Next to this, you can replay the musical excerpts and, for each of them, read a discussion of the instruments, rhythms and musical techniques that make them so powerful. A glossary defines musical terms. The Story Orchestra series brings classical music to life for children through gorgeously illustrated retellings of classic ballet, opera and program music stories paired with 10-second sound clips of orchestras playing from their musical scores. With The Story Orchestra keyboard sound books, children can play the famous melodies themselves with the sound of a real grand piano. Also available from the series: I Can Play (vol 1), Carnival of the Animals, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Four Seasons in One Day. Manufacturer's note: please pull the white tab out of the back of the book before use. Sound buttons require a firm push in exact location to work, which may be hard for young children. All sound clips are 10 seconds long. The perfect primer to introduce children to classical music.

This volume focuses specifically on narrative inquiry as a means to interrogate research questions in music education, offering music education researchers indispensible information on the use of qualitative research methods, particularly narrative, as appropriate and acceptable means of conducting and reporting research.

This anthology of narrative research work in the fields of music and education builds on and supports the work presented in the editors' first volume in "Narrative Inquiry in Music Education: Troubling Certainty" (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, Springer). The first volume provides a context for undertaking narrative inquiry in music education, as well as exemplars of narrative inquiry in music education and commentary from key international voices in the fields of narrative inquiry and music education respectively.

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The second title in the bestselling series from the brilliantly talented Liz Pichon. No school for two whole weeks! (Yeah!) I can forget ALL about lessons (and irritating things like Marcus Meldrew). And concentrate on good stuff like: Inventing new ways to annoy my sister Delia. (So many). Band practice for DOGZOMBIES (with my mate Derek). Watching TV and eating caramel wafers. Eating caramel wafers and watching TV. Excellent. Unfortunately a couple of small problems called the dentist and my big weirdo sister, Delia, seem to be getting in the way of my BRILLIANT plans . . . ABOUT THE SERIES: Written in diary form Full of Tom's doodles and pictures & his amazing sense of humour The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, was the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize! Perfect gifts for boys & girls who love to laugh themselves silly The first series of The Brilliant World of Tom Gates won the Scottish BAFTA for Entertainment! Love Tom Gates? Don't miss Liz Pichon's spectacular Shoe Wars, a laugh-out-loud, gadget-packed adventure!

Develop creativity in students and reinforce learning in a variety of subjects through the joy of music. This resource combines 50 simple songs with related learning activities and reading suggestions. Each song has chord symbols for guitar and autoharp, with music for piano accompaniment on a separate page. Activities that support learning about self-esteem, home and family, and multicultural issues are accompanied by reproducible music sheets that can be used in the classroom or taken home by students. As song lyrics are written or learned, they encourage self-expression through the arts and promote vocabulary development and comprehension. Most of all, they encourage the joy of singing. Whether you have a limited musical background or are experienced in music, this resource has many classroom applications. Grades PreK-2.

This book creates a platform for music educators to share their experience and expertise in creative music teaching and learning with the international community. It presents research studies and practices that are original and representative of music education in the Japanese, Asian and international communities. It also collects substantial literature on music education research in Japan and other Asian societies, enabling English-speaking readers to access excellent research and practical experiences in non-English societies.

This well researched volume tells the story of music education in Japan and of the wind band contest organized by the All-Japan Band Association. Identified here for the first time as the world s largest musical competition, it attracts 14,000 bands and well over 500,000 competitors. The book s insightful contribution to our understanding of both music and education chronicles music learning in Japanese schools and communities. It examines the contest from a range of perspectives, including those of policy makers, adjudicators, conductors and young musicians. The book is an illuminating window on the world of Japanese wind bands, a unique hybrid tradition that comingles contemporary western idioms with traditional Japanese influences. In addition to its social history of Japanese school music programs, it shows how participation in Japanese school bands contributes to students sense of identity, and sheds new light on the process of learning to play European orchestral instruments.

"Important and unique." - Professor Richard Colwell, "Ethnomusicology Review."
"A major contribution to studies of international music education and of music in Japan." - Professor Bonnie Wade (Foreword to the book).
"The definitive book on Japanese wind music . . . should be in every library" - Maestro Tim Reynish (timreynish.com/)
"A comprehensive, stunning account of wind bands in Japan . . . the most comprehensive information about concert (wind) band participation in any country" - Peter Gouzouasis and Alan Henderson, "Music Education Research."
"Hebert's study should be highly lauded. Seeing extracurricular club activities in the light of Japanese studies is a perspective that I intend to employ in my own research in the future . . . this publication can serve as an important reference and inform the decisions of those attempting to advance changes to the educational system."- Professor Hiroshi Nishijima of Tokyo Metropolitan University, "Social Science Japan Journal."
"It provides an interesting insight into the successful pedagogical techniques and methods required to cultivate collective notions of identity and ultimately musical achievement.This book is a valuable resource to those with interests in a number of musical and academic fields, in particular music education, ethnomusicology and band studies. Throughout the book the author successfully connects these different strands and produces an accurate and engaging picture . . ."- Richard Jones, PhD, "The World of Music."
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This annotated chronology of western music is the third in a series of outlines on the history of music in western civilization. It contains a 120-page annotated bibliography, followed by a detailed, documented outline that is divided into ten chapters. Each chapter is written in chronological order with every line being documented by means of abbreviations that refer to the annotated bibliography. There are short biographies of the theorists and detailed discussions of their works. The information on music is organized by classes of music rather than by composer. Also included are lists of manuscripts with descriptions of their contents and notations as to where they may be found. The material for the outline has been taken from primary and secondary sources along with articles from periodicals. Like the other two volumes in this series, Music History from the Late Roman through the Gothic Periods, 313-1425 and Music History During the Renaissance Period, 1425-1520, this volume will be an important research tool for anyone interested in music history.

Children can discover the magic of Beethoven by pressing the buttons in this delightfully illustrated novelty book. The animal orchestra travel from place to place, playing different pieces of Beethoven's music and telling us a little bit about the composer's extraordinary life. This is a perfect introduction to one of the greatest composers of all time.

The fifteenth title in the bestselling Tom Gates series of books from the brilliantly talented Liz Pichon. What's that? A MONSTER? How has this scary beast escaped into Tom's sort-of-normal world? Is it one of his doodles? Is it Delia on the rampage? Or is it Mr Fullerman at full moon? All will be revealed in this book. According to Tom, it contains: MONSTERS - MYSTERY - A MUSIC FESTIVAL - MISSING STUFF. Oh, and also a very strict supply teacher who is every kid's nightmare. Is _that_ the monster? But you're not scared of monsters, are you? So don't let it put you off! Tom Gates is a series of books in diary form Full of Tom's doodles and pictures & his amazing sense of humour The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, was the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize! Perfect gifts for boys & girls who love to laugh themselves silly The first series of The Brilliant World of Tom Gates won the Scottish BAFTA for Entertainment! TOM GATES BOOKS Brilliant World of Tom Gates (book 1) Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (And Other Good Stuff) (book 2) Tom Gates: Everything's Amazing (sort of) (book 3) Tom Gates: Genius Ideas (mostly) (book 4) Tom Gates is Absolutely Fantastic (at some things) (book 5) Tom Gates: Extra Special Treats (not) (book 6) Tom Gates: A Tiny Bit Lucky (book 7) Tom Gates:Yes! No. (Maybe...) (book 8) Tom Gates: Top of the Class (Nearly) (book 9) Tom Gates: Super Good Skills (Almost...) (book 10) Tom Gates: DogZombies Rule (For now...) (book 11) Tom Gates: : Family, Friends and Furry Creatures (book 12) Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (kind of) (book 13) Tom Gates: Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans (book 14) Tom Gates: What Monster? (book 15) Tom Gates: Mega Make and Do and Stories Too! (book 16) Tom Gates: The Music Book