Introduce little learners to the intriguing story behind America's national anthem with this 200-word board book. What's the story behind America's national anthem? With this simple and factual introduction, young children will learn how the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" came to be written. Engaging illustrations depict when Francis Scott Key witnessed a battle in the War of 1812 and memorialized it in a moving poem. In addition, toddlers will learn basic "flag manners." Thoroughly researched and historically accurate, this board book distills a pivotal moment in history for little learners.

This book explores the music of Africa and its experience in modern education, offering music education analyses from African perspectives. The collection assembles insights from around Africa to bring African and non-African scholars into the world of music, education, policy, and assessment as played out across the continent. The music of Africa presents multiple avenues for the understanding of the reality of life from a cultural perspective. The teaching and learning of this music closely follows its practice, the latter involving a combination of artistic expressions. With international interest in world music, there is need to engage with concepts and processes of this music. The volume offers new research from culture bearers, scholars, and educators rooted in practices that provide deeper perceptions of the cultural expression of music. With sections focussing on Concepts in Musical Arts, Musical Arts Processes, and Music Education Practice, it captures and documents the concept of musical arts from an African experiential perspective. Articulating the processes of musical arts and their implications for teaching and learning in both African and international learning contexts, it presents a balanced view of music as a phenomenon and generates material for discussion. A valuable resource for those seeking insight into aspects of music practice in Africa, this book will appeal to scholars of Music Education, Ethnomusicology, Community Music, African Studies, and African Music.

Easy-to-make instruments for kids shown step by step. It features 16 fantastic projects on how to make, decorate and play your very own musical instruments. The ideas include drums and beaters, pastry cutter castanets, and a kazoo made out of a cardboard tube. Clear step-by-step photographs for every project make it easy for young readers to copy the techniques, learn from them, and delight in the results. It introduces very simple ideas in music theory and sound production, in an easy-to-understand way. All the projects use readily available materials and very basic equipment that you can find around the home. It is the perfect starter book for ages 3-7 years - for older readers to use with minimum supervision, and for younger children to enjoy with adult help. This book is specially designed to build on children's instinctive musical talent, by teaching them about a whole range of instruments to play, and new types of sounds to explore. They will learn how to make and decorate their own musical instruments from all manner of basic materials and odds and ends that are readily found around the home, and how to produce all kinds of noises from them.The projects include a bass made out of an old cardboard box, a bottle xylophone, and a bugle fashioned from a funnel and a garden hose.

How does sound work? How do I record a range of instruments? How do I record, mix and master a track? How do I use MIDI for sequencing and arranging? Music Technology from Scratch answers these questions, and more. Exploring both the theory and practice of music technology, it gives the reader clear information on how equipment works and how to get the best results from it. Fully illustrated throughout, diagrams and photos provide step-by-step guides to using your equipment. It includes tips and hints on polishing your recordings and making sure your sessions run smoothly, test yourself questions and projects at the end of each chapter, and a full glossary explaining all technical terms and concepts. It is also enhanced by online videos with explanations of equipment and techniques. This book will help you to achieve a better grade for any of these courses: GCSE, AS and A2 Music and Music Technology, BTEC Firsts and Nationals in Music and Music Technology, and the new Creative and Media Diploma.

This landmark collection explores the origins and foundations of music education in Europe, The Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East, and considers the inclusion of music as part of the compulsory school curriculum in the context of the historical, social and political landscape. Within each chapter, the contributors explore the following key areas: - the aims, objectives and content of the music curriculum - teaching methods - the provision and training of teachers of music - the experiences of pupils This fully revised second edition includes new chapters on Brazil, Israel, Kosovo, Lithuania, and Turkey, along with questions to encourage reflection and discussion. A concluding chapter has been added to encourage readers to consider the evolution of music education globally. The Foreword for this new edition has been written by Sheila Woodward, President of the International Society for Music Education. Contributors have been carefully selected to represent countries that have incorporated music into compulsory schooling for a variety of reasons resulting in a diverse collection which will guide future actions and policy.

Press the buttons to hear the music in this time-travelling journey around the world, as young readers embark on a magical adventure through the history of music! Stopping off at 10 key chronologically organised moments in history, in different places around the world, readers meet a great musician in each, and can press their instruments to hear a clip of their musical masterpieces! From 1600s England, where you can hear the harpsichord play Greensleeves, to 18th Century Munich, where you can hear Mozart's piano sonata, to a classical Indian raga in 1700s Udaipur, to New York in the 1940s, where readers can press Charlie Parker's saxophone to hear bebop Jazz, this book will teach children about cultural history, famous musicians and musical genres all while wanting to press the buttons and hear the music again and again. Each musician tells you about where they live, how their music was inspired, and what it means to them, teaching children about the origins of these most magical melodies. A great playtime or bedtime read, complete with a soundtrack that tracks key moments in musical history, children will love to listen to the most beautiful and important, genre defining bars of music time and time again.

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the inspiring story of this iconic singer-songwriter, poet, and artist. Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota. As a teenager, he played in various bands and, over time, his interest in music deepened, with a particular passion for American folk music and blues. Dylan moved to New York City in 1961, where he began to perform poetry and music in clubs and cafes in Greenwich Village. There, he recorded a number of albums that made him one of the most influential musicians of history. This fascinating book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the musician's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

From Grandmaster Flash to Jay-Z rap has shaped generations and transformed the charts. Bop along with the greats in this adorable baby book that introduces little ones to the rappers that started it all.

Every Girl Deserves Respect! Strength. Love. Hope. Smarts. Celebrate the iconic Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, with little ones in this colorful, playful, and inspiring new board book in the Baby Rocker series. The theme of girl empowerment runs throughout this delightful and aspirational board book for rock and soul fans big and small.

Incorporating technology in music classrooms can take the mystery out of improvisation. What music technology does is establish a strong foundation for chord, scale, phrase, ear training, and listening exercises, creating a solid backdrop for student expression. As author and educator Mike Fein shows, technology is a valuable tool that can be used effectively to supplement student practice time while also developing the skills necessary to become a proficient improviser. Complete with notated exercises, accompaniment tracks, and listening resources, this book gives teachers methods to set their students free to make mistakes and to develop their own ear for improvisation at their own pace. Broken down into significant areas of music technology, each chapter focuses on developing a new skill and guides readers to tangible outcomes with the assistance of hands-on activities that can be immediately implemented into the classroom. In addition to these hands-on activities, each chapter provides the reader with an "iPad Connection" to various iOS applications, which allows teachers and students another, albeit significantly less expensive, medium through which to learn, share, and create art. This book will appeal to music educators of students in grades K-12. It will serve collegiate music education courses secondarily, and will also appeal to those music educators who work with improvisation and technology.

Experiencing Music Composition in Grades 3-5 is a practical guide to new, innovative, and natural composition techniques for young composers. Music Educators Michele Kaschub and Janice Smith bring a wealth of experience to bear a unique and thoughtfully curated series of materials that help teachers connect music education to young composers' everyday emotions and activities . Divided into four sections, Kaschub and Smith's book illustrates a creative roadmap for instilling a sense of creative independence in students ages 8-11. The first section introduces readers to three distinct compositional ideals that are as educationally significant as the music they help create: feelingful intention, musical expressivity, and artistic craftsmanship. These capacities help springboard children's work from sounds and brief musical gestures to thoughtfully created, expressive musical pieces. Section 2 includes fun and imaginative lessons that are accompanied by Sketchpages-graphic worksheets that support deep consideration of a project's purpose during the compositional process. Lessons also include invaluable suggestions for productive sharing in a variety of formats. Section 3 offers guidance and strategies for sharing work, providing feedback, and encouraging future growth in a manner that fosters a positive learning experience and acknowledges each composer's musical autonomy. Section 4 contains additional teacher guides focused on creating original music in different genres. These guides outline multiple approaches to corresponding lessons and jumpstart activity while serving as developmental models. Experiencing Music Composition: Grades 3-5 offers new ways to promote not only creative intuition in children but also independent thought, preparing students for a fulfilling relationship with music.

Music is for everyone - no prior experience required! Make Music! invites kids and families to celebrate the joy of sound with a variety of inventive activities, including playing dandelion trumpets, conducting percussion conversations, and composing their own pieces. Musician and educator Norma Jean Haynes brings the pioneering work of Ann Sayre Wiseman and John Langstaff to a new generation of kids ages 5 and up, focusing on the playfulness, spontaneity, and creativity of music. Kids explore rhythm with clapping, body drumming, and intonations. They learn to create found sound with kitchen pots and pans, the Sunday paper, or even the Velcro on their shoes. And step-by-step instructions show how to make 35 different instruments, from chimes and bucket drums to a comb kazoo and a milk-carton guitar.

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Aretha Franklin, "The Queen of Soul." The fourth of five children, Aretha was born in Tennessee and took the stage at an early age in her father's church choir. She went on to become the best-selling rhythm and blues singer of all time, and the first woman to be installed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the broadcaster's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Across the US, school budgets are tightening and music programs, often the first asked to compromise in the name of a balanced budget, face a seemingly grim future. Monetary restrictions combined with an increasing focus on test scores have led to heavy cuts in school music programs. In many cases, communities and teachers untrained in advocacy are helpless in the face of the school board, with no one willing and comfortable to speak up on their behalf. In Advocate for Music!: A Guide to User-Friendly Strategies, Lynn M. Brinckmeyer, respected educator and past president for the National Association for Music Education, provides a manual for music teachers motivated to advocate but lacking the experience, resources, or time to acquire the skills to do so effectively. It will serve as a toolkit for advocating, and also for sharing resources, strategies and ideas useful for educating everyone - from community members to political representatives - about the immediate and long-term benefits of music education. In Advocate for Music!, Brinckmeyer draws on a lifetime of arts advocacy to provide answers to the questions so many teachers have but are afraid - or simply too busy - to ask. A simple, hands-on guidebook for becoming an effective advocate for the arts, Advocate for Music! is structured around six key questions: what is advocacy? Why focus on it? Who should do it? How does one do it? Where should we advocate? And when should we advocate? Readers will have access to step-by-step guidelines and strategies on how to engage others, and themselves, in a variety of levels of advocacy activities. In addition to granting access to compelling research projects, the book will provide models of letters, webinars, research findings, printed documents, websites and contact information useful for communicating with local, state and national decision makers. Working in an informal, hands-on manner, Brinckmeyer lays out advice on who to work with and what to do: providing concrete examples of advocacy tactics from ideas on how to cooperate with the gym teacher to a sample speech for the holiday concert. As she walks the reader through the a myriad of real-life examples and practical answers to her central questions, Brinckmeyer shows that every educator, parent, family member, and administrator can and should be engaged in advocating to maintain, and support, the right for today's children and adolescents to have access to high quality music education. Advocate for Music! is an important book not only for all pre-service and inservice music teachers, but aso for state MEA leaders and staff, administrators, parents, community members, and all those involved with arts or education associations.

Redefining Music Studies in an Age of Change: Creativity, Diversity, Integration takes prevailing discourse about change in music studies to new vistas, as higher education institutions are at a critical moment of determining just what professional musicians and teachers need to survive and thrive in public life. The authors examine how music studies might be redefined through the lenses of creativity, diversity, and integration. which are the three pillars of the recent report of The College Music Society taskforce calling for reform. Focus is on new conceptions for existent areas-such as studio lessons and ensembles, academic history and theory, theory and culture courses, and music education coursework-but also on an exploration of music and human learning, and an understanding of how organizational change happens. Examination of progressive programs will celebrate strides in the direction of the task force vision, as well as extend a critical eye distinguishing between premature proclamations of "mission accomplished" and genuine transformation. The overarching theme is that a foundational, systemic overhaul has the capacity to entirely revitalize the European classical tradition. Practical steps applicable to wide-ranging institutions are considered-from small liberal arts colleges, to conservatory programs, large research universities, and regional state universities.

In pre-World War II Vienna, Lisa Jura was a musical prodigy who hoped to become a concert pianist. But when enemy forces threatened the city -- especially its Jewish population -- Lisa's parents were forced to make a difficult decision. They secured passage for only one of their three daughters through the Kindertransport, and chose to send gifted Lisa to London for safety. As she yearned to be reunited with her family where she lived in a home for refugee children on Willesden Lane, Lisa's music became a beacon of hope for all of her peers.

A story of the power of music to uplift the human spirit, this compelling tribute has moved and inspired hundreds of thousands of students and adults across the globe. Now is the perfect time to bring this timeless story of hope to even younger audiences as Mona Golabek's mission to transform historical testimony into youth empowerment has driven many requests for shorter, illustrated formats.

There is often a dichotomy between the academic approach to singing that voice students learn in the studio and what professional singers do on the operatic and concert stage. Great singers at the top of the performing profession achieve their place with much analysis and awareness of their technique, art, interpretation and stagecraft that goes far beyond academic study and develops over years of experience, exposure, and the occasional embarrassing error. Master Singers brings these insights to the student, teacher, and emerging professional singer, giving them many needed signs and signals along the road to achieving their own artistry and established career. Through interviews with some of today's most accomplished and renowned concert and operatic singers, including Stephanie Blythe, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Denyce Graves, Thomas Hampson, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Ewa Podle, Master Singers provides vocalists making the transition from student to professional with indispensable advice on matters ranging from technique and its practical application for effective stage projection to the practicalities of the business of professional singing and maintaining a career to recommendations for vocal hygiene and longevity in singing. Rather than relying on a traditional one-singer-at-a-time structure, Donald George and Lucy Mauro distill answers to a range of essential, probing questions into a thematic approach, creating not a standard interview book but a true reference for emerging professional singers. An indispensable resource and reliable guide, Master Singers will find its place on the bookshelf of singers of this generation and the next.