Alfred's Basic Prep Course, Levels A through F, was written to answer a demand for a course of piano study designed specifically for students who are five years old and up. This course offers a careful introduction of fundamentals, music that fits comfortably under the young student's normal hand span, plus constant reinforcement--all leading to results beyond those generated by other piano methods. After Lesson Book B, the student may progress to Prep Course, Lesson Book C or choose to go directly into the faster paced Level 1B of Alfred's Basic Piano Library. The complete Prep Course consists of six books (Levels A through F).

Conversations with Igor Stravinsky is the first of the celebrated series of conversation books in which Stravinsky, prompted by Robert Craft, reviewed his long and remarkable life. The composer brings the Imperial Russia of his childhood vividly into focus, at the same time scanning what were at the time the brave new horizons of Boulez and Stockhausen with extraordinary acuity.

Stravinsky answers searching questions about his musical development and recalls his association with Diaghilev and the Russian Ballet. There are sympathetic and extraordinarily illuminating reminiscences of such composers as Debussy and Ravel ('the only musicians who immediately understood "Le Sacre du Printemps'"), while mischievous squibs are directed at others, most notably perhaps against Richard Strauss, all of whose operas Stravinsky wished 'to admit ... to whichever purgatory punishes triumphant banality'.

The conversations are by no means confined to musical subjects, ranging uninhibitedly across all the arts: Stravinsky gives unforgettable sketches of Ibsen, Rodin, Proust, Giacometti, Dylan Thomas and T S Eliot.

'The conversations between Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft are unique in musical history. The penetration of Craft's questions and the patience and detail of Stravinsky's answers combine to produce an intimate picture of a man who has sometimes puzzled, often delighted, and always intrigued ...' "The Sunday Times"

A ROUGH TRADE and PITCHORK BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A guide to rediscovering the joys of creating that we all felt as children.' NEW YORK TIMES One of the century's most feted singer-songwriters, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, digs deep into his own creative process to share his unique perspective about song-writing and offers a warm, accessible guide to writing your first song, championing the importance of making creativity part of your everyday life and experiencing the hope, inspiration and joy that accompanies it. 'Fascinating.' ROUGH TRADE 'Eloquent.' INDEPENDENT 'Nourishing.' PITCHFORK 'A proselytiser for the act of songcraft.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A smart, funny, relentlessly practical guide.' GQ 'Delightful.' ESQUIRE 'Incisigve.' VULTURE 'A book written by a musician that doesn't relay autobiographical details in some form of (even loose) chronology is unusual; they typically have their own story to tell and that's it, good or bad. Writing a book that goes some way to explaining the process behind their songwriting is something else altogether. Jeff Tweedy, in How to Write One Song, achieves this.' IRISH TIMES

Written by a renowned composer whose works have been performed by major orchestras around the world, The Study of Orchestration is the only text that explores the characteristics of orchestral instruments and shows students how a master composer approaches orchestration. The fourth edition invites students to experience the instruments through online audio and video recordings and now offers more coverage of writing for band.

Alfred's Top Hits series has overwhelmingly been accepted by students and teachers. This series combines just the right combination of hits from Broadway, Hollywood, television and recordings! As you might expect from Alfred, this series offers a rare combination of great music arranged with care and creativity. Your beginning and intermediate students can savor the excitement of playing pop music and reap the benefits from making practicing more fun and rewarding.

The first (1981) edition of Anatomy of the Orchestra, Norman Del Mar's renowned treatise and study of orchestral practice, sold out within a year of its publication. Del Mar (1919-1994), a distinguished conductor and musicologist, was recognised as one of the greatest authorities on the orchestra in his lifetime. Written not only for fellow conductors, players, students, and professional musicians, Anatomy of the Orchestra is also for everyone interested in the performance of orchestral music. 'It's tremendous fun just reading from cover to cover... The chapter on horns doesn't fail to embrace water-emptying, or the perils of seating them in front of percussion - vibrations shoot up backward-turned bells and shiver the players' lips; and who needs be any longer at a loss for a term for any type of snare drum in any of four languages?' Tempo

The hitmakers behind Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" recount their rise to songwriting stardom while authoring the classic American R&B sound of countless chart-topping singles. In 1950 a couple of rhythm and blues-loving teenagers named Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met for the first time. They discovered their mutual affection for R&B and, as Jerry and Mike put it in this fascinating autobiography, began an argument that has been going on for over fifty years with no resolution in sight. Leiber and Stoller were still in their teens when they started working with some of the pioneers of rock and roll, writing such hits as Hound Dog, which eventually became a #1 record for Elvis Presley. Jerry and Mike became the King's favorite songwriters, giving him Jailhouse Rock and other #1 songs. Their string of hits with the Coasters, including Yakety Yak, Poison Ivy, and Charlie Brown, is a part of rock 'n' roll history. They founded their own music label and introduced novel instrumentation into their hits for the Drifters and Ben E. King, including On Broadway and Stand by Me. They worked with everyone from Phil Spector to Burt Bacharach and Peggy Lee. Their smash musical Smokey Joe's Cafe became the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history. Lively, colorful, and irreverent, Hound Dog describes how two youngsters with an insatiable love of good old American R&B created the soundtrack for a generation.

A seminal work by one of the most influential figures of the English folk revival of the 1950s, Folk Song in England (1967) is an expansive account of the development of English traditional song, from the very oldest, ritual verse, through epic balladry, to the development of lyrical song in the industrial era.

In a unique and ambitious approach, Lloyd marries the tradition of folk-song scholarship, largely derived from Cecil Sharp, with the radical historiography of E. P. Thompson, and in so doing produces a work of exceptional insight. In particular, his defining of 'industrial folk song' reveals traditional verse as an ebullient, living expression of the working people, perfectly adaptable to reflect their ways and conditions of life.

"Book of the Year." -- MOJO Magazine"Outstanding Book of the Year." --The Herald (Glasgow) A Best Book of the Year by NPR, Pitchfork, The Telegraph, and UncutA tender and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music, the two-time Grammy Award-winning "premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation" (Hilton Als), Rickie Lee Jones This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song. Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones in her own words. It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music. With candor and lyricism, the "Duchess of Coolsville" (Time) takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, to her years as a teenage runaway, through her legendary love affair with Tom Waits and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll. Rickie Lee's stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs - "Chuck-E's in Love," "Weasel and the White Boys Cool," "Danny's All-Star Joint," and "Easy Money"-- but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, a pimp with a heart of gold and tales of her fabled ancestors. In this tender and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music are never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, a singer-songwriter whose music defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades.

Eric Sams' study of Schumann's 246 songs (Faber 1961, revised 1993) - a companion volume to his The Songs of Hugo Wolf, also available in Faber Finds - remains a classic text. By providing a translation, commentary and notes for each of the songs, tracing original sources and relating recurring themes vividly to Schumann's life, Sams provides a unique documentary of Schumann's song-writing art.

The book includes a foreword (to the First Edition) by the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore,

who writes:

'So felicitous is the writing that one is hardly conscious of the erudition and profound thought that have gone into the making of it . . . Eric Sams has produced a work that will be read and read again as long as Robert Schumann's songs are loved.'

In this new edition of their groundbreaking Kodaly Today, Micheal Houlahan and Philip Tacka offer an expertly-researched, thorough, and - most importantly - practical approach to transforming curriculum goals into tangible, achievable musical objectives and effective lesson plans. Their model - grounded in the latest research in music perception and cognition - outlines the concrete practices behind constructing effective teaching portfolios, selecting engaging music repertoire for the classroom, and teaching musicianship skills successfully to elementary students of all degrees of proficiency. Addressing the most important questions in creating and teaching Kodaly-based programs, Houlahan and Tacka write through a practical lens, presenting a clear picture of how the teaching and learning processes go hand-in-hand. Their innovative approach was designed through a close, six-year collaboration between music instructors and researchers, and offers teachers an easily-followed, step-by-step roadmap for developing students' musical understanding and metacognition skills. A comprehensive resource in the realm of elementary music education, this book is a valuable reference for all in-service music educators, music supervisors, and students and instructors in music education.

The brand new heartwarming festive read from bestseller Sarah Bennett!Music sensation Aurora Storm finally has her career back on track, but then she's caught up in a media storm. Desperate to distract from the story, she enlists the one man she trusts to pretend to be her boyfriend. Meanwhile, in the small seaside village of Mermaids Point, Nick Morgan never expected to see Aurora again. When she calls out of the blue needing his help, he agrees at once. It feels like she's back in his life for a reason, and he's determined to make the most of it. Aurora joins Nick and the rest of his family for their festive celebrations and, as the snow falls, Aurora finds herself caught up in the romance of Christmas. But having tasted worldwide fame, can she ever be content with village life? Two weeks is all Nick has to prove to Aurora that there's a happy ending for them both in Mermaids Point. There's always a second chance for love in a Sarah Bennett story, so escape to the seaside village of Mermaids Point for a festive, feel-good treat. Perfect for all fans of Trisha Ashley, Holly Martin and Milly Johnson. Praise for Sarah Bennett: 'A gorgeous story packed with love, romance and heartfelt emotion. Will bring sunshine into your day!' Phillipa Ashley 'Cosy, heartwarming and moving, this story is as beautiful as its cover.' Samantha Tonge 'Happy Endings at Mermaids Point has passion in spades, romance to make you blush and a community that cares. I hoped this story would just keep on going.' Celia Anderson 'What a finale to a fabulous season! I absolutely loved the story and it was wonderful to see all the characters get their much deserved happily ever after! An absolutely gorgeous Christmas read!' Katie Ginger 'This is a real page turner, with a brisk plot and a really emotional core. The community we've grown to love at Mermaid's Point is alive with love, laughter and vibrancy!' Fay Keenan 'I loved Nick and Aurora's story, and want the Morgan family to adopt me. Sarah Bennett has surpassed herself.' Jules Wake 'This is the perfect escapist read and I can't wait to follow the characters in what promises to be a wonderful series. Five sparkling stars!' Rachel Griffiths'What a Mer-mazing book! I'm so glad this is a series and I'll get to meet the characters again because you won't want to leave them after the final page.' Catherine Miller 'I inhaled this book in two days. Absolutely gorgeous. Sarah Bennett is back, and better than ever!' Rachel Burton 'A perfect heartwarming read full of family, romance and intrigue, set in a stunning location - what's not to love?' Bella Osborne

Patti Smith was a poet, a punk prophet, a feminist icon, a living work of art and the first woman rock-outsider to come from the New York underground and become a star. From her confused and religious upbringing to her early days as a poet, punk and rock 'n' roller, Patti Smith redefined the role of artist, writer and female performer. This major biography will rightly place Patti Smith as a central figure in late twentieth century popular culture. Cited by musicians young and old as a major influence, Patti Smith is as fascinating an individual as she is a great artist. From a religious childhood in South Jersey she escaped to New York swearing she would become famous. Acting as muse first to Richard Mapplethorpe and then Sam Shepherd, Patti began her career as a performance poet and rock writer. She soon became the first punk rockstar mixing her distinct voice and poetry with rock and roll music. Yet in 1979 she gave it all up to live with her husband in quiet, suburban Detroit until he died an alcoholic in 1994. As well as placing Patti Smith at the centre of the New York underground that included, amongst others, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Blondie, Jim Carrol and William Burroughs, Victor Bockris's biography investigates the private world behind the celebrity - the confused childhood, the piss factory, torturous relationship with men, the secretive retreat to Detroit and the slow and historic comeback in 1995 as Patti returns to her rightful place as a central character and icon of 20th century popular culture and the queen of the New York Underground.