Designed as a practical reference guide for professional pianists and piano teachers, "A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers, Volume I," is an annotated catalogue of the available piano music in print composed by 144 women born before the 20th century. The work also features biographies and extensive bibliographical information for each composer. Arranged alphabetically by composer into categories including single works, collections, and anthologies, the music is also described in terms of grade level, genre, mood, style characteristics, and technical requirements, and ranges in difficulty from late elementary to virtuoso concert repertoire.

Far too many teachers, students, professional musicians, and audiences are unaware of the contributions made by women in music, and of the beauty and merit of their specific compositions. This reference work provides an invaluable addition to the current literature.

The harp is both the oldest and the newest of instruments. It has existed in some form in nearly all cultures since man has made music. The contemporary concert instrument has been known since the mid-19th century. This work is a compendium of the biographies of many notable harpists of the modern era. The biographies make clear how these performers shaped the contrasts in style and technique of harp playing that have developed over the past 150 years, as cultural, social, and psychological forces influenced individual performance. In addition to the biographical information, the A-Z entries include critical reviews, discographies, and selected bibliographies where possible. New material from the former Soviet states is included.

Grand Tours is a chronicle of the American visits of five charismatic pianists--Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismund Thalberg, Anton Rubenstein, and Hans von Bulow--during the late nineteenth century. Performing Beethoven and Chopin in gold-rush era California, these pianists introduced many Americans to the delights of the concert hall. With humor and insight, Lott describes the clash between the flamboyant, elegant, European pianists and American audiences more accustomed to circuses and rodeos than these "serious" entertainments. Lott also explores the creative and sometimes outlandish publicity techniques of managers seeking to capitalize on rich but uncharted American markets. The tours, which included almost a thousand concerts in more than one hundred cities in America and Canada, illustrate the rigors of the performing life, the wide range of nineteenth-century audiences and their gradual transformation from boisterous participators to respectful listeners, and the establishment of the piano recital as it exists today. With the colorful personalities of the pianists, the juxtaposition of high art and unsophisticated audiences, and the predilection of Americans to treat even the most serious subjects with humor, the book is illuminating and entertaining. The text is illustrated with ads, newspaper clippings, and correspondence that bring to life this collision of cultures.

This volume contains valuable practice material for candidates preparing for the ABRSM Grade 1 Piano exams. The book is written in attractive and approachable styles and representative of the technical level expected in the exam.

More than any other part of Bach's output, his keyboard works conveyed the essence of his inimitable art to generations of admirers. The varied responses to this repertory - in scholarly and popular writing, public lectures, musical composition and transcription, performances and editions - ensured its place in the canon and broadened its creator's appeal. The early reception of Bach's keyboard music also continues to affect how we understand and value it, though we rarely recognize that historical continuity. Here, Matthew Dirst investigates how Bach's music intersects with cultural, social and music history, focusing on a repertory which is often overshadowed in scholarly and popular literature on Bach reception. Organized around the most productive ideas generated by Bach's keyboard works from his own day to the middle of the nineteenth century, this study shows how Bach's remarkable and long-lasting legacy took shape amid critical changes in European musical thought and practice.

This engaging book discusses the colorful personalities Land beloved music of the French romantic organist-composers. Michael Murray draws vivid portraits of Aristide Cavaille-Coll (1811-1899), the greatest and most influential organ builder of his time, and of seven oilier musicians with connections to Cavaille-Coll and to onc another: Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Cesar Franck (1822-1890), Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), Louis Vicine (1870-1937), Marcel Dupre' (1886-1971), Jean Langlais (1907-1991), and Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992).

The book offers to lovers of French music and culture -- and especially to student organists -- details of these composers' lives and times and of their styles and techniques. Drawing on his personal acquaintance with Messiaen, Langlais, Dupre', and other famous contemporaries, and on period documents, original accounts, early recordings, and other primary sources, Murray examines the relationship between organ building and musical composition, the nature of romanticism and classicism, and the ever-perplexing question of composer versus interpreter.

The New International Edition of Suzuki Piano School, Volume 2 includes French, German and Spanish translations, new Romantic and 20th-century pieces, as well as a newly recorded CD performed by internationally renowned recording artist Seizo Azuma. Now the book and CD can be purchased together or separately. The contents have changed slightly with minimal reordering of the music. The Mozart Minuet and Bach Musette from the earlier edition were eliminated and replaced with two new 20th-century pieces by BartA3k (noted below), and the Bach "Minuet in G Minor" (from J. S. Bachas Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach) has been moved to Volume 3. Other improvements include a cleaner appearance with less editing and spacious new engravings, as well as more detailed titles that include the keys, sources, composer dates, and catalog numbers.
Titles: Acossaise (J. N. Hummel) * A Short Story (H. Lichner) * The Happy Farmer, from Album for the Young, Op. 68, No. 10 (R. Schumann) * Minuet in G Major, BWV 822 (J. S. Bach) * Minuet in G Major, from J. S. Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (Anonymous) * Minuet in G Minor, BWV 822 (J. S. Bach) * Cradle Song, Op. 13, No. 2 (C. M. von Weber) * Arietta (W. A. Mozart) * Hungarian Folk Song, from For Children, Sz. 42 (BA(c)la BartA3k) * Melody, from Album for the Young, Op. 68, No. 1 (R. Schumann) * Minuet in G Major, from J. S. Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (C. Petzold) * Sonatina in G Major, Anh. 5 (Moderato, Romance) (L. van Beethoven) * Children at Play, from For Children, Sz. 42 (BA(c)la BartA3k).

The definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell. FEATURING EXCLUSIVE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 'A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America's true living cultural treasures.' JOHN ZORN 'The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.' MOJO 'Outlines the subject's life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.' IRISH TIMES Over a period of forty-five years, Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential musicians at work today. A quietly revolutionary guitar hero for our genre-blurring times, he connects to a diverse range of artists and admirers, including Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Gus Van Sant and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, all of whom feature in this book. A vital addition to any music lover's book collection, Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer tells the legendary guitarist's story for the first time. 'Stuffed with musical encounters, so many that every couple of pages there's an unheard Frisell recording for the reader to chase down.' NEW YORKER 'Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer is the definitive biography.' BILL MILKOWSKI, DOWNBEAT 'Superb . . . the book races along like Sonny Rollins in full sail. Like subject, like writer: this is super-articulate, adventurous prose.' PERSPECTIVE '[Watson's] writing balances unbridled passion and dispassionate research nearly as deftly as Mr. Frisell's playing does sound and silence . . . compelling.' WALL STREET JOURNAL

This handbook provides a historical account of the development of the violin, viola and their close relatives as well as a practical guide to playing techniques and principles of interpretation. It aims to help performers to play in a historically appropriate style and to guide listeners toward a clearer understanding of the issues that affected string performance during this series' core period (c.1700-c.1900). Its six detailed case studies, which include Bach and Beethoven, will assist readers in forging well-grounded, period interpretations of major works from the repertory.

An important volume on both the harmonic and melodic aspects of the modern guitarist with an emphasis on improvisation. Subjects include chord construction, embellishment, substitution, connection, resolution and chromatic movement. Also covers whole tone, blues, altered scales, chord scales and much more.

"Maybe you won't like steel band. It's possible. But it's been said that the Pied Piper had a steel band helping him on his famous visit to Hamelin." When the US Navy distributed this press release, anxieties and tensions of the impending Cold War felt palpable. As President Eisenhower cast his gaze towards Russia, the American people cast their ears to the Atlantic south, infatuated with the international currents of Caribbean music. Today, steelbands have become a global phenomenon; yet, in 1957 the exotic sound and the unique image of the US Navy Steel Band was one-of-a-kind. Could calypso doom rock `n' roll? Band founder Admiral Daniel V. Gallery thought so and envisioned his steelband knocking "rock 'n' roll and Elvis Presley into the ash can." From 1957 until their disbandment in 1999, the US Navy Steel Band performed over 20,000 concerts worldwide. In 1973, the band officially moved headquarters from Puerto Rico to New Orleans and found the city and annual Mardi Gras tradition an aptmusical and cultural fit. The band brought a significant piece of Caribbean artistic capital-calypso and steelband music-to the American mainstream. Its impact on the growth and development of steelpan music in America is enormous. Steelpan Ambassadors uncovers the lost history of the US Navy Steel Band and provides an in-depth study of its role in the development of the US military's public relations, its promotion of goodwill, its recruitment efforts after the Korean and VietnamWars, its musical and technological innovations, and its percussive propulsion of the American fascination with Latin and Caribbean music over the past century.

Practice, practice, practice to play like Chopin or the Piano Man The piano will help you add a touch of fun to your life, impress your friends at parties, and even reduce stress. It even makes you better at math (really!). Piano Exercises For Dummies is at your service as you learn to make those 88 black and white keys sing. You'll get a quick overview of the basics before diving into practice routines and sample songs that you can use to improve your skill, whatever your level. This book gives you online access to audio files of the exercises along with digital access to the sheet music shared in the book. Learn from an experienced pianist, composer, and arranger, and start making beautiful music, the Dummies way! Refresh your knowledge of the piano basics so you're poised and prepared to play the right way Play enjoyable practice exercises and songs designed to teach specific skills and techniques in all genres Go online to access all the audio files, anytime, anywhere Bring a little more joy into your life by stepping up your piano know-how Piano Exercises For Dummies is for new and experienced pianists alike, and useful for improving your skill in any musical style.