|
Books > Music > Other types of music
There has been much passionate debate and emotion aroused by the
introduction of contemporary music styles into the modern church.
While these debates have rarely produced a victor, the detrimental
effects of them have resonated throughout many Protestant churches
worldwide. Rather than simply fuelling this debate further, "Open
Up The Doors" represents an attempt to provide objective criteria
and analytical frameworks by which the quality and function of
contemporary congregational music can be assessed. The latest music
from Hillsong, Soul Survivor, Parachute, Vineyard, Christian City
and others is examined in order to reveal both the beneficial and
dangerous trends occurring in modern church music. "Open Up The
Doors" considers how well modern music is serving the modern
church, and also how effectively it is operating as a musical form
in the secular culture that surrounds it.
As a young, up and coming electrical engineer living in England,
Ray Brooks had everything he could want a high paying job, late
nights, and fast cars. All he was missing in his life was the
meaning. A series of events brought him to Japan, where he met a
man who played the shakuhachi, an ancient Japanese flute. That
fortuitous interaction motivated Brooks to embark on a journey to
learn this very difficult instrument. Through playing the
shakuhachi, he began to understand the Zen discipline that is a
crucial aspect of Japanese culture. This understanding greatly
changed his outlook on life, putting him in touch with his
authentic self. Blowing Zen s humor and its irresistible story of
cultures converging lets the underlying message come through
without preachiness: life is about finding your true calling, not
just what brings you superficial joy. Brooks spontaneous approach
to the collaboration of art, mind, body, and spirit is inspiring
and instructive. This uplifting memoir has been entrancing readers
since its release in 2000, and it is now being re-released with a
new chapter and lots of photographs. This is the expanded and
revised edition with photos.
Peter Beaven's tale leads us through the pitfalls and triumphs of a
career in choir directing and church music, orchestral conducting,
and professional singing in choirs and stage works. His teaching
experiences are just as hair-raising as his performing life. Being
there at the inception of the GCSE music exam, as a teacher, he
felt it wasn't an improvement on the previous exam and became
disenchanted with education, in general, and music education in
particular. The author maintains that he failed every exam he ever
sat, adding much weight to his argument, but also admits to a
modicum of success along the way. Despite earlier difficulties with
a genetic neuropathy, he conquered the disabilities to regain an
organ technique at the age of fifteen, which has served him well
for over fifty years. His adventures with the military have been a
twenty-year expedition through extraordinary happenings,
personalities, and experiences. All worthwhile but in marked
contrast to many other facets of his career.
Marvelous Rise of Superheroes in Cinema: Evolution of the Genre
from Sequels to Universes addresses the superhero movie genre's
transformation between 1978 and 2019. To emphasize and illustrate
the conceptual and thematic transformation, the main conventions of
the genre are scanned through several periods, focusing on the
developmental age of the genre, including the dominant period of DC
Comics-based superhero movies (1978-1997) and the Marvel "boom"
(2000-2007), and the contemporary age. For this purpose, the book
traces the fundamentals of superheroes from the first appearance of
Superman in Action Comics #1 (1938) to the final installment of the
MCU's Phase 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). The transformation
has two significant points. First, the genre's main conventions
have been in a change. Second, the genre's focus has changed from
sequel filmmaking to the universe concept. The study investigates
the Marvel Cinematic Universe's dominant, leading, and major role
in the genre's evolutionary process. Besides, the future of the
superhero movie genre is questioned through the multiverse concept
to broaden an understanding of the genre's following directions.
This is a fascinating and thoroughly researched exploration of the
best-selling gospel album of all time. For two days in January
1972, Aretha Franklin sang at the New Temple Missionary Baptist
Church in Los Angeles while tape recorders and film cameras rolled.
Everyone there knew the event had the potential to be historic:
five years after ascending to soul royalty and commercial success,
Franklin was publicly returning to her religious roots. Her
influential minister father stood by her on the pulpit. Her mentor,
Clara Ward, sat in the pews. Franklin responded to the occasion
with the performance of her life and the resulting double album
became a multi-million seller - even without any trademark hit
singles. But that was just one part of the story. Franklin's warm
inimitable voice, virtuoso jazz-soul instrumental group and Rev.
James Cleveland's inventive choral arrangements transformed the
course of gospel. Through new interviews, musical and theological
analyses as well as archival discoveries, this book sets the scene,
traces the recording's traditional origins and pop infusions and
describes the album's enduring impact. "33 1/3" is a series of
short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from
James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the
series now contains over 60 titles and is acclaimed and loved by
fans, musicians and scholars alike. "It was only a matter of time
before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for
whom "Exile on Main Street" or "Electric Ladyland" are as
significant and worthy of study as "The Catcher in the Rye" or
"Middlemarch"...The series, which now comprises 29 titles with more
in the works, is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute
rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration." ("The
New York Times Book Review", 2006).
|
|