No band would be complete without some kick-ass electric guitar. "How to Play Electric Guitar" contains everything the new or intermediate electric player needs to perfect their playing of this vital instrument. More than a simple how-to-play guitar book, this great new addition to a best-selling series also shows you how to use effects, how to adapt to stage and rehearsal amps, how to record the electric guitar at home on your computer and how to cope with cables, feedback and dodgy microphones while playing live on stage. The clear text is accompanied by illustrative photos and diagrams, and is complemented by some how-to-play basics, selected scales and modes and useful barre and power chords.

Piano Star is an exciting series for young pianists, offering a rich selection of new repertoire to help players build confidence and musical skills. Piano Star 2 is at ABRSM Prep Test level and provides alternative repertoire for that assessment and includes compositions by David Blackwell, Edmund Jolliffe, Mike Cornick, Aisling Greally, Christopher Norton, Mark Tanner, Sarah Watts, Alasdair Spratt, Andrew Eales, Heather Hammond, Karen Marshall, Nicholas Scott-Burt, Nancy Litten, Paul Harris, Alan Bullard, and Peter Gritton. Key features of the series: - Solo pieces, plus a number of duets - A rich mix of musical styles, with techniques introduced progressively - Fun extension activities - Beautifully illustrated

Piano Star is an exciting series for young pianists, offering a rich selection of new repertoire to help players build confidence and musical skills. Piano Star 1 is suitable for learners who have worked through a first tutor and includes compositions by David Blackwell, Jane Sebba, Nancy Litten, Mike Cornick, Sarah Watts, Edmund Jolliffe, Andrew Eales, Kathy Blackwell, Aisling Greally, Alan Bullard, Alasdair Spratt, and Karen Marshall. Key features of the series: - Solo pieces, plus a number of duets - A rich mix of musical styles, with techniques introduced progressively - Fun extension activities - Beautifully illustrated

The perfect companion to "Chords for Kids" and "My First Recorder Music", this is the ideal guide for those who may enjoy playing instruments, but have not yet mastered how to read music from the page. It is ideal for any age, but especially for children between 8 and 10 years old. This guide provides the essentials you need to know, explaining pitch, the treble clef, the bass clef, rhythm, accidentals, key signatures and time signatures. You can then practise what you have learnt with the 'Play Along' sections containing simple, well-known examples of music. It comes with helpful diagrams, clear accessible text and a practical spiral-bound format.

This book is based on the scale types that are necessary to master and understand the chord/scale relationships found in many styles of music. By keeping things simple and uncluttered, each page consists of only one scale type, drawn on a bass guitar neck with the correct fingering - a vital part of organising the hands. The more organised the hands, the easier it is to play. The arpeggio shape is also super-imposed over the corresponding scale in order to create an understanding of the chord/scale relationship. This is better explained with diagrams and not notation; however, because it is a good idea to associate finger positions with their notational equivalents, notation is also included. The simple but comprehensive jazz theory section will help the student gain a deeper understanding of harmony and further insight into how to apply the scales found in this book.

Since the publication of the first edition of A Spectrum of Voices there have been significant advances in voice studies. Prominent members of the new generation of voice teachers join their voices with now-canonized teachings. Asking questions about technology, pedagogy, and stylistic changes within the field, Elizabeth L. Blades brings the wisdom from the past and present to voice students at all levels. A Spectrum of Voices draws from the brilliance and combined experience of an elite group of exemplary voice teachers, presenting interviews from more than twenty-five notable teachers, six of them new to this second edition. Voice teachers offer valuable insight into their teaching philosophies, the types of auxiliary training they recommend to their students, and how they structure their lessons. This second edition also addresses significant technological advances of the past twenty years, especially the impact on vocal performance and pedagogy. A quick-and-handy reference for the studio teacher, this book also serves as a text for vocal pedagogy courses and as an essential supplement for physiology and vocal mechanics, teachers and students of singing, music educators, and musical theater performers.

Since the publication of the first edition of A Spectrum of Voices there have been significant advances in voice studies. Prominent members of the new generation of voice teachers join their voices with now-canonized teachings. Asking questions about technology, pedagogy, and stylistic changes within the field, Elizabeth L. Blades brings the wisdom from the past and present to voice students at all levels. A Spectrum of Voices draws from the brilliance and combined experience of an elite group of exemplary voice teachers, presenting interviews from more than twenty-five notable teachers, six of them new to this second edition. Voice teachers offer valuable insight into their teaching philosophies, the types of auxiliary training they recommend to their students, and how they structure their lessons. This second edition also addresses significant technological advances of the past twenty years, especially the impact on vocal performance and pedagogy. A quick-and-handy reference for the studio teacher, this book also serves as a text for vocal pedagogy courses and as an essential supplement for physiology and vocal mechanics, teachers and students of singing, music educators, and musical theater performers.

(Berklee Press). Become a better musician through yoga. By integrating yoga into your practice routines, you will develop a more focused and concentrated mind for performance. You will be able to increase awareness of how you use your body to allow for proper posture and ease of movement while performing, helping you to avoid overuse injuries and play with greater expression. These concepts, exercises, and practice routines present yoga from the musicians' perspective, focusing on the direct relationships between using yoga and creating music. You will learn to: * Practice meditation approaches, breathing techniques, and yoga postures that will help improve musicianship * Play using healthy posture and technique * Get more out of your practice through improved focus * Use your breath to improve your phrasing and also to ease performance anxiety * Play with deeper expression through inspiration.

An Introduction to Effective Music Teaching: Artistry and Attitude provides the prospective teacher with front-line tested strategies and approaches that are based on current research and the author's three decades of service as a public school music educator, department chairman, and public school district music administrator. Starting with a brief overview of the history of music education in public schools, Alfred Townsend gives the reader a deeper understanding of the importance of music education to all students, gifted or not. Readers then examine artistry (command of content and mastery of methods) and the ABCs of teacher attitude, the critical component that unlocks learning for many students. With an open and accessible writing style, Dr. Townsend reviews the six components of effective teaching, showing that artistry and attitude can be combined to fuel student learning and teacher leadership. Using all of this information, the reader constructs a personal, practical philosophy of music teaching and learning that will form the basis for his or her instruction. Readers will also experience artistry and attitude in action through well written case studies of effective teachers. With increasingly diverse student populations teachers now face, this book provides music teachers with ways to interact effectively with students of all backgrounds, attitudes, and talent.

In The Craft of Piano Playing, master pianist Alan Fraser offers readers an original and comprehensive approach to piano technique, offering over 100 illustrations and a series of unique exercises to guide the reader. Drawing on his many years as a performer and teacher, his long-standing collaborations with pedagogue Phil Cohen and virtuoso Kemal Gekich, and his professional training in the Feldenkrais Method, Fraser introduces his truly innovative piano technique by * Teaching how to move your hands with greater sensitivity, power, and accuracy, and honing the skeletal alignments to help you access your innate, structural potency; * Linking your physical technique to musical expression, creating an "absolutely natural way of moving at the piano that is powerful, flexible, and musical" (Piano News, Germany); and * Keeping your hands healthy while avoiding the threats of tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, focal dystonia, and RSI. This revised second edition joins the DVD of the same name, his study guide, and his latest book, Honing the Pianistic Self-Image, in Alan Fraser's growing line of piano pedagogical materials. This edition includes new chapters, such as "Arm Rhythm" and "The Body's Support of Natural Finger Shape," updated material reflecting evolutions in Fraser's technical and pedagogical thinking, a "cleaner and leaner" literary style, and more extensive, better-organized tables of contents, with cross-references to corresponding chapters in the DVD. For more information please visit www.maplegroveproductions.com, www.craftofpiano.com, or www.alanfraser.net

A musical composer, guitar rocker, and lyric opera singer team up to write this sensational book on songwriting. This book includes everything you want to know about the core competencies of songwriting, elements of music, and lyrics. Features include writing song lyrics, crafting musical compositions, musical styles, getting a contract, sustaining a career, publishers and agents, recording, and even how to survive in the music industry. No matter what music genre you desire---blues, country, hip hop, gospel, punk, classical, alternative, jingles, or rock---this is the book for you. You will find this fascinating book filled with tips, quotes from famous songwriters and musicians, and numerous stories on songwriting that will keep you fully engaged.

Overturning the inherited belief that popular music is unrefined, Form as Harmony in Rock Music brings the process-based approach of classical theorists to popular music scholarship. Author Drew Nobile offers the first comprehensive theory of form for 1960s, 70s, and 80s classic rock repertoire, showing how songs in this genre are not simply a series of discrete elements, but rather exhibit cohesive formal-harmonic structures across their entire timespan. Though many elements contribute to the cohesion of a song, the rock music of these decades is built around a fundamentally harmonic backdrop, giving rise to distinct types of verses, choruses, and bridges. Nobile's rigorous but readable theoretical analysis demonstrates how artists from Bob Dylan to Stevie Wonder to Madonna consistently turn to the same compositional structures throughout rock's various genres and decades, unifying them under a single musical style. Using over 200 transcriptions, graphs, and form charts, Form as Harmony in Rock Music advocates a structural approach to rock analysis, revealing essential features of this style that would otherwise remain below our conscious awareness.

A musical composer, guitar rocker, and lyric opera singer team up to write this sensational book on songwriting. This book includes everything you want to know about the core competencies of songwriting, elements of music, and lyrics. Features include writing song lyrics, crafting musical compositions, musical styles, getting a contract, sustaining a career, publishers and agents, recording, and even how to survive in the music industry. No matter what music genre you desire---blues, country, hip hop, gospel, punk, classical, alternative, jingles, or rock---this is the book for you. You will find this fascinating book filled with tips, quotes from famous songwriters and musicians, and numerous stories on songwriting that will keep you fully engaged.

"How to Play Guitar" contains everything the new or intermediate guitar player needs to know to really get to grips with making music on this most popular of instruments. Highly practical, it leads you from the basics of how to strum, pick and play simple chords, through the various elements of playing rhythm and melodies, to more complicated chords and tunings. It includes further techniques from slurs to harmonics, and a section on performing. The clear text is accompanied by illustrative photos and diagrams, and the guide is complemented by a useful chord finder, examples of scales and modes, a glossary and further reading.

(Willis). The Dozen a Day books are universally recognized as one of the most remarkable technique series on the market for all ages Each book in this series contains short warm-up exercises to be played at the beginning of each practice session, providing excellent day-to-day training for the student.

(Book). Learning musical notation can be intimidating. But regardless of instrument or proficiency in reading music, there's hope and help for all musicians in this practical guide. Writing in a friendly manner that puts readers at ease, author Dave Stewart starts with the basics: staves, clefs, and how to find the notes. He then advances step by step through rhythm, key signatures, chords and intervals, and how to write it all down. This book is useful for novices, seasoned players who never learned to read music, and pros seeking a refresher course.

Join the superhero world of Lang Lang and come on a piano adventure with The Lang Lang Piano Method Level 3. Level 3 continues the progression by: extending the note range to an octave exploring different keys including more hands-together in pieces. The five progressive books in The Lang Lang Piano Method provide a unique and imaginative way for complete beginners to learn the piano with the world's most successful concert pianist, Lang Lang. There's plenty to play all around the keyboard right from the start. Fun, imaginative pieces develop the left and right hands equally and supporting audio features exclusive performances by Lang Lang of the concert pieces. Musicianship is developed through theory pages and listening to exclusive performances by Lang Lang of piano classics for children. "I've written The Lang Lang Piano Method to inspire today's kids with my passion for the piano." Lang Lang

In the age of digital music it seems striking that so many of us still want to produce music concretely with our bodies, through the movement of our limbs, lungs and fingers, in contact with those materials and objects which are capable of producing sounds. The huge sales figures of musical instruments in the global market, and the amount of time and effort people of all ages invest in mastering the tools of music, make it clear that playing musical instruments is an important phenomenon in human life. By combining the findings made in music psychology and performative ethnomusicology, Marko Aho shows how playing a musical instrument, and the pleasure musicians get from it, emerges from an intimate dialogue between the personally felt body and the sounding instrument. An introduction to the general aspects of the tactile resources of musical instruments, musical style and the musician is followed by an analysis of the learning process of the regional kantele style of the Perho river valley in Finnish Central Ostrobothnia.

This book starts at the very beginning and ends with some remarkably profound insights on conductorial subtleties. An experienced conductor is one in whom detection, diagnosis, and remedy take place simultaneously; as he hears the error, he realizes where the fault lies and what to do about it. This book gives valuable hints about these three basic conductorial functions from the viewpoint of chorus and orchestra alike. McElheran leads the student toward mastery of the problems at hand, with firmness and gentle humour.

This book supplies detailed explanations for young singers, teachers, and professional singers with "troubled" voices. Striny's previous book, Head First, discussed this process but without specific instructions to accomplish the task. This completely original process was conceived by Striny to correct major problems in his voice that had been caused by two separate voice teachers. The content of the process and the suggested duration of time duplicate exactly what his self-study called for in both cases. Readers will feel in tune with a philosophy generated through this endeavor, which cements self-confidence and self-esteem with the attained accomplishments. It permits you to do your tasks without overt manipulation.