Alfred's Basic Prep Course, Levels A through F, was written to answer a demand for a course of piano study designed especially 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 D, the student may progress to Prep Course, Lesson Book E or choose to go directly into the faster paced Level 2 of Alfred's Basic Piano Library. The complete Prep Course consists of six books (Levels A through F).

Music is a vital piece of life that not only allows individuals a chance to express themselves, but also an opportunity for people and communities to come together. Music has evolved in recent years as society turns toward a digital era where content can be shared across the world at a rapid pace. Music education and how it is spread has a number of possibilities and opportunities in this new era as it has never been easier for people to access music and learn. Further study on the best practices of utilizing the digital age for music education is required to ensure its success. The Research Anthology on Music Education in the Digital Era discusses best practices and challenges in music education and considers how music has evolved throughout the years as society increasingly turns its attention to online learning. This comprehensive reference source also explores the implementation of music for learning in traditional classrooms. Covering a range of topics such as music integration, personalized education, music teacher training, and music composition, this reference work is ideal for scholars, researchers, practitioners, academicians, administrators, instructors, and students.

Based upon Cantometrics: An Approach to the Anthropology of Music (1976), by Alan Lomax, Songs of Earth: Aesthetic and Social Codes in Music is a contemporary guide to understanding and exploring Cantometrics, the system developed by Lomax and Victor Grauer for analyzing the formal elements of music related to human geography and sociocultural patterning. This carefully constructed cross-cultural study of world music revealed deep-rooted performance patterns and aesthetic preferences and their links with environmental factors and ancient socioeconomic practices. This new and updated edition is for anyone wishing to understand and more deeply appreciate the forms and sociocultural contexts of the musics of the world's peoples, and it is designed to be used by both scholars and laypeople. Part One of the book consists of a practical guide to using the Cantometrics system, a course with musical examples to test one's understanding of the material, a theoretical framework to put the methodology in context, and an illustration of the method used to explore the roots of popular music. Part Two includes guides to four other analytical systems that Lomax developed, which focus on orchestration, phrasing and breath management, vowel articulation, instrumentation, and American popular music. Part Three provides resources for educators who wish to use the Cantometrics system in their classrooms, a summary of the findings and hypotheses of Lomax's original research, and a discussion of Cantometrics' criticisms, applications, and new approaches, and it includes excerpts of Lomax's original writings about world song style and cultural equity.