This book provides new practical tools that bridge the gap between familiar, easy-to-use technology and musical practice to enhance musicianship and motivate students. Authors Jennifer Mishra and Barbara Fast provide ideas for use with students of all levels, from beginners to musicians performing advanced repertoire. This book is written for teachers (both studio teachers and ensemble directors), but can be read by performers to help give new guidance to their own practice sessions. Some strategies in this book would not have been possible without advances in technology; others expand tried-and-true practice strategies with the use of technology. Most of the technologies discussed are free or inexpensive and don't require extensive specialist equipment or learning. Rather than replacing quality practice strategies, technology brings new tools to the practicing tool box. The strategies lay the foundation for how technology can be used in the practice room and are intended to spark creativity. The book encourages teachers and students to vary the integration of practice strategies with technology in personal ways to fit their own studios or practice routines. This book is all about exploring our musical practice through technology. The ideas in this book will invigorate your musical practice and lead to even more creativity between you and your students

A musician's life is filled with many stressful situations: passing auditions, rehearsing and performing with difficult partners, sitting for long hours in uncomfortable chairs, going on stage to face audiences large and small, who may or may not be receptive to the performance they are presented. And yet many musicians are able to surmount these looming obstacles with grace and balance, to find satisfaction and artistry in their music and build productive and lasting careers. Indirect Procedures will guide you around these obstacles and along that path to becoming a balanced and successful musician. Based on the work of Frederick Matthias Alexander, this book is a thorough and practical approach to the issues of musicians' health and wellbeing. Author Pedro de Alcantara introduces concepts and exercises for musicians to let go of excessive tensions, stay focused, and direct their energies as they handle the challenges of practicing, rehearsing, and performing. Complemented by an extensive, easy-to-use companion website, and working alongside Integrated Practice, this new edition of Indirect Procedures is an invaluable and essential resource for today's musicians to learn to sing, play, and conduct with less effort and stronger results.

Anthony Jahn, MD, internationally-acclaimed for his work as an "opera doctor" with some of the most prestigious opera companies in the world, offers a thorough and comprehensible guidebook on all aspects of health and disease that affect the voice. A vital tool for singers, voice instructors, and choral directors without formal medical training, The Singer's Guide to Complete Health empowers vocal performers to take charge of their own minds and bodies. Along with a full range of experts, Jahn provides advice about the various health disorders that affect professional well-being as well as remedies to the most important and common health problems that singers face in their careers. Jahn has invited a diverse group of health care specialists and music professionals to share their expertise and tips with singers and instructions. The chapters cover a broad range of topics, including psychological well-being, age-related changes, travel, diet, and exercise, accompanied by easy-to-follow illustrations, diagrams and charts. Each chapter provides a clear explanation of the relevant vocal anatomy, as well as detailed descriptions of the most troublesome disorders for singers. The book enables singers to make informed decisions about their own health, and gives guidance on seeking appropriate professional help and self-remedies. It includes numerous suggestions on ways to maintain a healthy vocal lifestyle, not only with traditional methods such as diet, exercise, and Alexander technique, but also holistic approaches such as yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs. The book also features assistance for singers who are interested in osteopathic, chiropractic, and craniosacral therapies. A comprehensive blend of professional voice expertise and medical science, The Singer's Guide to Complete Health is an essential addition to bookshelves and medicine cabinets of all professional and aspiring singers and instructors.

Playing Beyond the Notes: A Pianist's Guide to Musical Interpretation demystifies the vague and complex concept of musical interpretation in Western tonal piano music by boiling it down to basic principles in an accessible writing style. Its intended audience is performing pianists, independent piano teachers, and piano pedagogy students, and the over 200 repertoire excerpts in the book cover the intermediate to advanced piano literature. Rather than dealing with issues pertaining to performance practice, specific composers, or genres, this book focuses solely on musical interpretation. Each chapter tackles a different interpretive principle, explaining clearly, for example, how to play effective ornaments and rubatos or how to understand transitional sections of pieces. The author supplies a helpful checklist of questions at the end of each chapter. The book aims to help pianists understand concrete ways to apply interpretive concepts to their own playing and to give teachers practical ways to teach interpretation to their students. The book is supplemented by a companion website that hosts over 100 audio recordings to enhance the reader's experience.

Based on educational theory, and on recognized music teaching methods, Theory and Practice of Technology-Based Music Instruction develops a framework for examining music teaching that uses technology to introduce, reinforce, and assess skills and concepts. The framework guides in-depth discussions about theoretical and philosophical foundations of technology-based music instruction (TBMI), materials for teaching, teaching behaviors, and assessment of student work, teacher work, and fit of technology into the music program. The book includes examples of TBMI lessons from real teachers, and analyses of the successful and developing parts of these lessons. Also included are Profiles of Practice: firsthand accounts of music teachers using technology in their classrooms based on the author's observations, and the teachers' own reflections on their work. Because TBMI is situated in the world of public education, issues of accountability and standards are addressed. Also included are recommendations for professional development in technology based music instruction. Finally, the text looks to the future to discuss emerging technologies, alternative ensembles, and social issues that may impact technology based music instruction in years to come.

All children must have an opportunity to share the joy of choral music participation - whether in school, church, or community choirs. What happens before the singing begins, is critical to supporting, sustaining, and nurturing choirs to give every child the opportunity to experience the wonder of choral singing. Based on years of experience conducting and teaching, Barbara Tagg brings a wealth of practical information about ways of organizing choirs. From classroom choirs, to mission statements, boards of directors, commissioning, auditioning, and repertoire, Before the Singing will inspire new ways of thinking about how choirs organize their daily tasks. The collaborative community that surrounds a choir includes conductors, music educators, church choir directors, board members, volunteers, staff, administrators, and university students in music education and nonprofit arts management degree programs. For all these, Tagg offers a wealth of knowledge about creating a positive environment to support artistry, creativity, dedication, and a commitment to striving for excellence.

Teaching Music through Composition offers a practical and fully multimedia curriculum of over 60 lesson plans in 29 units of study, including student assignments sheets, worksheets, handouts, and audio, MIDI, and video files on a companion website. Author and award-winning music educator Barbara Freedman presents classroom-tested ways of teaching a wide array of musical topics, including general/basic music theory, music appreciation and analysis, keyboarding, composing/arranging, even ear-training (aural theory) using technology that will directly engage students in the twenty first century. The larger curriculum objective of this book is to teach basic musical concepts through the creative process of music composition. The tool with which students create, edit, save, and reproduce music is the technology. As Freedman demonstrates, technology allows a musical experience for all skill levels in opportunities never before available to compose music without having to know much about traditional music theory or notation. All students can have meaningful hands-on applied learning experiences that will impact not only their music experience and learning but also their understanding and comfort with 21st century technology. Whether the primary focus of your class is to use technology to create music or to explore using technology as a unit or two, this book will show you how it can be done with practical, tried-and-true lesson plans and student activities.

The art of bel canto, or 'beautiful singing,' is perhaps the most referenced and yet the most enigmatic and elusive style in the repertoire of the classically trained singer. During the bel canto era of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, composers routinely left the final shaping of recitatives, arias, and songs to performers. Vocalists in turn treated scores as a starting point for interpretation and personalized the music as their own, rather than merely giving voice to the score as written, transforming otherwise inexpressively notated music into passionate declamation. In other words, singers saw their role more as one of re-creation than of simple interpretation. Familiarity with the range of strategies prominent vocalists of the past employed to unlock the eloquent expression hidden in scores enables modern singers to take a similar re-creative approach to enhancing the texts before them. In this first ever guide to the bel canto style, author Robert Toft provides singers with the tools they need to bring scores to life in an historically informed manner. Replete with illustrations based on excerpts from Italianate recitatives and arias by composers ranging from Handel to Mozart, each chapter offers a theoretical discussion of one fundamental aspect of bel canto, followed by a practical application of the principals involved. Drawing on a wealth of documents surviving the era, including treatises, scores, newspaper reviews, and letters, this book reflects the breadth of practices utilized by singers of the bel canto era, affording modern day vocalists the opportunity to not only how singers altered and embellished the texts before them, but also to develop their own personal style of doing so. Complete with six complete aria scores for performers to personalize through bel canto techniques, and a companion website offering demonstrations of the principles explained, Bel Canto is an essential resource to any singer or vocal instructor looking to explore and master this repertoire.

Composing Our Future is the ideal book for music teacher-educators seeking to learn more about composition education. While much has been written on the value of composition, both pre-service and practicing teachers still report a degree of trepidation when asked to engage in composition or in leading students to compose. In order to prepare pre-service teachers and meet the needs of practitioners already in the field, music teacher educators need resources to guide the development of undergraduate and graduate curriculum, specific courses, professional development workshops, and environments where composition education can begin, grow and flourish. This volume offers insight to current practices written by authors engaged in this work. Each chapter provides information, solid theory, and examples of successful practices that teacher educators can draw upon in the creation and implementation of engaging and invigorating practices in music education. This information includes: * A charge to teacher educators to embrace composition as a critical component in teacher preparation * An examination of the philosophical issues surrounding composition's inclusion in, and exclusion from, music teacher education * An overview of what is known about child composers and the work they create and how to help teachers draw vital information from that body of literature * An examination of the relationship between creativity and composition * Examples of successful practices ranging from working with individual special learners to teaching in a variety of school-based teaching contexts * Models of university and school-based partnerships to facilitate pre-service teachers' transition from collegiate study to school-based work with children * An exploration into new tools, partnerships and opportunities available through technology * A vision for creating and sustaining meaningful composition programs both in colleges and in PK-12 schools

The art of bel canto, or 'beautiful singing,' is perhaps the most referenced and yet the most enigmatic and elusive style in the repertoire of the classically trained singer. During the bel canto era of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, composers routinely left the final shaping of recitatives, arias, and songs to performers. Vocalists in turn treated scores as a starting point for interpretation and personalized the music as their own, rather than merely giving voice to the score as written, transforming otherwise inexpressively notated music into passionate declamation. In other words, singers saw their role more as one of re-creation than of simple interpretation. Familiarity with the range of strategies prominent vocalists of the past employed to unlock the eloquent expression hidden in scores enables modern singers to take a similar re-creative approach to enhancing the texts before them. In this first ever guide to the bel canto style, author Robert Toft provides singers with the tools they need to bring scores to life in an historically informed manner. Replete with illustrations based on excerpts from Italianate recitatives and arias by composers ranging from Handel to Mozart, each chapter offers a theoretical discussion of one fundamental aspect of bel canto, followed by a practical application of the principals involved. Drawing on a wealth of documents surviving the era, including treatises, scores, newspaper reviews, and letters, this book reflects the breadth of practices utilized by singers of the bel canto era, affording modern day vocalists the opportunity to not only how singers altered and embellished the texts before them, but also to develop their own personal style of doing so. Complete with six complete aria scores for performers to personalize through bel canto techniques, and a companion website offering demonstrations of the principles explained, Bel Canto is an essential resource to any singer or vocal instructor looking to explore and master this repertoire.

The most pedagogically sophisticated text on the market, The Musician's Guide is the most complete resource for the theory curriculum that anyone can use. Successful online Know It? Show It! pedagogy and a comprehensive workbook help students develop theory skills inside the classroom and out. With a wider, more inclusive, repertoire than ever, the text explores music that will be relevant to every musician with clear, accessible prose.

At the height of the Enlightenment, four conservatories in Naples stood at the center of European composition. Maestros taught their students to compose with unprecedented swiftness and elegance using the partimento, an instructional tool derived from the basso continuo that encouraged improvisation as the path to musical fluency. Although the practice vanished in the early nineteenth century, its legacy lived on in the music of the next generation. In The Art of Partimento, performer and music-historian Giorgio Sanguinetti chronicles the history of this long-forgotten Neapolitan art. Sanguinetti has painstakingly reconstructed the oral tradition that accompanied these partimento manuscripts, now scattered throughout Europe. Beginning with the origins of the partimento in the circles of Corelli, Pasquini, and Alessandro Scarlatti in Rome and tracing it through the peak of the tradition in Naples, The Art of Partimento gives a glimpse into the daily life and work of an eighteenth century composer.
The Art of the Partimento is also a complete practical handbook to reviving the tradition today. Step by step, Sanguinetti guides the aspiring composer through elementary realization to more advanced exercises in diminution, imitation, and motivic coherence. Based on the teachings of the original masters, Sanguinetti challenges the reader to become a part of history, providing a variety of original partimenti in a range of genres, forms, styles, and difficulty levels along the way and allowing the student to learn the art of the partimento for themselves at their own pace.
As both history and practical guide, The Art of Partimento presents a new and innovative way of thinking about music theory. Sanguinetti's unique approach unites musicology and music theory with performance, which allows for a richer and deeper understanding than any one method alone, and offers students and scholars of composition and music theory the opportunity not only to understand the life of this fascinating tradition, but to participate in it as well.

Buzz to Brilliance engages students personally, technically and musically as they begin their study on the trumpet. The book journeys with students from the moment they first open their trumpet case to years later as they prepare for college auditions. It abounds with technical information and practical tips including buying a new trumpet, mouthpiece selection, adjusting to braces, and marching band.
Chapters on practice skills, sight-reading, and performing are a must-read for any musician, while special features give students a window into diverse worlds, from the workbench of a master repairman to the French horn studio of a master teacher. Drawings, diagrams and pictures invite students into each page, making even advanced technical concepts easy to understand.
Following the written portion of the book, a comprehensive set of scales and technique-building exercises address topics including breathing, high range, pedal tones, lip slurs, accuracy, articulation, and pedal tones. With practice schedules, mouthpiece comparison chart, pitch tendencies and more, this book is a treasure for any trumpet player.
Buzz to Brilliance is the perfect companion for any beginning method book, and the first text on the market that provides a comprehensive set of essential studies selected specifically for beginning and intermediate players.

Chances and Choices: Exploring the Impact of Music Education considers the aims and impact of formative musical experiences, evaluating the extent to which music education of various kinds provides a foundation for lifelong involvement and interest in music. The discussion draws upon rich qualitative data, in which over 100 adults with an active interest in music reflect upon the influences and opportunities that shaped their musical life histories. Pitts addresses the relationship between the claims made for music education, the practice and policy through which those aims are filtered, and the recollections of the lived experiences of learning music in a variety of contexts. This consideration of school music is set in the broader context of learning in the home and community, and illustrates the circumscribed yet immensely powerful role that music teachers and other potential role models can play in nurturing open-minded, active musicians. The four central chapters focus on generational change in home and school experiences of music; the locations in which musical learning takes place, including cross-cultural comparisons; the characteristics of teachers, parents and others as musical mentors and role models; and the lifelong outcomes of musical engagement for performers, teachers, listeners and adult learners. This analysis is then used to illuminate the claims made for music education in historical and contemporary debate, and to propose ways in which school music might better prepare young people for lifelong engagement in music. Poised to shed new light on the long-term effects of music education, this book is an important resource to understand how we can encourage lifelong involvement with music and general engagement in cultural activities in every individual.

"How to Play Piano" contains everything the new or intermediate piano 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 to more complex techniques, covering playing with the left hand, right hand and both together, along with a basic introduction to reading music. The clear text is accompanied by illustrative photos and diagrams, and the guide is complemented by some classic practice pieces to try your hand(s) at, such as "Fur Elise" and "Pachelbel's Canon", as well as a glossary and further reading.

An important characteristic of contemporary art music has been the use of conventional instruments in unconventional ways, achieving effects undreamed of or thought impossible in the early twentieth century. This compendium codifies these techniques, explains their production and effects, cites representative scores, and provides numerous example from an international selection of composers. Part One considers techniques and procedures that apply to all instruments; Part Two takes up idiomatic techniques with specific instruments in all orchestral categories. This monumental survey is essential for any music library or serious musician.

An important characteristic of contemporary art music has been the use of conventional instruments in unconventional ways, achieving effects undreamed of or thought impossible in the early twentieth century. Yet many of these techniques remain poorly understood with respect to both the physical procedures involved and the results in sound output. This compendium codifies these techniques, explains their production in terms of idiomatic peculiarity and limitations, and cites representative scores in which the new devices form an integral part of the composer's sonoric concepts. Citations and numerous printed examples are taken from an international selection of works by the most advanced and significant composers. Part One considers techniques and procedures that, with only slight modification, apply to all instruments: extended ranges, muting, glissandi, harmonics, percussive effects, microtones, amplification, and extramusical devices. Part Two is devoted to idiomatic techniques with specific instruments in the categories of woodwinds and brasses, percussion, harp and other plucked instruments, keyboard instruments, and strings. While demonstrating recent and radical innovations, references are made to historical beginnings of such devices in our classical music heritage.

An earlier version of this volume, Contemporary Instrumental Techniques (1976), was widely acclaimed by musicians and educators, recognized as a significant achievement in cataloging and organization and as an invaluable reference tool. Now extensively expanded, with additional techniques, new and revised explanations, and hundreds of recent citations and examples, this monumental survey is essential for any music library or serious musician. An indispensable guide for composers and orchestrators, it will also be valuable as a sourcebook for performers and teachers and as a textbook for courses in composition.

The MENC Handbook of Research on Music Learning, Volume 2: Applications brings together the best and most current research on best practice for music learning, focusing squarely on the profession's empirical and conceptual knowledge of how students gain competence in music at various ages and in different contexts. The collection of chapters, written by the foremost figures active in the field, addresses a range of best practices for approaching current and important areas in the field, including cognition and perception, music listening, vocal/choral learning, and the needs of special learners. The book's companion volume, Strategies, provides the solid theoretical framework and extensive research upon which these practices stand.
Throughout both volumes in this essential set, focus is placed on the musical knowledge and musical skills needed to perform, create, understand, reflect on, enjoy, value, and respond to music. A key point of emphasis rests on the relationship between music learning and finding meaning in music, and as music technology plays an increasingly important role in learning today, chapters move beyond exclusively formal classroom instruction into other forms of systematic learning and informal instruction.
Either individually or paired with its companion Volume 1: Strategies, this indispensable overview of this growing area of inquiry will appeal to students and scholars in Music Education, as well as front-line music educators in the classroom.