A primary mode for the creation and dissemination of poetry in Renaissance Italy was the oral practice of singing and improvising verse to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. Singing to the Lyre is the first comprehensive study of this ubiquitous practice, which was cultivated by performers ranging from popes, princes, and many artists, to professionals of both mercantile and humanist background. Common to all was a strong degree of mixed orality based on a synergy between writing and the oral operations of memory, improvisation, and performance. As a cultural practice deeply rooted in language and supported by ancient precedent, cantare ad lyram (singing to the lyre) is also a reflection of Renaissance cultural priorities, including the status of vernacular poetry, the study and practice of rhetoric, the oral foundations of humanist education, and the performative culture of the courts reflected in theatrical presentations and Castiglione's Il cortegiano.

A primary mode for the creation and dissemination of poetry in Renaissance Italy was the oral practice of singing and improvising verse to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. Singing to the Lyre is the first comprehensive study of this ubiquitous practice, which was cultivated by performers ranging from popes, princes, and many artists, to professionals of both mercantile and humanist background. Common to all was a strong degree of mixed orality based on a synergy between writing and the oral operations of memory, improvisation, and performance. As a cultural practice deeply rooted in language and supported by ancient precedent, cantare ad lyram (singing to the lyre) is also a reflection of Renaissance cultural priorities, including the status of vernacular poetry, the study and practice of rhetoric, the oral foundations of humanist education, and the performative culture of the courts reflected in theatrical presentations and Castiglione's Il cortegiano.

This book is a collection of quotes that I believe will inspire each reader, The American Patriot, to triumph over tyranny. May God Bless America Don't Tread On Me - An American Patriot's Book of Quote is a reminder to all patriots that the struggle in America between liberty and tyranny has been an ongoing battle. The Founders of America were triumphant in their war against the tyranny of the English King, George III. Will the patriots of today be equally triumphant?Will liberty prevail? The tyranny of today brought on by massive government growth and spending both federal, state and even county and city has exploded into a heavy burden that founder Thomas Jefferson warned against,"Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work to give to those who are not."I believe, as most others believe, that government has a vital role to play in civilized society. However, I also believe there is a Constitutional limit to the role government should participate in our lives. Ronald Reagan said it best, "Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem." This quote lies at the core of the fundamental battle being waged in America today. The Liberal or Progressive Democrat believes that governments role includes solving all of societies inequalities. While the Conservative Republican believes less government and private industry can best provide the foundation for our success. The Tea Party movement has established itself on the belief that both parties promote larger government and more spending. These American patriots believe, as I do, that less government is good government.I agree with what Dennis Prager has often said on his radio program, "The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." How can government continue to grow and grow and spend and spend and not become more a part of our lives? How can the citizen that is dependent on government for "the pursuit of happiness" not be made smaller. Remember, "A government big enough to provide you everything is big enough to take everything."

Legendary director, actor, author, and provocateur Werner Herzog has incalculably influenced contemporary cinema for decades. Until now there has been no sustained effort to gather and present a variety of diverse philosophical approaches to his films and to the thinking behind their creation. The Philosophy of Werner Herzog, edited by M. Blake Wilson and Christopher Turner, collects fourteen essays by professional philosophers and film theorists from around the globe, who explore the famed German auteur's notions of "ecstatic truth" as opposed to "accountants' truth," his conception of nature and its penchant for "overwhelming and collective murder," his controversial film production techniques, his debts to his philosophical and aesthetic forebears, and finally, his pointed objections to his would-be critics--including, among others, the contributors to this book themselves. By probing how Herzog's thinking behind the camera is revealed in the action he captures in front of it, The Philosophy of Werner Herzog shines new light upon the images and dialog we see and hear on the screen by enriching our appreciation of a prolific--yet enigmatic--film artist.

Better Hearing with Cochlear Implants provides a comprehensive account of a decades-long research effort to improve cochlear implants (CIs). The research was conducted primarily at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in North Carolina, USA, and the results provided key pillars in the foundation for the present-day devices. Although many of these results were reported in journal articles and other publications, many others were only reported in Quarterly and Final Progress Reports for the National Institutes of Health, which supported the RTI effort. In addition, the Progress Reports provided details that could not be included in the publications. The book is an annotated compilation of the most important sections from the most important reports that gives readers access to previously unpublished data and also a broad and logically organized overview of the research. Four main sections are included to describe the major lines of investigation: design and evaluation of novel processing strategies; electrical stimulation on both sides with CIs; combined electric and acoustic stimulation of the auditory system; and representations of temporal information with CIs.Large advances were made in each of these areas, and readers will appreciate the significance of the research and how the different areas related to each other. Each main section includes an introduction by the authors followed by two or more chapters, and the first chapter in the book describes the work conducted at the RTI in the context of the multiple other efforts worldwide. The book may be used as a primary text on CIs, and it can serve as a multifaceted reference for physicians, audiologists, neuroscientists, designers of neural prostheses, and scientists and other specialists whose work is aimed at the remediation of hearing loss. In all, a fascinating history is presented, which began with little or no speech recognition with CIs for any user and ended with high levels of speech recognition for the great majority of users, including the ability to converse with ease via cell phones. This is a long trip in a short time, and historians of science and technological developments will be interested in knowing how such a rapid development was possible, and about the twists and turns on the way to the destination.

For all that has been written about Renaissance Florence we know relatively little about its musical life, its religious life, and the aspirations of its average citizens. This book contributes significantly to all understanding of all of these by documenting and interpreting the corporate patronage of an important Florentine musical repertory over a period of some 200 years. From the late thirteenth to the early sixteenth centuries at least twelve lay confraternities sponsored a widespread musical activity involving a specialized network of singers and instrumentalists. The meticulous records kept by these companies reveal a wealth of information about the musicians' conditions and patterns of activity, the central role of music in the companies' vernacular liturgy (especially as conditioned by bequests), and vital performance practice issues such as the role of instruments in vocal performance, the shift from monophonic to polyphonic practice, and the interaction of written and unwritten musical traditions. Because the companies were, in many respects, both a microcosm and characteristic manifestation of this remarkable Renaissance city, the author also seeks to explain how mendicant spirituality, guild society, and devotional images and imagination provide the essential context for understanding the function and significance of laudesi practice and repertoire. This book well be welcomed not only by musicologists, but by Italianists and late medieval and early modern scholars in general.