Research in the field of keyboard studies, especially when intimately connected with issues of performance, is often concerned with the immediate working environments and practices of musicians of the past. An important pedagogical tool, the keyboard has served as the 'workbench' of countless musicians over the centuries. In the process it has shaped the ways in which many historical musicians achieved their aspirations and went about meeting creative challenges. In recent decades interest has turned towards a contextualized understanding of creative processes in music, and keyboard studies appears well placed to contribute to the exploration of this wider concern. The nineteen essays collected here encompass the range of research in the field, bringing together contributions from performers, organologists and music historians. Questions relevant to issues of creative practice in various historical contexts, and of interpretative issues faced today, form a guiding thread. Its scope is wide-ranging, with contributions covering the mid-sixteenth to early twentieth century. It is also inclusive, encompassing the diverse range of approaches to the field of contemporary keyboard studies. Collectively the essays form a survey of the ways in which the study of keyboard performance can enrich our understanding of musical life in a given period.

Research in the field of keyboard studies, especially when intimately connected with issues of performance, is often concerned with the immediate working environments and practices of musicians of the past. An important pedagogical tool, the keyboard has served as the 'workbench' of countless musicians over the centuries. In the process it has shaped the ways in which many historical musicians achieved their aspirations and went about meeting creative challenges. In recent decades interest has turned towards a contextualized understanding of creative processes in music, and keyboard studies appears well placed to contribute to the exploration of this wider concern. The nineteen essays collected here encompass the range of research in the field, bringing together contributions from performers, organologists and music historians. Questions relevant to issues of creative practice in various historical contexts, and of interpretative issues faced today, form a guiding thread. Its scope is wide-ranging, with contributions covering the mid-sixteenth to early twentieth century. It is also inclusive, encompassing the diverse range of approaches to the field of contemporary keyboard studies. Collectively the essays form a survey of the ways in which the study of keyboard performance can enrich our understanding of musical life in a given period.

When all your friends tell you you are good enough to join the band in town, then they must be right, mustn't they - even if you are an elephant?

A disc falls from the sky and, in Africa, a boy, Kofi, is born. On the very same day, in America another boy is born. His name is Jesse. These two are destined to meet and forge a friendship that will shake the world. Kofi is keeper of the disc, but only when he and Jesse meet are they able to begin their quest to unlock the earth-changing powers hidden in it. Their quest leads them to all corners of the world and into the most astounding of adventures.

There is a dark secret haunting the Sharpe family. They are strange and remote, and when Stephanie Topham is told she must work with Nicola Sharpe in a science project at school, she is horrified. As part of their project, they have to make a pinhole camera. But when they take a photo with the camera, there is a ghost-like figure in their picture. This figure becomes a key to opening up Nicola Sharpe and revealing the secrets of her family. Through a series of appearances in various photos the ghost directs Nicola and Stephanie into a past that is full of revelations, twists and surprises. Some are painful, some tear at the fabric of the Sharpe family. But the unraveling of Nicola's past is the saving of the Sharpes, and, in a final twist it gives Nicola something more amazing than anything she has ever dared contemplate, even in her deepest dreams. 'John Kitchen creates a great plotline with Nicola's Ghost, a story with a twist for pre-teens ... a good book. One I will be giving my daughter to read.' Reader's review - The Self Publishing Magazine.

Lloyd Lewis is moving to yet another children's home, but this one is different. It seems to be cast in an unremitting, sunless winter. The staff and children are surly and aggressive, and he soon discovers why: Sarson Hall is gripped in a curse. There are poltergeists creating constant disruptions and, in the cellar, a terrifying ghost. Lloyd's survival has always depended on his fighting spirit, and he setsaboutconfronting the mayhemsurroundinghim. In his quest to remove the curse, he finds he possesses a rare power, which leads him to link what is happening to a nearby ravaged stone circle. But can he do anything to remove the curse from Sarson Hall, and can he bring peace once more to the old building and its occupants?

Medieval lives of female saints have attracted wide attention in recent years. Some scholars have argued that such texts reveal a distinctive form of female sanctity which only female hagiographers managed to properly articulate, and important writings have been attributed to female authors on that assumption. In this revisionist work, John Kitchen tests such claims through a close examination of several texts--lives of both male and female saints, by authors of both sexes--from sixth century France. He argues that sometimes the "authentic voice" of the female writer or saint sounds emphatically male. This study gives examples of how both male and female authors sometimes depicted holy women talking, acting, or even dressing like their male counterparts. Ultimately, the author aims to cast doubt on the assumption that male authors were ignorant of or hostile toward certain--specifically female--concerns. By the same token, Kitchen's work raises serious methodological problems with the gender approach to the hagiographic literature of the early Middle Ages.