Axel Crochet, peripatetic professor of music history, nurtures a youthful enthusiasm that he passes on to his students. His passion for music is obvious- and his disdain for university politics is evident as his work leads him from college to college.

Abby Fox, a music major at an exclusive women's college where Axel temporarily teaches, commits suicide after her father dies. But after Axel's other students persuade him that Abby would not have taken her own life, Axel begins an investigation that soon implies she may have been murdered. As a visiting scholar at Magnolia University, Axel is unexpectedly embroiled in another case when one of his classmates dies in an accident and he takes possession of her computer-a decision that leads him into a struggle with a computer genius. As a visiting professor at Frangipani University, Axel discovers his life mirrors that of Faust when the death of a stage director draws him into a maelstrom of jealousy and violence in the world's largest school of music.

In this intriguing collection of novellas, Axel Crochet's love of musicology leads him straight into unintended interludes with killers, danger, and intrigue as he attempts to solve a trio of murder investigations.

"New Quarter Note Tales" presents a collection of three new novellas featuring Axel Crochet, peripatetic professor of music history.

"A Faculty Affair"-As the new professor of musicology at Rochambeau's Fleur de Lis University, Axel stumbles upon a colossal cover-up when he discovers a letter suggesting that the efforts of his predecessor to move the School of Music from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Letters may have had fatal consequences. "The Music Man Mystery"-As director of a production of The Music Man in Rochambeau, Quebec, Axel has to make changes when the leading man dies a few days before the performance. Although the police rule it an accident, cast members mutter about suicide. Then, some information suddenly appears that makes murder seem much more likely.

"Fire and Ice"-When fire breaks out at the tiny Galton School, claiming the life of one of its students, suspicion falls on a known pyromaniac. Then, the bursar breaks her neck on the icy front steps. Axel, the school's music director, discovers financial records-stuffed inside a hymnal and concealed in the chapel piano-indicating that these accidents may have been murder.

Once again Axel Crochet, bearded musicologist-at-large, stumbles into murderous intrigue amid church politics and academic amphigory, where tempers run so high because the stakes are so low.

In "Cat's Paw," Axel is convinced by a colleague at Pittsburgh's Monongahela University to investigate the sudden death of the university organist, putting both his academic position and his life in jeopardy. In "The Carcassonne Codex," Axel attends a professional meeting in Minneapolis. He soon finds himself thrust in the middle of a murderous plot after he is handed a pill bottle by a hotel housemaid and becomes suspicious about the death of a noted medievalist. In "If Thine Eye Offend Thee," Axel begins a new position as music director at a wealthy church where abuses by the rector have alienated the congregation and evoked calls for his removal. Axel encounters a warm welcome from the choir, but hostility from the sinister senior warden.

In this trilogy of murder mysteries, a curious musicologist with a propensity for attracting mayhem must overcome professional jealousies, evil plots and bizarre chains of events.

Camerata: A Guide to Organizing and Directing Small Choruses distinguishes itself from all other works on choral conducting by starting at the very beginning the conception and purpose of an ensemble and continuing through all other aspects of rehearsing and organizing a chorus to performance and reception. Wenk offers basic information on getting started, recruiting singers, planning programs, rehearsing music, publicizing concerts, sharing responsibilities, financing the operation, knowing the law, and finally getting better. He also offers detailed suggestions for creating an executive group to manage the choir as well ideas for repertoire and programming. In addition to a step-by-step guide, Camerata provides a wealth of supplementary material including a prospectus, a statement of goals and means, programs, organizational documents, a singer s guide, documents for organizing a folksong competition, a list of websites for publishers and choral federations, and an annotated bibliography of works on choral conducting. Wenk also includes more than twenty original Christmas carols and carol arrangements for performance by your small chorus. This work will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in starting a new choral organization or improving an existing ensemble. Although the book focuses on chamber choirs, Wenk s practical suggestions, based on more than forty years of experience as a choral conductor, can be easily applied to any choral organization."

Camerata: A Guide to Organizing and Directing Small Choruses distinguishes itself from all other works on choral conducting by starting at the very beginning the conception and purpose of an ensemble and continuing through all other aspects of rehearsing and organizing a chorus to performance and reception. Wenk offers basic information on getting started, recruiting singers, planning programs, rehearsing music, publicizing concerts, sharing responsibilities, financing the operation, knowing the law, and finally getting better. He also offers detailed suggestions for creating an executive group to manage the choir as well ideas for repertoire and programming. In addition to a step-by-step guide, Camerata provides a wealth of supplementary material including a prospectus, a statement of goals and means, programs, organizational documents, a singer s guide, documents for organizing a folksong competition, a list of websites for publishers and choral federations, and an annotated bibliography of works on choral conducting. Wenk also includes more than twenty original Christmas carols and carol arrangements for performance by your small chorus. This work will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in starting a new choral organization or improving an existing ensemble. Although the book focuses on chamber choirs, Wenk s practical suggestions, based on more than forty years of experience as a choral conductor, can be easily applied to any choral organization."

Once again Axel Crochet, bearded musicologist-at-large, stumbles into murderous intrigue amid church politics and academic amphigory, where tempers run so high because the stakes are so low.

In "Cat's Paw," Axel is convinced by a colleague at Pittsburgh's Monongahela University to investigate the sudden death of the university organist, putting both his academic position and his life in jeopardy. In "The Carcassonne Codex," Axel attends a professional meeting in Minneapolis. He soon finds himself thrust in the middle of a murderous plot after he is handed a pill bottle by a hotel housemaid and becomes suspicious about the death of a noted medievalist. In "If Thine Eye Offend Thee," Axel begins a new position as music director at a wealthy church where abuses by the rector have alienated the congregation and evoked calls for his removal. Axel encounters a warm welcome from the choir, but hostility from the sinister senior warden.

In this trilogy of murder mysteries, a curious musicologist with a propensity for attracting mayhem must overcome professional jealousies, evil plots and bizarre chains of events.

Axel Crochet, peripatetic professor of music history, nurtures a youthful enthusiasm that he passes on to his students. His passion for music is obvious- and his disdain for university politics is evident as his work leads him from college to college.

Abby Fox, a music major at an exclusive women's college where Axel temporarily teaches, commits suicide after her father dies. But after Axel's other students persuade him that Abby would not have taken her own life, Axel begins an investigation that soon implies she may have been murdered. As a visiting scholar at Magnolia University, Axel is unexpectedly embroiled in another case when one of his classmates dies in an accident and he takes possession of her computer-a decision that leads him into a struggle with a computer genius. As a visiting professor at Frangipani University, Axel discovers his life mirrors that of Faust when the death of a stage director draws him into a maelstrom of jealousy and violence in the world's largest school of music.

In this intriguing collection of novellas, Axel Crochet's love of musicology leads him straight into unintended interludes with killers, danger, and intrigue as he attempts to solve a trio of murder investigations.

"New Quarter Note Tales" presents a collection of three new novellas featuring Axel Crochet, peripatetic professor of music history.

"A Faculty Affair"-As the new professor of musicology at Rochambeau's Fleur de Lis University, Axel stumbles upon a colossal cover-up when he discovers a letter suggesting that the efforts of his predecessor to move the School of Music from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Letters may have had fatal consequences. "The Music Man Mystery"-As director of a production of The Music Man in Rochambeau, Quebec, Axel has to make changes when the leading man dies a few days before the performance. Although the police rule it an accident, cast members mutter about suicide. Then, some information suddenly appears that makes murder seem much more likely.

"Fire and Ice"-When fire breaks out at the tiny Galton School, claiming the life of one of its students, suspicion falls on a known pyromaniac. Then, the bursar breaks her neck on the icy front steps. Axel, the school's music director, discovers financial records-stuffed inside a hymnal and concealed in the chapel piano-indicating that these accidents may have been murder.