School and Amateur Orchestras is devoted to a discussion of school and amateur orchestras and consideration of instruments that are normally associated with them. The book opens with a general discussion of students, teachers, music centers, and junior music schools. This is followed by separate chapters on the teaching of string, woodwind and brass, and percussion instruments. Subsequent chapters deal with the planning and direction of orchestras and the selection of instruments and music.
Accessible Orchestral Repertoire is a reference volume for conductors who lead non-professional symphonic orchestras, offering practical and insightful commentary on music appropriate for intermediate and advanced youth, community, and collegiate orchestras. Modeled on and complimentary to Daniels’ Orchestral Music, it is a repertoire and programming resource for youth, academic, and community orchestras. The works included in this book are a combination of well-known warhorses and lesser known gems—clear favorites for young or amateur players and as well as more challenging pieces. Functioning like an annotated bibliography, entries on individual works include information about the composer, instrumentation, movement length, and publisher. Each entry also features notes regarding the particular pedagogical, stylistic, logistical, and technical strengths and challenges of the specific work. Accessible Orchestral Repertoire will help every conductor in the process of selecting repertoire that will both feature and enrich any individual non-professional ensemble for which thoughtful and strategic programming is required.
The collection includes exclusive, one-on-one interviews conducted over the past six years with 27 of today's best-known violinists (plus one conductor/composer): Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, David Garrett, Anne Akiko Meyers, Ruggiero Ricci, Maxim Vengerov, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, Rachel Barton Pine, Nicola Benedetti, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Zachary DePue, James Ehnes, Simon Fischer, Augustin Hadelich, Janine Jansen, Leila Josefowicz and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Quint, Tasmin Little, Elmar Oliveira, Stanley Ritchie, Lara St. John, Philip Setzer, Clara-Jumi Kang and Judy Kang. It's a celebration of one of the world's most enduring instruments, and the people who are helping carry forth the violin's legacy into a new generation. "The Violinist.com Interviews: Volume 1" includes a foreword by Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, who writes, "Laurie addresses topics that are comfortable but all-consuming, such as current projects, and delves into the delicate nuances of creativity. She captures specific moments in time. I love that. In this collection, you can observe her at work, but you will also travel along with her interview subjects."
The memoir that inspired the two-time Golden Globe Award–winning comedy series: “Funny . . . heartbreaking . . . [and] utterly absorbing” (Lee Smith, New York Times–bestselling author of Guests on Earth). Oboist Blair Tindall recounts her decades-long professional career as a classical musician—from the recitals and Broadway orchestra performances to the secret life of musicians who survive hand to mouth in the backbiting New York classical music scene, where musicians trade sexual favors for plum jobs and assignments in orchestras across the city. Tindall and her fellow journeymen musicians often play drunk, high, or hopelessly hungover, live in decrepit apartments, and perform in hazardous conditions—working-class musicians who schlep across the city between low-paying gigs, without health-care benefits or retirement plans, a stark contrast to the rarefied experiences of overpaid classical musician superstars. An incisive, no-holds-barred account, Mozart in the Jungle is the first true, behind-the-scenes look at what goes on backstage and in the orchestra pit. The book that inspired the Amazon Original series starring Gael García Bernal and Lola Kirke, this is “a fresh, highly readable and caustic perspective on an overglamorized world” (Publishers Weekly).
The Listening Book is about rediscovering the power of listening as an instrument of self-discovery and personal transformation. By exploring our capacity for listening to sounds and for making music, we can awaken and release our full creative powers. Mathieu offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects of music-making, and provides playful exercises to help readers appreciate the connection between sound, music, and everyday life.
"Violinist.com Interviews, Volume 2" features exclusive, one-on-one interviews conducted over the last six years with 26 of today's best-known violinists: Midori Goto, Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, James Ehnes, Rachel Barton Pine, Augustin Hadelich, Ray Chen, Tai Murray, Anne Akiko Meyers, Julian Rachlin, Aaron Rosand, Daniel Heifetz, Jennifer Koh, Philippe Quint, Daniel Hope, Lindsey Stirling, Alexander Markov, Frank Almond, Nathan Cole, Deborah Borda, Daishin Kashimoto, Rachel Podger, Jinjoo Cho, Terry Borman, Ning Feng, Mayu Kishima and Vera Tsu Weiling. Laurie Niles' in-depth interviews paint a wide-ranging picture of the various lives of a diverse group of violinists from four continents, including soloists, orchestra leaders, a baroque specialist, an orchestra CEO, a pop culture phenomenon and even a seasoned violin-maker. "Laurie has done an astonishing job of capturing each person's voice and personality," writes the award-winning violin soloist and recording artist Rachel Barton Pine in her foreword. "The story of the violin is still being written. Laurie Niles, with this volume of interviews, makes a remarkable contribution to our shared history."
In a cluttered room in an abandoned coat factory in lower Manhattan, a group of musicians comes together each week to make music. Some are old, some are young, all have come late to music or come back to it after a long absence. This is the Late Starters Orchestra--the bona fide amateur string orchestra where Ari Goldman pursues his lifelong dream of playing the cello. Goldman hadn’t seriously picked up his cello in twenty-five years, but the Late Starters (its motto, If you think you can play, you can) seemed just the right orchestra for this music lover whose busy life had always gotten in the way of its pursuit. In The Late Starters Orchestra, Goldman takes us along to LSO rehearsals and lets us sit in on his son’s Suzuki lessons, where we find out that children do indeed learn differently from adults. He explores history’s greatest cellists and also attempts to understand what motivates his fellow late starters, amateurs all, whose quest is for joy, not greatness. And when Goldman commits to playing at his upcoming birthday party we wonder with him whether he’ll be good enough to perform in public. To the rescue comes the ghost of Goldman’s first cello teacher, the wise and eccentric Mr. J, who continues to inspire and guide him--about music and more--through this well-tuned journey. With enchanting illustrations by Eric Hanson, The Late Starters Orchestra is about teachers and students, fathers and sons, courage and creativity, individual perseverance and the power of community. And Ari Goldman has a message for anyone who has ever had a dream deferred: it’s never too late to find happiness on one’s own terms.
Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education presents teaching methods that are responsive to how different culturally specific knowledge bases impact learning. It is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. Designed to be a supplementary resource for teachers of undergraduate and graduate music education courses, the book provides examples in the context of music education, with theories presented in Section I and a review of teaching applications in Section II. Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education is an effort to answer the question: How can I teach music to my students in a way that is culturally responsive? This book serves several purposes, by: • Offering theoretical/philosophical frameworks of social justice • Providing practical examples of transferring theory into practice in music education • Illustrating culturally responsive pedagogy within the classroom • Demonstrating the connection of culturally responsive teaching to the school and larger community