Introduction. How this book is organized ; Instruments covered ; Working with percussionists ; Location specifics ; The value of not reading this book.
Designed as a core text for college level courses in percussion methods and pedagogy, Teaching Percussion is a comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to teaching methodology and performance techniques. Now updated, Teaching Percussion helps students and performers develop musical understanding and performance skills on some fifty percussion instruments. The Second Edition includes coverage of new developments in world music instruments and performance. In addition, Norman Weinberg, cofounder of the PAS World Percussion Network, has contributed a discussion of electronic percussion and new technology. The outstanding exercises, musical examples, photographs, illustrations, practical advice, and bibliographies - popular features in the first edition - have been retained and enhanced. Teaching Percussion, Second Edition, is an invaluable resource for students, faculty, and performers alike.
Offering the broadest review of psychological perspectives on human expertise to date, this volume covers behavioral, computational, neural, and genetic approaches to understanding complex skill. The chapters show how performance in music, the arts, sports, games, medicine, and other domains reflects basic traits such as personality and intelligence, as well as knowledge and skills acquired through training. In doing so, this book moves the field of expertise beyond the duality of "nature vs. nurture" toward an integrative understanding of complex skill. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and students interested in expertise, and for professionals seeking current reviews of psychological research on expertise.
Over three decades, Paul Griffiths's survey has remained the definitive study of music since the Second World War; this fully revised and updated edition re-establishes Modern Music and After as the preeminent introduction to the music of our time. The disruptions of the war, and the struggles of the ensuing peace, were reflected in the music of the time: in Pierre Boulez's radical reformation of compositional technique and in John Cage's development of zen music; in Milton Babbitt's settling of the serial system and in Dmitry Shostakovich's unsettling symphonies; in Karlheinz Stockhausen's development of electronic music and in Luigi Nono's pursuit of the universally human, in Iannis Xenakis's view of music as sounding mathematics and in Luciano Berio's consideration of it as language. The initiatives of these composers and their contemporaries opened prospects that haven't yet stopped unfolding. This constant expansion of musical thinking since 1945 has left us with no singular history of music; Griffiths's study accordingly follows several different paths, showing how and why they converge and diverge. This new edition of Modern Music and After discusses not only the music of the fifteen years that have passed since the previous edition, but also the recent explosion of scholarly interest in the latter half of the twentieth century. In particular, the book has been expanded to incorporate the variety of responses to the modernist impasse experienced by composers of the 1980s and 1990s. Griffiths then moves the book into the twenty-first century as he examines such highly influential composers as Helmut Lachenmann and Salvatore Sciarrino. For its breadth, wealth of detail, and characteristic wit and clarity, the third edition of Modern Music and After is required reading for the student and the enquiring listener.
This volume represents a unique iconographical and documentary history of the timpani. Combining a wealth of pictorial material with extensive written sources, it offers a rich and comprehensive survey of the instrument's history from the middle ages to the present. And in so doing it fills a gap of long standing in the published literature of kettledrums by providing for the first time a combination of visual and descriptive evidence. Presented here is a wide-ranging pictorial lode drawn from a variety of sources-for example, astronomical clocks with their instrumental automata; paintings; baroque organ cases topped by angel-musicians;engravings from books describing court festivals; prints and drawings; decorative etched glassware and inlaid tables; wood carvings; and photographs. Written references reflect a wide and fascinating panoply of descriptions concerning the construction, musical contexts and performance techniques of the timpani-for example, eyewitness accounts chronicling the role of instruments at various historical events; archival documents dealing with payments to musicians or the make-up of instrumental ensembles; regulations concerning court musicians; and even patent specifications. In addition, a prefatory chapter presents a detailed, succinct overview of the history, orchestral role and performance practices of the timpani, including numerous illustrative musical examples. A chart depicting representative milestones in the music for kettledrums highlights such works as the first published opera featuring timpani, the first major composition for two pairs of drums, music with unusual tunings, very high or very low notes demanding unusually small or large instruments, unique playing techniques, such as using the fingers, coins, a wire brush, etc., and the key examples of music requiring multiple timpani and two or more players in various configurations. In short, The Timpani: A History in Pictures and Documents is a fascinating and most unusual book of interest not only to performing musicians, teachers and scholars alike, but one which provides the general reader or music-lover with a glimpse into the world of a hitherto neglected musical instrument.
Materials and Techniques of Post-Tonal Music, Fifth Edition provides the most comprehensive introduction to post-tonal music and its analysis available. Covering music from the end of the nineteenth century through the beginning of the twenty-first, it offers students a clear guide to understanding the diverse and innovative compositional strategies that emerged in the post-tonal era, from Impressionism to computer music. This updated fifth edition features: chapters revised throughout to include new examples from recent music and insights from the latest scholarship; the introduction of several new concepts and topics, including parsimonius voice-leading, scalar transformations, the New Complexity, and set theory in less chromatic contexts; expanded discussions of spectralism and electronic music; timelines in each chapter, grounding the music discussed in its chronological context; a companion website that provides students with links to recordings of musical examples discussed in the text and provides instructors with an instructor’s manual that covers all of the exercises in each chapter. Offering accessible explanations of complex concepts, Materials and Techniques of Post-Tonal Music, Fifth Edition is an essential text for all students of post-tonal music theory.
All 26 of the Standard American Drum Rudiments, their variations and a number of compound rudiments are used here to establish the countless possibilities which present themselves within the bounds of the drumming rudiments. The interesting library contains titles such as: * Stomping Through the Bar Line * Gingersnap * Ruffing Up a Storm * No Left Flam 6/8
In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art—a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. The Piatti filled sacred spaces, such as the Santa Cueva de Cádiz, with its incomparable voice. It also spent time in more profane places, including New York City bars, where it served as a guarantee for unpaid liquor tabs. The Piatti narrowly escaped Nazi Germany in 1935 and was once even left lying in the street all night. In 1978, the Piatti became the musical soul mate of world-renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, with whom it has given concerts around the world. In this delightful book, Mr. Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his beloved "Cello Prieto," tracing its history through each of its previous owners from Stradivari in 1720 to himself. He then describes his noteworthy experiences of playing the Piatti cello, with which he has premiered some eighty compositions. In this part of their mutual story, Prieto gives a concise summary of his own remarkable career and his relationships with many illustrious personalities, including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriel García Márquez. To make the story of his cello complete, Mr. Prieto also provides a brief history of violin making and a succinct review of cello music from Stradivari to the present. He highlights the work of composers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, for whose music he has long been an advocate and principal performer. Thus,The Adventures of a Cellooffers not only the first biography of a musical instrument but also an inviting overview of cello music and its preeminent composers and performers.