MSCI

Mr. Cooper has done what so few have done in teaching us to play fiddle. He has progressively placed each tune from simple to moderately complex, beginning to end, through the book. But the best of this book is the (optional) two CD version which has him starting at a very easy pace for beginners. Toward the end of CD #2 he is playing at a faster but still followable pace for the student to grasp. Most accompanying CDs are an "Ain't I great?" show of the author's abilities. Instead, Peter Cooper puts away his ego and steps you through how to perform a finger a roll or a slur the Irish way.

I love this book. It gave me the ability to join in at many local sessions with confidence.

This is an excellent intro to Irish fiddling, especially for total beginners to Irish Music. Pete Cooper's lesson plans methodically and skillfully walk you from the very beginning concepts of bowing through to the more advanced forms of ornamentation that are so critical to the "irish" style.

Newbies like me are eager not only to learn the basics, but also to learn great tunes that are likely to come up during the Irish music sessions at the local pub, and all of the tunes Cooper uses in his lessons are core tunes that are session favorites. So when you've walked through his lessons, you're also ready to play a more than a few of the tunes that are likely to be played at a session.

Cooper does an excellent job explaining how to play jigs, reels, hornpipes, slides, mazurkas and polkas, each with their distinctive irish "feel". He also includes an excellent discography...suggested CDs for further study of tunes and playing style.

As an Irish tin whistle player, I can say that Cooper's book for the fiddle does a better job of conveying the basics of irish music than anything else I've seen, including numerous tutorials for other instruments such as tin whistle, and in fact its even helped me improve my style on the tin whistle.

I wish I knew how to get the CD that supposedly accompanies this book. The only other possible "down side" is that he assumes you know how to read music and how to play the notes on your violin...he's showing you how to play it Irish, so if you are a total and complete beginner to the violin you'll need a basic violin book too.

My hat's off to Peter Cooper! This book is masterfully organized for the experienced player or the novice - starting with the simple tunes to the more complex.

As an experienced classical violinist, I've found this book (and CD) perfect to explain the different nuances between Irish fiddling and classical technique. Just a few quick pages of reading and you're off and running for hours of fulfilling Irish tunes!

And whether you're the type that likes a little background on the origin of the tunes or the theory of modal Irish music, it's all there! This is a must-have for all aspiring Irish fiddlers!

In 1977 I went to my local music store and purchased this book. My dream was to be the best bass player in my town, and with the help of this book I achieved this dream. This book stressed the proper way to put your hands on the instrument and excellent drills and scales will give you a solid foundation to work from.I highly recommend it.

When I bought my first electric bass guitar I sorted through hundreds of instructional books, looking for the right one for me. When I finally asked some expirenced bassist' they all recommended this book. If you are looking for a easy-to-follow book with lots of practice tunes, and if you have little or no musical expirence then GET THIS BOOK NOW!

This is an asy to understand book for bigning Bass players. It helped me alot!

this is really cool a book that covers early MJ&His Career&whatnot.this Book does a Great job of refelcting on the artistic side of MJ&going over His work.also a Great reflection on Jermaine,Tito,Marlon,Jackie&later Randy.it's about time the real reason why people got into MJ is mentioned&showcased fr more here with this book.

Any fan of Michael of any age is perfect for this book. Full of very rare stories of each album, and photos. Pure heart and soul of one man from a child to growing, but fully grown. Get a view of Michael we don't ever see anymore. From the J5 to solo with his bros, to acting as a man of his own in Epic. A true and beautiful book.

Michael Joseph Jackson has made milions smile with his voice, passion and love, but what a lot of people don't know is where his roots of love come from. Michael is a man of soul, way back with the legendary Jackson 5.
With the book MJ The Early Years, it captavates Michael from way before Steeltown, to Steeltown, Motown, Jackson's, and every album and song that help led up to who Michael is today. Many unheard of people are discovered in this amazing book. I urge you to give it a try! You will love it, and most of all: It will place you in a state of shock!

I am using this book for my masters thesis and I must say that I am very pleased. Ms. Southern did an excellent job researching the subject and the book is put together well. There is so much information involved!!! She starts from the VERY beginning and smoothly takes you through the ride of African-American music. Each section is very thorough. This text is perfect for anyone who is researching the subject or just wants to gain knowledge on this rich music. A+++

Book was in mint condition! I was completely satisfied.
Kimberly :-)

Cosa consigliare ad un appassionato di musica afro-americana che, conoscendo un po' di inglese, decidesse di leggere qualcosa per cui valga veramente la pena di fare un po' di fatica?
Personalmente non avrei molti dubbi: credo che l'opera più completa che esiste sul mercato e che associa alla competenza una buona leggibilità anche per chi non è di madre lingua sia proprio questo.
Eileen Southern è Professor Emerita di Musica e Studi Afro-americani alla Harvard University di Boston, fondatrice ed editrice della rivista The Black Perspective in Music, che è stata pubblicata dal 1973 al 1990, e autrice, coautrice ed editrice di numerosi volumi sulla musica e la cultura afroamericana.
Il libro in questione, di 678 pagine, ripercorre tutta la storia della musica afroamericana dalle origini (1619) fino all'ultimo decennio del XX secolo. L'opera è suddivisa in 14 capitoli ed è completata con un'accurata bibliografia e discografia e un indice dei nomi e dei temi.
Il linguaggio è piano e comprensibile anche a chi non abbia una quotidiana familiarità con l'americano scritto.
Il libro della Southern affronta tutti i diversi generi musicali dei neri americani, dal canto in congregazione alla musica urbana del primo ottocento, dai worksongs ai traveling road shows, dal blues al ragtime, ecc..
Il taglio critico trasversale, che analizza l'emergere della musica nera all'interno della più ampia realtà sociologica e culturale dell'America Settentrionale, consente di cogliere con chiarezza le fasi dell'evolversi della cultura afroamericana, non solo musicale. Si tratta di un'opera più descrittiva che interpretativa, in tal senso più adatta a chi, volendo avviare la propria conoscenza del fenomeno musicale afroamericano, non è interessato all'analisi del significato profondo della musica e dei testi e a conoscere i diversi modelli interpretativi proposti dagli studiosi.
Fondamentale!

The many new singing english translations are exceptional, A great addition to the Christmas repetoire.

I often play for multi-ethnic groups,this book enables me to taylor- make each performance. It contains music not only from almost every European country, but some unusual gems from South America, China, the Philippines and Japan.

The Christmas and Holiday songs in this book include those that we would all like to play but that most of us are unable to. This "fake" book provides a system whereby ordinary people who love this music but who have not had the musical training that they might wish they had, can play them too. The sound of these arrangements is unusually lush and authentic for arrangements of this kind. The book also contains pieces less commonly included in popular books of this kind, such as the hauntingly beautful Huron Carol, well known to Canadians such as myself but possibly less well known in other countries. Even if this were the only piece in this book, it would be well worth purchasing. In fact it contains a large selection of holiday songs.

Much like any tablature book on the market, you have to take the info within the book with a grain of salt.
These tabs are not transcribed by the actual musicians, but by people trying to figure out the easiest way to play these songs.
With that in mind - upon viewing the S&M video, I discovered that "The Thing that Should Not Be" is not in drop-D tuning as the book says, but rather in standard tuning tuned down a whole step (much like "Sad but True" or "Whiskey in the Jar" or "Sabbra Cadabra")- as far as I can tell, the only Drop-D tuning song that the mighty metallica does is "-human" from the afore-mentioned S&M.
these books are great to help you through trouble spots when you are trying to figure out certain difficult passages, but nothing beats figuring it out for yourself.
Still... could not have figured out some of the parts from this momentous album without the help of this book (especially considering what a novice I was when I first bought this - remember kids - downstrokes only... otherwise you won't be as cool as your Uncle James)

The Master tab book is definitely a must-buy for not only the avid Metallica muso-fan, but for those wishing to upskill themselves in various guitar techniques.

As mentioned elsewhere, take all tabs with a grain of salt, however, the solos are a near-enough note-by-note transcription and each riff is intricately tabbed to include even the most subtle of variations.

Includes a very well-written introduction, outlining some very important and helpful tips to assist you in your mastery of one of Metllica's finest albums.

In a one-line verdict: A definite must-have, even as a collector's item!

Sometimes, you can find tablature on the net that isn't always accurate, but you know that these cherry lane books are gonna sound right, cause they are!

This certainly is the book to get the low-down on contemporary music. However, here a few points of interest:

Firstly, I think the most glaring omission is Louis Andriessen, who not only co-wrote The Apollonian Clockwork, but has also composed some of the most important and exciting non-Webernian music around. What is especially important about Andriessen is that his own 'minimal' style is fully aware of the Modernist heritage at the same time as it critiques or refutes it, as oppoesed to others who just dismiss it outright and have no real understanding of post-Webernian serialism. Also, Andriessen's continuing political ideals make him an interesting study in current musico-poltical relations (now that most are dead: Nono, Cardew; or just write rubbish: Henze).

In fact, while I am no authority on comtemporary Dutch music, I certainly know no more about it through reading this book. Which brings me to my second point: the Anglo-West Europe-American-centricity.

Not only does he leave out the Netherlands, Finland, Scandinavia, South America, as well as the bizarre history of post-war Polish music, but also Australia and (South East) Asia. Now while I am no doubt partisan, his only mention of Australia is one line about the Elision Ensemble in relation to Richard Barrett, Chris Dench, and Finnissy. I think Australia has some of the best composers anywhere (Liza Lim, for instance), writing from a variety of perspectives and a fuller account of these

place-specific musics would have interesting, for instance examination of Australia's liminal position between Europe and Asia and how that affects attitudes to composition.

While his bit on Part is a witty piece of pomo gaming, he sometimes trips himself up in his pomo considerations (as other reviewers have pointed out): for instance, he says that the postmodern condition entails the loss (both through desire and circumstance) of the dominant-central figures crucial to the Modernist project (eg. Boulez) because there are now 'many streams' instead of a river, but he then later complains that no new 'Generals' have stood up to replace the these old ones in terms of central importance to the musical world. In this way, he doesn't really trace many new paths in his last section, but simply rings up his old mates (Boulez, Birtwistle, Berio, Stockhausen, Ligeti, etc) and asks them what they've been up to recently. But, then again, that is really what the book is for and it does it admirably.

And not only is his championing of Barraque timely, but Bill Hopkins too, whose music I was unaware of until reading his bit.

One hopes there will be a 3rd edition after most of the 'peace-time Generals' are gone and a final summation of the lasting effects of the immediate post-war project can take place. Until then this is the book to read if you want to know about the good-old music with no tunes that we all love.

Also the Strings and Knots is organised in reverse alphabetical (very postmodern!)

"Modern Music and After" should really be kept in print, though the market may be small, as it is the best book on the subject. It serves, among other things, as the best record guide to the post-war avant-garde that I've found, although since 95 it has become somewhat outdated.

Griffiths imbues the story of the serialist avant-garde with high drama. The hero of his story is Pierre Boulez. Messiaen is the mentor, and Stockhausen the brother, a source of friendly but intense rivalry. Schoenberg is the father figure who Boulez "kills" even as he carries on his tradition, but of course crediting Webern. The history gives a palpable sense of the excitement of this avant-garde circle, which came together at Darmstadt. Cage and his zen anarchism presents a radical challenge to the integral serialist Project, and begins to explode it.

This takes us through the 1950s. The second part of the book is equally good, as the linear sense of progress unravels in the 1960s and 70s and fragmentation sets in. A fascinating development which Griffiths documents, but does not comment on, is the resurgence of sacred music as the secular avant-garde disintegrates. The Estonian composer Arvo Part is but one example of this trend, what might be called the reassertion of the pre-modern in the context of the post-modern. The third section is not as good, and resembles other similar books in being more an encyclopedia of entries on various composers and trends. There doesn't seem to be much alternative to this for now, but it's interesting to imagine how the present period may be reconstructed in light of future developments...

In his introduction Griffiths laments the loss of a sense of shared criteria for evaluating the diverse music of the moment. But of course books like this contribute to the construction of those criteria! Peter J. Martin's "Sounds and Society" is an excellent analysis of how music evaluation is socially constructed -- there are no objective, inherent qualities, and so something like writing a book or even posting reviews to a website serves to shape the reception of the art. An interesting topic to pursue would be the divergent paths of Boulez and Stockhausen, with the former becoming an esteemed conductor and not only championing the avant-garde, but also turning back to the once scorned romantic tradition, while Stockhausen followed an increasingly idiosyncratic path and became a revered figure for the 90s electronica movement, a "Father of Electronic Music"!

"Modern Music and After" is indispensable for anyone trying to understand the rich complexities of contemporary composition. I recommend Morgan's "Twentieth-Century Music" for the pre-WWII period, and Gann's "American Music in the Twentieth Century" for greater detail on the postwar U.S.

My writer brethren here neglected to mention that Griffiths in this reissue,brings us up-to-date a way of completing the tale he began over 20 years ago. Since that time composers have either grown up or become more important, some have fallen from graces completly. Brian Ferneyhough has grown up and Griffiths here gives ample evidence although brief and outlines in form, you read it,and it points you toward a greater exploration of his music. Likewise Morton Feldman became fascinated with the set of problematics concerning longer lengths in music's construction. Likewise the late Luigi Nono, this is the first real description in English of his summary work Prometeo,and gives a good perspective on him.Likewise the late Cage is discussed. Griffiths now writes for the New York Times, and he breathes some new life there of a seasoned reviewer.

Approaching the music industry unarmed is similar to throwing a lame duck into a pool of festering sharks. It has the potential to be complete bloodshed all around. Whether a band trying to take the step from a basement experiment to the real world or a student considering the realm of entertainment as a career or a seasoned vet looking for that down-to-Earth interpretation of legalese, Music Law... can explain it all. From the standpoint of an educational tool, Music Law... acts as a great springboard into the complexities of the entertainment industry from more than a just a pure business and legal perspective. It approaches a series of complex industry issues with an ease of explanation which details nearly every issue that one would face in maintaining a music career. The finest quality of the Music Law... is the simplicity of the writing. Each chapter is broken down by subheads and cuts right to the meat-and-potatoes of issues everyone in the industry from a band, to a manager, to a label and beyond, has to face. The language is clear and concise, avoiding the convoluted language and overall wordiness business writing and legalese, while still explaining in detail the concepts at hand. Each real world example includes a simple, plain-English version of a contract or agreement to work in conjunction with the topic at hand, which is then dissected even further to define the points contract covers. By no means, however, should the scaled down versions of contracts and agreements in Music Law... be looked at as any more than a basic learning tool. There truly is no substitute for obtaining proper legal and business council or at least gaining a firmer understand of the subtitles of business writing and legal jargon. No simple turn of phrase carries the same weight as a properly worded and arranged contract and therefor the ideas presented in Music Law... should be treated as a guide to furthering your basic understanding of such wording rather than a substitute of such. The depth of the subjects Music Law... attempts to define and the breath of concepts it covers is stunning. From forming a band as a business entity, to touring and riders, to songwriting credits and royalty collection, to ownership issues and copyright and beyond, Music Law... takes more than a glancing look at it all in simple terms. Whether you are new to the entertainment business or an old hat looking at more simplistic detail Music Law... has the potential to be an invaluable resource to obtain a basic understanding of the business and legal aspects of the industry.

A friend forwarded me a copy of Mr. Stim's book, and I am very happy that they did. My band is in the beginning stages of securing an independent record deal. I found that after reading the book, I was able to go into a meeting with the record company and know what questions to ask. I had some clue as to what they were talking about! I like that he included the forms and instructions on how to fill them out. It is a good basic reference book to help you figure out what to do and how to do it in a straight forward manner! Thanks Nolo! You've done it again!

This book is a must for all involved in the business of Music. It gives an indept look at all the contracts you are likely to come across and explaines what to do and what not to do. As an up and coming manager I found this book fasinating. this book will always be on my desk and will be read over and over again. It is a great reference book and is a little(quite Big actually)Gem.

As a musician (and the book may cause you to rethink what that word actually means), this book revealed many ideas which had been festering in my subconscious without my ever really taking the time to think them through fully. This is not so much a history or introduction to music as it is a presentation of both recent thought in musicology and a framework in which to conceive and comprehend music as a human process in general and its relation to all of culture. Naturally the last several pages focus on particular "gender-related" issues because that is the recent thought in musicology, but the book does a good job of not presenting this recent view as definitive and of placing this view within a large historical context of thinking about music. The entire book is sharp, well-written, and articulate. It touches on the must fundamental questions of musical meaning in all its forms, yet it requires virtually no formal knowledge of music or an acquaintance with any particular body of music, classic, popular, or otherwise. Of course, the author assumes a general knowledge (you have heard of Beethoven, the Beatles, and so on...) and of course the more you know of music, the more you will take away from the book, but nothing in particular is assumed. The author does a good job of explaining the working myths most people have about music, without technical jargon. For instance, what does it really mean to say, "I just heard 'Beethoven's 9th?'"? Is Beethoven's 9th the sound waves I heard, (whether live or recorded), or is it the body of all past performances of the symphony, or is it the jumble of symbols and notation which Beethoven wrote down 200 years ago? Why does popular music often lack such a specific reference to "musical works" such as "Beethoven's 9th"? Why is popular music freer to deviate from notation, as opposed to classical music, which always insists on "adherence to the composer's original score"? Why is "authorship" and "authenticity" valued in both classical and popular music, although in different ways? Does music exist independently of humans and express eternal truths and beauties, or is music inextricably bound up with culture, commerce, society, and the world? How are the three commonly used categories of "composition, performance, and criticism" related, and are the boundaries between them really so clear? How do notation and symbolism affect the way music is constructed and experienced? How do we give meaning to music? Why is it that the "purest" of "pure music", is often surrounded by the most commentary, criticism, and words, those things whose very absense are said to give it its very "purity"? Why does music matter to us? Why do we care? If these questions sound interesting to you, you will like this book.

This book is a little gem. All music students should read it.

This Very Short Introduction is notable as much for what it isn't as for what it is: it is not an introduction to any repertoire, Western classical or otherwise; it will not tell you about scales, chords, instruments, or sonata forms; it is not a buyer's guide or a "rough guide to..."; it is not a music appreciation textbook along the lines of (say) Copeland's "What to Listen for in Music." And this is a very good thing. Instead Cook presents a thought- and self-examination-provoking discussion of music as part of culture, daily life, and human experience. This extremely readable book is a valuable introduction to these issues that reach beyond the more familiar territories of the program note, album review, or newspaper diatribe about the corrupting influence of popular music.

I'd give this book a "6" if it were an admissible rating. Hopkin loads this book with literally hundreds of both familiar and newly-created instruments that can be made using simple tools. The instructions are step-by-step. The acoustic explanations are interesting and understandable but not required for success.
I recommend Hopkin's book to hobbyists, tinkerers, those who have failed at making instruments on their own; music, art, or classroom teachers; musicians; and I think, most importantly, composers. For composers, new vistas of tone color, sound production, and tonalities appear - through acoustic instruments - no need for electronic synthesis or sampling!

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in acoustics and musical instruments. As a non-musician and someone who never thought he could be musical, I found Hopkin's book an absolute revelation. I never learned this much in college music appreciation courses or junior high school band. I plan to use my newly gained knowledge in acoustics, scales, and materials to build instruments for Christmas gifts this year. If you're tinkering with instrument building or just want to learn more about how instruments make musical sounds don't let this one get away.

This book gives a good overview of the phisics of sound making.
A nice guide for every body who want to experience with musical instruments and design or adjust his own.