MSCI

This book has all the information I was looking for and much, much more. Very well written by somebody who obviously knows the biz. Lots and lots of valuable resources and tips. I'll be referring back to it for years to come.

I got this for my husband whose a musician. It is very practical, goes over things that Music Business books don't. It's written for the musician and by one who is successful.

I find this book to be an excellent resource for serious musicians. Those of us who want to make a living doing music in a professional way will benefit from the detailed advice in this book. Everything from alternate venues, to exact rates to expect/charge, to creating press kits, recording/selling cds successfully--it's all here. I use this book as a basis for everything I am doing now to create a successful solo music career. Nyree Belleville is a great Bodhissatva to all those interested in creating a successful music career based on solid business and people skills. HUGE encouragement for musicians in all walks of life!!

First of all, the song is one of the most beautiful songs ever written! I am not exaggerating. The first time I heard it, I cried. Growing up Catholic, this song meant so much but it doesn't matter what denomination you are affiliated with. We all understand the fear and struggle when asked to follow God's plan but we know that he will bring us through. That is what this song is about. It is one of the most beautiful Christmas songs ever written!

The story that Amy Grant writes to accompany the song is heart-wrenching. It's a modern-day version of the song. This song will bring comfort to anyone going through trials. This is an especially great gift fot expecting mothers.

I highly recommend this CD/book to all customers. It also makes a very nice and unique gift. It's for both the music lover and book lover.

I was introduced to the song my senior year of high school when my choir sang it for the yearly High School Christmas concert. The teacher spent a class prior to the concert explaining the meaning of the song. I, and many others, were humbled when we discovered the power of the message that we were conveying. On the night of the concert it took all my skill as a singer not to cry as I sang the song. Just this last christmas I recieved the book and CD from my grandma. Even though I recieved several great gifts, it was this book and CD that touched me the deepest. The book gave the song a greater depth and meaning, and hearing the song again was a magnificent experience. I would recommend this book to everyone, but especially to women. It offers a message of strength and hope in uncertain times.

I received this book in the mail and was excited about it because I had not really wanted to spend the money on it, but did want to read it. I have to say I was nearly brought to tears and certainly humbled by the experience of reading Amy's words and listening to her beautiful song in which she pays such a loving and reverent tribute to Mary. I remember Amy saying once at a concert just before she sang the song "Mary was not better than anyone else...she was just willing." I STRONGLY urge you to read this book and then sit and listen to the song while looking at the incredible illustrations.

Last night I planned to read this book for just a few minutes before going to sleep. Hours later, instead of sleeping I was transformed into the world of the Balkan Roma musicians and their incredible culture! I simply couldn't put this amazing book down. I love the stories and interviews with the old musicians, the informative history of the Roma people and their culture, the full-of-life photos, and the CD with soundscapes. All these pieces combine to give the reader a great view of a people and their heritage, and one that has been largely overlooked in the past. I found the work ethic of the musicians described in this book to be very inspirational. To be able to play all kinds of requests for days on end is really something to admire. Musicians of any genre could learn a whole lot from reading about the musicians in this book. Years ago, these authors turned me on to the subculture of polka in the USA (and made a polkaholic out of me) with their super "Polka Happiness" book. They have clearly done it again - informed the world about an incredibly rich culture that was largely hidden from view.

This book responds to my interest in the social context of folk music and dance. The focus was on the lives of the people who make the music, in this case the Roma of Jumaya (Iriklia) in Greek Macedonia. The writers give you quite a rounded view, describing how the music is performed, at what kinds of events, how people relate to the music and each other, how the musicians see themselves and their occupation and how making a living as a Roma musician fits into Greek society. There is also a strong sense of history and how things have changed over time in many ways - the history of Roma in Greece and other Balkan countries, the specific history of Roma in Jumaya, and the stories of individual musicians and their families. The consistently positive way that the writers approach their subject is also refreshing - they describe how Roma have used music to survive and, in some cases, prosper, and how in doing so they have contributed to the multi-layered fabric of Greek-Macedonian ethnic identities.

What is especially interesting to me is the authors' view of how multi-ethnic society works in Greek Macedonia as compared to Bulgaria or Former Yugoslavia, and how the strategy of Roma musicians is different in these different countries. In Greek Macedonia the musicians play the music of all ethnic groups in order to maximize their flexibility and income. During multi-ethnic celebrations the musicians follow a strict policy of playing everyone's requests in the order requested, so that no one feels that they have priority. There is a fascinating description of an ethnically mixed wedding where the families have to adjust their various wedding traditions to accommodate each other, making it up as they go along to some extent.

The authors compare and contrast this with the approach taken by Roma musicians in other areas of the Balkans. In Kosovo in the 1980s the Roma musicians are said to have purposely selected music from traditions from other than Serbian and Albanian in order to avoid conflicts. In Bulgaria the wedding band tradition is described as leading to a new pan-Balkan "fusion" style which borrows from many cultures but still feels Bulgarian. Ultimately the motivation behind each strategy is the need of musicians to make a living.

The book is interesting reading from a North American perspective as well. Keil contrasts the multi-ethnic consciousness of Greeks, where the same person may have several types of ethnic and national identities simultaneously, with the concept of "multiculturalism" which he describes as slices of a pizza in which there are lots of ethnicities but everyone is either one thing or another. This raise the question of what is really going on in such immigrant nations as Canada and the United States.

The accompanying CD is a potpourri of sounds, including music of various types, and there is a section of the book describing the contents of the CD. Some of the track titles are Market Day in Jumaya, Afternoon at a Mahala Café, At Home in the Mahala, New Year's Party in Serres, Taverna Party at Nikisiani. The combination of the text, the many high quality black and white photos and the soundscape are successful in putting you into the experience, as much as this is possible. There was also a nice balance between Angeliki Keil's straight-forward and very readable reporting of the lives of the musicians and Charles Keil's more theoretical musings about ethnicity, the music and the role of the musicians. My only complaint about the book is its weight - it's printed on very heavy, glossy stock, no doubt adding to the quality of photographic reproductions, but it is so big and heavy that you pretty well have to read it sitting up. An alternate title could be, "Your Big Fat Roma Music Book."

When you get Bright Balkan Morning you are likely to open it up and then leaf through it, looking at the photographs. After a few minutes of this you'll remove the CD from the inside back cover and put it on. Then you continue looking at the photos while listening to the sounds.

That in itself is a rich and satisfying experience. But don't stop there. Read the text!

It tells of Roma (aka Gypsy) musicians who have cornered the market on live music in polyglot Greek Macedonia. While they are at the bottom of the social order, anyone who wishes a proper wedding, festival, or party of any kind hires these musicians. The musicians generally perform in trios, one playing a bass drum while the other two play the zurna - a double-reed woodwind found throughout Eurasia and Africa. Their repertoire is drawn from the peoples who live in the area, or passed through at one time, and is sometimes more Oriental, sometimes more European - whatever the customer wants.

Keil and Keil give detailed accounts of several performances - a baptism, a wedding, and a saint's day festival - tell the life stories of a dozen or so musicians & family, and recount the broad history of the Roma in the Mediterranean as well as presenting a more focused account of their sojourn in Greek Macedonia. Blau's photographs range from intimate portraits, to dancers in full party whirl, through street scenes jumbled or measured, to serene landscapes. Some of his shots are so strikingly composed - the cover image, for example - that the effect is both subjective (Blau's aesthetic) and objective (we're looking at things, out there, in the world). Steven Feld's soundscapes give us the living flow of sound. Not only do we hear the twin zurnas flying through drum rhythms, but dancing feet, shouts of joy and exertion, motors churning, sheep braying, and Stevie Wonder piped in through a tinny sound system.

Bright Balkan Morning is a milestone. See it, hear it, read it. Take pleasure in it.

If you want to learn more about Britney Spears, this is a great book to read. The author did a great job writing about Britney, and I thought the parts about Britney's style were really cool. It's a biography, starting from her birth all the way to the release of Baby One More Time. I just loved the pictures, they were all awesome. You learn a lot about Britney! This book is a must for all Britney Spears fans!

This book rocks it tells you everythin bout her even though I stopped liking Britney I still buy her stuff and this one is the coolest so far!

Britney Spears is my favorite singer. I love this book because it show's her sense of style. That's why I really like it. If you are a bid fan like me I would diffidently buy it.

David Ritz has helped many rhythm and blues musicians write their autobiographies, including Ray Charles, B. B. King, Marvin Gaye, Etta James, and Aretha Franklin. The characteristics that these books share is the sense that the subject is writing directly to you as you read, and that the bad times as well as the good times are revealed. If you are a fan of the musician, you feel like you have a better understanding of them once you've read the book Ritz helped them write.

The Neville Brothers' story must have been complicated to organize because there are 4 Neville Brothers, Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyrille. They tell their stories simultaneously, a paragraph or two by one brother and then a paragraph or two by another and so on. The story they tell is fascinating and often horrific! Violence, drug abuse, crazy characters, prison terms and danger fill virtually every page. These are fascinating lives to read about, but I wouldn't want to live them! Aaron and Charles seem to be the most forthcoming and the most sympathetic of the brothers. If you love Neville Brothers' music, you'll want to own this book!

THe Neville Brothers are a very solid unit.Great talents.this book takes them not only as a Group but also as People with feelings&outlooks.David Ritz does a Great job of doing books.always Interesting reads.this is a very complete book.long overdue on these greats.but better late than never.

The Brothers is a coherent and compelling series of autobiographical narratives, alternating among Art, Charles, Aaron, and Cyril. These perspectives are a valuable record of collective memory, as well as moving individual journeys. American culture from the late 1930s to the close of century informs and drives these voices: here is camaraderie and racism, love and alienation, spirituality and hedonism, cruelty and tenderness, peace and rage, cocky determination and chilling fear, triumph and despair--all related with a palpable frankness. Those of us born in the 30s and 40s will find parts of ourselves here; those born later will see how true it is that "past is present." Lovers of jazz, blues, early rock'roll, funk and r&b, and New Orleans rhythms will revel in the stories of contacts with the "greats." The street language may put off some readers. With all respect to those readers, I suggest their tolerance. It is no small thing that those who struggle with personal demons may find a light to their paths between the covers of this book. Over 300 pages, family photos, discographies, and an index.

After reading lots of boring Acoustics books, I had already given up on finding a book with "PRACTICAL" advice on how to build a studio. The only negative point about this one is that maybe it is a bit scarce on contents (only 200 pages)... Once read the book, one wishes it had a sequel!

As someone unfamiliar with construction techniques, this book was a god send to me. The writing is clear and straightforward, and it contains a series of easy to understand illustrations showing construction details. From my simplistic laymen's perspective, I can say that after reading this book, I was able to have intelligent and informed conversations with architects and contractors regarding my studio. I'm sure readers who know how to swing a hammer will feel prepared to do a lot more than just talk.

This book was excellant. I have read many studio books- this one takes a few extra steps to setup a more professional envirionment then just converting a garage. I am in my 4th phase-building a house with an addition for the studio; and used this book for development of the floor plan

I've been playing harp for years. This book taught me techniques that improved my tone, my solos, my range and my overall understanding of the instrument. I'm still working on 3rd position, but at least now I have a guide.

A member of the Denver Mile High Harmonica Club has developed his blues technique tremendously with this book. Impressed with his progress, I orderd the book and am working my way through the book and CD. I have improved a lot in only a few lessons.

Great book! Not for the beginner that can't bend notes yet. I just picked up the Harmonica about 4 months ago and just getting bending down now. Almost all of the written examples appear on the CD. A book that will get lots of use!

I am a fan of Wim Wenders' work, and I loved the BVSC CD and the movie, but in all honesty, except for the intro by Wenders and the closing interview with Ry Cooder, the entire book basically consists of shots from the movie along with the dialogs by the BVSC stars and the lyrics to the songs they interpret, i.e. material that the movie and the CD already provide. Yes: I admit I had higher expectations with it. In any case, I have to say Ibrahim Ferrer's monologue toward the end, when they visit NYC for their performance at Carnegie Hall, is a very touching moment.

I recently saw the movie Buena Vista Social Club for the first time and I liked it so much that I wanted to learn more about it. That's why I ordered this book.

At first, I was a little disappointed when I received the book and found out that some of the images were low-resolution digital scans. However, after reviewing the book as a whole, I really got to like it. There are quite a few large high-resolution images that more than compensate for their low-res counterparts.

The book is mainly a photo-album which includes the transcriptions of some of the dialogs and interviews from the movie, as well as the lyrics of some of the songs (all of them translated into English).

One of the only pieces of material in this book that are not an integral part of the movie is the foreword by Wim Wenders, where he describes his whole experience of going to Cuba to make the movie. Very, very interesting to read! The other two are an interview of Ry Cooder with Peter Kemper and the biographies of the musicians.

This book is good to have around when you are having a conversation about the movie with your friends. You'll find the photos and dialogs from all the key moments in the movie.

Buena Vista Social Club is more a coffee table addition than a serious in-depth study, but will prove a 'must' for any prior fan of the Buena Vista Social Club and Cuban music in particular. Photos, film stills and text accompany first-person capsule sketches by the participants of the BVSC group in this companion book to the film.

If you're a diehard Bush fan, you'll have no problem with this bio... but if you're a sometimes Bush fan, you might find it hard to get through... I know it's a bio, but it needs more pictures! Excellent reference for Bush webmasters...

i have this book, along with all of the books about BUSH, and i found this book to be really really cool and entertaining. it has rare facts about the band, and it even has really cute baby pics of everyone.

Anyone that loves Bush as much as I do will enjoy reading this book. It is really informative to when they were young to how they are now. Not to mention the interesting chapter where Jasmine speaks about her time with Gavin. There might not be that many pics but the words that he speaks makes up more than enough. In one of the lines he says it is like the eye in the calm of the storm. How poetic. Just "Brilliant"

I thought this book was quite good. I was pleased with the songs, and recommend it for all those who want to sing those old songs. Take it camping with you and your grand kids.

What a WONDERFUL book!

I previewed this book on-line and was not disappointed. The pages shown are exactly what the rest of the book is like!

IT's great to have the music (although basic) and chords for many old songs that people 'assume' everyone knows.

This is a MUST for any Scout leader who wants to put a little sparkle in their program. It will truly expand your Pack/Troop song repetroire!

I really like this small size paperback. It has a super selection of over 100 songs divided into about a half dozen categories such as "Spirituals and Gospel Hymns", "American Folk Songs and Rounds", etc. Within the categories the songs are sorted by title. The folk melodies are represented by single sequential notes, with chords presented above the melody line. The chords are simple, and as presented allow plenty of time between chords changes making these songs particularly fun to play. The chords are generally ones that most guitarists would be familiar with although there are some, e.g., B-flat-7th, and F-sharp-7th, that may be slightly less familiar. The general form of the music resembles a 'fake book'. However, for me, the layout of this book makes it much more comfortable to use than most fake books I have seen.

However there are, in my judgement, some minor weaknesses with this book.. The binding appears to be glued in rather than sewn. Normally one would prefer to use a music book flat, with this book I would anticipate, perhaps incorrectly, that opening it flat might result in a split binding.

Although the simple melodies make it easy to play on either piano or guitar, the downside of this simplicity is that on an instrument such as a piano the songs do not have a 'full' sound. Also, the melodies for two of the first songs I looked at did not quite match in some respects the melodies for these songs as I remembered them. For example, for the song "He's got the Whole World in His Hands", the notes associated with the first "in his hands" lyrics are shown as:C-E-C, to my ears this should instead be C-D-C. I hope the authors read this review and re-check the melodies and post a review to let us know which, if any, do need correction.

Finally, the lyrics to the songs appear, in some instances, to be somewhat truncated. For example, the folk song Clementine is missing one of the verses I find most humorous.

My copy of this book, recently purchased, is shown as the third edition, I hope there is a fourth and that in the next edition the authors will double check the melodies and consider adding lyrics to songs where some may have been dropped. The price is really a bargain, but I hope the publishers will consider using a sewn binding, even if it means a slight increase in price; I would certainly be willing to pay the difference.

In spite of some minor shortcomings, I really liked the format, songs chosen, chord selections, and simple straight-forward melodies. The small size is particularly appealing; and I am considering getting a second copy to carry around and leave my original at home.

Its really is fun to use.