After decades of experimentation, musicians have begun to utilize a strikingly colorful palette of sounds on woodwind instruments. Flute, clarinet, and saxophone players, in many different musical settings, regularly use sounds that were unheard of in the middle of the twentieth century. Oboists, in comparison, have lagged somewhat behind their more adventurous colleagues. In writing Oboe Unbound: Contemporary Techniques, author Libby Van Cleve opens... more...

A theory of the soundtrack is concerned with what belongs to the soundtrack, how a soundtrack is effectively organized, how its status in a multimedia object affects the nature of the object, the tools available for its analysis, and the interpretive regime that the theory mandates for determining the meaning, sense, and structure that sound and music bring to film and other audiovisual media. Beyond that, a theory may also delineate the range of... more...

Jan Swafford’s biographies of Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world’s most iconic music. Swafford mines sources never before used in English-language biographies to reanimate the... more...

If you actually intend to create, modify, restore or repair tube audio equipment, I would highly recommend purchasing Building Valve Amplifiers, even if you are seasoned by many years of practical experience. I am convinced that all readers will be amazed at the quantity of new useful knowledge it contains. Audio Ideas Guide magazineThis book can be thoroughly recommended for experienced builders and novices alike. Electronics WorldBuilding Valve... more...

Providing an interesting approach to developments in modernist music - from 1980 onwards - this study also presents an intriguing perspective on the larger history of modernism. Far from being supplanted by a postmodern period, argues David Metzer, modernist idioms remain vital in the contemporary scene. The vitality comes from the ways in which those idioms have extended impulses of modernist styles from the early twentieth century. Since that time,... more...

HE WAS THERE! Apple Records former US manager Ken Mansfield takes a touching and comprehensive look back on one of Rock’n’Roll’s most significant events, while bringing an insider’s perspective to the days leading up to those 42 fascinating minutes of the Beatles monumental Rooftop Concert. There are moments in time that cause us to stop and take notice of where we were and what we were doing when they happen in order to commit the experience... more...

Clashing together outrageous musical influences, and extravagant visual imagery, Queen's place in history as the greatest glam band of them all is rock solid. Their fan base continues to grow, over 25 years on from the death of Freddie Mercury, Queen's flamboyant, unforgettable front man. Georg Purvis's meticulous, session-by-session, song-by-song, album-by-album, tour-by-tour record of the band's progress is the complete reference source that Queen... more...

Guitar Chords for Beginners contains 65 different chords arranged in easy fingerings. - Technique Fretting hand technique for playing guitar chords is looked at in detail with diagrams. Where necessary, some chords are taught incrementally because taking on only the harder aspects of a chord’s fingering first means our hand is freer to adjust. Other chords are shown with different fingerings for you to choose which you prefer.... more...

Why are some disturbances of air molecules heard as 'noise' while others are perceived as music? What happens at the level of the sound wave, the ear, and the brain when we perform or listen to music? How do musical abilities emerge and develop, and become refined as one acquires musical expertise? And what gives music its deep emotional significance and its power to influence social behavior, across vastly different cultural contexts?... more...

In this first biography of American composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher Leon Kirchner (1919-2009), Robert Riggs paints a vivid picture of an extraordinary, multifaceted musician. Refugees from Hitler's Third Reich (Schoenberg, Bloch, and Stravinsky) dominated Kirchner's early development, and he in turn became a transformative mentor for later generations at the University of Southern California, Mills College, and Harvard University. Kirchner's... more...