Few music lovers realize that the arrangement of notes ontoday’s pianos was once regarded as a crime against God and nature,or that such legendary thinkers as Pythagoras, Plato, da Vinci,Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton and Rousseau played a role inthe controversy. Indeed, from the time of the Ancient Greeksthrough the eras of Renaissance scientists and Enlightenmentphilosophers, the relationship between the notes of the musicalscale was seen as a key to the very nature of the universe. In this engaging and accessible account, Stuart Isacoff leads usthrough the battles over that scale, placing them in the context ofquarrels in the worlds of art, philosophy, religion, politics andscience. The contentious adoption of the modern tuning system knownas equal temperament called into question beliefs that hadlasted nearly two millenia–and also made possible the music ofBeethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, and all who followed. Filledwith original insights, fascinating anecdotes, and portraits ofsome of th
What's the secret to writing a hit song? It's as simple as1-2-3-4-5-6 Innovative, practical, and inspiring, "Six Steps toSongwriting Success" presents a surefire step-by-step approach tomastering the elements consistently found in hit songs. AuthorJason Blume, a songwriter with the rare distinction of having hadsongs on the Country, Pop, and RandB charts simultaneously, haspacked this book with such key aids as the three-step lyric writingtechnique used by the pros; lyric, melody, and demo checklists; andtools for self-evaluation-plus many other exercises that work.Blume's warm, humorous style features motivational anecdotes andentertaining stories of how hit songs came to be written andrecorded. Get "Six Steps to Songwriting Success," and get on thecharts
Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whosesingle-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. Inthe course of his long career in the northern Italian city ofCremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments;approximately six hundred survive, their quality unequalled by anysubsequent violin-maker. In this fascinating book, Toby Fabertraces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerlesscreations–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist whobrought them into being. Blending history, biography, meticulousdetective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber takes usfrom the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, andfrom the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the firstphonographic recordings. This magnificent narrative invites us toshare the life, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of theworld’s most marvelous stringed instruments.
In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocativeguide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's mostwidely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise ofthe classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to theheyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrechtcompellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached itsend point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. Itis, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form,analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini,Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is thestory of how stars were made and broken by the record business; howa war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to createa record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars,public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musicalbackdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrineto classical recording: the author's critical selectio
《不朽的小提琴家》再现了历史上不朽小提琴家的魅力,简要而有趣地叙述其生活、个性与事业。作者就他们对作曲者、公众品味的影响以及演奏技巧的贡献等各个方面,讲述了这些小提琴家的特殊成就。作者玛格丽特·坎贝尔参阅了大量的书信和私人文件,并且访问许多著名音乐家,很多人为《不朽的小提琴家》提供了从未发表过的回忆录和珍贵照片。《不朽的小提琴家》是一本献给音乐会听众、唱片收藏者(有“唱片目录”)、弦乐演奏者和学生等所有爱好小提琴演奏艺术者的书。
The intimate story of one of the great American bands of ourtime, creators of the controversial masterpiece "Yankee HotelFoxtrot" When alt-country heroes-turned-rock-iconoclasts Wilcohanded in their fourth album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," to the band'slabel, Reprise, a division of Warner Brothers, fans looked forwardto the release of another challenging, genre-bending departure fromtheir previous work. The band aimed to build on previous sales andcritical acclaim with its boldest and most ambitious album yet, butwas instead urged by skittish Reprise execs to make the record more"radio friendly." When Wilco wouldn't give, they found themselveswithout a label. Instead, they used the Internet to introduce thealbum to their fans, and eventually sold the record to Nonesuch,another division of Warner. Wilco was vindicated when the albumdebuted at No. 13 on the "Billboard" charts and posted the band'sstrongest sales to date. "Wilco: Learning How to Die" traces theband's story to its deepest origins in Southern Illino
The Renaissance holds an undying place in our imagination, itsgreat heroes still our own, from Michelangelo and Leonardo to Danteand Chaucer. This period of profound evolution in European thoughtis credited with transforming the West from medieval to modern andproducing the most astonishing outpouring of artistic creation theworld has ever known. But what was it? In this masterly work, theincomparable Paul Johnson tells us. He explains the economic,technological, and social developments that provide a backdrop tothe age’s achievements and focuses closely on the lives and worksof its most important figures. A commanding short narrative of thisvital period, The Renaissance is also a universally profoundmeditation on the wellsprings of innovation.
The world of the fashionista is brought to vivid life with 101introductory lessons on such topics as how a designer anticipatescultural trends and "sees" the fashion consumer, the workings ofthe fashion calendar, the ways a designer collection is conceived,the manufacture of fabric, fashion illustration, and more. Illustrated in the distinctly unique packaged style of thebestselling101 THINGS I LEARNED IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL, this newbook on fashion design will be a perfect book for any fashionschool wannabe, a recent graduate, or even a seasonedprofessional.
Nines Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal,and imperiled city, told through the lives of nine unforgettablecharacters and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, whichtransformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, whichnearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings this kaleidoscopic portrait tolife, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to besaved.
"The Inner Game of Music," the breakout hit that became astandard primer in the music world, has taught thousands ofmusicians--professionals and amateurs alike--how to overcomeself-consciousness and stage fright and to recapture a youthful,almost effortless capacity to learn. Now, in his follow-up book,"The Mastery of Music," Barry Green turns his expert hand to theartistic qualities that make an extraordinary musician. Cullingadvice from dozens of interviews with legends including Bell, Dave Brubeck, Jeffrey Kahane, Bobby McFerrin, ChristopherParkening, Doc Severinsen, Frederica von Stade, the Harlem BoysChoir, and the Turtle Island String Quartet, he reveals that it'snot enough to have a cerebral and emotional connection to thenotes. Green hows how musical excellence, exhibited by truevirtuosos, requires a mastery of ten unique qualities of the souland the human spirit, such as confidence, passion, discipline,creativity, and relaxed concentration, and he discusses specificways in which all musicians,
Like Moses delivering forth the Ten Commandments, Henry Owingsis bringing music fans The Rock Bible an insider's guide to livingthe rock 'n' roll dream. This hilarious rulebook is full of dos anddon'ts for musicians, wannabe musicians, and rock fans of all ages.Here's what The Rock Bible has to say about Singers: 'When you feellike stage-diving, make sure the people in the front row like yourmusic enough to catch you.'Backstage antics: 'Couches at rock clubshave never been cleaned. Think of the crazy things that have beendone on these couches, and then proceed at great personalrisk.'Lifestyle: 'If you want to die while in a famous rock band,there are four options. 1. Suicide. 2. Car or plane crash. 3. Drugoverdose. 4. Murdered by a crazy relative. Just pick one and stickwith it.' Complete with faux-biblical illustrations and parablesand essays from comedian Patton Oswalt, drummer Brian Teasley, andprofessional smartass Andrew Earles, The Rock Bible is a rude andraunchy look at the best and worst of rock 'n'
The moral of this book is that behind every great engineeringsuccess is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular)engineering failures. Petroski covers many of the best knownexamples of well-intentioned but ultimately failed design in action-- the galloping Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which you've probably seentossing cars willy-nilly in the famous black-and-white footage),the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel walkways -- andmany lesser known but equally informative examples. The line ofreasoning Petroski develops in this book were later formalized intohis quasi-Darwinian model of technological evolution in TheEvolution of Useful Things , but this book is arguably the moreilluminating -- and defintely the more enjoyable -- of these twotitles. Highly recommended.
These free-wheeling, often exhilarating dialogues—which grewout of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks—are an exchange betweentwo of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture: DanielBarenboim, internationally renowned conductor and pianist, andEdward W. Said, eminent literary critic and impassioned commentatoron the Middle East. Barenboim is an Argentinian-Israeli and Said aPalestinian-American; they are also close friends. As they range across music, literature, and society, they openup many fields of inquiry: the importance of a sense of place;music as a defiance of silence; the legacies of artists from Mozartand Beethoven to Dickens and Adorno; Wagner’s anti-Semitism; andthe need for “artistic solutions” to the predicament of the MiddleEast—something they both witnessed when they brought young Arab andIsraeli musicians together. Erudite, intimate, thoughtful andspontaneous, Parallels and Paradoxes is a virtuosiccollaboration.
Thousands of people want to be recording stars, but lack adeal with a record label. While today's musicians have all thetools they need to build a recording career on their own-pro-toolsfor inexpensive recording and home recording, marketing on theInternet, and opportunities to license their music for use infilms, television, advertising, and video games-they don't alwayshave the skills to use them. I Don't Need a Record Deal is acompletely comprehensive step-by-step guide to the new world ofindependent recording. Drawing on interviews from over 150musicians and industry pros, Schwartz shows readers how to put outa CD and market it through the media, radio, clubs, and retail. Butmore importantly, she shows musicians how to create a businessaround music and to develop opportunities for earning a living.Truly a survival guide for novice and professional musicians alike,I Don't Need a Record Deal brings information on developing one'sown independent music career together, adding new resources andtaking th
In 1964, on the brink of the British Invasion, the musicbusiness in America shunned rock and roll. There was no rock press,no such thing as artist management -- literally no rock-and-rollbusiness. Today the industry will gross over $20 billion. How didthis change happen? From the moment Pete Seeger tried to cut thepower at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival debut of Bob Dylan'selectric band, rock's cultural influence and business potentialhave been grasped by a rare assortment of ambitious and farsightedmusicians and businessmen. Jon Landau took calls from legendaryproducer Jerry Wexler in his Brandeis dorm room and went on toorchestrate Bruce Springsteen's career. Albert Grossman's cold-eyedassessment of the financial power at his clients' fingertips madehim the first rock manager to blaze the trail that David Geffentransformed into a superhighway. Dylan's uncanny ability to keephis manipulation of the business separate from his art andreputation prefigured the savvy -- and increasingly cynical --professi
Hit the Spot! is a complete program to target and tone your problem areas, written in an upbeat, easy-to-follow style by America's #1 fitness authority, Denise Austin. . Denise Austin has spent her career helping people get energetic and fit, and now she zeroes in on the problem areas that cause the most concern for people. .. Denise offers positive thoughts and tips for success, including exercises you can do to lose inches from hips, thighs, waist, and other areas, as well as advice on clothes that make you look thinner instantly. She even includes a seven-day diet to improve the look of specific areas of your body. Don't be afraid to wear that sexy suit on the beach this summer...Hit the Spot! 作者简介: At 5'4" and II 2 pounds, Denise Austin has been dubbed "America's favorite fitness expert." Born on February 13, 1957, Denise grew up in San Pedro, California. She started gymnastics at the age of twelve and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Arizona, graduating in 1979