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Arvo Pärt’s White Light: Media, Culture, Politics
by Laura DolpOne of the most frequently performed contemporary composers, Arvo Pärt has become a phenomenon whose unusual reach is felt well beyond the concert hall. This ground-breaking collection of essays investigates both the causes and the effects of this success. Beyond the rhetoric of 'holy minimalism' that has accompanied the composer's reception since the mid-1980s, each chapter takes a fresh approach toward understanding how Pärt's music has occupied social landscapes. The result is a dynamic conversation among filmgoers (who explore issues of empathy and resemblance), concertgoers (commerce and art), listeners (embodiment, healing and the role of technology), activists (legacies of resistance) and performers (performance practice). Collectively, these studies offer a bold and thoughtful engagement with Pärt as a major cultural figure and reflect on the unprecedented impact of his music. Provides a wide range of in-depth perspectives on the reception and influence of one of the world's most popular contemporary composers Accessible to a wide range of scholars across the humanities as well as to music specialists, with a minimum of technical musical analysis Offers groundbreaking explorations of Pärt's impact on numerous areas of the cultural landscape, from film and performance to new media and politics
As Glenn as Can Be
by Sarah EllisA warm and witty portrait of child prodigy and world-famous classical musician Glenn Gould. Glenn was a child who knew his own mind — he liked boats but did not like fishing; he enjoyed puns and pranks but did not like bullying; he loved learning but did not like school … but more than anything else he loved to play the piano. Glenn had a professional performing career by the time he was fifteen; he gave concerts all over the world in his twenties. He became best known for his interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. But Glenn grew to dislike concerts — the hall was too cold, or he didn’t feel well, or the audience made too much noise (he didn’t even like their applause!). He discovered that when he played and recorded music in an empty concert hall, he could make it sound exactly the way he wanted. He could do what he loved best, while being completely himself. Sarah Ellis’s beautifully written portrait of Glenn Gould is complemented by Nancy Vo’s gorgeous illustrations, bringing the life and times of this extraordinarily talented musician to readers young and old. Includes a fascinating author’s note and resources for further information. Key Text Features additional information afterword author’s note bibliography biographical information biographical note explanation facts further information further reading historical context illustrations informational note photographs sources vignettes writing inspiration Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
As Heard on TV: Popular Music In Advertising (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series)
by Bethany KleinThe use of popular music in advertising represents one of the most pervasive mergers of cultural and commercial objectives in the modern age. Steady public response to popular music in television commercials, ranging from the celebratory to the outraged, highlights both unresolved tensions around such partnerships and the need to unpack the complex issues behind everyday media practice. Through an analysis of press coverage and interviews with musicians, music supervisors, advertising creatives, and licensing managers, As Heard on TV considers the industrial changes that have provided a foundation for the increased use of popular music in advertising, and explores the critical issues and debates surrounding media alliances that blur cultural ambitions with commercial goals. The practice of licensing popular music for advertising revisits and continues a number of themes in cultural and media studies, among them the connection between authorship and ownership in popular music, the legitimization of advertising as art, industrial transformations in radio and music, the role of music in branding, and the restructuring of meaning that results from commercial exploitation of popular music. As Heard on TV addresses these topics by exploring cases involving artists from the Beatles to the Shins and various dominant corporations of the last half-century. As one example within a wider debate about the role of commerce in the production of culture, the use of popular music in advertising provides an entry point through which a range of practices can be understood and interrogated. This book attends to the relationship between popular culture and corporate power in its complicated variation: at times mutually beneficial and playfully suspicious of constructed boundaries, and at others conceived in strain and symbolic of the triumph of hypercommercialism.
As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin
by Laurence BergreenThis is the life story of Irving Berlin, from his arrival in the United States, through his childhood, and development as one of the country's greatest composers.
Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana: The Porcupine and the Gold Stool (SOAS Studies in Music)
by Kwasi AmpeneAsante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana is a comprehensive portrait of Asante court musical arts. Weaving together historical narratives with analyses of texts performed on drums, ivory trumpets, and a cane flute, the book includes a critical assembly of ancient song texts, the poetry of bards (kwadwom), and referential poetry performed by members of the constabulary (apae). The focus is on the intersections between lived experience, music, and values, and refers to musical examples drawn from court ceremonies, rituals, festivals, as well as casual performances elicited in the course of fieldwork. For the Asante, the performing arts are complex sites for recording and storing personal experiences, and they have done so for centuries with remarkable consistency and self-consciousness. This book draws on archaeological, archival, historical, ethnographical and analytical sources to craft a view of the Asante experience as manifested in its musical and allied arts. Its goal is to privilege the voices of the Asante and how they express their history, religious philosophy, social values, economic, and political experiences through the musical and allied arts. The author’s theoretical formulation includes the concept of value, referring to ideas, worldview concepts, beliefs, and social relationships that inform musical practices and choices in Asante.
Asante Ntahera Trumpets in Ghana: Culture, Tradition, and Sound Barrage (SOAS Studies in Music)
by Joseph S.KaminskiBased on the author's fieldwork in Ghana with the Asante and Denkyira ntahera trumpeters, this book draws on interviews, field recordings, oral traditions, written accounts, archaeological evidence, transcriptions and linguistic analyses to situate the Asante trumpet tradition in historical culture. There are seven ivory trumpet ensembles in residence at the Asante Manhyia Palace in Kumase, and ivory trumpets are blown at every Akan court. The Asante trumpets, which are made from elephant tusks, are symbols of Asante strength and have an important role in Asante cosmology. Surrogate speech is performed via lipped tones through a tusk in praise of the Asante royal ancestors and the living Asante king. This book contains transcriptions and analyses of surrogate speech texts and their accompanying ensemble songs. When several ensembles play simultaneously as a representation of power, they make staggered entrances, beginning separate songs in order. This results in a simultaneous performance of separate songs. This phenomenon, which Kaminski has termed 'sound-barrage', is an ancient aesthetic, and is performed to protect the kingdom and the ancestors. It is both spiritual and acoustical. This 'sound barrage' is believed to act in the metaphysical world, dispelling evil spirits from court rituals, ancestor venerations, and funerals, for there is a spirit in the sound.
Asha Bhosle: A Musical Biography
by Raju BharatanThe definitive saga, at once riveting and revelatory – studded with rare nuggets of information and fascinating anecdotes – that sparkingly brings out the life and times of an internationally acclaimed incredibly versatile singer. Asha Bhosle – a Guinness world record holder plus recipient of the Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award – has held one and all spellbound for six decades now. Her voice, both fluid and flexible, has infused neo life into a variety of genres – from the melancholy melody to the rollicking rock-’n’-roll; from the soulful creation to the vibrant disco; from the romantic rhapsody to the rambunctious folk song; from the dainty ghazal to the boisterous qawwali; and from the pathos-filled rendition to the naughty-naugthy seductive number. The author – on the strength of his vast and varied exposure and experience – turns the focus on enthralling behind-the-scenes happenings that shaped the advance of this artiste with a remarkable range and a noteworthy body of work. ‘The world has no time for losers’ has remained Asha’s performing credo. This volume captures Asha Bhosle in her numberless shades. It is about how – in her silken rivalry with elder sister Lata Mangeshkar – she moved with panache from O. P. Nayyar to S. D. Burman to R. D. Burman. It is about how she served a galaxy of composers; about how, in the end, she reached the pinnacle all by herself. Against odds that would have driven any other woman into quitting. No quitter ever, Asha Bhosle, as the supernova supreme, just went on to underline the adage: ‘No power like woman power’. No more can you stay away from this marvel of a musical biography than you can stay away from the matchless musicality of Asha Bhosle. If she is one of a kind, so is this musical masterpiece capturing all the resonances and nuances going with her piquant persona. Here is a long-awaited career study shedding light on the twists and turns marking the starry-eyed world of Hindustani film music.
Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie, 1976-2016
by Chris O'LearyFrom the ultimate David Bowie expert comes an exploration of the final four decades of his musical career, covering every song he wrote, performed or produced.From the ultimate David Bowie expert comes this exploration of the final four decades of the popstar's musical career, covering every song he wrote, performed or produced from 1976 to 2016.Starting with Low, the first of Bowie's Berlin albums, and finishing with Blackstar, his final masterpiece released just days before his death in 2016, each song is annotated in depth and explored in essays that touch upon the song's creation, production, influences and impact.
Asian Sound Cultures: Voice, Noise, Sound, Technology (Routledge Contemporary Asia Series)
by Martyn David Smith Christin Hoene Iris HaukampThis book examines the meanings, uses, and agency of voice, noise, sound, and sound technologies across Asia. Including a series of wide-ranging and interdisciplinary case studies, the book reveals sound as central to the experience of modernity in Asia and as essential to the understanding of the historical processes of cultural, social, political, and economic transformation throughout the long twentieth century. Presenting a broad range of topics – from the changing sounds of the Kyoto kimono making industry to radio in late colonial India – the book explores how the study of Asian sound cultures offers greater insight into historical accounts of local and global transformation. Challenging us to rethink and reassemble important categories in sound studies, this book will be a vital resource for students and scholars of sound studies, Asian studies, history, postcolonial studies, and media studies.
Aspects of British Music of the 1990s
by Peter O’haganThe 1990s work of six British composers forms the focus of this collection of essays, arising from a conference that took place at University of Surrey Roehampton in February 1999. The composers whose music is discussed are James Dillon, Thomas Ad Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Harvey, Edwin Roxburgh and Sebastian Forbes. Reflecting the aims of the conference, this volume brings together composers and musicologists to discuss significant works from the last decade of the twentieth century, and also some of the wider issues surrounding British music. Arnold Whittall and Julian Johnson provide perspectives on the plurality of contemporary British music. Edwin Roxburgh offers a personal account of 'The Artists' Dilemma', whilst the essays that follow explore aspects of musical form and structure in a variety of works. The second half of the book comprises interviews with most of the composers whose music is discussed in Part I, adding a further dimension to our understanding of the preoccupations of British composition at the end of the twentieth century.
Aspects of Early English Keyboard Music before c.1630 (Ashgate Historical Keyboard Series)
by David J. SmithEnglish keyboard music reached an unsurpassed level of sophistication in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as organists such as William Byrd and his students took a genre associated with domestic, amateur performance and treated it as seriously as vocal music. This book draws together important research on the music, its sources and the instruments on which it was played. There are two chapters on instruments: John Koster on the use of harpsichord during the period, and Dominic Gwynn on the construction of Tudor-style organs based on the surviving evidence we have for them. This leads to a section devoted to organ performance practice in a liturgical context, in which John Harper discusses what the use of organs pitched in F may imply about their use in alternation with vocal polyphony, and Magnus Williamson explores improvisational practice in the Tudor period. The next section is on sources and repertoire, beginning with Frauke Jürgensen and Rachelle Taylor’s chapter on Clarifica me Pater settings, which grows naturally out of the consideration of improvisation in the previous chapter. The next two contributions focus on two of the most important individual manuscript sources: Tihomir Popović challenges assumptions about My Ladye Nevells Booke by reflecting on what the manuscript can tell us about aristocratic culture, and David J. Smith provides a detailed study of the famous Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. The discussion then broadens out into Pieter Dirksen’s consideration of a wider selection of sources relating to John Bull, which in turn connects closely to David Leadbetter’s work on Gibbons, lute sources and questions of style.
Aspects of the Secular Cantata in Late Baroque Italy
by Michael TalbotAs shown by the ever-increasing volume of recordings, editions and performances of the vast repertory of secular cantatas for solo voice produced, primarily in Italy, in the second half of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century, this long neglected genre has at last 'come of age'. However, scholarly interest is currently lagging behind musical practice: incredibly, there has been no general study of the Baroque cantata since Eugen Schmitz's handbook of 1914, and although many academic theses have examined microscopically the cantatas of individual composers, there has been little opportunity to view these against the broader canvas of the genre as a whole. The contributors in this volume choose aspects of the cantata relevant to their special interests in order to say new things about the works, whether historical, analytical, bibliographical, discographical or performance-based. The prime focus is on Italian-born composers working between 1650 and 1750 (thus not Handel), but the opportunity is also taken in one chapter (by Graham Sadler) to compare the French cantata tradition with its Italian parent in association with a startling new claim regarding the intended instrumentation. Many key figures are considered, among them Tomaso Albinoni, Giovanni Bononcini, Giovanni Legrenzi, Benedetto Marcello, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alessandro Stradella, Leonardo Vinci and Antonio Vivaldi. The poetic texts of the cantatas, all too often treated as being of little intrinsic interest, are given their due weight. Space is also found for discussions of the history of Baroque solo cantatas on disc and of the realization of the continuo in cantata arias - a topic more complex and contentious than may at first be apparent. The book aims to stimulate interest in, and to win converts to, this genre, which in its day equalled the instrumental sonata in importance, and in which more than a few composers invested a major part of their creativity.
Assessment in Music Education: From Policy To Practice (Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education #16)
by Scott D. Harrison Don Lebler Gemma CareyThe contributions to this volume aim to stimulate discussion about the role of assessment in the learning experiences of students in music and other creative and performing arts settings. The articles offer insights on how assessment can be employed in the learning setting to enhance outcomes for students both during their studies at higher education institutions and after graduation. An international group of leading researchers offers an exciting array of papers that focus on the practice of assessment in music, particularly in higher education settings. Contributions reflect on self-, peer- and alternative assessment practices in this environment. There is a particular emphasis on the alignment between assessment, curriculum structure and pedagogy.
Assimilation v. Integration in Music Education: Leading Change toward Greater Equity (CMS Emerging Fields in Music)
by Christopher JenkinsAssimilation v. Integration in Music Education engages with an existential question for American conservatories and orchestras: What does it mean to diversify Western classical music? Many institutions have focused solely on diversifying the demography of their participants, but without a deeper conversation about structural oppression in classical music, this approach continues to isolate and exclude students of color. Rooted in the author’s experience working with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students at a major American conservatory, this book articulates the issues facing minority students in conservatories and schools of music, going beyond recruitment to address the cultural issues that alienate students. The author argues that the issue of diversity should be approached through the lens of aesthetics, and that the performance and pedagogy of Western classical music must change if a more diverse membership is to thrive in this genre. Reflecting on the author’s experience through the lens of recent critical theory in music education, this volume presents the viewpoints of Black and Latinx music students in their own words. Addressing the impact of racialized aesthetics on the well-being of BIPOC music students, the author shows how students are alienated when attempting to assimilate into conservatory environments and envisions an alternative, integrative approach to conservatory education. Offering a deep dive into the psychological and cultural reasons for the racialization of Western classical music, and potential institutional solutions, this concise book is relevant to performers, students, and institutional leaders.
Assistant Engineers Handbook: The Definitive Guide To Working As An Assistant Engineer In Today's Modern Recording Studio
by Tim CrichAssistant Engineers Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Working as an Assistant Recording Engineer in Today's Modern Sound Studio
At Ease (Orca Limelights)
by Jeff RossAt fifteen, Will already knows he wants to spend his life playing classical violin. When Will is invited to take part in a summer program for young musicians, he realizes it is a chance to make his dream a reality. But years of playing only for Mr. Jorgensen, his elderly neighbor and mentor, haven’t prepared Will for what will happen when he steps onto the stage. He never expected the self-doubt that takes over his thoughts, or the fear of failure that makes his hands shake and his heart race. What happens when the one thing you need to achieve your dreams is something you find utterly terrifying? This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice (Activist Encounters in Folklore and Ethnomusicology)
by Kyra D. Gaunt Paul Austerlitz Alexandria Carrico Steven Loza Charlotte W. Heth Katie J. Graber Darci Sprengel Ho Chak Law Erin E. Bauer Rebekah E. MooreMusic is powerful and transformational, but can it spur actual social change? A strong collection of essays, At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice studies the meaning of music within a community to investigate the intersections of sound and race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and differing abilities. Ethnographic work from a range of theoretical frameworks uncovers and analyzes the successes and limitations of music's efficacies in resolving conflicts, easing tensions, reconciling groups, promoting unity, and healing communities. This volume is rooted in the Crossroads Section for Difference and Representation of the Society for Ethnomusicology, whose mandate is to address issues of diversity, difference, and underrepresentation in the society and its members' professional spheres. Activist scholars who contribute to this volume illuminate possible pathways and directions to support musical diversity and representation.At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice is an excellent resource for readers interested in real-world examples of how folklore, ethnomusicology, and activism can, together, create a more just and inclusive world.
At the Crossroads of the Senses: The Synaesthetic Metaphor Across the Arts in European Modernism (Perspectives on Sensory History)
by Polina DimovaInspired by Richard Wagner’s idea of the total artwork, European modernist artists began to pursue multimedia projects that mixed colors, sounds, and shapes. Polina Dimova’s At the Crossroads of the Senses traces this new sensory experience of synaesthesia—the physiological or figurative blending of senses—as a modernist phenomenon from its scientific description in the late nineteenth century to its prevalence in the early twentieth.Structured around twenty theses on synaesthesia, this book explores the integral relationship between modernist art, science, and technology, tracing not only how modernist artists perceptually internalized and absorbed technology and its effects but also how they appropriated it to achieve their own aesthetic, metaphysical, and social goals. Through case studies of prominent multimodal artists—Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Richard Strauss, Aleksandr Scriabin, Wassily Kandinsky, František Kupka, Andrei Bely, and Rainer Maria Rilke—At the Crossroads of the Senses reveals the color-forms and color-sounds that, for these artists, laid the foundations of the world and served as the catalyst for the flourishing exchanges among the arts at the fin de siècle.Rooted in archival research in Russia, Germany, France, and the Czech Republic, At the Crossroads of the Senses taps overlooked scientific sources to offer a fresh perspective on European modernism. Sensory studies scholars, literary critics, and art and music historians alike will welcome its many contributions, not least among them a refreshing advocacy for a kind of sensuous reading practice.
At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene
by Nat HentoffThe book shows how jazz and education are a vital partnership, how free expression is the essence of liberty, and how social justice issues like health care and strong civil rights and liberties keep all the arts--and all members of society--strong.
At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene
by Nat HentoffNat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarian—"I’m a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-lifer"—has lived through much of jazz’s history and has known many of jazz’s most important figures, often as friend and confidant. Hentoff has been a tireless advocate for the neglected parts of jazz history, including forgotten sidemen and -women. This volume includes his best recent work—short essays, long interviews, and personal recollections. From Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman and Quincy Jones, Hentoff brings the jazz greats to life and traces their art to gospel, blues, and many other forms of American music. At the Jazz Band Ball also includes Hentoff’s keen, cosmopolitan observations on a wide range of issues. The book shows how jazz and education are a vital partnership, how free expression is the essence of liberty, and how social justice issues like health care and strong civil rights and liberties keep all the arts—and all members of society—strong.
At the Piano with Fauré
by Marguerite LongThe virtuoso pianist and teacher, Marguerite Long, was a great friend of Fauré and the foremost interpreter of his music.
At the Threshold: Contemporary Theatre, Art, and Music of Iran (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Rana EsfandiaryThis book examines the performance strategies used by contemporary Iranian artists and activists to reimagine “Iranian-ness” in the context of Iran’s local, regional, and global position. This study identifies the important social and political interventions made by theatrical and performance pieces, visual art, and electronic music that articulate and reformulate Iranian-ness by breaking away from fixed and constructed stereotypes projected on them by both the Islamic regime and Western power. This book explores the reception and context within which artworks become meaningful performative acts. Looking closely at the works of a notable female Iranian photographer, Shadi Ghadirian, in conjunction with the new generation of Iranian nonconformist artists/activists such as Tahmineh Monzavi and Hedieh Ahmadi; the visionary theatre productions of Ali Akbar Alizad; and radically untraditional sound/noise of the electronic music movement in Tehran, this book calls attention to the Iran-based artists who are tirelessly trying to raise awareness regarding the political violence imposed on Iranian identity at the legal (top-down) and everyday (bottom-up) levels. This volume will be of great interest to student and scholars in theatre and performance, photography, art, music, sociology, and politics.
Atlanta Pop in the '50s, '60s & '70s: The Magic of Bill Lowery
by Andy Lee White Williams M JohnDiscover the people and places that made Atlanta the pop music capital of the United States in the second half of the twentieth century.Former DJ Bill Lowery attracted a galaxy of talent and created an empire of music publishing, production and promotion. In 1956, the Lowery Music Company had its first million copy-selling hit single with &“Be-Bop-a-Lula,&” by Gene Vincent. Under Lowery&’s direction, popular artists like Tommy Roe and Billy Joe Royal flourished. Audio engineer Rodney Mills teamed up with Lowery and future Atlanta Rhythm Section manager Buddy Buie to build Studio One, a recording studio that produced albums from legendary acts such as Joe South, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special and others. Andy Lee White and John M. Williams offer a comprehensive portrait of the vibrant postwar Atlanta music scene.&“Insight and memories from major behind the scenes figures like engineer, producer and Georgia Music Hall of Fame member, Rodney Mills (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Gregg Almond, Joe South) along with Bob &“Tub&” Langford (engineer for Joe South&’s biggest hits and Lynyrd Skynyrd&’s &“Freebird&”) help tell previously untold memories from a special time for Atlanta music like none before or since.&” —East Cobber
Atlanta Record Stores: An Oral History
by Chad RadfordAtlanta Record Stores is an oral history of the city's rock music scene, as witnessed through the lens of Criminal Records, Fantasyland, Wax 'N' Facts, and many more. This is a rock-centric take on a town that's so often praised and admired around the world as a hip-hop mecca. Here, the secret history of the underdogs--outsiders living among outsiders--are told. From Jarboe of SWANS to William DuVall of Alice In Chains and Neon Christ, to Kelly Hogan, and those surly guys behind the counter at Wuxtry, all were drawn by the irresistible lure of vinyl records, all found their communities and their own identities, leaving an indelible mark on the culture of Atlanta. Now, in their own voices, their stories are told.
Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music
by Tim Smolko Joanna SmolkoWhat is the soundtrack for a nuclear war? During the Cold War, over 500 songs were written about nuclear weapons, fear of the Soviet Union, civil defense, bomb shelters, McCarthyism, uranium mining, the space race, espionage, the Berlin Wall, and glasnost. This music uncovers aspects of these world-changing events that documentaries and history books cannot. In Atomic Tunes, Tim and Joanna Smolko explore everything from the serious to the comical, the morbid to the crude, showing the widespread concern among musicians coping with the effect of communism on American society and the threat of a nuclear conflict of global proportions. Atomic Tunes presents a musical history of the Cold War, analyzing the songs that capture the fear of those who lived under the shadow of Stalin, Sputnik, mushroom clouds, and missiles.