Showing titles in Instruction & Technique

Positively 4th Street is a mesmerizing account of how four young people (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina) gave rise to a modern-day bohemia and created the enduring sound and style of the 1960s.

Practicing is an essential part of every musician's life, but we are rarely taught how to practice in the most effective and efficient way.

What do all those lines and squiggles and dots mean? Basic Music Theory takes you through the sometimes confusing world of written music with a clear, concise style that is at times funny and always friendly. The book is written by an experienced music teacher using methods refined over more than 30 years in schools and in his private teaching studio. Lessons are fun, well-paced, and enjoyable.

Whether you are an absolute beginner, a pop wannabe, a karaoke crooner, or simply want to add singing to your repertoire, Learn to Sing is for you. Friendly advice from your very own instructor will help you develop your voice and enable your talent to flourish. Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started

You can learn to play music, no matter what you've been told about your musical talent or aptitude. With the right instruction and methods, learning to play music can be an endless source of joy and fulfillment. And learning to play music isn't just fun, it's also the ideal brain fitness activity. Dr. Turknett, a neurologist, self-taught multi-instrumentalist, and the founder of Brainjo and the Brainjo Method of instruction, distills the principles of learning to play music down into a set of universal "laws" that can be applied to any instrument.

This is the definitive biography of Freddie Mercury. Written by an award-winning rock journalist, Lesley-Ann Jones toured widely with Queen forming lasting friendships with the band. Now, having secured access to the remaining band members and those who were closest to Freddie, from childhood to death, Lesley-Ann has written the most in depth account of one of music's best loved and most complex figures.

You can now develop your vocal power, presence, and influence on others and all within the comfort and privacy of your own home.Presence, charisma, and star quality lead directly to your state of mind and the way you inhabit your body.

Beginning Singing will give you the essential knowledge and techniques to discover and develop your true voice. Easy-to-understand concepts and practical exercises will help remove vocal limitations and allow your voice to soar! Includes free bonus audio and video lessons. Whether you want a career in music or simply wish to dazzle family and friends at karaoke night, Beginning Singing is for you.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to sharpen your pen, Verse Things First: The 5 Secret Sauces to Songwriting is your step-by-step guide to writing songs that feel real, sound polished, and hit hard. With over 21 years of songwriting experience, Armani D. Williams breaks down five foundational principles that have helped him (and others) craft songs that resonate — from the first verse to the final hook. This isn’t music theory. It’s real-world songwriting wisdom, straight from the heart and the studio.

Have you ever wondered how off-key you are while singing in the shower? Or if your Bob Dylan albums really sound better on vinyl? Or why certain songs make you cry? Now, scientist and musician John Powell invites you on an entertaining journey through the world of music. Discover what distinguishes music from plain old noise, how scales help you memorize songs, what the humble recorder teaches you about timbre (assuming your suffering listeners don’t break it first), and more.

In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.

Playing music should be as simple and natural as drawing a breath, yet most musicians are hindered by self-consciousness, apprehension, self-doubt, and stress. Before we can truly express our inner self, we must first learn to be at peace and overcome the distractions that can make performance difficult. Kenny's remarkable work deals directly with these hindrances, and presents ways to let our natural creative powers flow freely with minimal stress and effort.

If you are a singer, you are an athlete. And the athletic skills that make you a great vocalist come from one source: your brain. The Singing Athlete is the first book of its kind: a view on voice training through the lens of both the physical body and the nervous system. As one of the top teachers of professional Broadway performers, Andrew Byrne has developed a unique synthesis of athletics and neuroscience that will guide you to higher levels of performance.

Opera is the fastest growing of all the performing arts, attracting audiences of all ages who are enthralled by the gorgeous music, vivid drama, and magnificent production values. If you've decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you.

Despite being unable to play an instrument, Susan Rogers became an extraordinarily successful record producer—and certainly one of the most successful women record producers in history—because of her ability to listen. (She was an engineer on Prince's "When Doves Cry", which inspired the title of the book.) This Is What It Sounds Like distils a lifetime's expertise as a producer and an award-winning professor with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, to present a new theory of listening for everyday music fans.

Ear training is one of the most rewarding skills you can develop, and it’s one that you can work on every day. Which makes total sense: Music is an aural experience, after all. Ear training helps you turn the music you hear into music you make on your guitar. This works for your own musical ideas, too: When you dream up a great riff or chord progression, you naturally want to sit down and play it right away. Ear training helps you do just that.

This second edition of Rock the Dancefloor! is the essential one-stop handbook for new and experienced DJs. Completely updated with the latest developments in DJing and expanded with new chapters on sourcing and organising your music, using subscription services and creating DJ mixes, its proven five-step formula covers everything from getting your gear together to DJing success.

Mary Gauthier was 12 years old when she was given her Aunt Jenny’s old guitar and taught herself to play with a Mel Bay basic guitar workbook. Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day. Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away and her call to songwriting faded. It wasn’t until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend did she realize that she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to.

Whether you're a total beginner or a seasoned pro, Singing 101: Vocal Basics and Fundamental Singing Skills for All Styles and Abilities gives you the essential tools to build a strong, healthy voice. Learn how to sing with accurate pitch, lasting stamina, beautiful tone, and optimal technique, based on centuries of proven vocal wisdom and updated with the latest scientific insights on voice production.

The focus of this book is music practice, but these techniques and mindsets can be applied to any skill you want to improve. The Practice of Practice covers essential practice strategies and mindsets you won't find in any other book. You'll learn what research tells us about practice, but more importantly, you'll learn how great musicians in many genres of music think about practice, and you'll learn the strategies and techniques they use to improve.