This guide to understanding ornamentation in each era of music includes information on how to understand and remain faithful to the composer's intention, how many and which notes to use in each ornament, how to integrate ornaments smoothly into a performance and simple strategies and systems for realizing and practicing ornaments. A synthesis of years of scholarly research resulting in a logical, easy to follow and accurate volume.

Listeners, performers, students and teachers will find here the analytical tools they need to understand and interpret musical evidence from the baroque era. Scores for eleven works, many reproduced in facsimile to illustrate the conventions of 17th and 18th century notation, are included for close study. Readers will find new material on continuo playing, as well as extensive treatment of singing and French music. The book is also a concise guide to reference materials in the field of baroque performance practice with extensive annotated bibliographies of modern and baroque sources that guide the reader toward further study. First published by Ashgate (at that time known as Scolar Press) in 1992 and having been out of print for some years, this title is now available as a print on demand title.

All the tools the beginner, novice, and intermediate tin whistle player needs in order to progress to a high level of competence in Irish music. Includes an Orientation to Traditional Irish Music, which puts the music in context, with information on scales and modes, dance tune types, the historical roots of whistle playing, and advice for learning by ear. the book is full of thorough instruction, exercises, and musical examples: from holding, fingering, breathing, and blowing, on up to advanced ornamentation, phrasing, and variations. Features a simple and penetrating new approach to understanding and notating ornamentation that goes beyond any previous method. Also includes history and theory of traditional Irish tin whistle music. for those who don't read music, almost all the exercises and examples appear on the companion CD.

(Educational Piano Library). This handy and thorough guide is designed to help the independent piano teacher in all aspects of running his/her own studio. Whether it be business practices such as payment plans, taxes, and marketing, or teaching tips involving technique, composition, or sight reading, this all-inclusive manual has it all! Topics include: Developing and Maintaining a Professional Studio, Finances, Establishing Lessons, Studio Recitals, Tuition and Payment Plans, Composition and Improvisation, Marketing, Communications with Parents, Make-up Policies, Zoning and Business Licenses, Teaching Materials and Learning Styles, The Art of Practice, Arts Funding, and many more!

For the beginner to the highly advanced player of Irish flute, tin whistle, or Boehm-system flute. Features a simple and penetrating new approach to understanding and notating ornamentation that goes beyond any previous method, exploring ornamentation techniques never described in print before. Also includes adaptations for Boehm-system flute players, guidance on breathing and phrasing, 49 ornamentation exercises, history and theory of traditional Irish flute and whistle music, and 27 meticulous transcriptions of recordings by these important Irish flute and tin whistle players: John McKenna,Tom Morrison, William Cummins, Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Paddy Taylor, Paddy Carty, Grey Larsen, Josie McDermott, Matt Molloy, Cathal McConnell, Mary Bergin, Donncha Ó Briain (Denis O'Brien), Desi Wilkinson, Breda Smyth, Seán Ryan, Conal Ó Gráda, Micho Russel, Joanie Madden, Kevin Crawford, Catherine McEvoy, and Seamus Egan. for those who don't read music, almost all the exercises, examples and tunes appear on the two companion CDs. Grey has, through his research, patience, and diligence, completed a work on Irish flute and tin whistle that I feel is essential reading for anybody interested in getting it right. - Matt Molloy, Irish Flute player with the Chieftains.

This superb vocal collection features 15 of the world's best-loved arias from the Baroque era through the 21st Century, presented with comprehensive historical information, accurate translations, IPA pronunciation guides, and performance suggestions designed to enhance and educate developing vocalists. Available in Medium High and Medium Low editions, with optional piano accompaniment CDs. Songs include: Domine Deus (Vivaldi) * Gioite al canto mio (Peri) * I Attempt from Love's Sickness (Purcell) * I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (Gershwin) * La donna è mobile (Verdi) * Non siate ritrosi (Mozart) * O mio babbino caro (Puccini) * O Rest in the Lord (Mendelssohn) * Ombra mai fù (Handel) * Sheep May Safely Graze (Bach) * Sorry Her Lot (Gilbert & Sullivan) * Time To Say Goodbye (Sartori) * Voi che sapete (Mozart) * Where'er You Walk (Handel) * You Raise Me Up (Løvland).

This unique text uses a step-by-step approach to guide the reader from fundamental concepts to advanced topics in improvisation. Each subject is broken into easy to understand segments, gradually becoming more complex as improvisational tools are acquired. Designed for the classically trained pianist with little or no experience in improvisation, it uses the reader's previous knowledge of basic theory and technique to help accelerate the learning process. Included are more than 450 music examples and illustrations to reinforce the concepts discussed. These concepts are useful in all improvisational settings and can be applied to any musical style. For pianists interested in jazz, there are three chapters dedicated to introducing jazz improvisation, which can be used as the basis for further study in this idiom. Teachers using this text can go online to www.improvisationatthepiano.com to download lesson plans, ask specific questions about improvisation, and view answers to the most frequently asked questions about this book. 232 pages.

Grey Larsen, in the 150 Gems collections, has given us a most welcome follow-up to his encyclopedic volume, The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle (Mel Bay Publications, 2003) and The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox (Mel Bay Publications, 2004). The Gems feature not only meticulously-selected tunes, but represent the first major offerings that use Larsen's innovative system of notating Irish ornamentation. These books and online audio will help players gain a deeper understanding of the Irish musical tradition as well as provide new material to enhance the experience of the solo player and Irish session participant alike. Includes access to online audio.

Everything you want to know about embellishing Music of the Baroque Era is taught systematically and well-founded here: from the different "essential ornaments" such as trill, mordent, appoggiatura, slide, etc. up to the free melodic ornaments, cadenzas and improvised grounds. In addition, you will find valuable information, tips, constructive exercises, historical examples and much more. Exclusively you get a live recorded harpsichord-basso continuo accompaniment for all exercises, which supports you harmonically and rhythmically. For pupils, students, amateurs and professional musicians

Ornaments play an enormous role in the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and ambiguities in their notation (as well as their frequent omission in the score) have left doubt as to how composers intended them to be interpreted. Frederick Neumann, himself a violinist and conductor, questions the validity of the rigid principles applied to their performance. In this controversial work, available for the first time in paperback, he argues that strict constraints are inconsistent with the freedom enjoyed by musicians of the period. The author takes an entirely new look at ornamentation, and particularly that of J. S. Bach. He draws on extensive research in England, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States to show that prevailing interpretations are based on inadequate evidence. These restrictive interpretations have been far-reaching in their effect on style. By questioning them, this work continues to stimulate a reorientation in our understandiing of Baroque and post-Baroque music.