Voted second on Modern Drummer's list of 25 Greatest Drum Books in 1993, Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is one of the most versatile and practical works ever written for drums. Created exclusively to address syncopation, it has earned its place as a standard tool for teaching beginning drummers syncopation and strengthening reading skills. This book includes many accented eighths, dotted eighths and sixteenths, eighth-note triplets and sixteenth notes for extended solos. In addition, teachers can develop many of their own examples from it.

An analysis of the sustaining vitality behind contemporary American poetry from 1975 to the 2003, these 12 essays examine both exemplary innovators and the social context in which innovation is resisted, acclaimed, or taken for granted.

This compulsively readable collection of profiles and essays by James Campbell, tied together by a beguiling autobiographical thread, proffers unique observations on writers and writing in the post-1950s period. Campbell considers writers associated with the New Yorker magazine, including John Updike, William Maxwell, Truman Capote, and Jonathan Franzen. Continuing his longterm engagement with African American authors, he offers an account of his legal battle with the FBI over James Baldwin's file and a new profile of Amiri Baraka. He also focuses on the Beat poets Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg, as well as writers such as Edmund White and Thom Gunn. Campbell's concluding essay on his childhood in Scotland gracefully connects the book's autobiographical dots.

A comprehensive method that first teaches music reading, then explores many of the most common syncopated rhythms of modern popular music. Includes practice tips, rhythm exercises, beginning music theory, and a recording demonstrating all the examples in the book. 64 pages.

The complex art of conducting may look effortless to the casual onlooker, however, it requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. The success of a performance hinges on the director's ability to keep the group playing together and interpreting the music as the composer intended. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Conducting Music shows student and novice conductors how to lead bands, orchestras, choirs, and other ensembles effectively through sight-reading, rehearsals, and performances.

In this book, the authors develop a theoretical framework based on a Gestalt approach, viewing rhythmic experience in terms of pattern perception or groupings. Musical examples of increasing complexity are used to provide training in the analysis, performance, and writing of rhythm.

The main purpose of the book is to explore basic music theory so thoroughly that the interested student will then be able to easily pick up whatever further theory is wanted. Music history and the physics of sound are included to the extent that they shed light on music theory. The main premise of this course is that a better understanding of where the basics come from will lead to better and faster comprehension of more complex ideas.It also helps to remember, however, that music theory is a bit like grammar. Catherine Schmidt-Hones is a music teacher from Champaign, Illinois and she has been a pioneer in open education since 2004. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois in the Open Online Education program with a focus in Curriculum and Instruction.

Updated with the latest bass guitar technology, accessories, and more The bass is the heart of music. So leave center stage to the other musicians-you have more important work to do. You can find everything you need to dominate bass in Bass Guitar For Dummies, 2nd Edition. You'll get expert advice on the basics, like deciding what kind of bass to pick up and which accessories are necessary and which are just nice to have. Plus, you'll get step-by-step instructions for getting started, from how to hold and position your bass to reading notation and understanding chords, scales, and octaves to playing solos and fills. New coverage of slaps, double stops, de-tuning, and fretless techniques New musical exercises as well as updates to charts, illustrations, photos, and resources Whether you're a beginner picking up a bass for the first time or an experienced player looking to improve your skills, Bass Guitar For Dummies, 2nd Edition is an easy-to-follow reference that gives you just enough music theory to get you going on your way fast!

Music is surrounded by movement, from the arching back of the guitarist to the violinist swaying with each bow stroke. To John Paul Ito, these actions are not just a visual display; rather, they reveal what it really means for musicians to move with the beat, organizing the flow of notes from beat to beat and shaping the sound produced. By developing "focal impulse theory," Ito shows how a performer's choices of how to move with the meter can transform the music's expressive contours. Change the dance of the performer's body, and you change the dance of the notes. As Focal Impulse Theory deftly illustrates, bodily movements carry musical meaning and, in a very real sense, are meaning.