Domenico Scarlatti, the great Italian composer, enjoys his cat's company when he plays harpsichord. Little does he know, his cat, Pulcinella also dreams of composing her own music! One day, while chasing a mouse, she tumbles onto the harpsichord. Suddenly, she can't resist the urge to play. When she begins to play, Scarlatti's eyes widen?

A small, four-legged, fur-bearing extortionist. A wildlife-control-expert impersonator. A four-footed allergen. A treat-seeking missile." --Cat Capers America's 70 million cat owners will rejoice in finding a captivating coffee table book that is as purr-fect as their beloved feline companion. Fourty-seven percent of cat owners confess that they have more photos of their beloved Morris than of their spouse or significant other. Looking through the pages and portraits of Gandee Vasan's Cat Capers, this doesn't seem far-fetched. Scaredy cats, cat burglars, and mystery cats inhabit Vasan's pictorials and are presented alongside humorous cat-classifieds, interesting trivia, and delightful musings on all things feline. Vasan's work has been exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery in London and has garnered numerous awards. He finds his inspiration in absorbing what he sees around him and transforming it into what he wants others to see.

Contains information on 17 composers who range from the Baroque period to the Contemporary period. Book contains a picture with relevant facts and suggested listening, a brief biography, a study of his music (or time he lived) and a question and answer page for each composer. The accompanying CD includes the suggested listening for each composer; the activity sheets contain the picture with facts and question and answer page for each composer in a reproducible format.

Eldon Davis Rathburn (1916-2008), one of the most multi-dimensional, prolific, and endlessly fascinating composers of the twentieth century, wrote more music than any other Canadian composer of his generation. During a long and productive career that spanned seventy-five years, Rathburn served for thirty years as a staff composer with the National Film Board of Canada (1947-76), scored the first generation of IMAX films, and created a diverse catalogue of orchestral and chamber works. With the aid of extensive archival and documentary materials, They Shot, He Scored chronicles Rathburn's life and works, beginning with his formative years in Saint John, New Brunswick, and his breakthrough in Los Angeles in connection with Arnold Schoenberg and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. The book follows his work at the NFB, his close encounters with some of the most celebrated international figures in his field, and his collaboration with the team of innovators who launched the IMAX film corporation. James Wright undertakes a close analytical reading of Rathburn's film and concert scores to outline his methods, compositional techniques, influences, and idiosyncratic approach to instrumentation, as well as his proto-postmodern proclivity for borrowing from diverse styles and genres. Authoritative and insightful, They Shot, He Scored illuminates the extraordinary career of an unsung creative force in the film and music industry.

Includes music.

A monthly journal for the musician, the music student, and all music lovers.

In this rich collection of thoughts on creativity and faith, Shaw explores the intersection of the life of faith with the life of art. By helping the reader understand spiritual principles from looking at Gods own creative life throughout Scripture, she challenges the artist in everyone to ask how faith informs art, and how art can animate faith.

Anne Fadiman is--by her own admission--the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill, whose husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, and who once found herself poring over her roommate's 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in the apartment that she had not read at least twice. This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. For Fadiman, as for many passionate readers, the books she loves have become chapters in her own life story. Writing with remarkable grace, she revives the tradition of the well-crafted personal essay, moving easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family. As someone who played at blocks with her father's 22-volume set of Trollope ("My Ancestral Castles") and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections ("Marrying Libraries"), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud. There is even a foray into pure literary gluttony--Charles Lamb liked buttered muffin crumbs between the leaves, and Fadiman knows of more than one reader who literally consumes page corners. Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Fadiman as one of our finest contemporary essayists.