This practical guide to the mechanics and evolution of the instrument also offers a survey of its literature. The author discusses touch and technique and the issues involved in historical performance practices. Also includes suggestions on selecting and maintaining a harpsichord.

These intensely personal and perceptive essays explore the author's life as a pianist – practicing, performing, teaching, and writing – but they could be the thoughts and reflections of any artist. They recount the challenges, rewards, and joys of her experiences in her chosen profession.

Let's keep our string programs vital, contemporary, and thriving! Alternative Strings: The New Curriculum is the first resource book in the world to offer a comprehensive guide to string educators wishing to step into twenty-first-century inclusive string pedagogy. The “Dear Abby” for string players, Julie Lyonn Lieberman, offers detailed descriptions of over two dozen fiddle, blues, jazz, pop, and world styles; bountiful support materials; a massive discography; musical examples; photographs; and audio from master players and clinicians, far exceeding the scope of other books in the field. ABOUT THE AUDIO CD: Some of today's top alternative string players and clinicians demonstrate rock, jazz, and fiddle styles; present innovative ideas for teaching new generations of string players; and more. Tracks include: 1. Howard Armstrong: My first fiddle 2. Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry: Zydeco Rock 3. Daryl Silberman: Through Contemporary to Classical and Back 4. Ed Caner: Rock Basics 5. Anthony Barnett: Stuff Smith plays “Body and Soul” 6. Mark Wood: Evolution, Rock, and Musicianship 7. Jesus Florido: Latin and Beyond 8. Randy Sabien: Jazz Stirngs: A Life Inspiration 9. Leanne Darling: Arabic Strings 10. Bob Phillips: Fiddling in the Schools 11. Julianna Waller: Developing Diversity 12: Martin Norgaard: Jazz String Pedagogy 13. Richard Greene: Moving Forward 14. Martha Mooke: Breaking the Sound Barrier 15. Claude Williams: Reminiscences 16. Julie Lyonn Lieberman: “Fiddle, Sing,” excerpt from Mixing America

President of The Juilliard School and then of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during the years 1945-1968, Schuman (1910-1992) was an “artistic catalyst” who was instrumental in shaping how America perceived and supported music, dance and drama in the second half of the twentieth century. His influence as an arts administrator, educator and composer caused him to be considered at one time as “probably the most powerful figure in the world of art music.”



Complex, driven, and filled with a confident optimism that characterized America at the time, Schuman thought of himself as “a part of many different worlds.” Those worlds included his life as a composer of more than one hundred works in orchestral, choral, chamber, and operatic settings. His music has been characterized as “full of American directness in its vibrant rhythms and brilliant orchestrations.” This first-ever complete biography of Schuman brings the many threads of his life together within the context of the personalities and events that shaped how we experience the arts in America in the twenty-first century.

Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years details Toscanini's magnificent and heroic 17 years (1937-1954) conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The archival broadcast recordings documented and reassessed in this lively account comprise the most complete recorded legacy of Toscanini's orchestral conducting career. The broadcast recordings include his readings of many scores for which he left no approved recording, and his NBC career included performances of works he never conducted before coming to the network. The concerts and the broadcasts were immensely popular, and for generations Toscanini's name became synonymous with conducting. His legendary art and fiery personality also engendered controversy that has yet to subside, but this account takes on the challengers, accepting neither hero worship nor criticism that ignores the evidence.