Roy Orbison died in 1988 but he's hardly forgotten. Raised in rural Texas, Orbison became one of the pioneers of rock and roll in the 1950s, sharing the famed Sun Records with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. He achieved superstar status in the 1960s, writing and releasing a series of smash singles, such as Oh, Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, and Crying, plus many others that remain the most well-known songs of the era. IN DREAMS features rare memorabilia from Roy's career, much of it unseen for decades. This stunning biography, written by his sons along with Jeff Slate, tells the true story of their father's remarkable life, including his personal tragedies, reinventions, and untimely death.

    The best-selling banjo method in the world! Earl Scruggs's legendary method has helped thousands of banjo players get their start. The Revised and Enhanced Edition features more songs, updated lessons, and many other improvements. It includes everything you need to know to start playing banjo, including: a history of the 5-string banjo, getting acquainted with the banjo, Scruggs tuners, how to read music, chords, how to read tablature, right-hand rolls and left-hand techniques, banjo tunings, exercises in picking, over 40 songs, how to build a banjo, autobiographical notes, and much more! The book/audio version includes recordings of Earl Scruggs playing and explaining over 60 examples! Audio is accessed online using the unique code inside the book and can be streamed or downloaded. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.

    This is a practical way to learn the aspects of language that you’ll actually need and use; from booking a hotel room to navigating a menu, Paul will effortlessly build your confidence and give you the tools to handle any holiday situation.His ‘word robbery’ will also help unlock the range of vocabulary you already know. By making a few simple tweaks, you’ll go from fantastic to fantastisch!Ideal for first-time learners or people who struggled in school, this book will help you absorb information quickly and efficiently, just like you did learning English as a child. Forget the way you used to be taught; this course guarantees you minimum effort and maximum success without the need for complex grammar rules or jargon. With thousands of satisfied customers, there’s never been a better time to learn.“There is nothing so complicated in foreign languages that it cannot be made simple.” Paul NobleA quick, easy and fun way to unlock your basic language skills. Perfect for beginners, this book will give you all the information you need to build basic conversations and get by on your travels.

    Volume One contains the fifteen sonatas from Beethoven's first period, including the popular Pathétique, Moonlight, and Pastorale sonatas. Volume Two contains the 17 sonatas from Beethoven's second and third periods, including the Waldstein, the Appassionata, and the Hammerklavier.The music is reproduced directly from the exemplary Universal Edition set edited by Heinrich Schenker. Combining scrupulous scholarship and profound artistic vision, Schenker achieved an edition which is universally admired by musicians and scholars. He used more autographs as sources than any previous editor of the sonatas, and he was the first to reproduce in print the visual impression of the autographs. For this Dover edition, Schenker's footnotes have been translated into English and his preface translated. A new introduction by Carl Schachter has also been included.Noteheads have been reproduced in a size large enough to be read easily at the keyboard. Margins and spaces between staves are generous, permitting insertion of written notes, analysis, fingerings, etc. Running measure numbers and many fingerings have already been included by the editor — the last a particularly unusual and valuable feature of this edition. This edition will be welcomed by all pianists, both professional and amateur, for its accuracy and reliability; it is highly desirable for instruction, study, reference, and enjoyment.

    This book is a must for all music fans who wish to experience music more fully and deeply through one of the most inspired, and inspiring, music intellects of our time. Employing the creative device of "Imaginary Conversations" in the first section of his book, Bernstein illuminates the importance of the symphony in America, the greatness of Beethoven, and the art of composing. The book also includes a photo section and a third section with the transcripts from his televised Omnibus music series, including "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony," "The World of Jazz," "Introduction to Modern Music," and "What Makes Opera Grand."

    In this volume, he is an observant guide to a world that he was once master of.

    [Swafford] manages to construct a full-bodied human being."--The New York Times Book Review

    No recent study has examined the meaning of Wagner's masterpiece with the attention to detail and intellectual power that Roger Scruton brings to it in this inspiring account. The Ring of Truth is an exploration of the drama, music, symbolism and philosophy of the Ring from a writer whose knowledge and understanding of the Western musical tradition are the equal of his capacities as a philosopher.Scruton shows how, through musical connections and brilliant dramatic strokes, Wagner is able to express truths about the human condition which few other creative artists have been able to convey so convincingly. For Wagner, writes Scruton, the task of art is to 'show us freedom in its immediate, contingent, human form, reminding us of what it means to us. Even if we live in a world from which gods and heroes have disappeared we can, by imagining them, dramatize the deep truths of our condition and renew our faith in what we are.'Love, death, sacrifice and the liberation that we win through sacrifice - these are the great themes of the Ring, as they are of this book. Scruton's passionate and moving interpretation allows us to understand more fully than ever how Wagner conveys his ideas about who we are, and why the Ring continues to be such a hypnotically absorbing work.

     While a limited understanding of contrapuntal elements may be gained through analysis alone, these elements are grasped in a more intimate way through the actual writing of contrapuntal examples. Also, by linking the study of counterpoint to music of a specific period, the text provides a clear model for students to emulate and a definite basis for the criticism of student work.

    It traces his beginnings in British Columbia growing up hearing a wealth of music, continues through his rapid rise to professional status, touring and recording with Steve Vai and developing his career with Strapping Young Lad and Devin Townsend Project. More than just an honest and intimate autobiography though, Only Half There is also a brutally honest expression of his life as a working, touring and recording artist, a husband, father and bi-polar artist.

    Now, for the first time in the United States, we can read their astonishing story. Steven, Ed, Jim, Tyler, and Kevin have two Grammy nominations under their belts, they've appeared on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, and their music is featured in commercials. They've even preempted the Olympics and rocked the vote on The West Wing. Their quirky, bizarre lyrics and unforgettable live performances have secured a rabidly loyal fan base across North America. They are Barenaked Ladies. Want to know more about this Canadian quintet? It's all here, from the births of five Barenaked babies to the triumph of band member Kevin over leukemia. All the stories, from goo-goo to glory Photographs of the band, never before seen in the United States, including family photos, baby pictures, and shots from the early days of BNLA list of BNL's favorite road games and instructions so you, too, can playA detailed list of every musical project the Ladies have recorded or been involved withMore information on band camp and what gifted Canadian kids do for fun than you ever thought you wanted Given exclusive access to the band, author Paul Myers gets inside the heads of five guys who drew on their eclectic backgrounds to generate a groundbreaking musical style. Fun, frank, and sometimes frivolous, this is the naked truth behind Barenaked Ladies.

    Lewis Lockwood sketches the turbulent personal, historical, political, and cultural frameworks in which Beethoven worked and examines their effects on his music. "The result is that rarest of achievements, a profoundly humane work of scholarship that will—or at least should—appeal to specialists and generalists in equal measure" (Terry Teachout, Commentary). Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  "Lewis Lockwood has written a biography of Beethoven in which the hours that Beethoven spent writing music—that is, his methods of working, his interest in contemporary and past composers, the development of his musical intentions and ideals, his inner musical life, in short—have been properly integrated with the external events of his career. The book is invaluable." —Charles Rosen "Lockwood writes with poetry and clarity—a rare combination. I especially enjoyed the connection that he makes between the works of Beethoven and the social and political context of their creation—we feel closer to Beethoven the man without losing our wonder at his genius." —Emanuel Ax "The magnum opus of an illustrious Beethoven scholar. From now on, we will all turn to Lockwood's Beethoven: The Music and the Life for insight and instruction." —Maynard Solomon "This is truly the Beethoven biography for the intelligent reader. Lewis Lockwood speaks in his preface of writing on Beethoven's works at 'a highly accessible descriptive level.' But he goes beyond that. His discussion of the music, based on a deep knowledge of its context and the composition processes behind it, explains, elucidates, and is not afraid to evaluate; while the biographical chapters, clearly and unfussily written, and taking full account of the newest thinking on Beethoven, align closely with the musical discussion. The result is a deeply perceptive book that comes as close as can be to presenting the man and the music as a unity."—Stanley Sadie, editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "Impressive for both its scholarship and its fresh insights, this landmark work—fully accessible to the interested amateur—immediately takes its place among the essential references on this composer and his music."—Bob Goldfarb, KUSC-FM 91.5 "Lockwood writes like an angel: lucid, enthusiastic, stirring and enlightening. Beethoven has found his ablest interpreter."—Jonathan Keates, The Spectator  "There is no better survey of Beethoven's compositions for a wide audience."—Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times Book Review

    The book is going to search for the deeper roots of American cultural and musical evolution for the past 150 years by studying what the Western European culture learned from African American culture in a historical progression that reaches from the minstrel era to Bob Dylan. The book begins with America’s first great social critic, Henry David Thoreau, and his fundamental source of social philosophy:---his profound commitment to freedom, to abolitionism and to African-American culture. Continuing with Mark Twain, through whom we can observe the rise of minstrelsy, which he embraced, and his subversive satirical masterpiece Huckleberry Finn. While familiar, the book places them into a newly articulated historical reference that shines new light and reveals a progression that is much greater than the sum of its individual parts. As the first post-Civil War generation of black Americans came of age, they introduced into the national culture a trio of musical forms—ragtime, blues, and jazz— that would, with their derivations, dominate popular music to this day. Ragtime introduced syncopation and become the cutting edge of the modern 20th century with popular dances. The blues would combine with syncopation and improvisation and create jazz. Maturing at the hands of Louis Armstrong, it would soon attract a cluster of young white musicians who came to be known as the Austin High Gang, who fell in love with black music and were inspired to play it themselves. In the process, they developed a liberating respect for the diversity of their city and country, which they did not see as exotic, but rather as art. It was not long before these young white rebels were the masters of American pop music – big band Swing.As Bop succeeded Swing, and Rhythm and Blues followed, each had white followers like the Beat writers and the first young rock and rollers. Even popular white genres like the country music of Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter Family reflected significant black influence. In fact, the theoretical separation of American music by race is not accurate. This biracial fusion achieved an apotheosis in the early work of Bob Dylan, born and raised at the northern end of the same Mississippi River and Highway 61 that had been the birthplace of much of the black music he would study. As the book reveals, the connection that began with Thoreau and continued for over 100 years was a cultural evolution where, at first individuals, and then larger portions of society, absorbed the culture of those at the absolute bottom of the power structure, the slaves and their descendants, and realized that they themselves were not free.

    This account does not go out of its way to endear us to him. With digs at everything from Rastafarianism and the smoking ban to musicians he doesn't care for. From his pioneering work as entertainments officer at Leeds University in the 1980s, to his introduction of many foreign artists to British ears, to his latter-day work as a foreign reporter, Kershaw has had a fascinating life.

    But an astonishing 540 of them closed down between 2004 and 2008. Last Shop Standing lifts the lid on an industry in tatters. Graham Jones has worked at the heart of record retailing since the golden era of the 1980s. He was there during the years of plenty and has witnessed the tragic decline of a business blighted by corruption and corporate greed. Undertaking a tour of the last remaining independent record shops in Britain, he has collected a wealth of entertaining stories that explain why the best are still standing, and how the worst of them blew it. In telling the tale of the industry's sad decline Graham Jones has unearthed wry anecdotes about dozens of rock stars and music industry figures, including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Oasis, John Peel and many others. Last Shop Standing is a hilarious yet harrowing account by a man who has been there and sold that. It is a book that will bring a wry smile to the face of anyone who has ever bought a CD or attended a concert, and still has the T-shirt to prove it.