Showing titles in Instruction & Technique

Have you ever been at a party, a concert, or a wedding where someone pulled out the harmonica and led everyone in a great song? What fun! The harmonica has been around for centuries, providing lots of great music and enjoyment. One great thing about the harmonica that has made it so popular is that it is so easy to learn, and bring with you wherever you go. In this audiobook, How To Play Harmonica, you will learn what you need to know in order to teach yourself the harmonica.

On Christmas Eve, 1818, in a small Austrian village, a local Catholic priest and a church organist composed a Christmas carol that changed the course of holiday music forever. Exactly two hundred years later, it’s not the holiday season until you’ve heard “Silent Night” in the car, at the store and on TV – all in the same day.

In Jingle Bell Pop, John Seabrook, acclaimed author of The Song Machine, takes us deep inside the holiday music business. We go behind the scenes to meet some of the producers, songwriters and recording artists responsible for the timeless tunes we hear on repeat between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.

The Art of Songwriting: Tips and Tricks for Writing Memorable Lyrics is a comprehensive guide to mastering the art of songwriting. Written by a team of experienced songwriters and music industry professionals, this book offers valuable insights and techniques for aspiring and established songwriters alike.

Massenet’s Werther combines a deeply tender story with music of beauty and eloquence. One act alone contains two of the greatest arias in the repertoire: the mezzo-soprano aria "Va! Laisse couler mes larmes" and the tenor’s "Pourquoi me rèveiller". In their sentimental power and melodic richness these arias encapsulate the qualities that account for the universal popularity of this great work.

Singing offers unparalleled joy, yet it also presents unique challenges as our voices age alongside us. These changes don't signal the end of your singing journey but rather a new chapter that requires specialized guidance and strategies.

Are you tired of waiting on inspiration to complete your songs? Are you not getting the response you hoped for from your songs? Is the songwriting process painful at times? Song Building will help you write songs faster and avoid getting stuck on second verses.

Rock, progressive rock, surf, folk, blues, and Latin rock are all in this Guitar by Ear Blues and Rock bundle. The artists in this set include CCR, Glass Harp, Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy, José Feliciano, and more! There are also a few slide songs in this collection, as well. This set has more than 14 hours of high-quality guitar instruction teaching some of the greatest songs of rock and roll, and you can learn them all completely “by ear” without music, tab, or video!

This is a candid and fascinating look at the mental, psychological, and spiritual aspects of musical mastery for any musician playing jazz and other styles. It's about listening and following one's muse in order to attain excellence. Lieb has much to say about the critically important stage of discovering one's unique musical voice with some of the challenges that players experience in attaining this goal. Become inspired by listening to this book, written by a decades-long leader and teacher who has pondered the many facets of what it takes to become a world-class artist.

Ear training is one of the most rewarding skills you can develop, and it’s one that you can work on every day. Which makes total sense: Music is an aural experience, after all. Ear training helps you turn the music you hear into music you make on your guitar. This works for your own musical ideas, too: When you dream up a great riff or chord progression, you naturally want to sit down and play it right away. Ear training helps you do just that.

Non-fans regard Céline Dion as ersatz and plastic, yet to those who love her, no one could be more real, with her impoverished childhood, her (creepy) manager-husband's struggle with cancer, her knack for howling out raw emotion. There's nothing cool about Céline Dion, and nothing clever. That's part of her appeal as an object of love or hatred — with most critics and committed music fans taking pleasure (or at least geeky solace) in their lofty contempt.

Renowned master voice teacher Mary Setrakian is an inspirational and respected vocal coach to Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning artists, Broadway stars, as well as singers, actors, and music lovers around the world who simply love to sing. The Mary Setrakian Method not only unlocks the potential of the voice, but also frees the human spirit.

Taking listeners inside the songwriting mecca of Nashville’s Music Row for the real stories behind country’s most influential songs—and featuring exclusive interviews with songwriters like Vince Gill, Clint Black, Buddy Cannon, Jelly Roll, and Taylor Swift co-writer Liz Rose—Songs of Nashville gives you a front-row seat to the lives and work of the artists who’ve shaped country music.

For anyone who has been intimidated, overwhelmed, or just plain confused by what they think opera is, Who’s Afraid of Opera? offers a lively, easy-to-follow guide to what author Michael Walsh describes as “the greatest art form yet invented by humankind.” From opera’s origins in Renaissance Italy to the Who’s rock odyssey “Tommy”, and Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”, Walsh explores what opera is and what it’s not, what makes a great singer, and why it takes Tristan so long to die.

The practice and politics of the unfettered female voice--reclaiming your power through voice, song, and opera-inspired exercises. For centuries, opera has used women’s voices to convey male stories. Within an art form dominated by men, the female voice is a means to an end: controlled...

There may be an idea, a thought, a feeling, an emotion, or a sensation growing inside you like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. With the right tools, you can become the engineer of your own ideas, building them brick by brick, putting all the pieces together, until your song finally starts unfolding as your lyrics and tunes merge to make one coherent whole.

Discover the Secrets to Reducing Tension, Pain-Free Playing, Perfect Posture, and Effortless Technique! Effortless Guitar is a breakthrough in guitar education, dispelling myths and misinformation that has caused countless player's careers and progress to be cut short. Through his experience as an Alexander Technique teacher and lifelong guitarist, Adrian Farrell shows you how to unlock your playing potential, avoid strain related injuries, and develop technique for life.

Taking a cognitive approach to musical meaning, Arnie Cox explores embodied experiences of hearing music as those that move us both consciously and unconsciously. In this pioneering study that draws on neuroscience and music theory, phenomenology and cognitive science, Cox advances his theory of the "mimetic hypothesis", the notion that a large part of our experience and understanding of music involves an embodied imitation in the listener of bodily motions and exertions that are involved in producing music.

Whether you’re young or old, there’s no better feeling than learning to play an instrument. Sadly, most people believe that they will never learn how to play a guitar. Local guitar teachers seem like a great option, at first, but you could risk getting stuck with a wannabe rock star who can't really teach you. Or, you could try YouTube, but most of those videos go way too fast, and they don't teach you the right way to play.

An exuberant, uniquely accessible, beautifully illustrated look inside the enigmatic art and craft of conducting, from a celebrated conductor whose international career has spanned half a century. John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative...

If you’ve ever wanted to learn to read music, develop your musicianship, and impress friends with your new skills, this is the book for you! How to Read Music for Beginners by Steve Tirpak actually lays out the complete blueprint to becoming fluent in the language of music. Packed with a lifetime's worth of knowledge and teaching experience, this no-fluff guide will have you maximizing your time, setting you on the path to develop excellent musical habits right from the start. It’s time to learn the secrets that will unlock your musical potential!