Showing titles in Instruction & Technique

📚 A Practical Guide for Musicians Who Want to Read Faster, Anticipate Smarter, and Play with Confidence Have you ever looked at a score and wondered what all these accidentals mean? Do you sometimes see the notes clearly—but can’t tell where the phrase is headed? Do you want to stop overthinking theory and start using it as a tool for fluency? If so, this guide was written for you. You don’t need to master every detail of harmony to sight-read well—you only need the essential patterns, the ones that repeat in almost every piece you’ll ever play. 🌍 Imagine this... You sit ...

Musical Momentum: High-Efficiency Rehearsal Systems for Sustainable Ensemble Growth offers a practical, systems-based approach to creating consistent, lasting improvement in ensemble performance. Rather than focusing on isolated rehearsal strategies or motivational techniques, this book reveals how sustained musical growth is built through structure — specifically, the intentional design of learning environments that stabilize skill development and allow progress to compound over time.

Parts of the Whole: The Anatomy of a Hit Record is your essential blueprint for understanding—and building—songs that capture attention, spark emotion, and dominate playlists in today's fast-moving music world. Drawing from decades of hit-making patterns across pop, hip-hop, rock, and beyond, this book breaks down the precise structural architecture behind the tracks you can't stop playing. From the narrative setup of verses to the tension-building magic of pre-choruses, the explosive payoff of unforgettable choruses, the refreshing contrast of bridges, and the lingering impact of ...

Classically trained singers learn how to act with their voice but are taught very little awareness about their bodies as equally expressive instruments. This handbook offers singers of all levels a new, holistic approach to learning how to incorporate meaningful gesture, posture, and body language in their work and become confident end engaging actors in opera and on the concert stage. Performing in Opera and Concert is the first installment of The Lyrical Stage Trilogy, a series about the craft, the repertoire and the value of opera and the classical recital in the 21st Century.

An effective and inspiring guide to songwriting by prolific, iconic singer-songwriter Dar Williams.How to Write a Song That Matters is an invaluable guide to writing music by a woman who knows how to do it and do it well: iconic singer-songwriter, Dar Williams. For years now, Williams has led...

Gertrude McFuzz wishes she had two feathers. She gets her wish but learns that vanity has a price. It starts out harmlessly enough, with a rabbit feeling rather pleased with himself and his talent for hearing. A neighboring bear overhears the rabbit's boasting and takes offense. The challenge is...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An accessible and inspirational guide to bringing the art and creativity of songwriting into your life, from the Grammy-winning cofounder of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo There are few creative acts more mysterious and magical than writing a song. But what if the goal...

The Mathematics of Music Explained: Rhythm, Harmony, Tuning Systems, Wave Frequencies, Acoustics, and the Hidden Structure of Sound reveals the powerful numerical framework beneath every melody, chord, and beat. From vibrating strings to digital streaming platforms, music is built on ratios, frequencies, logarithms, and patterns. This book uncovers how rhythm reflects mathematical subdivisions of time, how harmony emerges from frequency ratios, and how tuning systems balance pure intervals with practical flexibility. Whether you are a musician, composer, student, audio engineer, or lifelong...

A concentrated study of Johann Sebastian Bach's creative output and greatest pieces, capturing the essence of his art.

Resulta que la música no es sólo entretenimiento: es un medio de comunicación profundamente arraigado y sutilmente poderoso. Las canciones resuenan con tus patrones de ondas cerebrales e impulsan cambios en tu cerebro: creando tus estados de ánimo, consolidando tus recuerdos, fortaleciendo tus hábitos (tanto los buenos como los malos) ... incluso haciendo que te enamores o desenamores. Tu música te está moldeando, a nivel subconsciente, durante todo el día. Y ahora, por primera vez, puedes hacerte cargo.

Whether you are an absolute beginner, a pop wannabe, a karaoke crooner, or simply want to add singing to your repertoire, Learn to Sing is for you. Friendly advice from your very own instructor will help you develop your voice and enable your talent to flourish. Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started

Do you need to be able to read music to play guitar? These are some of the first questions I’m usually asked as a guitar teacher. Over my 25+ year career as a musician and guitar teacher, I have come across many guitarists who cannot read a single note of music or tell you a major triad from a min7flat5 chord. In fact, I think it’s one of the most hotly debated topics in guitar playing circles anywhere around the world, certainly in the online space. I say relax! Which person is a better player? That’s a 100 percent subjective judgement, and it’s not for me to decide.

Can’t seem to get your home recordings to sound as good as your favorite artists? Not sure what steps to take? If so, you're not alone, and this book is for you. The Recording Mindset is your step-by-step roadmap to creating professional recordings from the comfort of your home studio. It allows you to know exactly which gear to use, how to position your microphones, and get the best sounds for your unique songs. Allowing you to confidently create music that competes with your favorite records, and do it FAST.

Unleash the song of your soul with Zen Guitar, a contemplative handbook that draws on ancient Eastern wisdom and applies it to music and performance. Each of us carries a song inside us, the song that makes us human. Zen Guitar provides the key to unlocking this song—a series of life lessons...

One of jazz’s leading critics gives us an invigorating, richly detailed portrait of the artists and events that have shaped the music of our time. Grounded in authority and brimming with style, Playing Changes is the first book to take the measure of this exhilarating moment: it is a...

Practicing is an essential part of every musician's life, but we are rarely taught how to practice in the most effective and efficient way.

The first comprehensive, fully-illustrated approach to the voice that explains the anatomy and mechanics in detailed yet down-to-earth terms, for voice users and professionals of all kinds This book is the first to explain, in clear and concise language, the anatomy and mechanics of the...

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.

This lesson is broken into several chapters. The first part focuses on interval identification exercises, starting with grouped intervals and ending with all intervals mixed up. The second part of the book focuses on extremely valuable exercises with the help of fifths. The third part is a simple yet powerful exercise that allows you to manifest the sound of each interval even more.