This book serves as an important bridge between passion and practical implementation of music learning in the classroom. Topics covered include rigor and relevance, a professional framework for teaching, leadership and advocacy, creativity and self-expression, lesson plan design, and inspiration. Ultimately, this book can serve as a foundation for developing any comprehensive K-12 music education program.

"The Musician's Soul" starts all musicians on a journey to the higher plane of artistic self-expression and soulful spirituality. Words of wisdom are based on Jordan's own journey as a conductor, yet these writings are pertinent to all musicians. Filled with thought-provoking quotations, life experiences, and ideas, this book will encourage you to explore your inner self by creating openness and vulnerability, finding your center, and discovering the importance of both solitude and community. The cassette contains seven meditations on particular themes and correlates with the book. Look beyond the mechanics of technique to the soul of music and create your own inspired voice!

Whether it's rhythm & blues, hip-hop, rap, jazz, soul, blues or gospel, each genre is covered in the pages of On This Day in Black Music History. A book in a calendar format, it covers over 60 years of mind-tickling trivia, history and events with more than 2,000 facts about hundreds of artists, including: Aretha; Ella; Whitney; Dionne Warwick; Paula Abdul; Stevie Wonder; Count Basie; Queen Latifah; Ray Charles; Dizzy Gillespie; Miles Davis; James Brown; Al Green; P. Diddy; Usher; "Destiny's Child;" "Run DMC" and many others. Each page also includes the #1 hit on that day from different years by the best of black music's legendary performers. Truly a nostalgic trip thru time that's entertainingly educational, On This Day in Black Music History definitively demonstrates how black music is interwoven into American history.

Learning orchestration can be a daunting task. For example: what is the range of the bassoon, how do strings decide which way their bows will move, what does transposition in F mean, and a whole host of other questions await the student of orchestration. Norman Ludwin has made this process much easier by writing his new book: Orchestration, A New Approach. The book consists of a 50-page booklet and DVD. The DVD contains over 1000 pages of scores analyzed for the student of orchestration; not harmonic and form analyzes but rather examining issues of dovetailing, doubling, tessitura concerns, instrumental effects, composers use of articulations and dynamics, bowing and phrasing issues, texture, and the relationship of the different orchestral sections to one another. The twenty scores range from Haydn to Stravinsky and using a color-coded system, the student can study these annotated scores and see precisely the important points. The author has created 15 lessons beginning with the fundamentals and moving through each orchestral family, culminating in lessons on combining the instruments together. Each lesson consists of several educational files, including exercises and instrumental examples. The lessons include orchestral scores that pertain to the particular area of study and in many cases public domain recordings. Norman Ludwin teaches Orchestration in the UCLA Extension Program and at the Professional Musicians Union in Los Angeles.

Can assessing student music learning in the classroom improve music teaching and learning? The answer is a resounding "Yes!" according to 163 assessment scholars, researchers, music administrators, students, and practicing K-12 and higher education music educators from across the world. Representing 27 states and 13 nations, these leaders in music assessment shared current thought, research, and practices at the April 2009 Music Assessment Conference in Gainesville, Florida. The presenters who attended the symposium provided insight and practical information regarding assessment in state and national contexts; schools and school districts; music classrooms; and higher education and music teacher education. The resulting 52 papers and poster abstracts compiled into this important book provide an insightful, well-documented examination of an area that is becoming increasingly important in music classrooms across the world. Book, 552 p.

What are the purposes of music education assessment? What are the best strategies and techniques? How does assessment improve music teaching and learning? What are the shared research priorities for music education assessment? To address these questions, 139 assessment scholars, researchers, music administrators, students, and practicing music educators representing six continents and 17 nations convened on the campus of the University of Bremen in Bremen, Germany. The 34 papers published in this volume address assessment in national, state, and regional contexts as well as in districts, schools and classrooms. A wealth of information about assessment in higher education and music teacher education is also included.

A team of leaders in the music education profession gathered a series of events over two years, a worthy successor of the famous Tanglewood symposium of 1967. This remarkable book is the culmination of their efforts. Tanglewood II not only stimulates the profession to examine where this great adventure of music learning is headed - this book also provokes a re-evaluation of present programs and philosophies, tired methodologies, and reinvigorates the role music educators play in the lives of their students. The contributors explore the great questions: Why music? What does music communicate? What is the relationship between music education and democracy? What should be the impact of world music? What is the latest research about nature vs. nurture and its impact on music learning? How does the child/teacher relationship affect learning? How does technology impact music learning, and what are the implications of future technologies? Are we recruiting and properly training the right individuals to teach music? Paperback, 405 p.

It has never been easier or more fun for students to compose, improvise, arrange, and produce music and music-related projects than with today's technology. Written in a practical, accessible manner, "Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity" offers a variety of technology tools that are best suited for encouraging students' authentic musical creativity. Includes over 60 illustrations.

This book offers discussion on the important wind band personalities and organizations of our time, and provides useful information on hundreds of compositions for the modern band.

Join a twenty-year veteran of the New York City Public School system as he shares his proven techniques designed to empower the general music teacher to win the daily war against his fiercest opponent: unfocused and unruly students. The author's unflinching look at the realities of teaching music does more than address behavioral issues. It also offers tangible ways in which learning and teaching can become truly satisfying experiences!