For Your Library

Constructing a Personal Orientation to Music Teaching

by Mark Robin Campbell, Linda K. Thompson, and Janet R. Barrett. London: Routledge, 2010; www.routledge.com.

Constructing a Personal Orientation to Music Teaching teaches us who we are as teachers and who we are becoming. By “grounding teaching and learning in the personal, the practical, and the interactive, and placing the teacher-learner at the center of the educational process” (p. vii), the authors promote thoughtful and thorough inquiry into the profession of teaching.

Throughout the book, Campbell, Thompson, and Barrett include four unique elements that engage the reader. The first, “Take Action,” gets us thinking about particular ideas or concepts related to teaching and how to apply them in various situations. The “At Close Range” section presents the reader with narratives of teachers at different stages of their careers, relating personal experience and teaching. The third component, “Focus on Research,” summarizes important studies related to teaching music. The final element, “For Your Inquiry,” contains recommended readings to further explore a topic.

Music teachers at any stage of their career would benefit from this book, but I believe it would be most useful for those in a university setting. The authors “envision this book as a student’s companion integrated throughout undergraduate and graduate music programs” (p. viii) and supply a handy chart on page 168 that outlines how the book can be used in introductory music education courses, methods courses, student teaching, and graduate seminars.

One of many strengths of this book is the “Focus on Research” section, where the authors encourage readers to read music education journals and scholarly articles. Research is presented in such a way that one need not have a background in it to understand the studies, and all research terms that are used are defined. Learning interviewing techniques is also part of the research section, so undergraduate students who wish to continue their education will have been introduced to this basic research technique prior to beginning a graduate program.

One of the exercises most pertinent to me as a university professor was the “Take Action 4.2” on page 75. In this section the author ask readers to examine the teacher education programs at their institutions by interviewing their professors. I believe this would reveal important information about what aspects of music teacher preparation are considered most valuable at particular institutions and/or by individual faculty members. Reading this section prompted me to think more about the way I want my program to be perceived and the knowledge and skills I hope my students might possess upon graduation.

Campbell, Thompson, and Barrett have created a comprehensive textbook that allows the reader to more fully understand music teaching across the life span of his or her career. While the authors admit that this is not a work that addresses particular sets of teaching “skills,” those who read it will most likely develop analytical and investigative skills while reflecting on their pasts and futures concerning teaching. I recommend this book to anyone who is, has been, or wants to be a music teacher.

—Michele Paynter Paise

Assistant professor of music,

Cumberland University,

Lebanon, Tennessee;

mpaise@cumberland.edu

YouTube in Music Education

by Thomas Rudolph and James Frankel. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Books, 2009; www.halleonard.com.

With YouTube in Music Education, Thomas Rudolph and James Frankel have authored a book that is inclusive of all readers who want to explore the educational slant of the YouTube world. A cohesive read, YouTube in Music Education begins with the bare basics and flows through ever-increasing possibilities for the advancing user. Because chapters have helpful subheadings throughout, the reader always has the option to choose sections to read or skip around without feeling lost.

Introductory chapters cover information such as display tools and appearances as well as account setup and options. Especially helpful for most novice users are the knowledge and skills to create playlists, subscribe to channels, and participate in the many interactive options within the YouTube environment. Culminating chapters take the reader through advanced features, such as uploading video, joining groups, and creating and customizing pages and channels. Information is clear and succinct, with frequent computer screenshots providing visual clarity to go along with text. For this reason, it is encouraged that the reader actually access and incorporate YouTube offerings while reading. This hands-on, experiential learning can be of great benefit to the user’s memory as the authors’ examples come to life on screen.

For all of the useful YouTube information that you might anticipate, there is just as much “extra” information that is a nice surprise. Huge strengths of the book lie in the middle chapters, titled “Playback, Sound Quality, and Display,” “Copyright and Copywrong,” and “YouTube in the Music Classroom.” These chapters are arguably the most consequential for music educators, many of whom desire high-quality information about these technological and ethical issues. Not only do the authors give a huge sampling of teaching strategies (ninety-nine, to be exact), but they also devote a chapter on what to do when schools block YouTube access. Rudolph and Frankel are meticulous about addressing issues of Internet safety, password and account protection, and other legal concerns. They also tackle the tough topics of making, producing, and posting videos with students. This information is equally concise, while providing details on equipment, terminology, and step-by-step editing in Windows Movie Maker and iMovie.

As the authors acknowledge, some information, equipment, and even YouTube itself will become dated due to technological advancement and innovation. Perhaps, when that time comes, this book will make those changes as well, with subsequent editions. In the meantime, the book is quite simply an extremely valuable tool for all levels, ages, and backgrounds of music educators. Too often, technology is somewhat divorced from teaching. Throughout this book, however, the overarching theme is to “provide music educators with a clear understanding of how to use YouTube and implement some of its many pedagogical applications in the music classroom” (p. xiii). Rudolph and Frankel have included an abundance of information and supporting topics in YouTube in Music Education. This is a highly recommended resource for the educator who is growing, or has grown up, in the age of technology.

—Paige Rose

Assistant professor of music education,

University of Central Arkansas,

Conway;

prose@uca.edu

The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator

by Eric Booth. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009; www.global.oup.com.

The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible is an interesting choice of title, as it tends to lead the reader into several possible preconceptions about the contents. One might assume that it is geared toward music educators—helping them become better teachers to their students. Another possibility is the private or studio music teacher—that this textbook is designed to help them better teach the students under their care. Neither is entirely correct, and yet both are somewhat on the mark. This engaging work by Eric Booth is geared toward professional musicians and professional music organizations and provides a solid and comprehensive framework for how those musicians and organizations can implement and improve upon their audience education and outreach to schools as well as make music and the arts more accessible and relevant to today’s listening public.

On page 3, Booth defines a teaching artist as “an artist who chooses to artfully include educating others, beyond teaching the technique of the art form, as an active part of a career.” He encourages all musicians and artists to become teaching artists, because “a teaching artist is the model for high-engagement learning in education [and] is the future of art in America” (p. 4). It would be easy, at this point, to suggest that this book is not written for the average music educator and is not relevant to the daily teaching that takes place in the music classroom. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While perhaps not written with the music educator in mind, The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible contains a wealth of information that will inform and extend the ideas already at play in music classrooms today. Booth spends a great deal of time discussing the accessibility of music and the arts to a general audience, something critical to the mission of music education. Early on, he defines guidelines for teaching artistry, one of which is “tapping confidence” (p. 27). He writes, “Most Americans of age nine think of themselves as artistically incompetent. . . . Sadly, as we try to bring people into the arts, too often we inadvertently confirm their sense of incompetence by implying that you have to know a lot to do them right; we make the artistic event more formal than fun.” If the book addressed nothing more than engaging people in the arts in a meaningful way, it would be worth the price. In fact, it covers much more.

Booth has extensive sections and chapters on topics that include developing curriculum, working in educational settings, how to succeed in school environments and school performances, and current trends in the arts, such as how recent national developments in education have affected arts education and ways to advocate for music and the arts both within and outside of the school setting. Music educators will find value throughout the book, and it can serve as a guide to bring fuller musical understanding to music students as well as parents, administrators, and general audiences. Booth speaks from experience, using his background as the founding artistic director of the Mentoring Program at Juilliard and teaching at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to bring real-world situations and solutions to life. Through a clear and conversational style, he demonstrates educational techniques that, with a little adaptation, will be useful to any music educator in the field. Additionally, if guest artists or artists-in-residence are part of your program, you must have this book.

—Russell McCutcheon

Director of bands,

The Sunderman Conservatory of Music,

Gettysburg College,

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania;

rmccutch@gettysburg.edu

Experiencing Ethnomusicology

by Simone Krüger. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009; www.ashgate.com.

In Experiencing Ethnomusicology, Simone Krüger addresses curricular decisions and the impact of experiences on students who engage in ethnomusicological course work. Krüger studied the transmission of ethnomusicology across fourteen English and two German universities. She used participant observation, interviews, video, images, curricular documents, course materials, and websites to form a holistic picture of the teaching of ethnomusicology across European universities.

The fundamental question addressed in this book is to what extent should students in ethnomusicology study “music in and as culture” or “music as sound.” Krüger also investigated the pedagogical methods that are used and the effects of these approaches on student learning and perspectives. In particular, there are enlightening discussions on how the depth and length of musical experiences influence notions of simplicity and authenticity.

The book is effectively organized into four parts: how ethnomusicology is structured, listening experiences, performance experiences, and experiences in the construction of transcriptions, research, or media. Each section is prefaced by a brief introduction that clearly identifies the organizational structure and prepares the reader for contrasting ideas and themes. Frequent quotes from students and teachers open windows into the changing conceptions, misconceptions, and biases of students in approaching and engaging music from different cultures. The final epilogue is a well-reasoned set of conclusions and position statements based on the accumulated research and the author’s experience as a teacher of ethnomusicology.

While issues of ethnomusicology in education transcend grade and age levels, this book is primarily addressed to those who teach ethnomusicology and world musics courses at colleges and universities. The book has particular value as a reflective tool for those who want to critically think about ethnomusicological curricula and the activities that students do within a curriculum. European insight on issues of curricular focus, scope, authenticity, and student identity has important relevance to the work that is done in college and university classrooms in the United States.

—Kevin Shorner-Johnson

Assistant professor of music education,

Elizabethtown College,

Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania;

shornerk@etown.edu

A Pianist’s Dictionary: Reflections on a Life

by Alan Hersh. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009; www.rlpgbooks.com.

A Pianist’s Dictionary: Reflections on a Life by Alan Hersh is a series of two- to three-page short essays on key musical terminology. Within its pages, Hersh relates his thoughts and anecdotes about many facets of a concert pianist’s work and life. He imparts his wisdom and shares his life experiences in areas such as practicing, repertoire, and competition. In one longer essay, he includes short, vivid portraits of his own private teachers, identifying some only by last name (Mrs. Hall), as he would have addressed them as a child. He discusses his own impressions of their careers as teachers and the life lessons he learned from each of them.

Each essay differs in content, with some essays giving very specific advice on technique, some relaying historical narrative, and others waxing more philosophical. Hersh fosters creativity in young artists with his words of encouragement to render their own interpretation of the score. He clarifies in simple language terminology that many students and teachers struggle to define, such as tone and voicing.

Hersh chose to organize the topics alphabetically, which does not allow the book to flow very smoothly as one reads because the topics vary so widely in scope. The essays are each structurally sound on their own, however, so they can be read as separate entities. The editing is somewhat distracting, as there are several typographical errors. Hersh’s style of writing is engaging, but the subject matter of some of the essays is a bit pedagogically dry at times. Examples of this include an extended discussion of fingering and a somewhat generic definition of music theory. The humor included is often clichéd, such as “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.”

The book seems to omit the business management and travel aspects of the career and focuses on teaching, learning, and performing music. There are some essays that I wish I could have every private student of mine read before beginning study with me. For instance, I would recommend the essay on pedal so that I would not have to explain what each pedal on the piano does every time. There are other essays that are less matter-of-fact and deal more with matters of personal opinion, such as the author’s views on competition, that I would not be as quick to recommend. Although the essays review familiar concepts to professional pianists and educators, the book would serve as an excellent introduction to the world of career concert artists for young high school instrumentalists or interested adult hobbyists.

—Mary Lynne Bennett

Associate professor of music,

Fairmont State University,

Fairmont, West Virginia;

mary.bennett@fairmontstate.edu

Convergences in Music and Art: A Bibliographic Study

by George C. Schuetze. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2005; www.harmonieparkpress.com.

Since World War II, there has been explosive growth in the publishing of catalogs and books dealing with music and art history. Some have been done effectively by integrating both topics into a single volume. However, it is remarkable how Convergences in Music and Art: A Bibliographic Study, a review of music iconography, eclipses most if not all of them with its integration of material and efficient format.

During a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for teachers while studying J. S. Bach in Europe, I observed the positive merits of this book as participating colleagues in the fine arts prepared their final projects. And for those of you who are interested in enhancing your own college-level music appreciation classes, for interdisciplinary projects or team teaching endeavors, this book may be the proverbial “pearl of great price.”

Schuetze’s book had its beginnings as a textbook for a graduate-level course while the author taught at American University in Washington, D.C., and while on his one-year sabbatical at Germany’s University of Marburg. Instead of presenting his research in the typical historical progression, he divides each of the four major chapter headings by topics that capture his readership immediately. These include “Artists Inspired by Music and Musicians,” “Composers Inspired by Art and Artists,” “Twin Talents: Artist-Musicians and Musician-Artists,” and “Musicians Pose for the Artist: A History of Portrait Iconography.” Only following the introduction of these topics does Schuetze use a chronological approach to the subheadings with the various time periods.

Each paragraph consistently intersects musicians, artists, and those working with architecture in a parallel or converging fashion. Unfortunately, most transitions between these paragraphs are abrupt, and the copious footnotes—which accurately support all his findings—are as extensive as the primary information presented and, at times, may even take up half or more of the page. Even prominent writers are cited, such as E. T. A. Hoffmann, who was known for his fantastic tales of the supernatural and his scathing reviews of the music of his day. With this book, the reader also becomes aware of Hoffmann’s musical compositions, which include operas and other music selections for the stage. Equally informative is Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), who painted portraits of professional musicians. One of Ingres’s works was a drawing of violin virtuoso Paganini, and the other, a pencil sketch of a young Liszt. Less known, of course, was his playing with the Toulouse opera orchestra or his outspoken views about Berlioz (p. 113). Like others noted, one may have an eyebrow-raising moment as the author shares how this particular artist describes the composer as an abominable musician and Antichrist.

Readers will often desire to further explore some of their own questions. One may be as to why the fantasy world of the Hieronymous Bosch interested such a large number of twentieth-century composers (p. 89), or what similarities are between Mussorgsky’s “Promenade” found in the Pictures of an Exhibition and Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s paintings, which inspired Christian Schmidt’s orchestral suite Munch-Musik (p. 93). We might also wonder about Liszt’s attraction to the dance macabre from the Gothic period (p. 59), or the intaglio artist Albrecht Durer being rediscovered during the nineteenth century (p. 77).

A vital part of this book is found in the chapter “Musicians Pose for the Artist” in the section subtitled “J. S. Bach and His Sons” (p. 183). Along with the Haydn and Mozart entries, this one is the most extensive, and it provides background about forgeries and possible phony portraits. Unfortunately, a major caveat comes with the display of its 115 music iconography examples provided throughout the book. All of these are printed in black and white, sometimes blurred and with a less-than-acceptable appearance. One definitely is left yearning to see some of these examples in color.

These small complaints aside, one can only commend the author’s research provided for the two thousand or more musicians and artists found in the index. Readers will find this biographic study a valuable resource as they become acquainted with the predominant European museums, along with those discovered in American private and public collections. This book, number 86 in the Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography series, is a good fit for those working with college students. However, both neophytes and experienced educators associated with music and art will be constantly intrigued and will come away with a much stronger foundation in these topics.

—Bradford H. Meyerdierks

Instrumental music teacher,

Burris Laboratory School,

Ball State University,

Muncie, Indiana;

bmeyerdi@bsu.edu

Reds, Whites, and Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States

by William G. Roy. Roy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010; www.press.princeton.edu.

Reds, Whites, and Blues, a recent volume in the Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology, offers an intriguing look at how the use of music affected the success of two social movements in the United States during the twentieth century. Music as a catalyst for social change is contrasted in the left-wing movements of the 1930s to 1940s and the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The book begins with a definitive rationale for music drawn from diverse sources. The roots of American folk music—the music of choice for the social movements examined—are chronicled, and folk music as a genre is analyzed.

The folk music movement in the United States, largely propelled by John Lomax and his son Alan, and Charles Seeger and his son Pete, used work songs as protest songs. Roy notes that while John Lomax and Charles Seeger “expanded folk music beyond the Appalachians and the Anglophile academics,” it was their sons, Alan and Pete, who made folk music popular (p. 102). The Old Left was quite visible in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, but it reached far more urban elite and college students than it did union workers on picket lines.

The second cultural project detailed is the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Roy observes that “in no other social movement has music enjoyed such a pervasive presence” (p. 181). Music was used in meetings, in jails, in marches, and in sit-ins, and it became one of the icons of the movement. The historical perspective of using music for political purposes was borrowed from the Old Left movement. Black churches and black universities provided the context and some of the music, and the civil rights leaders built the musical infrastructure. “We Shall Overcome” became the best-known song and symbol of the civil rights movement. “The obstacle to be overcome” in the song “is like a Rorschach inkblot, an image that the viewer can see for him- or herself—segregation, racism, capitalism, apathy, sin, hate, or the white race. Who can be against ‘overcoming?’” (p. 193).

Ray concludes that the civil rights movement incorporated music more effectively than did the Old Left largely because the former was more participatory while the latter was largely based on a performer-to-audience scenario. In the civil rights movement, “rather than convert new recruits or persuade the skeptical, music induced participation through the act of doing it.” (p. 205). Singing brought people together in an act of solidarity. Social movements must do more than simply include elements of culture—it is how they present these elements that affects their results.

The work is well researched with extensive notes and bibliography. Some photographs of the key players are included; however, I would have liked to see more illustrations of the songbooks Roy references. The book offers a fascinating look at the ways music functions in social movements and is a valuable resource for sociologists and music educators.

—Daniel L. Steele

Professor of music education,

Central Michigan University,

Mt. Pleasant;

Steel1dl@cmich.edu

Music-in-Action: Selected Essays in Sonic Ecology

by Tia DeNora. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011; www.ashgate.com.

Tia DeNora has created a collection of formerly published essays in Music-in-Action: Selected Essays in Sonic Ecology. DeNora selected articles gleaned from 1986 to 2007, using the introductory chapter to explain how themes from her research over this period are related. Read in entirety, the result is thought-provoking and grounded in theory and philosophy as it was developed throughout DeNora’s expansive work in music sociology, music therapy, and musicology. Just as ecology is the study of organisms in their environment, the title Sonic Ecology is used to examine the complex relationships found among music, human beings, and social interactions. Through a variety of research topics, music is examined as a reflection, interpretation, and creator of the society in which it is experienced.

DeNora identifies the themes of her varied research as focused around descriptions of the meaning of music, music ethnographies, music as a space in which to play and work, music as a social agent, and music as an action people live and experience. The introductory chapter explains the themes, and a postlude chapter hints at future research directions. DeNora comes to her research using the constructivist view, which emphasizes how music is related to the social and cultural setting in which it is created. For instance, music is considered in relationship to the understanding of biology and the human body within a historical perspective in chapter 5, “The Biology Lessons of Opera Buffa: Gender, Nature, and Bourgeois Society on Mozart’s Buffa Stage.” The musical elements of lyric and form become vehicles for expressing social views of gender and sexual differences.

Similarly, in “Music as Agency in Beethoven’s Vienna,” DeNora identifies music as a medium for modeling social roles interwoven with the cultural practices of music performance. DeNora guides the reader through ways in which Beethoven’s music “came to be seen as ‘holding’ the listener in train to a new and psychologically charged psychoacoustical landscape” (p. 135). From 1799 through about 1810, Beethoven’s music increasingly became representative of the aesthetic of the inner life. The same aesthetic idea also widened the gulf between serious and popular music and isolated the serious artist from mainstream society. DeNora presents some interesting statistics of performances, with more men than women performing Beethoven’s compositions, as compared to gender equality with performances of Mozart’s compositions. DeNora suggests that “this gender segregation in the repertory marked the beginning of the women’s exclusion from the heart of the musical canon and from the emerging notion of ‘serious’ music during these years” (p. 114).

Many references within each chapter require prior conceptual knowledge of philosophy or sociology to be completely digested. Given the broad nature of the work, one could read essays in any order. Sonic Ecology would be extremely useful in seminar courses for graduate students across disciplines, as it is a thought-provoking intellectual work. Her works in progress, listed in the bibliography, promise that she is not yet finished making great strides in the ways in which we understand the fabric of music and society.

—Cynthia Wagoner

Assistant professor of music education,

East Carolina University,

Greenville, North Carolina;

cindywagoner57@gmail.com

Modern Music and After, 3rd ed.

by Paul Griffths. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010; www.oup.com.

Considered by many to be the foremost authority on modern music, Paul Griffths has updated his important book Modern Music and After with an addition of ninety-five pages to the text of the previous editions, published in 1981 and 1995. The narrative is mainly chronological, with the most influential composers, such as Berio, Boulez, Cage, Ligeti, Messiaen, and Stockhausen, recurring throughout the book. The work is thoroughly revised from the previous editions, now containing chapters focusing on world events. It also includes pieces premiered in the past few years. Griffiths states the book is not a history of music but rather an account of “a movement of radical renewal.”

The strength of the book is the wealth of information it contains on specific pieces composed since 1945. There are one hundred music examples included in the book, as well as a fifteen-page resource listing, most useful for discovering more in-depth material on composers mentioned. For someone who wants to learn an infinite amount about modern music, this would be the place to start. One of the difficulties of writing on a recent historical topic is that it is still evolving, and Griffths overcomes this by revaluating different trends. Because he has spent so much of his career attending concerts as a critic, it would be hard to find anyone else with his experience and ability to describe this music.

The strength of the book is also its weakness. It assumes the reader has a complete knowledge of twentieth-century music, such as one would get from an advanced college course. Because Griffiths includes many composers throughout the book, it is difficult to keep track of them, since some are mentioned in one sentence and reappear ten or twenty pages later. Composers such as Barraqué and Volkonsky are not as known in the United States as in Europe, and they appear in the book without much introduction. In addition, there is a very strong emphasis on European composers, and few American composers are mentioned in depth; in fact, John Corigliano is not mentioned at all. Some of the writing is nuanced and exhaustive, having to be read numerous times. Examples of words found in the text include concatenations, onomatopoeic, and sinusoidal.

Griffiths is well versed in his subject, having spent years as a critic in both London and New York. The author has also contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and has written biographies on eight composers. This book is highly recommended with the caveat that readers may want to refresh themselves with music of this era before diving into this work.

—Jason S. Ladd

Assistant director of instrumental music,

Marquette University,

Milwaukee, Wisconsin;

jason.ladd@marquette.edu

The New York Philharmonic: From Bernstein to Maazel

by John Canarina. Montclair, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2010; www.halleonardbooks.com.

Orchestra directors, enthusiasts, and musicologists looking for a timeline of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and its historic performances ought to add this book to their library. A chronicle of most every performance of the New York Phil from 1956 to 2009, this work by Johan Canarina provides a detailed account of the conductors, critics, soloists, administrators, and performers as well as the musical journey of the orchestra.

Starting in the heyday of ensembles performing in Carnegie Hall, the book offers detailed information on the development and growth of the organization, beginning with the thorny relationship of conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos and music critic Howard Taubman and sequentially detailing repertoire choices, premieres, and critic reactions. The author presents a thoughtful accounting of the how the philharmonic struggled to evolve, including the move to Lincoln Center, the continued search for a summer home, music-director courtships, unique concert ideas, and how the organization forged its identity and sound with each music director.

The book provides fifty-three years of repertoire along with some insight into music directorship; however, it limits the depth of behind-the-scenes action that the author chooses to only introduce. This leaves the reader wanting to know more about the inner workings of the orchestra and the decisions that drove the organization forward. Many familiar names are acknowledged and paid homage to, including music directors, composers, board members, critics, and players. Interesting to note throughout the book are mentions of the contractual competitiveness with the Chicago Symphony, the constant struggle with acoustical issues of Avery Fisher Hall, several international tours, and a plethora of guest conductors who have gone on to become leaders in the field.

Overall, this book is a wealth of information chronicling the orchestral repertoire as performed by one of the greatest orchestras in the world. It will inform orchestra directors on how this organization evolved as well as offer detail about every major composer’s contribution to the repertoire from the last fifty-plus years. Native New Yorkers and other interested aficionados will appreciate the many names that appear as well as the author’s personal connection and experience with the group. Interesting tidbits are included, such as reviews of performances, like that of Sir George Solti’s guest conducting of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, stating that he “turned Kurt Masur’s shiny romantic instrument, the New York Philharmonic, into an assault weapon of devastating effectiveness” (p. 226). A tender account of the orchestra’s fund-raising concerts for tragedies such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina is provided. Interesting to note, this book provides the name of every player and their dates of service in the orchestra, organized by instrument, from 1956 to 2009, as well as a website listing the complete programs of the New York Philharmonic from 1842 to the present. This book is recommended for orchestral enthusiasts, directors, and musicologists with an interest in a chronicle of the last half-century of the New York Philharmonic, its repertoire, and its music leadership.

—Richard Cangro

Assistant professor of music education,

Western Illinois University, Macomb;

Rm-Cangro@wiu.edu

Society and Musical Development: Another Pandora Paradox

by Edwin E. Gordon. Gordon. Chicago: GIA, 2010; www.giamusic.com.

In Society and Musical Development, esteemed music educator, researcher, and author Edwin Gordon seeks to address what he sees as the great paradox of music in society: why does society highly regard music yet consistently de-emphasize the role of music education? Acknowledging diverse points of view, Gordon creates a series of conversations about music and music learning from the perspective of school music teachers, performers, composers, psychologists, educational researchers, school board members, administrators, bureaucrats, parents, and others to consider how to address problems facing music education.

An engaging and thoughtful read, it will immediately remind readers of spirited discussions they have had in music education courses and with colleagues, administrators, or parents on the varied facets of the nature and value of music education. Like most conversations on such matters, it is easily sidetracked with valid ancillary points, and the focus of the discussion can become muddled and unclear. One of Gordon’s imagined speakers feels the same irritation and asks, “Why is it that one problem leads to another, and the original thrust of the discussion goes astray?” (p. 92). Reflecting this all-too-real scenario, many issues surrounding music education today are lightly touched on as important considerations but are ignored for further discussion elsewhere.

Central to the discourse are explanations of Gordon’s music learning theory and its implications for the development of a sequential music curriculum based on audition, movement, and aptitude and achievement testing—all recognizable themes for those familiar with Gordon’s work. While music learning theory does not constitute a method in and of itself, it is a vital and essential part of a method for developing musicianship as it illustrates the orderly placement of each topic a teacher presents. According to Gordon, this thoughtful and rationale foundation of a sequential method creates an effective and durable music curriculum. (For a more detailed resource, see Gordon’s Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory, GIA, 2007.)

After five imagined days of conversation covering a wide range of ideas, readers are offered in the final chapter a credible solution to the opening paradox, and that is to start from the bottom up with early childhood music education. A long-range scheme starting with specially certified early childhood music teachers guiding children through progressive musical experiences will create a catalyst for change in college and university music teacher preparation curricula and throughout school music programs. Further details are not provided, and research and more conversation are called for to determine the best moves forward.

Specific quotes and passages could easily be used as conversation starters in introductory music education courses, but Society and Musical Development will best facilitate discussion for graduate music education courses in psychology and philosophy and for readers well grounded in Gordon’s extensive body of work.

—Michael Zemek

Assistant professor of music education,

Augustana College,

Rock Island, Illinois;

michaelzemek@augustana.edu

Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education, 3rd ed., vols. 1–3

by William M. Anderson, Patricia Shehan Campbell. Lanham, MD: MENC/Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2010; www.rowmaneducation.com.

The world is full of such a vast array of musical genres, styles, and traditions that it would be impossible to explore many of them in a single resource, yet this is what the three volumes of Multicultural Perspectives in Music Education (3rd ed.) aim to do. Written by two experts in the field of multicultural music education, this resource covers numerous populations from around the world, providing a breadth of information on their various musical practices.

The three volumes are divided according to geographic regions: volume 1 covers music of Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; African American music; and jazz and rock. Volume 2 covers music of Europe; European American music; music of native North Americans, Oceania, and the Pacific; and “world beat.” Volume 3 covers music of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. While there could be more focus on the cultural practices of each group and how music functions in their lives, each section focuses on the people who live in that geographic area and gives an overview of the music and instruments used before moving on to lessons for use in the classroom.

Lessons included in this resource are fairly simple and encompass many kinds of musical activities (listening, describing, singing, playing, moving/dancing, etc.), with National Standards and objectives listed for each lesson. Activities for improvisation and composition are simplistic, which is to be expected due to students’ lack of immersion in the musical practices of other cultures. Most contributors do not provide suggested grade levels for their lessons, leaving the teacher free to decide how to best incorporate them.

Many ideas are included for cross-curricular connections as well as extensive discographies, filmographies, and bibliographies that will enable teachers to seek out more information on the music of each region. This collection also takes advantage of the availability of resources on the Internet by frequently citing online videos and recordings that can be accessed through sites such as iTunes and Amazon. Many recordings, however, must be purchased at an additional cost, and while it is helpful to have websites provided for further information, some lessons rely heavily on the Internet (e.g., “Discuss the significance of his [Mahatma Gandhi] life using information learned from the Internet”; vol. 3, p. 114).

Overall, this resource would be most helpful to teachers who are looking to start broadening the musical practices to which they are exposing their students. Unfortunately, the trade-off of including such a breadth of information on music of different cultures is that it leaves little room for studying any in depth. Despite this weakness, this resource makes a significant contribution to the field of multicultural music education. The volumes are valuable as a trilogy as well as individually and can be purchased separately, making them ideal for teachers who would like to start their multicultural teaching by focusing on a limited region or those with a limited budget.

—Heather N. Shouldice

General music teacher,

Okemos Public Schools,

Okemos, Michigan;

Doctoral student,

Michigan State University,

nelsonhe@msu.edu

Arranging for the Small Jazz Ensemble: A Step-By-Step Guide with Practical Exercises and Recorded Examples

by Robert Larson. LaVergne, TN: Armfield Academic Press, 2010; http://www.smalljazzensemble.com.

Arranging for the Small Jazz Ensemble, a broad if not always deep guide to writing for up to four horns and rhythm section, adds to the small but growing library of practical arranging textbooks. Robert Larson, the director of jazz studies at Shenandoah University, immediately sets his book apart from many others by designing an organized sequence of learning complete with a large selection of assignments and exercises that would be extremely useful in a university-level introductory arranging course.

The first three large sections cover a variety of introductory information, including song forms and structures, descriptions of common jazz instruments, and the most-often-used methods for creating chord voicings. An innovative touch is that throughout the book, only three different tunes are used as examples, allowing for in-depth study and the opportunity to see them each arranged in multiple ways. The meat of the book can be found in part 4, which contains detailed blueprints for creating arrangements for two, three, and four voices as well as introductions, endings, and interludes. In each case, Larson walks students through basic procedures before showing his own completed arrangements (with annotations) on each tune. Helpful assignments are liberally sprinkled through each chapter. Of particular note is chapter 16, which explains several common arranging errors and their solutions.

Although the book is well written and easy to follow, Larson’s assumptions of prior knowledge are at times uneven. His target audience seems to be jazz musicians who have a moderate degree of familiarity with jazz theory and improvisation but little experience with more traditional concepts, such as nonharmonic tones and polyphony. Thus, certain topics (e.g., the characteristics of particular instruments, extended and altered chords) are given only a cursory look and would benefit from more detail. To properly understand this method, readers should already be comfortable with standard jazz scales, modes, and chords and concepts such as the ii–V7–I and basic chord substitution. Those wishing to learn to create arrangements completely from scratch (including chords) might also benefit from Randy Felts’s Reharmonization Techniques, which nicely complements Larson’s book without duplicating any material.

Where most books of this nature often include a CD-ROM of supplemental materials, Larson has gone digital. The companion website (www.smalljazzensemble.com) includes free downloadable recordings, assignments that can be printed out and used in class, transposed scores of written examples, and specially formatted staff paper for small-group arranging. Each of the almost one hundred example recordings are of extremely high quality and musicianship.

While Larson’s book would be a useful resource for anyone trying to learn fundamental principles of jazz arranging, its layout and organization make it ideally suited for the music classroom, particularly in the first of a two-semester jazz arranging sequence. Thus, Arranging for the Small Jazz Ensemble is a valuable contribution to the field.

—Alex Noppe

Holder of the Emy-Lou Biedenharn

Endowed Chair in Music;

Trumpet and jazz instructor,

University of Louisiana at Monroe;

noppe@ulm.edu