Dulcimer Muse

Dulcimer Muse
Author: Ruth Barrett
Publisher: Mel Bay Publications
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2022-06-09
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1513469509

Dulcimer Muse is a beautiful collection of fingerpicked and strummed tunes and songs arranged for the mountain dulcimer for players seeking to expand their repertoire. Thirty-one arrangements are gathered from Medieval and Renaissance eras, traditional folk music of Ireland, Scotland, England, Brittany and Spain, plus original compositions. Intended primarily for intermediate to advanced players and for some ambitious beginners, the pieces include melody lines in standard notation, mountain dulcimer tablature, with chords above most of the dulcimer tablature that can be shared with other musicians for accompaniment. Suggestions on how to play with greater musicality and ease are included. Set one-step lower than customary to bring out the dulcimer’s deeper tones; the majority of pieces are arranged in Mixolydian and Aeolian tunings.

Celtic Songs and Slow Airs for the Mountain Dulcimer

Celtic Songs and Slow Airs for the Mountain Dulcimer
Author: Neal Hellman
Publisher: Mel Bay Publications
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2015-12-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1610657993

In folk tradition, stories of love lost, betrayal, jealousy, conflict, emigration, and the supernatural are often immortalized in songs of many traditions, demonstrating that singing has been a universal vehicle for the human condition. the criteria for this wonderful collection of prose and melodies is from Celtic traditions that have been with us for hundreds of years. These compositions have been arranged so that each will work both as an air and as a song. All of the selections in the book appear on the companion CD.

Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions

Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions
Author: Ralph Lee Smith
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2002
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780810841352

The Appalachian dulcimer is one of America's major contributions to world music and folk art. Homemade and handmade, played by people with no formal knowledge of music, this beautiful instrument arrived in the light of the 20th century with virtually no written record. Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions is a first-hand report to enlarge our knowledge of the dulcimer's history by searching the hills and "hollers" of Appalachia, looking at old instruments, and listening to the tales of old folks. After reviewing the instrument's special musical features, the book describes some related instruments, and reveals little-known facts about the dulcimer's origins on the early Appalachian frontier. The book then describes three major design traditions of the dulcimer, each centered in its own geographical area, and focuses on important makers in each of the three traditions--the Melton family of Galax, Virginia, Charles M. Prichard of Huntington, West Virginia, and "Uncle Ed" Thomas of Kentucky. A final chapter describes four Appalachian makers of the folk revival transition, who began making instruments the old-time way and modernized them to meet the needs of Post-World-War-II urban players. The book concludes with listings of dulcimer recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture of the Library of Congress.

The Companion to The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760–1850

The Companion to The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760–1850
Author: Derek Carew
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 494
Release: 2016-03-23
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1317037650

Intended as a supplement to The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760-1850, this Companion provides additional information which, largely for reasons of space but also of continuity, it was not possible or desirable to include in that volume. The book is laid out alphabetically and full biographical entries are provided for all musical figures mentioned, including composers, performers, theoreticians and teachers, as well as piano makers and publishers of music, within the period covered by The Mechanical Muse. There are also entries on figures of importance from outside the period but whose influence is palpably important within it, such as J.S. Bach. As well as biographical information, all these entries contain lists of principal works and a section on further reading so that readers can follow up people and matters of particular interest. Also included in The Companion are entries devoted to particular works and other information of relevance, such as descriptions of musical forms, characteristics of dances and so on, as well as some technical information on music and explanations of technical terms pertaining to keyboard instruments themselves and to ways of playing them. This Companion is not intended to replace existing reference books such as Grove or Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, but will be useful for those who desire to know more about a particular topic and do not necessarily have access to more specialist reference works, or time to visit large or specialist libraries. As such it is indispensable to users of The Mechanical Muse.

Manufacturing the Muse

Manufacturing the Muse
Author: Dennis G. Waring
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2002-07-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780819565082

How a 19th century instrument helped to shape New World culture.

The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest

The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest
Author: Ian Peddie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351218050

Popular music has traditionally served as a rallying point for voices of opposition, across a huge variety of genres. This volume examines the various ways popular music has been deployed as anti-establishment and how such opposition both influences and responds to the music produced. Implicit in the notion of resistance is a broad adversarial hegemony against which opposition is measured. But it would be wrong to regard the music of popular protest as a kind of dialogue in league against 'the establishment'. Convenient though they are, such 'us and them' arguments bespeak a rather shop-worn stance redolent of youthful rebellion. It is much more fruitful to perceive the relationship as a complex dialectic where musical protest is as fluid as the audiences to which it appeals and the hegemonic structures it opposes. The book's contemporary focus (largely post-1975) allows for comprehensive coverage of extremely diverse forms of popular music in relation to the creation of communities of protest. Because such communities are fragmented and diverse, the shared experience and identity popular music purports is dependent upon an audience collectivity that is now difficult to presume. In this respect, The Resisting Muse examines how the forms and aims of social protest music are contingent upon the audience's ability to invest the music with the 'appropriate' political meaning. Amongst a plethora of artists, genres, and themes, highlights include discussions of Aboriginal rights and music, Bauhaus, Black Sabbath, Billy Bragg, Bono, Cassette culture, The Capitol Steps, Class, The Cure , DJ Spooky, Drum and Bass, Eminem, Farm Aid, Foxy Brown, Folk, Goldie, Gothicism, Woody Guthrie, Heavy Metal, Hip-hop, Independent/home publishing, Iron Maiden, Joy Division, Jungle, Led Zeppelin, Lil'Kim, Live Aid, Marilyn Manson, Bob Marley, MC Eiht, Minor Threat, Motown, Queen Latifah, Race, Rap, Rastafarianism, Reggae, The Roots, Diana Ross, Rush, Salt-n-Pepa, 7 Seconds, Roxanne Shanté, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, Michelle Shocked, Bessie Smith, Straight edge Sunrize Band, Bunny Wailer, Wilco, Bart Willoughby, Wirrinyga Band, Zines.

"The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760?850 "

Author: Derek Carew
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 728
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351542672

This book charts the piano's accession from musical curiosity to cultural icon, examining the instrument itself in its various guises as well as the music written for it. Both the piano and piano music were very much the product of the intellectual, cultural and social environments of the period and both were subject to many influences, directly and indirectly. These included character (individualism), the vernacular ('folk/popular') and creativity (improvisation), all of which are discussed generally and with respect to the music itself. Derek Carew surveys the most important pianistic genres of the period (variations, rondos, and so on), showing how these changed from their received forms into vehicles of Romantic expressiveness. The piano is also looked at in its role as an accompanying instrument. The Mechanical Muse will be of interest to anyone who loves the piano or the period, from the non-specialist to the music postgraduate.

The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760-1850

The Mechanical Muse: The Piano, Pianism and Piano Music, c.1760-1850
Author: Derek Carew
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 666
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1351542680

This book charts the piano's accession from musical curiosity to cultural icon, examining the instrument itself in its various guises as well as the music written for it. Both the piano and piano music were very much the product of the intellectual, cultural and social environments of the period and both were subject to many influences, directly and indirectly. These included character (individualism), the vernacular ('folk/popular') and creativity (improvisation), all of which are discussed generally and with respect to the music itself. Derek Carew surveys the most important pianistic genres of the period (variations, rondos, and so on), showing how these changed from their received forms into vehicles of Romantic expressiveness. The piano is also looked at in its role as an accompanying instrument. The Mechanical Muse will be of interest to anyone who loves the piano or the period, from the non-specialist to the music postgraduate.

Music Makers of the Blue Ridge Plateau

Music Makers of the Blue Ridge Plateau
Author: Blue Ridge Music Makers Guild
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738554105

During the late 1920s, Ralph Peer and the Victor Recording Company visited the city of Bristol to look for new talent. They stumbled upon Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, two future legends of country music; however, other amazing musicians were unable to make the trip to Bristol for the auditions because of work and family obligations. For the locals, music was more than a way to earn fame and fortune; the music was part of the fabric of life in this rural environment. Some individuals did become famous, including the Stoneman Family, who recorded "The Ship That Didn't Return/ The Titanic," and Henry Whitter, who recorded "The Wreck of Old 97," but that was never the focus. The songs they played and created accompanied an entire generation through the Great Depression and World War II and into the vigorous growth of the 1950s and 1960s. All of these musicians influenced the birth, growth, and continued development of the Galax Fiddlers Convention, which is known around the world by old-time mountain music fans.