Marching Band Arranging: Methods, Materials, Techniques [Paperback] Review

I used William Spencer-Pierce's marching band arrangements in my high school marching band for many years. They were always well received by the audience and judging community. My students and I were never dissapointed.
I recognize many of the techniques in the book because Bill explained many of the " hows and whys " of his philosophy when I was his client. This book is full of thesegreat nuggets of information on marching band arranging.
I especially like the book because it is practical rather than purely theoretical. The widespread use of musical examples really does a nice job of illustrating the text.
The book belongs in the personal library of every high school marching band director. It would also be a valuable resource for high school or college students considering a career in instrumental music education.
Experienced band directors can also benefit becausearrangements might need to be tweaked during during the marching season to adapt to personnel changes or judges' suggestions.
Based on forty years of teaching marching band, I hardily recommend this book!

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Product Description:
Conversational in style and full of practical advice, this user-friendly book takes the reader step-by-step through the process of writing effective arrangements that will make any band sound better. Over 150 musical examples illustrate the dozens of practical tips and techniques presented.Chapters include Fundamentals, Notation Basics, Basic Scoring, Form, The Wind Section, The Percussion Section, Working Procedure, Special Effects, The Jazz Idiom, and Getting A Big Sound With Smaller Groups. An Appendix includes information on copyright issues, suggested reading, and three arrangements with annotations by the author.Pencil-and-paper procedures are outlined, along with tips and techniques for using MIDI and computer notation software to input, score, print, and record. Detailed without being too technical, "Marching Band Arranging" is an excellent reference for both aspiring writers and for directors searching for ways to improve their group.

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Masters of Jazz Guitar: The Story of the Players and Their Music (Book) [Paperback] Review

This is quite an excellent book and is surprisingly done in soft cover now. My copy is hard cover and is a prized possession. It's thoughtfully and knowledgably written, has excellent references, recommendations, photos and discussions.
I love this book, and it would be a GREAT present for ANY jazz guitarist. If you love one, buy it for them and they'll never forget it!
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Product Description:
The jazz guitar and its master players have had vast influence in a genre of uniquely provocative 20th century music. Written by some of the world's leading jazz authorities and featuring over 200 gorgeous photographs, this book spotlights remarkable musicians whose artistry have made the guitar fundamental to jazz. From 1930s electric pioneer Charlie Christian, to 1960s fusion visionary Larry Coryell and beyond, Masters of Jazz Guitar celebrates the achievements of players who changed the sound of jazz.

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Jazz Piano Voicings Skill [Paperback] Review

When my teacher recommended I buy this book, I found not too many people know about it. It was hard to find. That's too bad, this is really a great book.

This book is basically a collection of piano voicings for many different types of chords, in all keys. There's not too much explanation, just the guidelines so we can use the exercises properly and learn how to voice open chords. This is not a Chord Dictionary, it's about how to voice chords. You must know how to read music to benefit from this.

If you are a beginner at jazz piano, this is a great tool to learn open chords.

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Product Description:
Jazz Piano Voicing Skills by Dan Haerle. APPLICABLE FOR ALL INSTRUMENTS. A graded course on piano voicing skills, starting with simple block chords over Major and Minor and logically and methodically progressing into more exotic and advanced polychords and substitutions. Includes 123 skills in all twelve keys, designed to initiate a feel and understanding of piano voicings and how they work. Each new chapter includes a page of concise instructions for the teacher or the student. Works well for both classroom or individual study. The 156 spiral bound pages allow the book to open fully and easily on your keyboard music rack

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Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine - The Drop 2 Book [Spiral-bound] Review

This book is a welcome follow-up to Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book. The only frustration I had with the Jazz Piano Book is that it could not tell me EVERYTHING. The Jazz Piano book only introduced Drop 2 techniques, leaving the voracious student wondering where to find more information. The Drop 2 Book fills that void with the same clarity and pace that made the Jazz Piano Book so useful and popular. The book explains major, minor and dominant progressions, tweaks to make chords sound "modern", applications, problems and work-arounds, soloing, comping, the Altered Bebop Minor Scale, and suggested practice routines. Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine(With CD) can also be purchased with recorded examples. Most students at this level could hammer out the examples, but the relative volumes of the left and right hands are important to this technique. Such nuances cannot be expressed clearly with standard music notation, so the CD is more than just a nice afterthought. If you have worked through the Jazz Piano Book and feel ready to explore Drop 2 voicings in greater depth, this book will take you there. Buy it and recommend it to all your friends so that we can see more Masterclass books by Mark Levine.

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Product Description:
The 'Drop 2 Book' is the first and only publication to explore the 4-note, block-chord approach to jazz piano playing---as used by piano masters like Kenny Barron, McCoy Tyner, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton and Bill Evans. In this book, world-renowned educator and pianist Mark Levine gives the reader a comprehensive, step-by-step, beginning to advanced Masterclass on this fascinating approach to voicing chords. Included in the book are complete chapters on: The basic Drop 2 approach More advanced Drop 2 techniques Soloing and 'comping in Drop 2 Techniques for practicing Drop 2 Plus a CD is included of Mark demonstrating each exercise! An invaluable insight into the harmonic minds of some of our greatest piano players, by the author of "The Jazz Piano Book".

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Chords and Progressions For Jazz and Popular Keyboard - Baker (Music Sales America) [Paperback] Review

In this book, Kenneth shows you different kinds of chord progression, mostly leading to the Tonic ( I chord ).He explains the use of all kinds of chords, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, etc. and how these can be applied in yourchord progressions. Examples are given and there are just tons ofinformation on how to add 'color' to your progressions. An excellent book.

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Product Description:
The most complete set of chord charts ever published, covering 576 chords in every key. Fully explains the use of modern chord symbols and the use in modern harmony of chords. All left-hand fingerings given.

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The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking, Analysis & Photos (Book) [Hardcover] Review

Ranking musicians/artists is wrongheaded but some of these picks are just beyond the pale.He ranks the number 1-4 top jazz pianists of all time as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Bud Powell and Art Tatum.Reasonable picks.So who's number 5?Gotta be along the lines of Chick, Herbie, Keith, McCoy, Cecil, Fatha Hines, Teddy Wilson, Fats, or Jelly Roll, right?Get this- Monty Alexander!and who's number 6?Benny Green!I was in disbelief.As you wade through the rest of the picks you realize that the closer a pianist comes to duplicating Oscar's style the higher he is rated (Gene Harris rates 12 if I recall).Now I have plenty of Monty Alexander and Benny Green recordings and enjoy their playing, but they are hardly the sort of original pianists that would merit their rubbing shoulders with these giants.This book may familarize the jazz piano enthusiast with some players they didn't previously know but a better book in that regard would be Robert Doershuk's "88: The Giants of Jazz Piano."Doerschuk's book features more pianists, is more informative and comes with a CD.I will say that Rizzo's book has some nice photos.

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Handy resource for jazz listeners and hardcore fans.Spanning players from eighty years of history, this bold book steps forward and claims who are the greatest. Compiled from an extensive survey conducted with the best jazz minds in the ed



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The Jazz Theory Book [Spiral-bound] Review

There was a time when it was a common adage that Jazz can't be taught. You were either born with it, or were lucky enough to pick it up... to some extent that is true... as there is a time you have to lift your head from the books and learn on the bandstand... but the question is how to get to that point - - the point where you can benefit from lead sheets or learning off of records, or by communicating with other musicians ?
For many years, a lot of the "Jazz" educational material on the market was either antequated by the time of publication (remember going into music shops to find "modern" piano books that would teach you how to play stride version of Honeysuckle Rose and the Maple Leaf Rag?)... other books contained misleading information, or some of the better ones required technical reading skills (as well as hand spands and chops) that few Jazz masters themselves were known to possess (!) - - Finally, over the years, a few breakthroughs... two of the earliest that come to mind would include books by David Baker and John Mehegan. - - But most of us still wondered, "When is somebody going to write *the book* ?" - - ...finally someone did.
The publication of this book has launched Jazz education into the modern era... Very readable, well presented, modern, practical, never over academic or esoteric, and requiring the most minimal amount of reading of musical notation possible - - and written for a generation raised on Miles Davis and John Coltrane not Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong (as great as they were.)
Combining this book with the right listening, hands on playing (check out some of the Aebersold play-a-longs) and the right fake book... in a situation where a great Jazz teacher might not be so available or affordable, with the right attitude (check out Berliner's Thinking In Jazz) - - this book is your spiral bound musical conservatory, with advice relevent to players of all levels... From those basic intervals, scales, chord voicings and changes that all Jazz students learn in their first lessons, to the insight required to "put it all together" - - This is a great reference for everyone, from the begining student, the aspiring amateur trying to get into a program (or take his or her playing to the next level)... to the seasoned veteran who'd like to learn the language and reason and gain better insight into what he or she is playing and hearing in order to grow as a musician. Regardless, this is one resource that belongs in your music learning library !

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Product Description:
Endorsed by Jamey Aebersold, James Moody, Dave Liebman, and others, The Jazz Theory Book presents all the information any student of jazz needs in an easy-to-understand, yet thorough, manner. For intermediate to advanced players, and written by one of the acknowledged masters of jazz, it is used by universities around the world.

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Voicings For Jazz Keyboard [Spiral-bound] Review

This book explains away all the mysteries involved in quartal jazz harmony, as well as provides great insight into using triads over dominant sevenths and voice leading.Frank gets right to the heart of the matterand presents it in a straight-forward, easy to understand manner, which isthe way it should be.Great for ANY instrumentalist and a great resourcefor jazz arrangers.

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Product Description:
A respected soloist, clinician and writer, Mantooth has written this book for any keyboard player interested in developing better jazz chord voicing. Written more as a Õhow-toÕ book than a textbook, Voicings will make a valuable addition to the library of any performer, arranger, teacher or jazz theorist.

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Modern Jazz Piano: A Study In Harmony And Improvisation (Music Sales America) [Paperback] Review

This book completely changed my understanding and level of jazz piano playing.It is short and to the point, yet carefully written and complete.I like the fact that the author is a trained engineer.As a computerprogrammer I can identify with the way the book is layed out very logicallywith the assumption that the reader is intelligent, interested,andmotivated.I read the entire book while on trains going to and from work. I think it would have been a distraction to have read it while at a piano. The chord pattern excercises at the end of the book are excellent; I ammethododically going through all of them using a PC based sequencerconnected via midi to an electronic keyboard.If you only buy one bookon jazz piano, I think it should be this one. The next book to readafter this one, in my opinion is "All about Chords".I am almostfinished reading it;I could never have handled it if I hadn't read"Modern Jazz Piano" first. The two books together aremagnificently complete. I have a quite a library of jazz piano and jazzbooks; most of them are padded and not of much use."Modern JazzPiano" is by contrast a classic that every jazz pianist should have.I lost many years because I was brain-washed into believing the JohnMehegan jazz system as taught at Julliard was the only way to learn jazz. Inow believe the Julliard system is hopelessly complicated and noteffective.The traditional harmony systems used in "Modern JazzPiano" are the best and also the most popular.It is not somethingesoteric that only propeller heads know about. Buy it and hold onto it. Even if it sits on your bookshelf for years, there will come a day when itwill speak eloquently to you and change your level of playing andunderstanding.

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Product Description:
Based on the authorÂ's experience in teaching in jazz workshop, explains the principles of this art form. Useful for teachers wishing to include jazz in the music curriculum.

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Jazz Piano Masterclass with Mark Levine(With CD) [Spiral-bound] Review

This book is a welcome follow-up to Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book.The only frustration I had with the Jazz Piano Book is that it could not tell me EVERYTHING.The Jazz Piano book only introduced Drop 2 techniques, leaving the voracious student wondering where to find more information.The Drop 2 Book fills that void with the same clarity and pace that made the Jazz Piano Book so useful and popular.The book explains major, minor and dominant progressions, tweaks to make chords sound "modern", applications, problems and work-arounds, soloing, comping, the Altered Bebop Minor Scale, and suggested practice routines.As an added bonus, this book includes a CD with recorded examples.Most students at this level could hammer out the examples, but the relative volumes of the left and right hands are important to this technique.Such nuances cannot be expressed clearly with standard music notation, so the CD is more than just a nice afterthought.If you have worked through the Jazz Piano Book and feel ready to explore Drop 2 voicings in greater depth, this book will take you there.Buy it and recommend it to all your friends so that we can see more Masterclass books by Mark Levine.

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Product Description:
"Jazz Piano Masterclass With Mark Levine: The Drop 2 Book".Mark is the author of the widely-acclaimed text, "The Jazz Piano Book" and pianists will be thrilled to see that he has come up with a second piano book. This one deals exclusively with how to play "Drop 2" piano voicings---the block-chord technique used by Bill Evans, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton, McCoy Tyner, and many other jazz piano greats. Mark gives the reader a step-by-step, beginning-to-advanced approach to learning this technique, just as he would in a live masterclass. The accompanying CD has Mark demonstrating each exercise.

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The Jazz Piano Book [Spiral-bound] Review

Before Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book came out, choosing a book on how to play piano was a lot like selecting a presidential candidate - - you may not have been crazy about the choices but... (blah blah blah) What makes this book different is that it walks a fine and brilliant line between theory, application and stylistics and it is never dry, and further it is contemporary. By chapter 10 and beyond he's getting into fourth chords, upper structures and "so what" chords. Most books sort of finish up just when Bud Powell is hitting the scene. This book however will take you up to McCoy Tyner and Kenny Barron. - - Unlike other books, his book also sites practical song examples and specific listening examples.
If you're entirely on your own, I think this book, along with a few Aebersold play-a-longs and Amadea's Harmonic Foundations for Jazz and Pop Music would really take you a long way. Your ultimate goal should be able to sit in at Jam sessions and with real players... that's where the real learning begins. Do what you have to do to get to the point that you can hang with a blues or Real Book standards.
(Regarding suitability for beginers vs. advanced players : This book is pretty good for players of all levels, though if you're starting from scratch another book to consider is Brain Waite's "Modern Jazz Piano : A Study in Harmony" or Amadea's book, then this.)

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Product Description:
Endorsed by Kenny Barron, Jamey Aebersold, Richie Beirach, and more, this book presents all the information a student of jazz piano needs in an easy-to-understand, yet thorough, manner. For intermediate to advanced pianists, written by one of the acknowledged masters of jazz piano playing.

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