“…it is a principle of music to repeat the theme. Repeat and repeat again, as the pace mounts. The theme is difficult but no more difficult than the facts to be resolved.” -from The Orchestra by William Carlos Williams (1954)
It is an interesting exercise trying to define “music.” To say that life is better with music is misleading, for a life utterly void of it is difficult to imagine. So much more than entertainment, music informs and expands every aspect of human life – from the rites we observe to mark significant passages to the subliminal sonic cues we’re bombarded with as we shop. Though we’re all born into a world of familiar music, life can get considerably more interesting if we decide to explore the musically unfamiliar!
Our Recommended Reading shelf for November invites you to do just that. A musical miscellany, the list is comprised of works from social, cultural, psychological, historic, philosophical, technical and artistic perspectives. Also included are electronic books, websites, and a small sample of DVDs and CDs from the Media Collection.
So come to your Highline Library this month and get a groove on; or, as James Brown advised, “get up, step up; there it is baby…”
Books
Music / Mind:
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sachs 781.115121m 2007
The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body by Steven Mithen 781.11M684s 2007
Music in Everyday Life by Tia DeNora 781.11D413m 2000
Music and Trance: a Theory of the Relations between Music and Possession by Gilbert Rouget 781.11R856m 1985
Emblems of Mind: The Inner Life of Music and Mathematics by Edward Rothstein 780.1R847e
Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition by Iannis Xenakis 781.61X5f
The Acoustical Foundations of Music by John Backus 7681.1B126a
Music / Culture:
Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop outside the USA by Tony Mitchell 782.421649 G562 2001
Cuba and its Music: from the First Drums to the Mambo by Ned Sublette 780.97291S941c 2004
Jamaican Warriors: Reggae, Roots and Culture by Stephen Foehr 781.646F654j 2000
Barrio Rhythm: Mexican American Music in Los Angeles by Steven Loza 781.7L925b
African Rhythm and African Sensibility: Aesthetics and Social Action in African Musical Idioms by John Chernoff 780.96C521a
African Music: a People’s Art by Francis Bebey 780.96B387a
The Music of the Arabs by Habib Hassan Touma 781.62927T725m 1996
The Ragas of North India by Walter Kaufmann 781.754K21r
The Life of Music in North India: the Organization of an Artistic Tradition by Daniel Neuman 781.754N489L
The Traditional Music of Japan by Shigeo Kishibe 781.752K61t
A Guide to the Gamelan by Neil Sorrell 780.9598S714g
A History of Norwegian Music by Nils Grinde 780.9481G866h
Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich by Solomon Volkov (Ed.) 785.092s559t
The Beatles Anthology by the Beatles 782.1660922B369 2000
Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History by Stephen Blum, Philip V. Bohlman, Daniel M. Neuman (Eds.) 781.72E74
Native Americans:
War Dance: Plains Indian Musical Performance by William Powers 781.6297301554P888w 1990
The Indians’ Book: Songs and Legends of the American Indians by Natalie Curtis (Ed.) 781.6297073C978 1968
Americana:
America’s Musical Life: a History by Richard Crawford 780.973C899a 2005
The Land Where Blues Began by Alan Lomax 784.53L839L
Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 by Tim Brooks 781.49 B873L 2005
Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop by Guthrey Ramsey 781.64R183r 2003
The Rough Guide to Hip-Hop by Peter Shapiro 782.421649 S529r 2005
Doo Wop: The Forgotten Third of Rock n’ Roll by Anthony Gribin 784.54G846d
“The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing” and Other Songs Cowboys Sing by Guy Logsdon 782.42164W628 1989
In the Country of Country by Nicholas Dawidoff 781.642D268i 1998
Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity by Richard Peterson 781.642P485c
Hole in Our Soul: the Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music by Martha Bayles 780.42B358H
Jazz:
A New History of Jazz by Alyn Shipton 781.6509S557n 2007
Lush Life: a Biography of Billy Strayhorn by David Hajdu 781.65092S913h 1997
Thinking in Jazz: the Infinite Art of Improvisation by Paul Berliner 781.B515t 1994
Opera:
The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan by Ian Bradley (Ed.) 782.12S949c 1996
Opera: A Pictorial Guide by Quaintance Eaton 782.E14o
The Standard Operaglass; containing the detailed plots of one hundred forty-one celebrated operas, with critical and biographical remarks, dates, etc. by Charles Annesley 782.13A614s 1905
Unique Instruments:
The Musical Arts of Ancient China – Exhibition Catalog 784.1907431M987 2001
Genesis of a Music: an Account of a Creative Work, its Roots and Fulfillments by Harry Partch 780.92P273S
Simple Folk Instruments to Make and to Play by Ilene Hunter and Marilyn Judson 781.91H945s
Notes on the page:
Complete Preludes, Books 1 and 2 by Claude Debussy 784.18928D289c 1989
Complete Preludes and Etudes by Frederick Chopin 784.18928C549c 1998
Electronic Books
Recording Engineer’s Handbook by Bobby Owsinski
2005 – Online – Electronic Book
Small Tech: the Culture of Digital Tools by Byron Hawk, David M. Rieder, and Ollie Oviedo (Eds.)
2008 – Online – Electronic Book
The Music Tech Dictionary: a Glossary of Audio-related Terms and Technologies by Mitch Gallagher
2009 – 786.703 Online – Electronic Book
Composition for Computer Musicians by Michael Hewitt
2009 – Online – Electronic Book
It All Begins with the Music: Developing Successful Artists and Careers for the New Music Business by Don Grierson and Dan Kimpel
2009 – Online – Electronic Book
Rocking Your Music Business: Run Your Music Business at Home and on the Road by Simon Cann
2009 – 780.23 Online – Electronic Book
Righting Wrongs in Writing Songs by Danny Cope
2009 – Online – Electronic Book
Art of Teaching Music by Estelle R. Jorgensen
2008 – 780.71 Online – Electronic Book
Music, Informal Learning and the School: a New Classroom Pedagogy by Lucy Green
2008 – 780.712 Online – Electronic Book
Film Music by Paul Tonks
2001 – 781.542 Online – Electronic Book
Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance by Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti (Eds.)
2008 – Online – Electronic Book
Music in the Life of the African Church by Roberta R. King with Jean Ngoya Kidula, James R. Krabill, and Thomas Oduro
2008 – 264/.2096 Online – Electronic Book
Blues Traveling: the Holy Sites of Delta Blues by Steve Cheseborough
2009 – 781.64309762 Online – Electronic Book
78 Blues: Folksongs and Phonographs in the American South by John Minton
2008 – 781.640975 Online – Electronic Book
Subversive sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans by Charles Hersch
2007 – 781.65/20976335 Online – Electronic Book
Power stronger than itself: the AACM and American Experimental Music by George E. Lewis
2008 – 781.6506/077311 Online – Electronic Book
Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury: a Light on a Dark Night by Simon Gilbertson and David Aldridge
2008 – Online – Electronic Book
Sounding Out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life by Michael Bull
2000 – 303.483 Online – Electronic Book
The Defense of Tradition in Brazilian Popular Music: Politics, Culture and the Creation of Música Popular Brasileira by Sean Stroud
2008 – 781.640981 Online – Electronic Book
Dance of Life: Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia by Craig A. Lockard
1998 – 306.4/84 Online – Electronic Book
Flamenco: Passion, Politics, and Popular Culture by William Washabaugh
1996 – 781.62/610468 Online – Electronic Book
Music, Body, and Desire in Medieval Culture: Hildegard of Bingen to Chaucer by Bruce W. Holsinger
2001 – 780/.9/02 Online – Electronic Book
Websites
Native American Music: http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAmusic.html
Infography of Native American Music: http://www.infography.com/content/806604398790.html
Omaha Indian Music: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/
Inuit Throat Singing: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm
The Phonograph Turntable and Performance Practice in Hip Hop Music: http://www.umbc.edu/eol/2/white/
Ernesto’s Tango Page: http://www.ernesto.cc/
Arab Music (in 4 parts): http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/Arab_Music1.html
Music in the Afghan North 1967-1972: http://afghanistan.wesleyan.edu/
Traditional Iranian Dastgâh Music: http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/caton.htm
Turkish Music: http://www.turkishmusic.org/
West African Djembe Drums: http://www.djembefola.com/
Mbira (Shona music of Zimbabwe): http://www.mbira.org/
The Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya: http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/
Afropop Worldwide: http://www.afropop.org/
Traditional Music of the Ethnic Minorities on the Philippine Islands: http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~brandeis/phil_music.html
University of Washington Libraries Ethnomusicology / World Music Subject Guide: http://guides.lib.washington.edu/content.php?pid=58638&sid=429665
DVDs
The Worlds of Mei Lanfang – 782.10951092 L268 2000
Raga – a Deben Bhattacharya Production – 781.264 R141 2004
Make It Funky! – 781.65 M235 2005
Voices of Forgotten Worlds – 781.62 V889
CDs
The Art of Persian Music – Jean During, Zia Mirabdolbaghi – 780.955 A784 CD
Ragas – Ustad Ali Akbar Khan – 781.69 K45
Ghana: Ancient Ceremonies, Songs & Dance Music – 781.69667 G411
Shakuhachi: The Japanese Flute – 781.6961 M685s
Korean Court Music – 781.69095 K95k
Tibet: Buddhist Chant – 781.7 T553
Star Time – James Brown – 781.644 B878s 1991
Miles Davis & John Coltrane: the Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961 – 781.65 D263m 2004
