You love making music, but are you stuck in a practice rut? Ignite your passion for practicing and take your creativity to the next level with the Practizma Practice Journal. Track your practice, reinvigorate your practice, and above all, enjoy the journey of being a musician. The journal is designed for passionate amateurs, music students, and professionals of all instruments. For those taking lessons, it can be used as a lesson assignment book and a practice journal in one. Feeling good about our music making is not a bonus, it's the most important thing.The book includes:16 weeks of goal setting 16 reflection prompts16 action challengesPractice ideasInjury prevention strategiesEfficiency tipsPractice journal pagesTake your practice from ho-hum to extraordinary with the Practizma Practice Journal.

Record label executive, photographer, and author, Michael Alago takes readers through this amazing journey that is his life. Alago grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a large, spirited, and devoted Puerto Rican family. Through his early passion for music, art, theater, and photography, he soon found himself rubbing elbows with many downtown NYC scene makers, from Stiv Bators to Jean Michel Basquiat, Cherry Vanilla and Wayne County to Deborah Harry and Robert Mapplethorpe. As an underage teenager going to Max's Kansas City, CBGB, and various art galleries, Alago also began running The Dead Boys fan club. A few years later, he became the assistant music director for legendary nightclubs the Ritz and the Red Parrot. At age twenty-four, he began a storied career as an A&R executive at Elektra Records that started with signing Metallica in the summer of 1984, changing the entire landscape of rock 'n' roll and heavy metal. Alago continued to work in A&R for both Palm Pictures and Geffen Records. He was thrilled to executive-produce albums by Cyndi Lauper, Public Image Ltd, White Zombie, and Nina Simone. In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with HIV, which manifested into full-blown AIDS ten years later. He survived to continue his music career, but in 2005, he left music to pursue his other love: photography. Alago went on to publish three bestselling books: Rough Gods, Brutal Truth, and Beautiful Imperfections with German-based publisher Bruno Gmünder. He has since overcome his longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol. In his clean and sober life, he has reconnected with his family, continues to be a working photographer as well as record producer, and only through the grace of his 12-Step program is he able to live this big, beautiful life. In 2017, a documentary directed by Drew Stone and produced by Michael Alex on Alago's wildly successful career in music was released in theaters and on Netflix, entitled Who the Fuck Is That Guy? The Fabulous Journey of Michael Alago.

"An Auditioning Double Bassist's Tool Kit" is a compilation of standard orchestral bass audition excerpts, from Bach to Verdi, supplemented with background material, bowings, fingerings, and practice tips. It is intended for bassists looking to make their next steps towards professional orchestral auditions, and a reference for accomplished bassists alike. Including excerpts from: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Brahms' Symphony No. 2, Mozart's Symphony No. 35, Mozart's Symphony No. 40, Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, and much more!

Do you usually shake your head no when offered a chance to solo? Maybe you think it's not a part of the job. After all, you didn't learn the instrument to sound like a guitarist, right? However, a bassist who avoids soloing is like a baker who refuses to frost their cakes. Sure, frosting is decoration, and too much is dangerous. But your bass playing is meant to be more than just a dry foundation. Maybe you've tried soloing and the effort fell flat. You even learned the scales, memorized patterns, followed advice, and attempted transcribing, only to produce less-than-stellar solos. What if you discovered a way to break past your limitations and solo with freedom and authentic self-expression? Topics in Jazz Bass Vol. 2: Soloing is a groundbreaking resource that can tie all of your efforts together and get you soloing with confidence. Through this book, you will: Discover powerful ear-training techniques to unlock your inner soloist. Develop a melodic, compositional approach to building a solo. Finally understand what the players around you are doing and know how to step up when called upon. Complete with audio examples and a new pick-your-path approach, this book promises to engage you wherever you're at on your musical journey. Written by Danny Ziemann, touring jazz bassist and six-time author, Soloing draws from his extensive performance history, degrees in music education from the Eastman School of Music, and years of teaching experience to provide you with expert-level training. Walk into your next gig ready to nod yes when asked to solo. Buy Topics in Jazz Bass Vol. 2: Soloing today.

The author's stated purpose in writing The Art of Cello Playing is to present a progressive sequence of commentary and material as a basis for acquiring a sound technical foundation and basic playing competence to prepare the player for exploring the rich solo, orchestral, and chamber music literature of the instrument. To that end he has produced a comprehensive textbook and reference manual on beginning to advanced cello technique with emphasis on the vital beginning foundation. Louis Potter Jr., is particularly well qualified to make this contribution from his wide experience in teaching both classes and individuals at Michigan State University and at National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan.

The clarinet has a long and rich history as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musical instrument. In this broad-ranging account Eric Hoeprich, a performer, teacher, and expert on historical clarinets, explores its development, repertoire, and performance history. Looking at the antecedents of the clarinet, as well as such related instruments as the chalumeau, basset horn, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet, Hoeprich explains the use and development of the instrument in the Baroque age. The period from the late 1700s to Beethoven's early years is shown to have fostered ever wider distribution and use of the instrument, and a repertoire of increasing richness. The first half of the nineteenth century, a golden age for the clarinet, brought innovation in construction and great virtuosity in performance, while the following century and a half produced a surge in new works from many composers. The author also devotes a chapter to the role of the clarinet in bands, folk music, and jazz.