Lessons on virtue for children.

The award-winning creator of the documentary The Music Instinct traces the efforts of visionary researchers and musicians to understand the biological foundations of music and its relationship to the brain and the physical world. 35,000 first printing.

The story of one musician's journey to discover how music can be used as a political tool, for good and bad.

Music can either Connect You to God or Drive You to the Devil. God created the human race to enjoy music and to make music, and through music the world has been dramatically changed—for good and for evil. In this fascinating book Michael L. Brown takes the reader on a journey through the history of music—from classical to rock and from hip-hop to gospel—showing just how transformative music has been and how much God wants to use it to change the world again. Brown contends that it is time for all Christians to make a concerted effort to recover the potential of anointed music and song—in our assemblies and in society, in our services and on the streets, in studios and in schools. The counterculture revolution of the 1960s only succeeded with the help of satanically inspired music and mind-altering drugs. Could it be that today’s Jesus revolution can only succeed with the help of Spirit-inspired music and a life-altering encounter with God? What else will produce the necessary change in our perspective? After reading this book, believers will never again listen to music the same! They will finally understand its power and divine origin, but more importantly they will know how God wants to use it to usher in a global outpouring that will change the world forever. This book will show you how music can either indoctrinate or educate you, spark rebellion or patriotism, and drive you to the devil or draw you closer to God.​ “This book will stir up musicians, artists, and worshippers everywhere to dive deeper into an appreciation and adoration of the One Himself who created sounds, songs, and melodies!” —BECKAH SHAE, Dove Award-Nominated Singer/Songwriter “Musicians and non-musicians alike will be inspired by the powerful ways God intends to use music in today’s end-time drama.” —BOB SORGE, Author of Exploring Worship: A Practical Guide to Praise and Worship “Dr. Brown has written a must-read for all musicians, singers, and songwriters who desire to harness the power of music to glorify Jesus, change the atmosphere, and release heaven’s sound on the earth.” —KELANIE GLOECKLER, Worship Leader and Songwriter, Executive Director of Access Worship International

In this new history of music in Zimbabwe, Mhoze Chikowero deftly uses African sources to interrogate the copious colonial archive, reading it as a confessional voice along and against the grain to write a complex history of music, colonialism, and African self-liberation. Chikowero's book begins in the 1890s with missionary crusades against African performative cultures and African students being inducted into mission bands, which contextualize the music of segregated urban and mining company dance halls in the 1930s, and he builds genealogies of the Chimurenga music later popularized by guerrilla artists like Dorothy Masuku, Zexie Manatsa, Thomas Mapfumo, and others in the 1970s. Chikowero shows how Africans deployed their music and indigenous knowledge systems to fight for their freedom from British colonial domination and to assert their cultural sovereignty.

There is accruing evidence which indicates that actively making music can contribute to the enhancement of a range of non-musical skills and lead to other beneficial outcomes. Research continues to explore the circumstances under which these benefits may occur. A recent review of the evidence from neuroscience suggests that early engagement may be important (before the age of seven), the length of musical engagement and commitment to it, the type of training, and the instrument learned. The quality of teaching is also crucial as to whether any benefits are realised. When teaching is poor there may be no benefits and negative outcomes. The common characteristics of musical programmes which are beneficial are emerging. They need to be highly interactive and enjoyable with opportunities for: developing new skills and performing; acquiring cultural capital; developing interpersonal bonds and solidarity in pursuing shared goals; on-going intensity and frequency of contact; developing mutual respect; and recognition and rewards for excellence. Receiving positive affirmation from others relating to musical activities, particularly performance is crucial in enhancing self-beliefs whatever the age of the participants. If performances are in high status cultural venues the impact is enhanced. The research undertaken to date suggests that: active engagement with making music should start early for the greatest benefits to be realised; engagement needs to be sustained over a long period of time to maximise the benefits; the activities need to include group work; opportunities need to be available for performance; the quality of teaching needs to be high; the curriculum needs to be broadly based including activities related to pitch and rhythm, singing, instrumental work, composition and improvisation, and the reading of notation; to have a positive impact on disaffected and at-risk young people, the musical activities need to be in a genre with which they can relate.

A Chicago Tribune Book of 2019, Notable Chicago Reads A Booklist Top 10 Arts Book of 2019 A No Depression Top Music Book of 2019 Curtis Mayfield. The Chi-Lites. Chaka Khan. Chicago’s place in the history of soul music is rock solid. But for Chicagoans, soul music in its heyday from the 1960s to the 1980s was more than just a series of hits: it was a marker and a source of black empowerment. In Move On Up, Aaron Cohen tells the remarkable story of the explosion of soul music in Chicago. Together, soul music and black-owned businesses thrived. Record producers and song-writers broadcast optimism for black America’s future through their sophisticated, jazz-inspired productions for the Dells and many others. Curtis Mayfield boldly sang of uplift with unmistakable grooves like “We’re a Winner” and “I Plan to Stay a Believer.” Musicians like Phil Cohran and the Pharaohs used their music to voice Afrocentric philosophies that challenged racism and segregation, while Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire and Chaka Khan created music that inspired black consciousness. Soul music also accompanied the rise of African American advertisers and the campaign of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, in 1983. This empowerment was set in stark relief by the social unrest roiling in Chicago and across the nation: as Chicago’s homegrown record labels produced rising stars singing songs of progress and freedom, Chicago’s black middle class faced limited economic opportunities and deep-seated segregation, all against a backdrop of nationwide deindustrialization. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and a music critic’s passion for the unmistakable Chicago soul sound, Cohen shows us how soul music became the voice of inspiration and change for a city in turmoil.