Learning to play an instrument can be fun and, at times, frustrating. This lively, accessible book helps young people cope with the difficulties involved in learning a new instrument and remaining dedicated to playing and practicing. Teens from renowned music programs - including the Juilliard School's Pre-College Program and Boston University's Tanglewood Institute - join pro musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Paula Robison, and James Galway in offering practical answers to questions from what instrument to play to where the musical road may lead. In this revised and expanded edition, Amy Nathan has updated the book to address today's more technologically-minded young musician. Expanded sections cover the various ways students can use technology to assist in mastering an instrument and in making practice time more productive, from using the Internet to download pieces to be learned and playing along with downloaded tunes to practicing with computer-based practice programs, CDs, and videos/DVDs of musical performances. She also addresses concerns of young composers and conductors, two groups not mentioned in the original edition. The book's updated Resource Guide suggests where to get additional help, both online and off.

College Prep for Musicians: A Comprehensive Guide for Students, Parents, Teachers, and Counselors is a one-of-a-kind book that forms a complete picture of the process of applying to music schools. No matter what degree within music in which you are interested, College Prep for Musicians is the book to help young musicians follow their dreams.

Nathan offers advice on learning to play a musical instrument, including tips from teenage musicians about practicing, performing, and buying equipment. Illustrations.

This book of parent-to-parent advice aims to encourage, support, and bolster the morale of one of music's most important back-up sections: music parents. Within these pages, more than 150 veteran music parents contribute their experiences, reflections, warnings, and helpful suggestions for how to walk the music-parenting tightrope: how to be supportive but not overbearing, and how to encourage excellence without becoming bogged down in frustration. Among those offering advice are the parents of several top musicians, including the mother of violinist Joshua Bell, the father of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the parents of cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and those of violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. The book also features advice from music educators and more than forty professional musicians, including Paula Robison, Sarah Chang, Anthony McGill, Jennifer Koh, Jonathan Biss, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Marin Alsop, Christian McBride, Miguel Zenón, Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Kelli O'Hara, as well as Joshua Bell, Alisa Weilerstein, Wynton Marsalis, Anne Akiko Meyers, and others. The topics they discuss span a wide range of issues faced by the parents of both instrumentalists and singers, from how to get started and encourage effective practice habits, to how to weather the rough spots, cope with the cost of music training, deal with college and career concerns, and help young musicians discover the role that music can play in their lives. The parents who speak here reach a unanimous and overwhelming conclusion that music parenting is well worth the effort, and the experiences that come with it - from sitting in on early lessons and watching their kids perform onstage to tagging along at music conventions as their youngsters try out instruments at exhibitors' booths - enrich family life with a unique joy in music.

Two thousand years before Dante, Michelangelo and the Medici of the Renaissance, the extraordinary Etruscans civilized central Italy. 3 generations of the ambitious Porenna-Laris clan 2 powerful rival cities threaten to tear apart this noble family 1 mysterious Flutist guides their journey to the afterlife. Meanwhile, The Great Prediction heralds doom. Amidst pestilence, tyranny, deceit and murder, sophisticated Etruria prospers. Magnificent temples, sumptuous dwellings and roads with arched bridges dot the land. Men revere women. Women own property. Couples eat together at banquets wearing fashionable tunics and stylish leather shoes, while the rest of the cosmos goes barefoot. Wealth, wisdom and artistic beauty abound. Opulent tombs provide for eternal contentment. Praise the gods! Glory to the Etruscans! Rosalind Burgundy brings the unique Etruscans to life in the stirring epic Song of The Flutist