Improvisation rattles some listeners. Maybe they’re even suspicious of it. John Coltrane’s saxophonic flights of fancy, Jimi Hendrix’s feedback drenched guitar solos, Ravi Shankar’s sitar extrapolations—all these sounds seem like so much noodling or jamming, indulgent self-expression. “Just” improvising, as is sometimes said. For these music fans, it seems natural that music is meant to be composed. In the first book of its kind, John Corbett’s A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation provides a how-to manual for the most extreme example of spontaneous improvising: music with no pre-planned material at all. Drawing on over three decades of writing about, presenting, playing, teaching, and studying freely improvised music, Corbett offers an enriching set of tools that show any curious listener how to really listen, and he encourages them to enjoy the human impulse— found all around the world— to make up music on the spot.             Corbett equips his reader for a journey into a difficult musical landscape, where there is no steady beat, no pre-ordained format, no overarching melodic or harmonic framework, and where tones can ring with the sharpest of burrs. In “Fundamentals,” he explores key areas of interest, such as how the musicians interact, the malleability of time, overcoming impatience, and watching out for changes and transitions; he grounds these observations in concrete listening exercises, a veritable training regime for musical attentiveness. Then he takes readers deeper in “Advanced Techniques,” plumbing the philosophical conundrums at the heart of free improvisation, including topics such as the influence of the audience and the counterintuitive challenge of listening while asleep. Scattered throughout are helpful and accessible lists of essential resources—recordings, books, videos— and a registry of major practicing free improvisors from Noël Akchoté to John Zorn, particularly essential because this music is best experienced live.             The result is a concise, humorous, and inspiring guide, a unique book that will help transform one of the world’s most notoriously unapproachable artforms into a rewarding and enjoyable experience. 

A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation

Arts & Photography

Corbett, John

Music

University of Chicago Press

In this important contribution both to the study of social protest and to French social history, Roger Gould breaks with previous accounts that portray the Paris Commune of 1871 as a continuation of the class struggles of the 1848 Revolution. Focusing on the collective identities framing conflict during these two upheavals and in the intervening period, Gould reveals that while class played a pivotal role in 1848, it was neighborhood solidarity that was the decisive organizing force in 1871. The difference was due to Baron Haussmann's massive urban renovation projects between 1852 and 1868, which dispersed workers from Paris's center to newly annexed districts on the outskirts of the city. In these areas, residence rather than occupation structured social relations. Drawing on evidence from trail documents, marriage records, reports of police spies, and the popular press, Gould demonstrates that this fundamental rearrangement in the patterns of social life made possible a neighborhood insurgent movement; whereas the insurgents of 1848 fought and died in defense of their status as workers, those in 1871 did so as members of a besieged urban community. A valuable resource for historians and scholars of social movements, this work shows that collective identities vary with political circumstances but are nevertheless constrained by social networks. Gould extends this argument to make sense of other protest movements and to offer predictions about the dimensions of future social conflict.

Improvisation rattles some listeners. Maybe they’re even suspicious of it. John Coltrane’s saxophonic flights of fancy, Jimi Hendrix’s feedback drenched guitar solos, Ravi Shankar’s sitar extrapolations—all these sounds seem like so much noodling or jamming, indulgent self-expression. “Just” improvising, as is sometimes said. For these music fans, it seems natural that music is meant to be composed. In the first book of its kind, John Corbett’s A Listener’s Guide to Free Improvisation provides a how-to manual for the most extreme example of spontaneous improvising: music with no pre-planned material at all. Drawing on over three decades of writing about, presenting, playing, teaching, and studying freely improvised music, Corbett offers an enriching set of tools that show any curious listener how to really listen, and he encourages them to enjoy the human impulse— found all around the world— to make up music on the spot. Corbett equips his reader for a journey into a difficult musical landscape, where there is no steady beat, no pre-ordained format, no overarching melodic or harmonic framework, and where tones can ring with the sharpest of burrs. In “Fundamentals,” he explores key areas of interest, such as how the musicians interact, the malleability of time, overcoming impatience, and watching out for changes and transitions; he grounds these observations in concrete listening exercises, a veritable training regime for musical attentiveness. Then he takes readers deeper in “Advanced Techniques,” plumbing the philosophical conundrums at the heart of free improvisation, including topics such as the influence of the audience and the counterintuitive challenge of listening while asleep. Scattered throughout are helpful and accessible lists of essential resources—recordings, books, videos— and a registry of major practicing free improvisors from Noël Akchoté to John Zorn, particularly essential because this music is best experienced live. The result is a concise, humorous, and inspiring guide, a unique book that will help transform one of the world’s most notoriously unapproachable artforms into a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Unless you lived through the 1970s, it seems impossible to understand it at all. Drug delirium, groovy fashion, religious cults, mega corporations, glitzy glam, hard rock, global unrest—from our 2018 perspective, the seventies are often remembered as a bizarre blur of bohemianism and disco. With Pick Up the Pieces, John Corbett transports us back in time to this thrillingly tumultuous era through a playful exploration of its music. Song by song, album by album, he draws our imaginations back into one of the wildest decades in history. Rock. Disco. Pop. Soul. Jazz. Folk. Funk. The music scene of the 1970s was as varied as it was exhilarating, but the decade’s diversity of sound has never been captured in one book before now. Pick Up the Pieces gives a panoramic view of the era’s music and culture through seventy-eight essays that allow readers to dip in and out of the decade at random or immerse themselves completely in Corbett’s chronological journey. An inviting mix of skilled music criticism and cultural observation, Pick Up the Pieces is also a coming-of-age story, tracking the author’s absorption in music as he grows from age seven to seventeen. Along with entertaining personal observations and stories, Corbett includes little-known insights into musicians from Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, James Brown, and Fleetwood Mac to the Residents, Devo, Gal Costa, and Julius Hemphill. A master DJ on the page, Corbett takes us through the curated playlist that is Pick Up the Pieces with captivating melody of language and powerful enthusiasm for the era. This funny, energetic book will have readers longing nostalgically for a decade long past.

Pick Up the Pieces: Excursions in Seventies Music

Beginning Old English

This basic introduction to Old English is an essential guide for students with little or no linguistic knowledge. Unlike other textbooks on the subject, Beginning Old English focuses on the explanation and demonstration of how the language works, using accessible illustrations from simplified Old English texts and showing how many features of present-day English have their roots in this stage of the language. Beginning Old English- builds up reading skills by using simple texts to support the acquisition of key vocabulary and to develop awareness of language structure- offers an introduction to the conventions of Old English poetry and how they are realised across different genres: religious verse, riddles, elegies and heroic poetry- explores issues in the translation of Old English verse- guides the reader through four major texts: Cynewulf and Cyneheard, Beowulf (extract), The Battle of Maldon and The Dream of the Rood- features activities, glossaries, illustrations and a Further Reading section.Concise and approachable, this invaluable text will appeal to anyone with an interest in the early history of English language and literature.

Reference

Hough, Carole

Words, Language & Grammar

Red Globe Press

Art in Chicago, 1945-1995 examines the unique development of artistic traditions within the cultural, social, and political life of this quintessential American city during the second half of the twentieth century. Capturing the verve and innovation that characterized each decade, the book considers painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and media arts (film, video, performance) by 150 artists who have either always lived and worked in Chicago or have created significant bodies of work in residence there. Among the artists profiled are Roger Brown, Harry Callahan, Ruth Duckworth, Jeanne Dunning, Leon Golub, Robert Heinecken, Richard Hunt, June Leaf, Kerry James Marshall, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Hirsch Perlman, Martin Puryear, Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Miroslaw Rogala, Alejandro Romero, Kay Rosen, Hollis Sigler, Aaron Siskind, Nancy Spero, Tony Tasset, H. C. Westermann, Claire Zeisler, and the Zhou Brothers. More than 170 color reproductions are set amidst a running timeline of historical events in both Chicago and beyond, and over 140 black-and-white photographs complement the text.

Art in Chicago: 1945-1995

Schulze, Franz

Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, Ill.)

Adrian, Dennis

Selz, Peter

Boris, Staci

Horsfield, Kate

Molon, Dominic

Kirshner, Judith Russi

Abell, Jeff

Jaffee, Barbara

Rago, Carmela

Stamets, Bill

Meloche, Monique

History & Criticism

Thames&Hudson

Intercultural Language Activities offers practical teaching ideas which encourage learners to reflect on their own language and culture, as well as that of others. Topics covered in the fourteen chapters include childhood, food, sport, icons, politics and body language. The book also helps learners mediate in situations of cultural misunderstanding and start web-based intercultural exchanges. It examines interview techniques, how people present themselves, and ways to interpret cultural symbols and characteristics, such as those found in postcards, advertisements and online newspapers. In engaging with these topics, learners become intercultural explorers and raise their level of communicative competence. This is an invaluable resource for any teacher who wishes to combine language learning with cultural exploration. In addition, the accompanying CD-ROM provides print-friendly photocopiable worksheets and reading texts which can be put to immediate use.

Intercultural Language Activities with CD-ROM (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Cambridge University Press

Although much work has been published on certain aspects of translation into Scots, this timely book is the first comprehensive account of Scots translations from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. From the period before Gavin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid to John Byrne's recent adaptation of Gogol's The Government Inspector, this survey argues that translation plays a central role in the development of literature in Scots, lending authority to the vernacular, and extending the stylistic range open to writers in Scots. The survey draws upon insights from Translation Studies to examine the role of translation in a nation whose status is periodically redefined. The history of translation into Scots can be seen as a microcosm of the history of the Scottish nation and its culture. The case of Scots translation also raises important issues for Translation Studies, in particular the problem of the translator's 'visibility' when he or she cannot hide behind the neutrality of a standard language. This book is essential reading for those who are interested in Translation Studies, and should be enjoyed by anyone interested in the development of Scots and Scottish Literature.

Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation into Scots

Multilingual Matters Limited

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Human Face of Industrial Conflict in Post-War Japan

Business & Money

Kawanishi

Economics

Kegan Paul

West Dickens Avenue: A Marine at Khe Sanh

In January 1968, the 26th Marine Regiment was ordered to a place in the far northwest corner of South Vietnam called Khe Sanh. John Corbett, an untested replacement in a clean, green uniform, and his fellow leathernecks were responsible for building and defending the combat base, and holding positions on the strategic hills overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail as it crossed into Laos and South Vietnam from nearby North Vietnam. Only days after Corbett arrived at Khe Sanh, some twenty thousand North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded the base, outnumbering the American Marines seven to one. What followed over the next seventy-seven days became one of the deadliest fights of the Vietnam War&mdash;and one of the greatest battles in military history. Private First Class Corbett, an &ldquo;ammo humper&rdquo; in an 81mm mortar section, made do with little or no sleep for days on end. The enemy bombarded the base incessantly, and Corbett&rsquo;s mortars returned the fire, day and night. Extremes of heat, cold, and fog added to the misery, as did all manner of wounds and injuries too minor to justify evacuation from frontline positions. The emotional toll was tremendous as the Marines saw their friends suffer and die every day of the siege. Corbett relates these experiences through the eyes of an eighteen year old but with the mind and maturity of a man now in his fifties. His story of life, death, and growing up on the front lines at Khe Sanh speaks for all of the Marines caught up intheepic siege of the Vietnam War. From the Hardcover edition.

History

Military

Random House Audio Roads

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