King's Vibrato


Book Description

In King’s Vibrato Maurice O. Wallace explores the sonic character of Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice and its power to move the world. Providing a cultural history and critical theory of the black modernist soundscapes that helped inform King’s vocal timbre, Wallace shows how the qualities of King’s voice depended on a mix of ecclesial architecture and acoustics, musical instrumentation and sound technology, audience and song. He examines the acoustical architectures of the African American churches where King spoke and the centrality of the pipe organ in these churches, offers a black feminist critique of the influence of gospel on King, and outlines how variations in natural environments and sound amplifications made each of King’s three deliveries of the “I Have a Dream” speech unique. By mapping the vocal timbre of one of the most important figures of black hope and protest in American history, Wallace presents King as the embodiment of the sound of modern black thought.




Experiencing Gigli with Quality Audio


Book Description

Music is a foundational language of being human. The singing voice can speak and depict the human condition with great expressiveness, and plays a hugely important role in music. However, scant attention has been paid to vocal reproduction in hi fidelity reproduction of music. Despite his huge profile as an opera singer, now, many years after his passing, Beniamino Gigli has been overlooked by many. These two themes intersect as no artist no longer living can be better recognised than being brought back to life by playing their music. Yet, with a singing voice as remarkable as Gigli’s, no ordinary attempt at audio reproduction will do it justice. Not only does this book explore and explain what is involved in the hi fidelity reproduction of the voice, it also discusses why Gigli’s singing is special and is still relevant in our musical era. His music highlights in stark relief changes that have happened in the recording and playback of music. In addition, while changes to listening practices have been well-studied, the implications for the experience of music have not. As Ernest Hemmingway said, most people never listen. Listening is an art, choice and gift. Through Gigli, this book also provides insights into the value of thoughtful listening. Listening begins and ends with, and is inseparable from, patience. When we make the time, music can gives us a glimpse of something beyond the horizons of materialism or our contemporary values.




Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown (Songbook)


Book Description

(Guitar Recorded Versions). Note-for-note transcriptions with tab for all the songs off the fifth studio CD by these familial alt-rockers. Features the hit singles "Radioactive" and "Pyro," plus: Back Down South * Beach Side * Birthday * The End * The Face * The Immortals * Mary * Mi Amigo * No Money * Pickup Truck * Pony Up.




The Language of the Blues


Book Description

A comprehensive dictionary of blues lyrics invites listeners to interpret what they hear in blues songs and blues culture, including excerpts from original interviews with Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, and many others.




Race in American Literature and Culture


Book Description

The book shows how American racial history and culture have shaped, and been shaped in turn by, American literature.




The Preacher King


Book Description

The Preacher King investigates Martin Luther King Jr.'s religious development from a precocious "preacher's kid" in segregated Atlanta to the most influential America preacher and orator of the twentieth century. To give the most accurate and intimate portrait possible, Richard Lischer draws almost exclusively on King's unpublished sermons and speeches, as well as tape recordings, personal interviews, and even police surveillance reports. By returning to the raw sources, Lischer recaptures King's truest preaching voice and, consequently, something of the real King himself. He shows how as the son, grandson, and great-grandson of preachers, King early on absorbed the poetic cadences, traditions, and power of the pulpit, more profoundly influenced by his fellow African-American preachers than by Gandhi and the classical philosophers. Lischer also reveals a later phase of King's development that few of his biographers or critics have addressed: the prophetic rage with which he condemned American religious and political hypocrisy. During the last three years of his life, Lischer shows, King accused his country of genocide, warned of long hot summers in the ghettos, and called for a radical redistribution of wealth. 25 years after its initial publication, The Preacher King remains a critical study that captures the crucial aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.'s identity. Human, complex, and passionate, King was the consummate American preacher who never quit trying to reshape the moral and political character of the nation.




Blues Guitar For Dummies


Book Description

Want to become the coolest possible version of yourself? Time to jump into learning the blues guitar. Even if you don’t read music, Blues Guitar For Dummies lets you pick up the fundamentals and start jamming like your favorite blues artists. Blues Guitar for Dummies covers the key aspects of blues guitar, showing you how to play scales, chords, progressions, riffs, solos, and more. This hands-on guide is packed with musical examples, chords charts, and photos that let you explore the genre and play the songs of all the great blues musicians. This accessible how-to book will give you the skills you need to: Choose the right guitar, equipment, and strings Hold, tune, and get situated with your guitar Play barre chords and strum to the rhythm Recognize the structure of a blues song Tackle musical riffs Master melodies and solos Make your guitar sing, cry, and wail Jam to any type of blues Additionally, the book comes with a website that shares audio samples of all the examples covered in the lessons. Go online to practice your riffs and chords and develop your style as a blues musician. Order your copy of Blues Guitar For Dummies today and get ready to start shredding! P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, you’re probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Blues Guitar For Dummies (9780470049204). The book you see here shouldn’t be considered a new or updated product. But if you’re in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. We’re always writing about new topics!




An Eternal Pitch


Book Description

An Eternal Pitch examines the homiletic life and afterlife of Bishop G. E. Patterson, the dynamic spiritual leader of the Church of God in Christ from 2000 to 2007. Although Patterson died in 2007, his voice remains a staple of radio and television broadcast, and his sermons have taken on a life of their own online, where myriad YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok users enact innovative forms of religious broadcasting. Their preoccupation with Patterson’s “Afterliveness” punctuates the significance of Patterson’s preoccupation with musical repetition: across the decades of Patterson’s ministry, a set of musical gestures recur as sonic channels, bringing an individual sermon into contact with scripture’s eternal transmission.




The Trumpet Kings


Book Description

This collection of 500 profiles covers legends plus lesser-known but also noteworthy trumpeters from all jazz eras. Overall contributions to the world of jazz are described, plus stories of colleagues, individual career details, and recommended recordings. Photos.




Kings of Jazz


Book Description