Music Books

This book is great for bringing the artwork alive! My kids favorites are the bumblebee and skeleton song and picture. Very well done.

This book and accompanying cd are awesome and so great at helping children to understand classical music and the stories and emotions that it conveys.

This book has wonderful pictures and the accompanying CD lets the user expand with questions and dialogue. Great resource!

I absolutely adore this book. As a preschool music teacher, I search for ways to make classical music interesting and fun for young children, and I think this book has done it. With colorful, beautiful artwork and fun musical selections, children love listening closely to "find" the items that are "described" in the music. For young children like mine, I pull out this book occasionally to work on critical listening skills by putting on one or two of the pieces at a time. The only thing I would have liked better is a little more variety in the musical pieces. Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Carnival of the Animals are both used 2-3 times.

This elegant picture book and Cd combo provide adult and child partners at any level of maturity with a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the symphony concert hall at the same time. Page after page provide opportunites for delight,discussion and description. We danced, we laughed and we were amused ,even deliciously frightened, by the music and visual art. Brilliantly done, and available to experience during any season of the year, again and again.

Absolutely necessary reading for those interested in American alternative cinema and not only. The book gives a brilliant picture of USA's one of the best directors ever.
Highly recommended for everyone. No other book shows Cassavetes in this light. Packed with interesting material, as good as Cassavetas' cinema itself.

Ray Carney's "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" is a wonderful introduction to Cassavetes' work. I found it to be a great read - amazingly free of academic jargon or fancy terminology. It was hard to put down! And with incredible photos of the wild-man at work. A must for every fan of indie film as well as aspiring directors and artists - and also for students of life! If you want to know even more, I'd also recommend Ray Carney's massive web site devoted to Cassavetes and indie film. Any search engine will take you there. It has wonderful behind-the-scenes information about the making of Cassavetes' work. If you want a volume to provide ongoing daily inspiration and encouragement regarding the artistic process, buy this book. It is a book you will go back to again and again and again...

Ray Carney's done a great service to film fans by bringing Cassavetes' scattered talks and interviews together into a coherent statement on art. Carney shows how Cassavetes' whole process of filmmaking was tied to his outlook on life. Combative, spontaneous and deliberately amateur, he aimed for situations where writer, actor and viewer are all left without direction, forced to respond to the story as individuals rather than reach for pre-approved 'social codes'. He savagely edited his films to defy audience expectations, usually rejecting versions that the studios, his collaborators and even his wife liked best. Some of Cassavetes' statements made me wonder if he did this to edit some part of himself--the Greek immigrant son made good, with the blonde wife and kids and Hollywood home. In some ways he was an insider desperate to stay on the outside. Conflict was fun for him, he thought America needed more of it, and the messy collaborative 'families' he built around each film were his alternative to the button-down corporate society he fought against all his life.

As Carney presents him, Cassavetes wasn't out for the money, the glory, the ego or ultimately maybe even the art. He wanted fun, he wanted friends and he wanted people to really live as individuals. Are there folks like this around anymore? We need them more than ever.

If you're intrigued at all by the work of John Cassavetes, this book is well worth your time. The book itself is a collection of interviews Cassavetes gave through his entire life, edited into chapters that correspond to the movies he talked about. The excerpts themselves are pretty interesting, but it is author Ray Carney's commentary in between quotes that really makes this book worthwhile. Carney gives us the back story, and fills in the missing parts, but he also sets things straight when John rambles into fiction. It's easy to see that Cassavetes liked to talk about his work. There are over 500 pages on roughly a dozen films.

If you are new to Cassavetes and read this book, you'll want to view his films. I have only seen a handful myself, but his total commitment to getting them made is so impressive that I feel ashamed to have not seen more. I saw my first Cassavetes film in college and felt that it was interesting, but a little over the top in places. As I get older, I think that real-life might be more over the top than I first realized.

John Cassavetes passion for making movies shines through in this volume. Ray Carney's insight tells the rest of the story. If you are interested in independent film making, this book is a must.

My half-hearted browser's interest in Cassavetes needed a kick in the seat of the pants, I now realize, and reading this book shows me how much I failed to appreciate him while we were lucky enough to have him around. The format is eye-opening. Cassavetes speaks, and then the author. The constantly shifting P.O.V., and the frisson between the truth Cassavetes himself presented, and the unvarnished truth as discovered by the author, makes this book constantly stimulating and endlessly arguable.

Cassavetes life and films are worth a serious look-see -- and this book is an EXCELLENT place to begin that-- if only because he is that rare individual who absolutely refused to accept mediocrity in himself and others, both as an artist and a committed liver of life. He went for the burn every time out, and could often be an ornery s.o.b. when he detected that people were simply going through the motions in their life or art. (The book is rife with anecdotes that literally make you wince and leave you wondering "Could I have long tolerated this behavior in a friend or family member?") He seems never to have thought "I'd better not burn my bridges here", or practiced any of the other forms of incremental, over-thought cowardice that most of us do.

Cassavetes was driven like no one else; he never made a lazy, easy commercial film. He let his life and films commingle, letting the cameras roll for hours, shooting thousands of feet more film than he could use, afterward sculpting it into a shape that could be released. (He said film stock was the one part of his film making on which he would never scrimp.) His films were, probably more than any other director's, explorations of life.

Cassavetes lived life so completely that it might be truthful to say he did something the average person would call foolhardy nearly every day of his life, in some way or other. But in spite of this, or because of it, it's impossible to come away from this book without an awakened admiration for him.

Brian Epstein's magnificence and decency as a person, and secondly as manager of the Fab Four, is what really comes across in this warm, revealing account of the rise of the Beatles. I really think that had Brian lived, the boys would never have split up. Argued yes, but split, no. Not if Brian would have had his way. His integrity (such as not going back on a contract, even though it would have meant the Beatles could have made a ton more money) makes me respect him highly. One such incident was referenced by the Ed Sullivan show, which was contracted at a measly amount, before the mop tops took America by storm and were commanding much larger contract dollars. It's seemingly rare to find this kind of integrity in the entertainment industry, and probably garners the criticism of those who later said Brian was a 'poor' manager, not getting the Beatles their due share. Maybe true...but I don't think anyone around them loved the boys more than Mr. Epstein. There's a very interesting anecdote about Brian's wavering loyalties at one point. He was so tired of the strain and the 24 hours a day work that came with being the Beatles' manager, that he considered selling his contract with them, for a good amount of cash. When confronting the boys with this idea, they thought he was joking, then realizing he was serious, threatened to pack up and quit if Brian left. Brian's quote in this regard speaks to his admiration and loyalty, in return, to the boys. After telling his prospective dealer that the deal was off, Brian remarked:
'And this was the point. The Beatles are not a deal. They are unique human beings and I believe that even if the whole thing peters out I will always be with the Beatles. I would like to look after them in some way throughout their lives, not because I want a percentage but because they are my friends'.
And a true friend they, and we all, lost when Brian passed.
Thank the stars above he brought them, and their joy, to the world with his unflagging, unwavering hope and belief that the Beatles were, and are, a once in a lifetime 'deal'.
A must read for any Beatle lover.

This is an interesting book, though you'll likely have read the story elsewhere in other Beatles books. But it's from the manager's mouth, so worthy in that regard. Some trivia: When (homosexual) Brian asked the other Beatles what he should title the book, John--with his cruel streak--said, "How about `Queer Jew' or `Cellarful of Boys'" Ridiculously, Lennon's cruel streak made Epstein just more infatuated with John!

Just to counter the praise of Brian Epstein's writing in the review below: Epstein didn't write the book; his and the Beatles' press-man Derek Taylor ghost-wrote it (and he himself said he thinks it would have been better if he hadn't written it so quickly).

Brian Epstein, by writing this book in the middle of the Beatles phenomenon, provides us with a great snapshot in time - a time unlike any other before or perhaps since. Without being conceited (in fact, he reveals in his own words many of his own faults) he provides a fascinating insight into what was probably one of the great judges of pop music talent of the last 30 years. Reading this now, knowing how Brian's life was to turn out, leads one to wonder just what might have been. His style of writing, more conversational and "simpler" than one might have gathered from his outward appearance, makes this an easy and entertaining read and a must for Beatle fans.

This book is probably one of the best books I have ever read. I read it constantly and I never can put it down. It is the most beautifully told story of the early beatles from someone who was actually there. A must for ALL Beatles fans.

This is an excellent book covering almost every aspect of not just chanting but understanding what all those lines, dots and wiggles surrounding the text in the chumash mean. There is a complete rundown of every te'am and how it fits into the context of the verses, and there is an example in a later section on how each te'am is chanted, basically in the Ashkenazi tradition. There is also a lot of interesting history of the development of the Torah scrolls and history on Torah and Tanakh traditions and also a section on pronunciation.

One word of warning. In order to understand the significance of the te'amim in the context of the verses, you need to have a fairly good knowledge of biblical Hebrew, both vocabulary and grammar. The context of the words in a verse determines which te'amim is assigned to their accents. This is, of course, separate from the te'amim that are assigned to indicate the vowels and pronunciation.

If you want to know absolutely everything about chanting Torah, Haftarah, or one of the Megillot, this book is for you. Every special circumstance is discussed, every rule of reading is discussed and the history and evolution of how and why we chant the way we do today is discussed. It is a wonderful resource for those who teach trope.

This book is a must for anyone seriously studying the nuances of cantillation. This large tome includes chapters on grammar, punctuation, and epistemology. I recently heard a lecture on the meaning of the trope (musical notation)in relation to the meaning of the Hebrew words; amazingly, they informed each other. Such information fills these pages. My son, who studies old manuscripts elaborating some of these topics, was thrilled to receive this book as a birthday gift. The author, Joshua Jacobson, is also the director of a chorale, specializing in Jewish music and his CDs are well worth the price. He's a master in many areas of music and I was fortunate to attend a conference recently where he was the keynote speaker. He's an outstanding scholar and a mensch.

I know of no book that can even compare to the scope and depth of this one, therefore I cannot give it anything but 5 stars. It is a thorough reference of the history and melodies of the cantillation, including a CD and musical notation of all cantillations used for public reading. It is appropriate for all levels of knowledge--from a beginner to an experienced reader.
The grammar he presents is not quite up-to-date and there are minor problems with the phonetic notation he gives certain letters and vowels. However, all in all it is quite excellent.

It is a great book that finally shows that the cantilation is not arbitrary, how it contributes to the sense of the text, how
it works with grammar. Instead of teaching the Taamim as
a dogma, it actually shows how one can understand a text and
put the Taamim himself. It also reveals the grammar of the texts.
I bought four more for my friends.

Have you ever had the experience of discovering that a great talent resides in your neck of the woods? That is the experience I had upon reading Nathan Singer for the first time with his novel Chasing the Wolf. I picked up this novel because the subject of the blues combined with a visual artist appeals to me (I am a visual artist my ownself). The whole 'connection' involved in this novel was enjoyable to me as I discovered that the author Singer resides (and instructs) in my native city of Cincinnati (He is an instructor of creative writing at the University of Cincinnati). I have now repeatedly kicked myself for 'missing' the performance of this well constructed story on stage. You can be sure it is not a mistake I will make again if I ever have the chance to see any future works by Singer performed on stage. If you enjoy the writings of Joe R. Lansdale and Neal Barrett Jr (to mention just a few of the authors that Singer 'relates' to) then you owe it to yourself to read this novel. I feel that Singer strikes a familiar 'chord' with Lansdale in particular, as Singer's writing 'resonates' with issues of race and social relations. In ending I'd like to extend a note to Mr. Singer, if ya ever need an artist to adorn your book covers, I'd love to take a stab at it!

I was fortunate enough to have Nathan as a guest on a radio show I hosted in Cincinnati many moons ago when Chasing The Wolf was just being written. The other fortunate part was hearing him read passages from it on the show. A prolific artist, in Chasing The Wolf, Nathan has written a fine piece of literature and it also shows that he's been developing his unique voice for some time. A great read (I'm not sure how close the published version will be to the computer-printed copy he presented to me, but I enjoyed it tremendously) and well worth the investment of time & money.

Chasing the Wolf is like the cyclone from The Wizard of Oz--it picks you up and you stare through your window at whirling faces who transform from the ordinary into nightmares. Only in this case the cyclone sets you down someplace much darker than Oz.

Although the plot involves time travel, it doesn't have a have a science fiction feel to it at all. Like Richard Matheson's Bid Time Return and Jack Finney's Time and Again, the focus is on the characters, not the mechanics of a time machine but this is far more dangerous. Octavia Butler's Kindred is the closest thing I've ever encountered: dealing with race relations and devotion beyond time.

I'm not normally the type who wants to read a happy-ending version of King Lear or hope for Lear II: Regan's Revenge but in this case I would love to see more of these characters and the world of this novel. Just the theories of Time-walking that one Walker develops are better than any hard-pseudo-science explanation. We get a glimpse of something incredibly intriguing and it ends before I was ready to let go. It's like watching a beautiful woman begin to undress but then she sees you and yanks shut the blinds.

I highly recommend Chasing the Wolf but don't start it at night if you have to wake up early in the morning.

Chasing the Wolf reads like a chase, with a writing style, and page layout that forces a reader to keep turning, keep looking, keep chasing, as our main character first stumbles, then chases through time. A love story, an artist's story, a fantasy, an ode to Robert Johnson, and oh yeah, there's time travel too, all crafted together with bits and pieces of everyday sarcastic goodness. The highlight of the storytelling is the dialogue. Writing conversations realistically, to the point where the conversations are believeable is a difficult thing....but Nathan makes me feel like I'm eavesdropping.

I'm not sure if Nathan was on speed, or heavily caffeinated when he wrote this book, but the story moves at a pace that leads me to believe that must have been true. And, as the story jumps from NYC to little towns in Mississippi, from present day, to Depression-era, the reader just goes along for the ride. Nathan writes with the flavor and color and humor of Vonnegut, and the images fall into place without overly excessive detail.

Hot shot, hipster, high-art-society New York City....to rural, small town, dirt roads....and this is just the first ten pages. "Everyone in New York is "neo" something" - well Nathan Singer is a neo-literary-genius.

A modern-day Billy Pilgrim (Eli Cooper from twenty-first century New York City) meets 1930's Mississippi blues heroes, friends, and eventually foes while searching for answers in pre-modern times. Similarites between past and present cultural issues surface in surprising ways to make this book an important read for people from all ages and walks of life.

Electrifying images with intense feeling. Fine photography by Raeburn Flerlage and superb editing by Lisa Day. What a moving adventure to turn each page. I felt like I was in the audience and part of each photograph.

The blues are not just notes and lyrics, instruments and people, but, more a frame, a view of the world, and of life, from inside and under.

Raeburn Flerage's evocative photographs and commentary, partnered with Lisa Day's luminous editing, have given us all a rare opportunity - a chance to take that view through Flerage's camera lens and rembrances.

Black and white - could the pictures be anything but black and white and all the muted tones of grey inbetween? And could the comments be more laconic and straight to the heart of the Blues?

I do not think so. I cannot reproduce the sensation in this review, but Flerlage's description of a 1964 performance of Sam House, tells the tale and paints the picture: "After a brief ingratiating smile, his face change dramatically, first slowly but then swiflty as the lyrics changed he projected those terrible moments that haunted his memory. When he sang "Death Letter Blues," he saw his dead girlfriend, "lying on the cooling board" and it made your own blood run cold. The scene was reflected in his face, sounded in the violent guitar strokes and his painfully forced voice. Unforgetable!" Unforgetable indeed when those lines are coupled to the stark photos of that performance by Lisa Day's skillful use of words and pictures, white and black and grey.

We weren't there. We can't really know the feelings. Like Sam House's comments on hearing his lyrics sung by an up-and-coming, young White blues pretender - "Those are my words all right, but it sure ain't my music." - we can't know it unless we are inside, down and under. "Chicago Blues: as Seen from the Inside" takes us about as close as we can get visually. Turn the pages with real blues in the background - "Unforgetable!"

This is the best photo documentary of a music culture I have ever seen, the photos are so alive you feel you are there, you remember when you were there, even if you never were. The text is as beautiful and intimate and truthful as the photos. The scope is big and very complete. I spend hours, looking and looking again, reading and re-reading. I close the book and the music stops.

I met Flerlage a few years ago in Chicago when I was doing some research for a now-forgotten project and I went through his collection of fantastic photos with him in his apartment and loved every second of it. The composition and lighting in these pictures is beautiful, and he catches something of the energy of the performances that is pretty amazing. Flerlage isn't one of these precious blues prigs (e.g., Steve Calt) who spends all of his time trying to protect some pet thesis and trashing everyone else's work relentlessly, but is a real dude who lived jazz and blues on the South Side in a way that few other writers or photographers have. The result is what you see -- great photographs, on the ground, in the clubs with the people who made the scene as wild and energetic as it was. If you want to see pictures that give you a real taste of the power of jazz and blues in teh 50s and 60s, get this book and linger over these fantastic photographs. You won't regret it.

Someone sent me a copy of this book...what a find. Whether you're into Blues greats of the 50's and 60's, or just into good photography, this is worthwhile. Some of the greatest black and white photographs I have seen. Puts your right in the smokey clubs of South Chicago, and in the artists' face. Sensitively accomplished and carefully assembled after 40 years. Photographer Raeburn Flerlage had a remarkable feel for the soul of the music, and a love of these peformers, and was granted unusual access to their lives. It shows in the photos, both candid and peformance, if there is a difference here. A lovingly crafted collection, and a time capsule of a age fled, a city now changed, that gave us an American art form. Done by a photographer with the soul of a poet. Excellent notes by Flerlage, now in his eighties. For music lovers, a must have. Ditto fans of Chicago.

This is a great reference book for all of Dusty's recordings. It includes the Where and When of each song she ever recorded.

paul howes is the ULTIMATE springfield fan. he hasn't spent hours listening to every syllable springfield ever sang. he has spent his life. and then some. because more than a few of the recordings he disseminates were not released to the public or are parts of tv specials springfield made during 40+ year career.

and his love for dusty and her unique, one of a kind voice is captured in page after page of this healthy tome that devotes itself to her recordings.

even when he doesn't like the performance or the arrangement, he still maintains impartiality and great respect for a woman that was loved, idolized, almost forgotten then reclaimed by her new and old fans from all over the world.

and this book is a perfect reading companion for when you are enjoying one of springfield's wonderful interpretations of a song she made her own.

and the beauty of that--there's more than a few.

Here's what we Dusty fans waited many years for. Several more compilation CD's and a couple more DVD's have been released in the U.S., U.K., Australia and the rest of the world since this comprehensive overview of Dusty's career was published in 2001, so the book is only complete up to that point. No matter, because these pages cover all of the known, individual studio recordings she made, including several alternate versions, album session outtakes and single mixes that have turned up over the years on various collections. There are many live television and radio recordings floating around out there, many of which have yet to see CD or DVD release, but this book is as complete a volume as we could have reasonably hoped for. And the pictures! There are many photos here I had never seen before, making this book even more of a special treat. The casual listener who is only familiar with Springfield for the four or five songs that get endlessly recycled on the radio could probably not care less about this book, but for us rabid fans, this is indispensable. Highly recommended, and nothing in here to disrespect the woman whose real legacy is a catalog of great music, NOT a string of sleazy tabloid stories. Avoid DANCING WITH THE DEMONS, a badly written "biography" which I won't even dignify with a negative review.

Paul Howe's excellent book (now in 2nd ed.) is now available for preorder through The Dusty Springfield Bulletin and also through amazon UK. US fans are waiting for amazon to offer it here. PLEASE !!
[...]
Let's Talk Dusty!

Dusty Springfield was a legend in the music industry. She was tough and a perfectionist without apologies. This book is about her music legacy and not about her personal problems with addiction or her sexual orientation. There's more to her person than who or what she sleeps with. Dusty was one of a kind. She died too soon at 59 just when she got awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) on her deathed and died two weeks before her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Sadly, there is one honor that I think she should receive and that is the Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. If I only had $25,000 dollars to spare, I would do it for Dusty.

Richard Alderson has written a practical guidebook for singers and especially teachers of voice and choral directors who would like the wise advise of a professional singer and teacher. As a professional teacher of voice, I recommend it highly!!

At first I was turned off by this book's textbook appearance, once however I successfully pushed myself past the cover I was fascinated. Like most voice teachers, I've read my share of "This is the Only Way to Teach Singing" books. I have found that the more truly knowledgeable a person is, the more they recognize how many variables exist and how many approaches may be necessary in order to arrive at the desired destination. Rather than pontificating on his particular brand of vocal technique, Richard Alderson focuses on indisputable physical activities and his discovery of vocal mechanics through experiences with his students. Alternating between descriptions of functional concepts and first-hand stories of their application, this book was a pleasure to read. I often found myself unable to put it down. - Okay, but what can I say... I love voice :-)

I find this book really helpful and insightful regarding all the aspects of singing, breathing, producing sound in general, etc. It not only helps with singing, but it for instance also helps you learn better breathing habits. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

I should probably also add that to learn to sing you need a teacher too, but for as far as books go, this is possibly one that I would have to put on my list of favorites. I find it hard to imagine that any other book will provide more insight.

For people who need to do without a teacher I'd most certainly recommend this book. You might want to search for CD's or DVD's as an extra learning aid too, to help you visualise/audiolise things if you find this hard to do. An instrument might be nice. You probably need something to produce the desired notes so you can sing along with them. This will be a great help when doing the suggested exercises. But even without such help, the book contains plenty of practical info.

This book is to a singer what pornography is to an adolesant teenage boy. a must have! all the info that would turn any singer on, and you don't have to hide it from mom!

This book is another of the many great books out there on vocal pedagogy.

Richard Alderson, a professional singer voice teacher and choral director taught at Northwestern University. Taking a very practical approach, Alderson introduces the principles of voice teaching. Later chapters cover breathing, voice production, resonance, vowels, registers, articulation, and several chapters on choral voices and changing voices (boys' and girls').

Alderson is informed about proper vocal technique, and the book's bibliography demonstrates his reliance on the best sources. Alderson's book seems much more pragmatic than other books on vocal pedagogy like Richard Miller and others. Alderson also makes many analogies to many other fields, especially athletics. Many teachers will find this helpful--it can be very difficult to explain to students what they should try to do to correct their singing.

At the expense of his practical explanation, some voice teachers may miss some of the "nuts and bolts" as to what is really going on in the voice. This handbook does not explain all of the inner workings of vocal production. Better sources can be found in books by Clifton Ware, Richard Miller, and Oren Brown.

Fans of good aesthetics will probably also wish this book had a different cover (this one shouts, "Welcome to the 1970s!").

All that aside, this is a useful book and voice teachers will find it helpful. I would also recommend James McKinney's book as another great resource. Enjoy!

The book is for advanced piano players. I bought as a gift, but the recipient needs to practice for a long time before he can actually play the notes!

not that i/ll ba able to *play* many of the pieces here. i have always liked the schirmer library series. this has quite a lot in it compared to some volumes.

i've never thought getting this would be beneficial since there are tons of free resource on the net, but i was wrong. better arrangement, more detail, it's just better for learning and playing. again i'm an beginner, but i like this book so much. chopin all the way!

This is an excellent book from Schirmer's Chopin collection "Complete ...", in this case "... Preludes, Nocturnes and Waltzes". Really amazing collection of Chopin's master pieces. This book worths every cent you invest in it.

When one plays the music of Chopin the keys on the piano actually become keys.Keys to another universe.This universe is no doubt where he is right now and forever.I do not believe the bar has been raised higher for the piano than Chopin raised it in his 39 years.This is a great bargain as well.I had been playing his Preludes in an old book I had that has now fallen apart from so much use and I gladly would have paid this price for the Preludes alone.I am just now getting into the noctures and the second one,which I believe is in e flat I had heard years ago somewhere and always wanted to know who had composed it.Painfully beautiful.Of course than again so is everything he ever did.Highly recommended.

"The desire to worship is rooted in our hunger for heaven. Our coming together for worship is a foretaste of heaven. In his book that is both spiritual and intensely practical at the same time, Kevin Navarro explores this vital connection between our fragmented experience in the here and now and the hope we all share for the time that certainly will come when heaven will come for us."

Michael Card, Award-Winning Musician, Author and Teacher

When I closed this book, I felt a tremendous mixture of hope, excitement, affirmation, and renewed devotion to the work of crafting weekly worship services. Kevin Navarro ennobles the entire effort of preparing the Sunday "dress rehearsals" for our ultimate worship experience in heaven. I'm grateful for the hard-won lessons, practical advice, and inspiring vision offered in these pages. Let our weekly celebrations resound with greater joy, profound hope, and a taste of eternity whenever we gather together!

Nancy Beach, Teaching Pastor and Creative Director, Willow Creek Community Church, Barrington, Illinois

"Here's a book on worship to be read by every church musician, pastor, leader and worshipper. Everything you always needed to know about an effective worship service."

Leith Anderson, Author and Senior Pastor of Wooddale Church

This is a book for those who know that "something's wrong about the way we are doing our worship." If you want to get off the "consumer track" and "do truth," then this book will help you reverse the trend and go in a direction that is more satisfying to the soul because it gets to the heart of what worship is all about.

Robert Webber, Myers Professor of Ministry, Dir. of M.A. in Worship and Spirituality, Northern Seminary

What a wonderful book! "Here is a book that anyone dissatisfied with the quality, Christ- and Scripture-centered nature, or impact of their worship services must read. While some may feel that Navarro's goals of excellence at times lie beyond their reach, no one can doubt his heart for seeing people brought to Christ and brought up in him through worship. His track record, moreover, first as a worship pastor and then as a senior pastor, at a church where I once served as an interim, speaks for itself--steady growth, qualitatively and quantitatively, in a congregation that dearly loves this infectiously upbeat leader who also models integrity and humility in everything he does."

Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

Are worship services at your church flat? Predictable? Not really connecting people with God? Then get ready to fiesta in the Complete Worship Service! In this encouraging and challenging book, Kevin Navarro invites us to move past the "worship = music" myth and into a fuller approach to worship: a creative, corporate feast of praise, prayer, the Word of God, and the Lord's Supper. And he shows us how to practice hospitality that encourages members and guests to engage with God in worship. Weekly worship can be much more than a dreary duty; as Navarro ably demonstrates, the "Complete Worship Service" can be the appetizer course at your church for the heavenly banquet to come. Navarro writes with the heart of a worshiper, a pastor, and a jazz musician. The Complete Worship Service is filled with biblical insight and practical application. Pastors and lay leaders alike will benefit from Navarro's field-tested recommendations for practicing welcoming hospitality and designing meaningful worship services. I can't think of a better book to stimulate and inform conversations in your church about worship that engages the whole people and the whole person.

Dr.Robb Redman, Pastor of Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, San Antonio, TX Author of The Great Worship Awakening

When it comes to worship, nothing matters if the only One worthy of worship is just a footnote beneath worship glitz. Kevin Navarro prods our hearts back to Jesus and to worship services that give life, not just lessons; a foretaste of heaven, not just so many factoids to get through another week. The Complete Worship Service is a timely, passionate anecdote to the worship humanism saturating contemporary services.

Sally Morganthaler, Author of Worship Evangelism and Founder of Sacramentis.com

Are you satisfied with your church's worship service? Do you leave feeling you have experienced "a taste of heaven"? If not, I would like to challenge each of you to purchase The Complete Worship Service as a gift to your church board, pastor, worship leader, worship committee, or whoever else may be in charge of choreographing your weekly worship service. This book could change your church from the inside out.

Diana Pederson, BellaOnline's Christian Literature Editor

Worship artist and pastor Kevin J. Navarro walks us through the complete worship service in this step-by-step guide. From desire to experience, Navarro has given pastors, worship leaders and church leaders alike a useful tool in developing a taste of God's kingdom for their churches and communities. He directs us through each element of the dynamic worship service, including hospitality, marketing, presentation and music selection. The book discusses the quality of the worship service as a whole, not just the songs we sing. As Navarro closes out the last chapter he makes a comment that must be taken to heart: "People are not just looking to be entertained. They are looking for life. They are looking for hope. They are looking for Jesus." The crafting of a complete worship service is not about putting on a good show. It is about creating an atmosphere, a taste of heaven, a place where people can find life.

Andrew K. Forman

Do you really belief that the Bible is the infallible word of God? Dr. Kevin Navarro challenges us to act as if we actually are the bride of Christ. The central theme is understanding that the worship service is a precursor to the marriage feast of the Lamb as promised in the Revelation of John. If you want to understand what a worship service should look like, take this journey through the complete worship service with a successful senior pastor with a heart for worship. This is essential reading for anyone that is serious about worshipping God. Whether you are in full time ministry or just a Christian who is tired of having to put up with second best in the worship service, this is the book for you.

The "Complete Worship Service" is an excellent, thought-provoking follow-up to "The Complete Worship Leader." Not another "how to" book which focuses on getting people in the church doors, but rather a challenge to exam what we're doing and Who we are doing it for. Yes, there are lots of practical illustrations and ideas, but the heart of the book is more about ushering people into a genuine worship experience, reminding them of the hope we have in Jesus. I would highly recommend this resource to anyone looking for a new direction in their worship services, and as a check-up for those whose patterns and practices might be routine and lacking inspiration.

I'm always encouraged to come cross (even through books) the forerunners like Pastor Kevin talking about the worship renewals and improvements. The book was practical to review where we are, what is applicable now, things that needs to be changed...etc. Should be time and labor consuming once we decide to put our hands on, but should also be rewarding to invest our time and labor in creating the welcoming and caring environment. And there's more to creating these circumstances, which is introducing and experiencing the taste of our Home that we long for. I thank Pastor Kevin's practical insight and substantial suggestions, giving me a chance to stop and review what I do, where I am for further improvements.

This is a very well written book. Not only is it filled with practical tips and advice, its revolutionary in its underlying premise that the complete worship service should provide participants a "taste of heaven". Though I've thought a great deal about the elements of heaven yet to come and the tastes of heaven available in this life the author has made a connection I've never made - and it's a brilliant connection. As a result of this book I see the worship service in a whole new light, filled with untapped possibilities. Our congregation needs to read this book; our leadership team needs to read this book!

Part One is my favorite part of the book and I've highlighted many well-written lines. Chapter One is an outstanding analysis of the human dilemma. Well summarized on page 21, "...people have been trying to get a fix like drug addicts all week long when what they are really searching for is a taste of heaven." Asking the question, "Are they getting that taste on Sundays?" is just great! Focusing the worship service on this goal is fantastic. This is a great chapter and a great goal.

In Chapter two the author adds the reminder (pg. 28) that, " we must have a theology of contentment" since this is not heaven, "we will never be completely satisfied until we experience the jubilation of the kingdom perfected." Matthew 18:20 and Psalm 16:11 are key texts for the idea of the worship service offering a taste of heaven. On page 30 the author adds, "We should be crying out to God through prayer every week that He will show up and manifest His presence in our midst." Well said!

My favorite lines in Chapter Three: "Because God has created us in His image, we are forever longing for another world. We long for the world where God dwells" and "(the worship service should be) so God centered and Spirit-charged that it is though we have entered another dimension." A lofty goal!

Once the author has laid this foundation he fleshes out his ideas with the nuts and bolts aspects of the complete worship service. Its great stuff and I was immediately motivated to analyze my own church and come up with creative ways to put the author's suggestions into practice and expand on those ideas. I would consider this book an essential handbook for any church seeking a fresh approach to the worship experience.