Performance Books

I work in non-profit program evaluation and development. I choose this book because it appeared to focus on the overall concept of measuring outcomes and it hits the mark (IMHO)

Part 1: Management Framework for Performance Measurement (PM)
- Intro to PM
- Developing effective PM systems
** Solid foundation of what PM is, short history w/in public sector, necessary stakeholders for planning and implementation

Part 2: Methodological Elements of PM
- ID real outcomes, other performance measures
- Clarifying program goals, objectives (to include logic models)
- Defining performance indicators (to include data types, tools, validity/reliability)
- Analying performance data (to include external benchmarking *hot*)
- Reporting performance data (graphs, matrices, audience types)
- Processing performance data (SPSS, excel)

Part 3: Strategic Applications of PM
- Using PM to support strategic planning, management
- Incorporating PM into budget process
- Supporting PM systems (stakeholders, committees, partnerships, policy makers)
- Improving quality, productivity, customer service
- Using comparative measures to benchmark performance (more challenging to do in non-profit sectors)

Part 4: Process Side of PM
- Implementing effective measurement systems


I felt that overall this book was written more towards public sector/government application, with few if any examples from real world non-profits (United Way is a good example) Non-profits are rising to the challenge of GPRA and peformance based management and budgeting. This book and others like it must be part of nonprofits everyday and future operations/planning.

Pair this with Jossey-Bass 'Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation' as well as the WC Kellog Evaluation Guide (free online from their website) and for those interested in program evaluation and measurement you will have a nice foundation to a library of resources.

Especially good insights into overcoming the resistence of nonprofit employees to the culture of organizational improvement - how to move them toward benchmarking and performance measurement.

Timothy McGee's Performer's Guide was recommended to me by Therese Honey, who performs, records, and teaches medieval harp technique. I am very impressed with it and greatly appreciate her recommendation. This is a practical book, and could be used by someone new to early music as well as someone with a deeper background. A good index makes it possible to pick out sections related to a particular instrument. Good writing by a knowledgeable author makes it enjoyable to read the whole book.

Renaissance music was a key aspect of my high school experience as I sang under the direction of a man who has received his Masters Degree in its components and has a compelling love of its applications. From sacred to secular and serious to silly, Renaissance music covered a breadth of ideas and ideals, many of which modern performers without depth of knowledge or experience cannot relate or understand. This book serves to quell those absences of information on such an important period of musical history. I think of this as a necessary tool for any performer in studying the intricacies of this period's collaborative parts. Notice the title does not mention EXPERIENCED performer's guide to Renaissance music. This is a tool for any musical performer to enhance themsleves as musicians and as people. It is for the layman and the scholar to enjoy, and enjoy they will. Renaissance music established a firm foundation for all modern methods of musical ideology. It is only reasonable to presume that the modern musical mind should want to discover its artistic roots through such a resource as this.

This is a very nice addition to the very hard to find medieval repertoire. All the known instrumental pieces of music are in this book. I have some reserve on some rythmic choices made by the author. Nevertheless, this is a must have book for any medieval music lover.

I'm no scholar, just an ameteur musician and early music enthusiast. I love this book. The tunes are set in easy to play keys and notated much more sensibly than other arrangments I've seen. His endnotes are also pretty good, of course more information and commentary on each piece is always welcome. The sprial binding also makes it easy to use and perform from.

As a therapist for over 25 years, I have read practically everything written on how to improve the quality of human life. Therefore, I was amazed when I read John Zulli's Mind Rules. His message is the most powerful, and the most accessible condensation of information on how to live a quality life that I have ever encountered. Most importantly, I was never bored! The stories, the humor, the snappy articulation of your mind's most basic functions makes The Mind Rules the one and only book I need by my bedside...whether I want comfort, direction, or a laugh, I can find it here.

My first thought as I reached for this book was, as you might expect, "...oh, another one of THESE books..." But, to say I've been pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Zulli's book is filled with interesting people and real life situations which he uses to maximum effect to illustrate his belief that we are underutilizing one of God's great gifts to us: our minds. Step by step, in a concise and stimulating style, Zulli led me through a series of exercises which have helped me to gain a more consistent mental toughness and focus. I have used his exercises to help me overcome some sleep problems, bring me some peace in an often frustrating work environment and, perhaps most importantly,used some of Zulli's 'Mind Rules'to improve my surfing. I want to say I also enjoy the layout of the book. Its short, right to the point essays, which form the chapters, constantly invite me to just pick up the book to any old page and read--I KNOW there'll be something useful or provocative. If you're looking for "The Zone", and you know, we all are, this book, at the very least, can help. At the most--it can INSPIRE!

Richard Gaskell's state fair photographs are well worth a look. His images are respectful of his subject but they avoid the sentimental, nostaligic point of view so typical of much rural art. One is reminded of the great images of rural life that the WPA photographers produced in the 1930's. An excellent book for urbanites who've never been to the fair, but also for rural folks who want an honest but loving point of view of one of their great traditions.

If ever there is a book that captures the beauty and grace that is often hidden under the sweat and tears of hard farmwork, this is it. In a series of haunting photographs, Gaskell has found humor, grit, honesty, and a piece of his own soul. Sunday morning bacon and eggs will never be the same.

First of all, I'm not a die-hard Jaco fan. Hell, he isn't even in my personal top 10 list. So my reason for giving this 5 stars is not "because it's Jaco"; it's because this package contains a WEALTH of bass knowledge and exercises designed for the non-beginner, jam packed into a 36 page book and single CD.

The contents of this book/CD package were directly taken from the video edition of the same title. But the book/CD stands alone as a separate product; you DO NOT need the video to make sense of it. In fact after I bought this, it was still years before I got to see the video.

The book starts off with a quick review of the scales and modes, and the rest consists of transcriptions of all the exercises and solo pieces found on the CD. One thing that sets some of these excercises apart from other books is that they're fun and musical, not boring and mechanical. You may have learned all your scales and modes before, but these exercises have you practicing and playing them in new ways and in new position. Jaco also covers the use of chords, harmonics, playing in odd beat divisions, and plays a few solo songs that really put it all together with groove. All of the exercises are GREAT for helping you think-out-side-the-box.

Aside from the exercises, the CD also contains some of the band-performed music found on the video and interview clips. Jaco talks about subjects like the importance of reading sheet music (a good reason why this book contains no tablature), how he became a bass player, and playing different musical styles.

Considering this book/CD set has pretty much everything from the video and costs half as much, I'd actually recommend this product over the video itself.

This instructional book gives many exercises from Jaco himself. It has a cd that comes with it that helps out. It covers harmonics (has a chart) and ways to improve your left hand speed, precision, and clarity. The book itself is clear enough that you can use it to teach yourself. Though the book goes with the video (of the same name) so it's good to get both. Also, on the cd is a jam session with jaco and an interview. All in all it's a great value and no jaco collection is complete without it.

There are few better ways of understanding a show than by reading the words of the critics who review it. Hits or flops, big names or no names, this is an extremely comprehensive book of a dizzying number of shows, with excerpts from the critics' opening night reviews. Steven Suskin makes some cuts here and there, and offers his own thoughts about the shows, but the critics are the stars of this book, and shine they do. There are some wonderful reviews of hits and flops alike, and the totality of reviews help paint a unique and irresistible picture of the shows and Broadway itself.

You're in a restaurant. The wine is good, the food is better and the laughter is loud. All of the sudden, someone stops and yells "ONE LINE! A song, played on a solo saxaphone . . ." and you shout out "That's from "Miss Saigon!'"

If the above situation seems familiar, then "More Opening Nights on Broadway : A Critical Quotebook ofthe Musical Theatre from 1965 Through 1981" is for you! A book for those of us who love theatre with a passion, especially the mistakes! You can not have a library of musicals/theater literature without this book.

So your cat won't play with you and the only things on TV are "The Psychic Friends Hotline" and "Alligators: the way they love today?" Curl up in a big overstuffed chair and read about your favorite musical. Guaranteed to lift your spirits. You'll relish every fact, every mistake, every juicy tidbit. Then you'll call up your best friend and say "Hey, did you know what happened on the set of "My Fair Lady?'"

Don't think! Impulse buy! You won't regret it.

Absolutley Great Book! But you can buy it for eighty nine dollars from sae dot org.

I am an engineer first, and motorcycle racer (a distant) second. I like knowing what's going on under me when I'm dragging my knee at 140 mph, and in any field, I like understanding why some designs work and why others do not.
Mr. Foale's book is a hugely practical treatise on the subject of motorcycle chassis design-- and the only worthwhile one I know of other than some very technical SAE papers from the 1970's on modeling and simulation of motorcycle handling.
Mr. Foale's insight into the incredibly complex dynamics of motorcycle handling chassis design, and tire (sorry, Tony-- I just can't bring myself to spell it "tyre")/chassis/rider interaction comes from decades of building and riding specialty and adjustable-geometry frames to test out theories, and in more recent times, instrumenting motorcycles to validate and refine dynamic models. He's NOT guessing (and while this is not unique in motorcycling, it is rare to say the least!), and his dedicated pursuit of the truth is both admirable and hugely valuable.
This book is technical, but it also presents the material in such a way that, if you're curious enough to have asked yourself why your motorcycle behaves as it does, you will probably be able to understand and appreciate the book's presentation.
This book won't tell you how to fabricate a motorcycle frame and suspension, but it will tell you why some geometries work and why others do not in a given situation, and give you practical, applicable design guidelines and theory. It is not a prescriptive description of how to tune forks and shocks, but it addresses how the suspension geometry, settings and function impact the bike's behavior and helps you think through how to sort out handling issues for street or track. It does not address design for strength, materials selection or provide much on chassis flex (and in the modern motorcycling era, chassis flex is a vitally important design attribute/choice), but it gives you a great perspective on the history of frame and suspension concepts, with very interesting insights on why some really superior approaches have not been deemed economically viable by the major motorcycle brands.
If you don't have an ounce of geek in you and aren't related to Tony, then you'll rate this book 2 stars or worse. But if you want to understand motorcycle chassis design and handling, this book will reward concentrated study. If you've read and loved Kevin Cameron's technical articles, or have a copy of Gordon Jenning's Two Stroke Tuner's Handbook, dog-eared, grimy and revered from decades of application, you should own this book.

This book is very useful. Mainly I was looking for a book that contained the score of trobadours songs: I found it. Inside I found most of the songs I was looking for.

I liked very much this book because of its scholarly yet plain approach to the troubaudor's music (not trouvères). It deals with every important aspect of troubaudor music; history, biographies, sources, influence of oral tradition, philological problems (notation, rythm, textual variants, etc.), genres, musical analysis, form, theoretical writtings, performance, etc.

There should be more books like this!! Muy recomendable!!

I found this guide immensely helpful in improving my level of musicianship. This book pulls together hundreds of academic articles and books on various topics that affect the activity of making music, and distills those resources into a concise, very readable form. I particularly found the chapters titled "Measuring performance enhancement in music," "Strategies for individual practice," "Strategies for memorizing music," and "Strategies for sight-reading and improvising music" to be particularly helpful, as they offered a wide variety of suggestions on making improvements to musical performance.

It also includes a section on physical fitness that discusses the various ways that musicians can address issues of muscle and joint pain, anxiety, and other ailments that may result from repetitive stress and poor technique. It also discusses the much-disputed Alexander Technique, which has many adherents in the performance arts.

Many of the ideas can be found in other texts, and not all the ideas may be helpful to any particular individual, but this singular book is well researched and is a must-read for any musician. I found it much more comprehensize than the books "The Inner Game of Music" and "What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body."

This book is what music teachers and performers have been waiting for. I am grateful for the diversity and integrity of the research in it. The rehearsal and performance strategies it offers are ideally specific and get remarkable results. I cannot think of a performer or music educator for whom the information in this book would not be of great benefit. Hats off to the authors for this landmark publication!