Schools and Instruction Books

Dr. Joseph W. Polisi's gathering of his many expert articles and quite thoughtful speeches blend assessments of the performing artist's leadership role in society with a healthy dose of humor and insight, reflecting his past twenty years as president of Juilliard School. Music observations are only a part of The Artist As Citizen: even more important are the overall discussions of the politics behind the scenes and the role of artist and director in leading artistic movements.

Speaking from an elementary art teacher's point of view I found this book to be an inspiration. I am purchasing one for myself, one for a collegue and one for my 10 year old niece (who is crazy about art) for her birthday this year. Enough said!!!

This book is a very timely and important addition to any music teacher's professional library. Tim's book is a result of scholarly research as well as considerable experience teaching children, which I think is very important. He addresses all aspects of assessment for the general music teacher, from record keeping to assessment design to reporting progress. This book is incredibly thought provoking while not telling you "this is what you have to do." I highly recommend it for any music teacher, especially elementary music teachers struggling with assessment and reporting progress. It would be an excellent tool for an entire music department to read and discuss.

I bought this at "Dom Knigi" in St. Petersburg last summer. It's a beautiful book that details Russian Avant-Garde painting between 1920-1930. I don't know if the Russian version differs from the English, because I haven't seen the English version (if there is one). The book talks about Kandinsky and a lot of artists I've never heard of...I'm not too well-read in Avant-Garde art. Truly a beautiful book; too bad it's so expensive here. In Russia, it cost me about $5.00! Anyone who likes books should go to Russia and bring a box because books are really cheap.

For junior and senior high band directors, a ready-to-use curriculum for teaching students ABOUT music as well as how to play it. Includes 37 detailed lesson plans and 122 related REPRODUCIBLE worksheets, spiral bound for eady photocopying. Major sections on linear pitch, vertical pitch, duration, acoustics, style and form - plus much more. Complete answer keys for all worksheets and quizes are included. Sprial bound, 268 pages

I am a student at the University of Arkansas where Mr. Janzen is pofessor emeritus. His book is laid out into categories that deal with adminstrative and teaching aspects of being a band director. Everything in his book is straight forward and to the point. Anything that he feels is important is placed in a list with a brief explaination following. This book is a great resource for anyone that is or wants to become a band director.

The worksheets in this collection are sorted very nicely by subject (pitch, intervals, dynamics, etc.) and level of difficulty (beginner, intermediate and advanced). Each worksheet is presented in a very straightforward fashion and easy to understand directions. This book can be used as an excellent supplement to any lesson and/or the worksheets would be perfect for reviews. This cohesive book covers a variety of Musical subjects with clarity and originality, that are fun for students and a time saver for teachers. Hats off to Audrey Adair!

This was a good book; very musical, nicely written. What I remember the most is the storyline and plot of this book. I liked how it was written about the friendship between a broken, proud pianist and a an ordinary but obviously musically-talented boy. In the end I even wrote a story about something similar.

The best part of this book was the way it related to the lives of these two characters - strong, willful characters - to the music and life of Beethoven. I'm not big fan of Beethoven (I'm more Mozart and Chopin) but Beethoven's personality was an awesome, heroic, not-easily-understood one.

The only thing I can critisize this book is on its price. For God's sake, it's $8.95 USD, which I don't believe is sensible at all because this book is neither historical fiction nor biographical. $8.95, which translates to about $13 CAN, is rather ridiculous for a book with this cover and binding.

The Bauhaus was the site of one of the most influential experiments in the art world, moving from Germany at the turn of the century to 1933 Berlin and offering an alternative to state-sponsored fine arts academies. Today modern art still holds elements of Bauhaus tradition and thus BAUHAUS CULTURE: FROM WEIMAR TO THE COLD WAR offers essays from art scholars analyzing accomplishments of the Bauhaus and adding the history essential to a thorough understanding of its unique role in the arts. Other books on the topic review Bauhaus artistic results: BAUHAUS culture is the other side of the spectrum: essential for an understanding not only of the art works and artists, but for the underlying culture which spawned them.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Cheryl LaGuardia and Christine K. Oka's Becoming A Library Teacher provides an important how-to for library instruction, with step-by-step instructions for teaching and presentations. Would-be librarians will find this an important coverage.