Stylistically this is a book about jazz improvisation both because that particular musical style is most comfortable and familiar to this author and because jazz has been the main arena of improvisation for nearly a century at least for profusion if not superiority in that craft. However the many and variegated techniques developed by great jazz improvisers during the last century and presented here would be of considerable even equal use to persons engaged in other styles of improvisation such as rock blue grass dixieland commercial dance or church music. Perhaps someday there will be specific improvisation methods for these styles but for the present jazz music leads all other styles in the development of methods for learning to improvise.

More Than 30 Lessons for All Instrumentalists. This fascinating jazz instruction book for all instrumentalists offers an innovative, scholarly approach to the art of improvisation. It includes in-depth analysis and lessons about: cycle of fifths; diatonic cycle; overtone series; pentatonic scale; harmonic minor scale; melodic minor scale; polytonal order of keys (P.O.O.K.); blues and bebop scales; Ionian, Dorian and other modes; Byzantine and Arabian scales; and much more! A must for all musicians who want to hone their improv chops.

Inspire your students to make some noise with Teach and Play Samba!The six pieces in this book represent an exciting and varied selection of music from across Brazil from traditional Carnival music and samba reggae to a Paul Simon song and a jazz samba. Each piece is broken down into clear and simple steps that show you how to build upthe music gradually with your class. Combined with the accompanying DVD ? which contains 60 short clips of the author and a group of KS3 students demonstrating all of the instruments and patterns to each piece ? teaching and learning world music has never been so easy or enjoyable.The six pieces are supplemented with valuable background information about the music and culture cross-curricular projects composing ideas advice on assessment and guidance on teaching whole-class world-music ensembles. The material has been designed primarily for use with KS2 and KS3 classes but the addition of higher-ability parts for each piece means the book can be tailored easily to KS4 as well. It is not necessary to own authentic instruments to get the most out of this book as classroom alternatives are suggested and demonstrated. ?This series has been written by a genuine expert who has thorough knowledge of his subject and shares this with the reader in a lively enthusiastic and passionate way. I have never found any books before that are so clear in explaining the fundamentals of these world-music genres and doing so in a format based around practical relevant and achievable tasks is even more remarkable. I can see these books becoming one of those series that every music teacher will have either read or heard