 *December 2011! Critical Listening Skills Book for Students, Teachers and Parents - Music Taste or Waste?: Critical Listening Skills For Students, Teachers, and Parents by Dr. Stan Breckenridge (published by Kendall-Hunt). This guide book offers a practical, hands-on (or “ears-on”) approach to understanding the inner substances of music. It deals with developing or augmenting one's critical listening skills. The catalyst for this book resulted from many discussions with teachers, parents, and music educators about their paucity of knowledge regarding today's popular music scene. The spirit of this book does not seek to suggest any music is wasteful, but rather encourages the reader to use music terminology as a way to draw his and her own conclusions about whatever music they hear. I include music analysis from many stylistic and categorical headings such as classical, bebop, hip-hop, blues, reggae, social 50, contemporary rock, rap, grunge, emo, electronica, mainstream, cool, gospel, hardcore, country, kids albums, metal, hillbilly, Christian metal, punk, hot 100, pop, rhythm & blues, ska, disco, adult contemporary, and many more. (See Contact page for textbook adoptions.)
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*Poular Music in America: Forging the American Spirit by Dr. Stan Breckenridge (published by Kendall-Hunt). This book takes the reader on an exploratory journey of the many popular music styles in America nestled in a historical context beginning in the 19th entury. With updates of current artists and changes within the music industry, the new edition also includes the relevance of social media like YouTube and Facebook, T.V. programs such as American Idol, The Voice, and Glee, and marketing and sales schemes to disseminating music on a global scale. Though written for a college-level course, the book is useful to any person interested in the history of popular music in America. (See Contact page for textbook adoptions.)
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*African
American Music for Everyone allows for a superb comprehension of African American music without
prior musical training, yet stimulates the thoughts of trained musicians
as well. The material begins with a discussion of music among West African communities just prior to the Transatlantic Slave Trade as it related to the New World. It continues with music and dance performance practices that were evident among African slaves on the New World soil. Blackface Minstrelsy through Black Musical Theater is presented next to draw connections between African American culture and entertainment with American society. During this discussion and what follows the author presents the various styles of African American music such as spirituals, ragtime, New Orleans jazz, stride, boogie-woogie, gospel, rhythm & blues, bebop, cool, soul funk, disco, and through today's hip-hop music. (See Contact page for textbook adoptions.)
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