More Interesting Books at Mockingbird Books

First off, we want to thank everyone who called us seeking a copy of
Jorgensen's TUNING at the special discounted price. There were fewer
than 10 copies available to us at this price, so we were sadly unable to
provide this book to anywhere near the number of people who wanted it.
The book is still in print and is available new from Michigan State
University Press at the $70 (ouch) list price. MSU Press informed us
that they have several hundred in stock, but the book will not be
reprinted once these sell out. Their order number is: 517 35-9543


The following books are new arrivals at Mockingbird Books and may be of
interest to tuning afficionados and/or adventurous composers and
musicians. All prices include book rate postage. Quantities are limited.

If interested, please call 408 689-9113 10:00 to 2:00 Pacific time
7 days a week.

Butler, David THE MUSICIAN'S GUIDE TO PERCEPTION AND COGNITION.
(includes CD of 62 listening examples) Schirmer Books 1992
List price $60. Our price $30.

An ideal resource for every student and scholar engaged in
research in musical perception, cognition, and the psychology of
music, describing what we currently know of the psychoacoustical
features and cognitive aspects of musical sound, written specifically
from a musician's point of view. The book is organized in two parts.
Part One explores the "Psychophysics of Musical Sound" and is divided
into sections dealing with the sensory attributes of pitch, timbre,
loudness, and time and space. Part Two explores the "Mental
Representations of Musical Relationships," and is divided into sections
dealing with the cognitive aspects of pitch, timbre, and time, and
the development of musical cognitive awareness from infancy to
adulthood. The book also contains a very helpful glossary that defines
such things as the subtle differences among terms such as "harmonic,"
"overtone," and "tone partial" - terms that seem to cause confusion
and misunderstanding in tuning circles.
A particularly interesting item in the book is Appendix B: The Humane
Treatment of Human Subjects, which begins: "There is often only a thin
line between 'stimulation and irritation..."
The book concludes with a 16 page bibliography and helpful index.
Highly recommended!


Slonimsky, Nicholas THESAURUS OF SCALES AND MELODIC PATTERNS
Schirmer Books 1975. List price $55.00 Our price $27.50

If you are not familiar with Slonimsky's 1947 masterpiece, you're in
for a treat. With well over 1300 different scales and melodic patterns
to play with, you might find yourself aswim in new musical ideas. "The
purpose of the thesaurus is to provide a comprehensive musical
vocabulary of melodic phraseology for modern composers and performers.
The contents furnish ample material for imaginative improvisation and
actual composition. A special feature is a set of 'master chords' to be
used in harmonizing individual scales. The resulting harmonizations
create peculiarly resonant impressionistic colors. The materials are
classified according to the division of an octave into two, three,
four, six, and twelve equal parts, upon which ornamental designs are
built by interpolation and extrapolation. The main divisions of the
book include Pentatonic Scales, Pandiatonic Progressions, Dodecaphonic
Structures, Mirror Interval Series, Melodic Permutations, Plural
Scales, Bitonal Arpeggios, Polytonal Polyrhythmic Scales, and
Palindromic Canons." Although written with piano players in mind, the
possibilities that arise when one considers applying the wealth of
ideas in this book to performance on non-equal tempered instruments are
mind boggling.

"Musical history may be saved from becoming a palindrome through the
progress made possible by Slonimsky's THESAURUS."
- Henry Cowell

Russell, Armand and Trubitt, Allen THE SHAPING OF MUSICAL ELEMENTS
Schirmer 1992 2 vols, spiral bound. List price $65.90 Our price $20.00

This is a comprehensive first year course in college music theory.
Throughout, this text is concerned with "tension," the principal
manifestation of the affective nature of music. Tension patterns in
music have direct bearing on the interpretation of that music in
performance. The theoretical material covered in this text includes
diatonic harmony, borrowed chords, secondary dominants, and leading
tone chords, melodic analysis and musical forms from the phrase to the
binary and ternary forms and comparable structures. This is not an
"easy" theory book, but is aimed at serious students with a bit of
fundamental musical knowledge under their belts.


Starr, Larry A UNION OF DIVERSITIES - STYLE IN THE MUSIC OF CHARLES IVES
Schirmer 1992 List price $35 Our price $17.50

Starr argues that, far from being an eccentric and musically
indifferent composer, Ives was genuinely engaged with the most serious
and original aesthetic issues of his day. The key to unlocking what
his music is about is style: specifically the heterogenity of style
within a single work. Stylistic heterogenity shatters our traditional
musical expectations and simultaneously creates challenging and
unprecedented expressive experiences. This is a new understanding of
Ives's extraordinary music based on the fundamental conviction that
Ives need not a specialist's composer.


Thank you for your interest.

Best wishes

Mark Bradlyn and Claire Sherard

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