Product Description
Language is Music focuses on making learning foreign languages fun, easy and affordable for anyone with a desire to communicate effectively with people around the world. By applying over 70 simple tips to things you already do, such as listening to music or surfing the Web, you can experience the joy of "fluency" in any language without having to study abroad or spend money on private tutors. In Language is Music, Susanna Zaraysky masterfully shares her listening methods so that anyone can have fun learning any language. With over 70 tips and 90 free or low-cost Internet resources, you will learn how to use daily activities, such as watching T.V. or listening to music; conversation partners; and attendance at cultural events to become a masterful speaker of any tongue. "Learning foreign languages is like learning to sing a song or play music," says self-made linguist Susanna Zaraysky and author of Language is Music. Zaraysky has what you might call "an ear" for languages, having used music to successfully learn English, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbo-Croatian-all with excellent accents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Tips You Can Take to the Bank
Book: Language Is Music
Author: Susanna Zaraysky

Language Is Music is a book written by multilingual author Susanna Zaraysky, and it includes over 70 tips that should help you learn a foreign language.
Susanna is qualified to write this book because she has studied 10 languages and she speaks seven languages.The languages she speaks fluently are English, Spanish, French, and Italian.And, she has intermediate fluency in two other languages.
This book is a great resource for anyone who is learning a foreign language, or trying to teach their child another language.
Some of the tips she recommends are:
- Watching movies and television in your target language
- Listening tomusic and radio stations in your target language
- And, then writing down lyrics or movie screenplays in your target language

Susanna advocates that even listening to the sounds of music or television in the background will help train your brain to recognize the pitch and pace.

You may be surprised at how much you absorb.

I agree with many of the tips in this book because they are practical, affordable, and effective.In review, I would highly recommend that you pick up your copy today if you are serious about learning another language.

I am a native English speaker, and I am attempting to raise my children to speak 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese.The tips in this book will definitely be used to help along that journey.

The tips in this book are of great value. And, the best part is that it is an easy read.

Secret keys to learning language.
I write this review as both a student and teacher of language and an accomplished musician.Susanna uncovers some of the greatest methods to language proficiency available to us.

Using the methods described in Language Is Music, I learned Mandarin Chinese and simultaneously taught English to my friends, some Chinese and some Latino. Many of who only spoke a few words of English.

If you really want to learn a language, these are the steps to follow. Pro courses and such help but this is the difference between fumbling with some language knowledge and actually speaking it fluently.

It's so simple, it should be common sense but culturally we are taught to focus on the grammar/vocabulary/memorize paradigm which really doesn't work for the vast majority of people.

Luckily, Susanna came along and whipped up this handy memoir.

I can't imagine a better spend 13$ for a language text.

It reads fast and easy. Loads of resources and leads for learning your new language.This IS the resource you have been looking for.

Buy Language Is Music now and enjoy the experience of cross cultural communication first hand. Best of luck to you. Enjoy!

Language is Music - An Effective and Fun Way to Learn a New Language
As a speaker and trainer, I am always looking for new ways to make learning easier and more interesting.I found a real gem in Susanna Zaraysky's small but effective book.This book makes learning interesting and fun.I have used music to engage the right side of the brain, but I have never seen this approach to using music for learning a language.

Don't be fooled by its size - it is big on content.This book will not waste your time with pages of useless filler.I love the way it is broken down into small steps that are easy to use.These are not a bunch of boring, rote exercises that are usually associated with learning language.The author has also included resources for additional learning, foreign films and broadcasts, even how to find a language partner.

Learning a new language is a valuable skill in today's world, and it is also one of the best ways to increase your brain health.I resisted some of the traditional approaches to learning language because they are just too boring and I hate memorizing.This new approach to learning is fresh and innovative.

Bill Cashell, Author of "The Emotional Diet - How to Love Your Life More and Food Less"

Lots of clever ideas for learning any language!
Susanna has done an AMAZING job of finding lots and lots of fun and interesting, yet easy things you can do to learn how to speak any language!

The book is arranged in a clever format, using a musical production as the outline.It's a fun, delightful, helpful book... in an easy-to-read format.

--
Marsha Sims
[...]
Author, Organizing Your Day: Time Management Tips that will Work for You
[ASIN:0800733150 Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You]]

Why Language is Music is a great book
Language is Music explains the correlation between music and language learning. Through personal experience, I know that musicians are much better at languages than the rest of us. The late Dr. Paul Pimsleur said that language is mostly auditory (hearing). Dr. Steven Krashen's "input/output" theory is a reality. The Dutch people learn to speak great English by using the radio and television. And we all know that the Grammar-Translation method does not work. What Susanna Zaraysky has done in her book is to explain and give tips on how to use the only method that really works in learning languages: the oral learning method. It's entertaining because you can use radio, music, movies and television, and the Internet! Jerry Bauer, Staten Island, NY ... Read more

Product Description

The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music is comprised of essays from The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 2, South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Carribean, (1998). Revised and updated, the essays offer detailed, regional studies of the different musical cultures of Latin America and examine the ways in which music helps to define the identity of this particular area.

Part One provides an in-depth introduction to the area of Latin America and describes the history, geography, demography, and cultural settings of the regions that comprise Latin America. It also explores the many ways to research Latin American music, including archaeology, iconography, mythology, history, ethnography, and practice. Part Two focuses on issues and processes, such as history, politics, geography, and immigration, which are responsible for the similarities and the differences of each region’s uniqueness and individuality. Part Three focuses on the different regions, countries, and cultures of Caribbean Latin America, Middle Latin America, and South America with selected regional case studies.

The second edition has been expanded to cover Haiti, Panama, several more Amerindian musical cultures, and Afro-Peru. Questions for Critical Thinking at the end of each major section guide focus attention on what musical and cultural issues arise when one studies the music of Latin America -- issues that might not occur in the study of other musics of the world. Two audio compact discs offer musical examples of some of the music of Latin America.

Customer Reviews (1)

A Treasure of Sounds
This Handbook of Latin American Music is great for anyone studying music, loves music, or simply wonders where, how and why music came about.

The Handbook is the second volume of a 10-volume set titled, "The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music."Interested readers may buy the entire 10-set collection, or the individual volumes.

The Handbook included two CD's, which by themselves are worth the cost of the Handbook.The CD's include different genres of music, which is difficult to find.The reader should make a backup copy of the two CDs to preserve the originals.Throughout the readings, the reader is directed to play a song from either Disc 1 or Disc 2.This is where the original invaluable CD's may be damaged; hence the copies. The overall size of the book is 8" by 10" and consists of 567 pages. The book is difficult to hold in the arms if the reader is going to highlight sentences, passages or sections.

"The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music" also includes a List of Maps, and a List of Contributors.The Introduction is extensive in addressing the Music Culture of the Region (In this volume, Latin America).It includes a section titled, "Studying Latin American Music," a section or chapter addressing, "Issues and Processes in the Music of Latin America." It includes an indispensable Glossary of Terms section as well.

There are various Essays written by distinctive authors on, "The Distribution, Symbolism, and Use of Musical Instruments," Musical Genres and Contexts,""Social Structure, Musicians, and Behavior," "Music Dynamics," and "Music of Immigrant Groups."These Essays constitute parts one and two of the Handbook.

Beginning with part three, the Handbook includes Essays by various authors addressing, "Nations and Musical Traditions."These are composed of the different Republics, and Countries in Latin America as the Caribbean, Middle Latin America, and South America.

The Caribbean includes Cuba, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.The Middle Latin America section includes Mexico, Tarahumara, Guatemala, Panama and Kuna.The South America section includes The Music of South America, The Tropical-Forest Region, Venezuela, Warao, and Brazil: Central and Southern Areas include Afro-Brazilian Traditions, Paraguay, Argentina, Mapuche, Bolivia, Peru, Q'eros, and an Essay on Afro-Peruvian Traditions.

At the end of each major section, the Handbook provides the reader with 12 "Questions for Critical Thinking."In addition, the Essay of each country, addresses The Indigenous Heritage, The European Heritage, Musical Instruments, Musical Contexts and Genres, Music Learning, Dissemination and Public Policy and Further Study of each country and, or republic.

"Most simply stated, 'The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music,' is a history of Latin American music or, rather, a history of many musics in Latin America.As a history (or perhaps an ethnohistory), however, the book is really a series of snapshots in time, because writing about history is never definite and can never be concluded."

The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music is a Handbook everyone interested in music should have on his or her coffee table.




The Kids on the Block
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Product Description
Teaching Music Globally guides readers in using Thinking Musically and its accompanying case studies. Essential for anyone who wishes to teach beginning students of any age about music from around the world, it describes many instructional techniques and offers a wealth of learning activities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

great books
This is a hands on, idea filled, must have for every general music teacher.The excerpts on the cd are sometimes very short, but the books are an easy read. It has tons of teaching applications and useful information.

Thinking musically the better book
The central books in the global music series which seeks to define various world music genres in terms of pitch, rhythm, instrumentation, form, etc.The first book, Thinking Musically, is excellent as are the individual region books.Teaching music, unfortunately, provides lessons plans the consist mostly of listening and looking at scores.Not as helpful or as immaginative as they could have been.Overall, however, this a great series for musicians, music educations and anyone interested in world music.Some familiarity with basic music theory and terminology is recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Music in Japan is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present.The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study.Music in Japan offers a vivid introduction to the music of contemporary Japan, a nation in which traditional, Western, and popular music thrive side by side. Drawing on more than forty years of experience, author Bonnie C. Wade focuses on three themes throughout the book and in the musical selections on the accompanying CD. She begins by exploring how music in Japan has been profoundly affected by interface with both the Western (Europe and the Americas) and Asian (continental and island) cultural spheres. Wade then shows how Japan's thriving popular music industry is also a modern form of a historically important facet of Japanese musical culture: the process of gradual popularization, in which a local or a group's music eventually becomes accessible to a broader range of people. She goes on to consider the intertextuality of Japanese music: how familiar themes, musical sounds, and structures have been maintained and transformed across the various traditions of Japanese performing arts over time.Music in Japan is enhanced by eyewitness accounts of performances, interviews with key performers, and vivid illustrations. Packaged with an 80-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book, it features guided listening and hands-on activities that encourage readers to engage actively and critically with the music. ... Read more