Voice Books

Lyrics 1964-2008

Paul Simon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

disappointed 1 out of 5 stars.
11 of 21 people found this review helpful.

I saw a review of this book on a morning show and could not wait to get it. The review implied that Simon shared the stories behind the lyrics of each of his songs. When I received the book and saw that outside of a short introduction, the entire book was just the printing of the lyrics themselves with no interpretation or commentary, I was truly disappointed. I returned the book.

Snatch a little purity 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Here's a vote for Paul Simon being appointed Poet Laureate. It would be perfect: Under Barack Obama's tenure as president the Library of Congress chooses someone equally unusual and gifted to be the eloquent voice of this nation.

Lyrics 1964-2008 is just that: The lyrics to Simon's songs. The number of words here is staggering. You forget just how prolific he has been. More impressive is how many of these songs hit close to home. How many you know by heart.

There are a few bonuses. The album covers are reproduced (in black and white). A sprinkling of photographs include some with Art Garfunkel and some recent performance shots. Best of all, there are copies of the original hand-written lyrics to some of Simon's best songs: "Mother and Child Reunion," "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard," "Kodachrome," "American Tune," "Loves Me Like a Rock," "Still Crazy After All These Years," "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," "Slip Sliding Away," "Boy in the Bubble," "Graceland," "You Can Call Me Al," "Look at That." You can see Simon having trouble with the end of "American Tune" (he has erased some words, and finally puts a question mark next to the lyric). In the notes for "Graceland," you can see the mournful lines, unused: "For no logical reason, no explanation, something deep inside of me is going to Graceland."

There is something redemptive about Simon's work. This book says it all.

Here's the chapter list:

Foreword by Chuck Close

Introduction by David Remnick

1964-1971
Covers these albums:
Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
Sounds of Silence
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Bookends
Bridge Over Troubled Water

1972-1977
Covers these albums:
Paul Simon
There Goes Rhymin' Simon
Still Crazy After All These Years

1978-1983
Covers these albums:
One-Trick Pony
Hearts and Bones

1984-1990
Covers these albums:
Graceland
The Rhythm of the Saints

1991-1998
Covers this album:
Songs from The Capeman

1999-2008
Covers these albums:
You're the One
Surprise

Editorial Review:

A landmark compilation of popular music, this collection contains Paul Simon's lyrics from his first album in 1964 to the present.

Philadelphia Chickens

Sandra Boynton

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Arts & Music -> Music -> Songbooks

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 142 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What an event! What a show! It's catchy and quirky. Tuneful and toe-tapping. Exuberant, unexpected, and utterly endearing. It's what happens when you take America's beloved illustrator and children's author and combine her buoyant genius with some of the most talented people on the stage—presenting Philadelphia Chickens!

Created by Sandra Boynton, Philadelphia Chickens is a family musical in a book, bringing together a full-color songbook of 17 1/2 illustrated story-poems with a full-length, fully orchestrated CD of original songs performed by the likes of Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, The Bacon Brothers, and Laura Linney, who pleads "Please, Can I Keep It?"—it followed me home. / What exactly it is/ I don't know. Also joining in are Eric Stoltz, Natasha Richardson, Scott Bakula, and two Boyntons, including daughter Caitlin McEwan, who performs a piece that every little listener will relate to—a love song to the chocolate chip cookies that are just out of reach. With the collaboration of composer Michael Ford (known to Boynton fans from Rhinoceros Tap), Philadelphia Chickens is that rarest of kids' musical discs—one whose inimitable lyrics and music make it as sing-along, dance-along, cluck-along for parents as it is for their children.

If You're Happy and You Know It (Baby Board Books)

Annie Kubler

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Child's Play International Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $0.17

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Baby-3 -> Nursery Rhymes -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Baby-3 -> Nursery Rhymes -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Book for Babies 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My daughter who is 10 months has loved to have all the books by Annie Kubler read to her since she was 5 months old. These books by Annie Kubler are great starter books for a child's library!

Great baby book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Was looking for the right books for the very little ones in the family, for Christmas. Saw this (and others in the series) and felt I had found just what I was looking for. Lively, colorful illustrations, activities for parents and little ones to do together. I wound up ordering even more, after my original shipment. The hardest part was which ones to choose!!!

Very Cute Book :o) 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a pretty cute book! I believe it has most of the "If you're happy.." lyrics in it - I've been trying to teach him to clap his hands. It is pretty short - only a few pages, but he seems to appreciate it.

Great for little ones! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great & very durable book for little ones in the 1 year to 2 year range & who are just learning songs.

Editorial Review:

Designed to be an introduction to books through a well-known nursery song, this is a board book for babies and their parents to enjoy together.

Baby Beluga (Raffi Songs to Read)

Raffi

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Marine Life -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Songs to read books. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My sister is a principal and highly recommeded this book for my grandchildren. THey love to read and sing so what better gift than to have it all wrapped into one.

Great book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is great even if you don't know the music. My little guy 'reads' along while listening to the Raffi CD, but you don't need the CD to enjoy the book. The pictures are terrific for the child and adult. My son insists on reading this every night at bedtime, and that's okay with me!

gift for new mom's or mom's to be 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love this book and the accompaning CD. My grandsons who are now 13 had this book when they were infants, and were still singing the songs when they were 5. I gave it as a gift to my God Daughter, and this one was a gift for my first Great Grandson. Raffi writes stories and songs that children should grow up with. I am positive I will give this book and CD again.

Wondefully illustrated 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

While the song is adorable and the pages are nice and sturdy, what I really like about this book are the illustrations. They are vibrant and clear and my son loves looking at this book over and over again. He is 16 months, so it is easy for him to point out animals and ask what they are. I like how the whale goes from being a baby, to a larger whale in the book and how different pages are shown with different perspectives. One page has a view from where the bird is flying in the sky--so the bird is large and the whale is small because he is swimming in the sea below. Another page has a broad view of the icebergs, sea, sky and northern lights. I am very impressed with the clarity and creativity of the illustrations in this book--and of course the song itself is fun to sing!

Editorial Review:

Raffi's signature song and the top seller in his Songs to Read series, Baby Beluga is now available in a quality board book edition perfect for his youngest fans.

The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Do you know the way to Fennario? Or wonder where the Nuthatch winters? What is the "Buck Dancer's Choice?" And where do the four winds dwell? If these are questions that leave you wondering then David Dodd's The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics may just be the skeleton key you've been looking for. Every Deadhead knows there is something profound hidden within their lyrics, even if most of the nuances go by unnoticed. Why are the obscure tales of their characters' (Jack Straw, Black Peter, August West, et al) trials and tribulations on the psychedelic Americana landscape so intriguing? What is the deal with the reoccurring imagery that popped in and out of their songs for decades (the crows, light and darkness, rolling rivers, gambling, playing cards, space, and, of course, roses)? It is clear the Grateful Dead's lyricists Robert Hunter and John Barlow tapped into the well of the collective subconscious for material, but rarely were any explanations provided. Fans were basically on their own to put the pieces together themselves, until now.

The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics began as a research project for David Dodd while he was working at the University of Colorado. Like many fans before him, Dodd spent hours passionately trying to find the deeper meanings in the Dead's songs. In 1994 the Internet may have been in its infancy, but Dodd knew the Web was the perfect to tool to help him annotate the entire Dead catalog. So began the building of his incredibly popular Web site. The fruits of his labors lie within the pages of this encyclopedic book. Where Robert Hunter's A Box of Rain only includes his lyrical contributions to the Dead's catalog, Dodd's book is expanded to include John Barlow's songs, as well as tunes the Dead covered so many times they became their own. It is worth mentioning, this book should not be viewed as a cheat sheet, but a tool giving lots of background and cross-references. The interpretations are still up to you. Be forewarned, this book can be extremely habit forming. --Rob Bracco

Singing for Dummies

Pamelia S. Phillips

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Theory, Composition & Performance -> Techniques

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ah, there’s just nothing better than singing in the shower. The acoustics are perfect and you don’t sound half bad, if you do say so yourself. In fact, with a little practice you could be the next “American Idol” platinum-selling recording artist, or stage sensation. It’s time for Pavarotti to step down and for you to step up as monarch of songdom.

Whether you’re a beginning vocalist or a seasoned songster, Singing for Dummies makes it easy for you to achieve your songbird dreams. Singing for Dummies gives you step-by-step instructions and lots of helpful tips, hints, vocal exercises, reminders, and warnings for both men and women, including advice on:

• The mechanics of singing
• Discovering your singing voice
• Developing technique
• Singing in performance
• Maintaining vocal health
• Performing like a pro

Singing for Dummies is written by Dr. Pamelia Phillips, Chair of Voice and Music at New York University’s Undergraduate Drama Department. Dr. Phillips shares all of her professional expertise to help you sing your way to the top. She gives you all the information you need to know about:

• Proper posture and breathing
• Perfecting your articulation
• Finding the right voice teacher for you
• How to train for singing
• Selecting your music materials
• Acting the song
• Overcoming stage fright
• Auditioning for musical theater

In addition to Dr. Phillips’ wisdom, Singing for Dummies comes with a CD packed full of useful instruction and songs, including:

• Demonstrations of proper technique
• Exercises to develop technique and strength
• Scales and pitch drills
• Practice songs for beginning, intermediate, and advanced singers

Singing for Dummies contains all the information, practices, techniques, and expert advice you need to hone your vocal skills with ease.

24 Italian Songs and Arias - Medium High Voice (Book/CD): Medium High Voice - Book/CD

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love the fact that this music anthology now comes with a CD for practicing purposes. It makes it fun to rehearse.

Editorial Review:

For well over a century, the G. Schirmer edition of 24 Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries has introduced millions of beginning singers to serious Italian vocal literature. Offered in two accessible keys suitable for all singers, it is likely to be the first publication a voice teacher will ask a first-time student to purchase. The classic Parisotti realizations result in rich, satisfying accompaniments which allow singers pure musical enjoyment. For ease of practice, carefully prepared accompaniments are also recorded on CD by John Keene, a New York-based concert accompanist and vocal coach who has performed throughout the United States for radio and television. Educated at the University of Southern California, Keene has taught accompanying at the university level and collaborated with Gian Carlo Menotti and Thea Musgrave on productions of their operas.

Messiah

George Frideric Handel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

As a choir student who just learned Messiah for the first time, I found this edition a wonderful work. It is not only a pleasure for Messiah purists (see review below) but also for those newly introduced to Handel's work. I loved using the Watkins Shaw Edition so much!

Very fine and very usable 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This very fine edition is perfectly suitable for the listener wishing to follow along to a recording or a performance (why people do this at a live performance, I do not know). But it is also a very affordable vocal score for performance.

It has several advantages. First, the printing is clear and easy to read. Second, the keyboard accompaniment isn't simply for a rehearsal pianist. It provides an organist a quite usable arrangement and the rehearsal pianist guidance as to what to play and what can be left out. Third, it doesn't have German that one has to ignore as one finds in other editions.

I have had my copy for many years and used it more than most folks ever will use theirs. Yes, I did find it useful to put some clear plastic covering on and had to re-glue the spine once. But that is trivial for the use it has provided me.

Strongly recommended.

Editorial Review:

A sacred oratorio arranged for SATB with piano part. Edited, with piano reduction, by Watkins Shaw. Paper Edition

Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook (15th Anniversary Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The basic "hymnal" for our singing group 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is the one referred to as the "hymnal" by our informal sing-along group (I think one of he members picked it up from an autoharp class she had with Brian Bowers). It's a good description; we often find ourselves saying "Is such-and-such a song here? I'm sure it is, lemme see now ... ah. Turn your hymnals to page 62 ..."

As Pete Seeger mentioned in the introduction, there's bound to be at least song you know on every page. It's true that there's a strong populist sentiment in the editing process (which some critics would label "leftist" or "socialist" or "liberal"). That's to be expected, since it sprang from the roots of the folk movement of the last mid-century, which sprang in turn from the union organizers and community organizers who were addressing serious social dysfunctions in their songs. And they paid heavily for the right to compose, sing, and teach these songs, often with their freedom and their blood, a fact which many have forgotten or found it convenient to ignore. I doubt you'll get any apologies for their inclusion here, and certainly not from me.

But political-themed songs are a small minority here anyway, and they are easily outweighed by the lullabies, love songs and "fun songs" that cut across culture and politics. Even Rush Limbaugh would find some favorites here.

My only minor quibbles with the book concern occasional mistakes in lyrics or attributions, which detract from its value as a reference (which it was never intended to be). It is also not for rank beginners; you won't always be able to figure out which chords go where, particularly if your acquaintance is with a different version of the song than the authors had. (Bob Dylan's version of "Blowin' in the Wind" and Peter, Paul and Mary's version used different chords for the same melody, so which one should we be using ... the author's version or the most popular cover of it?) But If you know the song, the annotations allow you to fake the accompaniment reasonably well.

If you're playing an instrument, by the way, get the spiral-bound "Leader" version, which is the 9"x12" one. It's a lot easier to read from a few feet away, which is probably the distance from your eyes to your music stand.

Editorial Review:

Lyrics and guitar chords for nearly 1,200 songs are arranged in a compact, easy-to-use format in this comprehensive collection. Folk revival favorites; Broadway show tunes; Beatles songs; hymns, spirituals, and gospel standards; songs about peace, freedom, labor, and the environment; and chanteys are among the types of songs included. This revised and retypeset version of the enormously popular group singing songbook makes this essential resource easier to read and use than ever before.

Don't Laugh at Me (Reading Rainbow Book)

Steve Seskin, Allen Shamblin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Cute 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book that you can use to discuss the power of differences with kids. It seems to ellicit good responses, even when used with my fourth graders!

Highly recommend.

Don't Laugh at Me 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was introduced to this book (and song) by a music teacher at a school where I was substituting. It is an appeal for children (good for adults, too) to not make fun of those who are different from them. I was so impressed with it that I went home and ordered it immediately. It is a wonderful tool to bring up discussions about how it makes you feel when someone makes fun of you. The book comes with a CD which has the song with vocals and instrumentals only. This is perfect for teaching the song, and then for performing if that is desired. I think the content of the book is fabulous!! The pictures are excellent, too.

Editorial Review:

Don’t Laugh at Me

Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin / Illustrations by Glin Dibley

Afterword by Peter Yarrow

I’m fat, I’m thin. I’m short, I’m tall. I’m deaf, I’m blind.

Hey, aren’t we all?

With these words the chart-topping song of the same name has percolated through schools and camps across North America with its unforgettable message of acceptance and pride. The Don’t Laugh at Me Project, inspired by the text of this book, asks kids to raise their voices to create ridicule-free environments. Those voices are now brought into full-color harmony through rich, emotionally engaging illustrations.

Legions of children are eager to learn a new language and stop the cycle of teasing. Hey, aren’t we all?