Recommended Reading for Musicians from Greg Sarchet
Greg Sarchet (Bass Club Chicago, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University) for several years has handed the following list of recommended texts out to his incoming double bass students. These books touch on all sorts of issues relating to musicians and serve as a course for developing an aesthetic sense, which is something that is fiendishly difficulty to tech but absolutely essential for creating a satisfying artistic product. Teaching technique, theory, history, ear training, and all of the other fragments that make up a musician’s skill set are one thing, but the glue that binds it all together is the overall aesthetic sensibility of the musician, and this list of books helps to guide the musician down this foggy but crucial path.
I have read many of the books on this list, and one of my projects for this year is to read even more of them. I think that giving students a list like this is a fantastic idea, and I’d like to thank Greg for allowing me to share this with readers.
If you’d like to hear more from Greg, check out episode 19 of Contrabass Conversations. We’ll be concluding this interview in the coming weeks, so stay tuned, but in the meantime, check out this list–it will likely help to expand both your artistic sensibilities and your aesthetic sense!
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1. A Soprano on her Head
Eloise Ristad
Real People Press
Moab, Utah
1982
order: A Soprano on Her Head: Right-Side-Up Reflections on Life and Other Performances
ISBN# 0-911226-21-4
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2 Vocal Wisdom
The Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti
transcribed by William Earl Brown
Taplinger Publishing Co., New York
1931 and 1957
order: Vocal Wisdom: Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti
ISBN# 0-8008-8023-4
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3. The Composer’s Advocate
Erich Leinsdorf
Yale University Press
1981
order: The Composer’s Advocate
ISBN# 0-300-02427-4
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4. The Art Spirit
Robert Henri
Harper and Row, Publishers
Icon edition
1923
ISBN# 0-06-430138-9
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5. Free Play
Improvisation in Life and Art
Stephen Nachmanovitch
Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc
Los Angeles, 1990
order: Free Play
ISBN# 0-87477-578-7, also available in paperback
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6. No More Secondhand Art
Peter London
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Boston, 1989
order: No More Secondhand Art
ISBN# 0-87773-482-8
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7. The Listening Book
W.A. Mathieu
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Boston, 1991
order: The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music
ISBN# 0-87773-610-3
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8. The Musical Life
W.A. Mathieu
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Boston, 1994
order: The Musical Life
ISBN# 0-87773-670-7
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9. Nada Brahma
(The World is Sound)
Joachim-Ernst Berendt
Destiny Books
Rochester, Vermont, 1987
order: The World Is Sound: Nada Brahma: Music and the Landscape of Consciousness
ISBN# 0-89281-168-4
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10. The Third Ear
Joachim-Ernst Berendt
Element Books
Dorset, 1988
order: The Third Ear: On Listening to the World
ISBN# 1-85230-049-3
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11. The Music of Life
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Omega Press, Omega Uniform Edition
New Lebanon, NY, 1983
order: Music of Life
ISBN# 0-930872-38-X
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12. Mental Toughness Training for Sports
James E. Loehr
Penguin Books, Ltd., Plume Edition
New York, 1982
(or any other titles)
order: Mental Toughness Training for Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence (Plume)
ISBN# 0-452-26795-1
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13. Kincaidiana
John C. Krell
The National Flute Association 1973/1997
order: Krell, John C. Kincaidiana: A Flute Player’s Notebook
ISBN# 0-9657904-0-1
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