Book Reviews. Issue 1 (1st April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hill, Stuart Chapman; Brinck, Lars; Silberman, Peter; Parkinson, Tom
• Is Part Of: Journal of popular music education. Volume 3:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 151
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2019-04-01
• Subjects: Popular music -- Periodicals; Popular music -- Instruction and study -- Periodicals; Musicology -- Periodicals; 781.63071
• DOI: 10.1386/jpme.3.1.151_5
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2397-6721

Abstract

The Art of Songwriting, Andrew West (2016)New York, NY: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 272 pp., ISBN 978-1-47252-781-3, p/bk, $17.99 USDAbstractThe author reviews The Art of Songwriting, written by veteran songwriter Andrew West, who oversees a postgraduate course at Leeds College of Music. The book benefits greatly from the author's encyclopaedic knowledge of songs and songwriters, and a rich variety of examples permeates the book. As a result, the book is not a simple 'how-to' volume, but rather captures the rich diversity of approaches and techniques professional songwriters employ. A different, tighter organizational scheme might help the book's wisdom be digestible for the reader to consolidate and retain all the knowledge the book has to offer. Still, the book is a welcome contribution to an understudied field, especially as music education scholars seek to diversify the musics that define school music teaching and learning.The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter, Catherine Williams and Justin A. Williams (eds) (2016)Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 363 pp., ISBN 978-1-10706-364-8, h/bk £59.99, p/bk £19.99The Musical Language of Rock, David Temperley (2018)New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 292 pp., ISBN 978-0-19087-052-2, p/bk, $34.95Banana Punk Rawk Trails: A Euro-fool's Metal Punk Journeys in Malaysia, Borneo and Indonesia, Marco Ferrarese (2016)Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 456 pp., ISBN 978-9-67063-002-9