The Mind's Ear: Exercises for Improving the Musical Imagination for Performers, Composers, and Listeners

by Bruce Adolphe

Overview

The Mind's Ear offers a unique approach to stimulating the musical imagination and inspiring creativity, as well as providing detailed exercises aimed at improving the ability to read and imagine music in silence, in the "mind's ear." Modelling his exercises on those used in theatre games and acting classes and drawing upon years of experience with improvisation and composition, Bruce Adolphe has written a compelling, valuable, and practical guide to musical creativity that can benefit music students at all levels and help music teachers be more effective and inspiring. This expanded edition offers 34 new exercises inspired by improv comedy, hip-hop sampling and loops, robots, and AI as well as a new section based on Mr. Adolphe's Piano Puzzlers segment on public radio's Performance Today. The book provides provocative ideas and useful tools for professional performers and composers, as well as offering games and exercises to serious listeners that can increase their musical understanding and level of engagement with music in a variety of ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197576328
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/05/2021
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.22(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Bruce Adolphe is Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York. A composer of international renown, Adolphe's works are performed by such outstanding artists as Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, and over 60 symphony orchestras worldwide.

Table of Contents

About the third edition
Preface
A note to teachers (and students, too)
A word about improvisation for Classical musicians
How to use this book
More tips for using this book
List of exercises
About the companion website
Introduction

I Exercises to be done in silence
II Exercises involving groups
III Exercises using musical instruments
IV The feeling of an idea
V Exercises in composing
VI Piano Puzzler Preparation

Coda
About the author
Index

Editorial Reviews

"I direct a seminar on the Beethoven string quartets at the Department of Medical Humanities at Columbia University, and I find The Mind's Ear to be an invaluable wellspring of ideas to engage these medical students in a way that is fresh, challenging, and fun. These students come from a wide variety of musical backgrounds, and the group exercises prescribed by The Mind's Ear allow them to focus on skills—hearing multiple lines, listening while vocalizing, and following cues from the peers—that they enjoy honing. These activities break the ice, expand the mind, and broaden the perspective. They make the students better listeners, and perhaps better doctors!" — Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, MS, Louis and Gloria Flanzer Scholar, Columbia University Medical Center; Director of Clinical Research, The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University; Director of Quality Improvement, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases

From the Publisher