Here is a listing of a few books that I have found useful in my own musical life. Some have directly influenced my writing and some are just pretty cool. Check them out! You can either click on the link to the publishers or you can go to either www.bookfinder.com or www.amazon.com to purchase any of these books on my bookshelf.

1. Harmonic Experience: Tonal harmony from its natural origins to its modern expression by W.A. Mathieu. Inner Traditions International, Vermont 1997.
www.innertraditions.com
"Harmonic Experience" offers a comprehensive view of music that reconciles the ancient harmonic system of just intonation with the modern system of twelve-tone equal temperament. Saying that "the rules of music were not formed in our brains but in the resonance chambers of our bodies," Mathieu recognized the pronounced need for an experiential kind of teaching that reconnects the way we think music with the way we do music. Mathieu provides over one thousand musical examples and diagrams to illustrate the ideas he presents, allowing readers to reach a deeper level of response, to hear existing music compositions more clearly, and to become thoroughly engaged in their own musical creativity. (Text from cover notes)

“Mathieu is consistently proving himself to be one of the
 best in musical theory.”

- John Coltrane, Downbeat Magazine, 1962

2. The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music
by W.A. Mathieu
Shambhala, Boston, 1991.
www.shambhala.com

The "Listening Book" is about rediscovering the power of listening as an instrument of self-discovery and personal transformation. By exploring our capacity for listening to sounds and for making music, we can awaken and release our full creative powers. Mathieu offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects of music-making, and provides playful exercises to help readers appreciate the connection between sound, music, and everyday life. (Text from cover notes)

3. The Musical Life: What It Is and How To Live It
by W.A. Mathieu
Shambhala, Boston, 1994.
www.shambhala.com

"The Musical Life" is a more technically stirring book for the musician who wants to know more about the way music works. It includes lots of exploration into the world of overtones. This book is a great precursor to Mathieu’s music theory magnum opus, "Harmonic Experience".

4. The Mysticism of Sound and Music
by Hazrat Inayat Khan. Shambhala
Boston, 1996.
www.shambhala.com

“Music, according to Sufi teaching, is really a small expression of the overwhelming and perfect harmony of the whole universe-and that is the secret of its amazing power to move us. The Indian Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), the first teacher to bring the Islamic mystical tradition to the West, was an accomplished musician himself. His lucid exposition of music’s divine nature has become a modern classic, beloved not only by those interested in Sufism but by musicians of all kinds.” (Text from back cover notes)

5. The Norton Manual of Musical Notation
by George Heussenstamm. W.W. Norton and Company
New York, 1987.

While many of us are using our computers to create neat, playable, clean scores, this book teaches the old school method of ink and paper. Every composer should know the ins and outs of musical notation and I recommend this book highly as a clear and practical guide. “This book is designed to serve as a practical guide to music handwriting and music-writing procedures. It provides the music student with an essential tool for learning to put notes down on paper with clarity and speed. At the same time, it is an indispensable reference to a wide variety of notational conventions.” (Text from cover notes)

6. Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior
by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty.
Hyperion, New York, 1995.

Follow the career and spiritual life of one of the winningest coaches in NBA history. From his career as a player, to the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, this books offers true insight to anyone who wishes to be a leader.

7. The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1948.

20th Century Trappist Monk Thomas Merton’s numerous writings on the spiritual life, on contemplative prayer, and his own personal journey have provided me with years of inspiration. In this gloriously written autobiography, often compared to St. Augustine’s Confessions, Thomas Merton tells of his own personal journey to find the heart of God.

8. The Ukulele: A Visual History by Jim Beloff
www.backbeatbooks.com

“Richly illustrated, The Ukulele: A Visual History follows the instrument from its 1800's roots to its coming of age in the early 1900's, when it helped boost tourism in Hawaii. The book chronicles the uke's trek from the tropics to Tin Pan Alley and from island music to global pop, and even on to Hollywood movies and television. Readers will meet some of the world's great ukulele players, including Ukulele Ike, Arthur Godfrey, Ohta San, Roy Smeck, and Tiny Tim. Profiles and photos of these and other stars, plus a list of recordings, help bring the uke's playful personality to life.” ~ from the book notes at www.backbeatbooks.com

9. What Is Contemplation? by Thomas Merton. Templegate Publishers, Springfield, Illinois, 1950.
www.templegate.com

“The only way to find out anything about the joys of contemplation is by experience,” writes Thomas Merton. “We must taste and see that the Lord is sweet.” In this early writing, unavailable for years, Thomas Merton sets forth the basics of Christian contemplation in the lucid, helpful way which has made him a favorite of millions. He provides a brief guide for the beginner and lets us know what to expect when we begin to move into this essential Christian experience. When you begin the life of contemplation, Merton writes, “you have left the beaten path and are traveling by paths that cannot be charted and measured.” (Text from back cover notes)

10. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal talks on Zen meditation and practice by Shunryu Suzuki. Weatherhill, New York, 1996.

This book is about how to practice Zen as a workable discipline and religion, about posture and breathing, about the basic attitudes and understanding that make Zen practice possible, about non-duality, emptiness, and enlightenment. Here one begins to understand what Zen is really about. And, most important of all, every page breathes with the joy and simplicity that make a liberated life possible. (Text from inside flap notes)

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