From Mud to Music

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 259 pages
• Published by: American Ceramic Society January 1, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1574981390
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1574981391
• Book Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 3 pounds

Product Description
CD is enclosed. This book is about a truly remarkable transformation: how the simplest of materials—clay or mud—can be used to make tools for producing one of the most complex human expressions—music. With a History reaching back to ancient times, creating ceramic musical instruments is a vibrant pursuit for many innovative artists today. This book explores the vast array of ceramic musical instruments, from their historical traditions in world cultures to their modern variations and innovations. All instrument families are represented: percussion, winds, strings, and even unique hybrids. For each type of instrument, special construction techniques specific to clay are explained. In addition, there’s a chapter providing detailed, step-by-step instructions showing how to build several ceramic instruments. Hundreds of color photographs present the work of artists from around the world spanning the last three millennia, from ancient Peruvian water whistles and Mesopotamian rattles to contemporary seven-chambered ocarinas and ceramic bagpipes. In-depth profiles explore a number of today’s artists, their work, and their inspirations. The companion audio CD contains 43 diverse tracks of ceramic instrumental music ranging from the refined melodic strains of Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky to the earthy, primal wailings of bizarre pre-Columbian wind instruments. Whether you are a musician, ceramist, or just a fan of Art and music, you are invited to embark on an incredible journey . . . from mud to music!

Reader Reviews
As someone with a penchant for percussion instruments, especially those of the "unusual" type, I had been enthralled by the haunting sounds of the Udu for some time but material on actual playing techniques is virtually non-existent - the name Barry Hall kept coming up in my quest for some actual/viewable techniques - I had found a number of Udu makers and had acquired various instruments but was still looking for more info - I finally went to Barry Hall's website, obtained the instructional DVD, and found that Barry was involved with a lot more than just Udu's - through Barry's website, CD's, and video, I was unexpectedly introduced to a whole new world of ceramic instruments, many of which were unknown (and thus intriguing as to their musical capabilities) to me - a whole new world of incredible sounds and possibilities! And then comes "The Book" - "Mud to Music" - what an apt title. From the get-go, this large volume stands out as to it's quality and the incredible amount of work, time, and love of music and ceramics that had to have gone into this work. No cheap glossy paper dust-cover for this volume -this hard cover book is first class all the way, from the full color front all the way through to the back cover - LOTS of great color photographs, great indexing, and historical/contemporary info with the articles on the various instrument artisans and the "how-to" sections just superb - this book has it all and opens up a whole new arena of possibilities for those musically inclined. This book was obviously a labor of love by a master artisan who settled for nothing short of the best. The accompanying CD is icing on the cake so to speak! Comment | Permalink | (Report this)