Musically Speaking

Musically Speaking
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 153
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780812208351
ISBN-13 : 0812208358
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Musically Speaking by : Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer

Download or read book Musically Speaking written by Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-03-25 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Music, I have come to realize, is for me a kind of golden thread running through my life. It has helped maintain my connection with the past that otherwise might have been severed by catastrophe and time. I am often asked—indeed, I often wonder myself—why it is that I should always have had such joie de vivre in the face of the losses and dislocations I had to endure in my early years. The answer I always gave was that the warmth and security of my early childhood had a remarkable power and influence. This is certainly true. But now I have realized that there is another part to the answer. And that is music."—from the introduction Who among us does not have a song that triggers vivid memories—of jubilation, of belonging, of sorrow, of love? In Musically Speaking, Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, one of America's most beloved personalities, has written a warm and contemplative book about the role music has played in her life and the ineradicable traces it has left on her thoughts, emotions, her very being. In this memoir through song, Dr. Ruth invites us to share her story from a uniquely musical perspective. By the time she was thirty, Ruth Westheimer had lived in five countries, each with a distinctive musical culture, each with a different hold on her sensibility. For the first ten years of her life, the comforting melodies of childhood helped drown out the anthems of Nazism to be heard elsewhere in her native Germany; as an adolescent refugee in Switzerland, she came to be aware that, however loudly she sang the patriotic songs of the land that gave her shelter, she could never truly be at home there. Present at the creation of the modern state of Israel, she sang and danced to the new music of a new nation; as a young woman eagerly absorbing all that Paris had to offer in the way of romance and worldliness in the early 1950s, the songs of Edith Piaf, Mouloudji, and Yves Montand were her tutors. An almost accidental emigration to America brought new challenges and new stability, as she became a wife, mother, and professional; tremendous and unforeseen celebrity came later, and with it the giddy opportunity to indulge her love of music as never before. Always, the classical repertoire of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms has drawn Westheimer to a German culture that has belonged—and not belonged—to her throughout her life. And always, the music of the Jewish tradition has given her strength and comfort beyond words. Affording a view of Dr. Ruth from a rare private vantage point, Musically Speaking offers wondrous testimony to the resilience of the human spirit. This is a book full of color, verve, humor, and wisdom, unfolding gracefully through the beloved music of the Jewish holidays, the lullabies of childhood, the songs that sustained an orphan and roused the courage of a young woman, the melodies that enable a widow grieving for her husband to recall, from deep within the years of love, companionship, and happiness.


Musically Speaking Related Books

Musically Speaking
Language: en
Pages: 153
Authors: Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-03-25 - Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Music, I have come to realize, is for me a kind of golden thread running through my life. It has helped maintain my connection with the past that otherwise mig
Speaking of Music
Language: en
Pages: 344
Authors: Keith Chapin
Categories: MUSIC
Type: BOOK - Published: 2022 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

People chat about music every day, but they also treat it as a limit, as the boundary of what is sayable. By addressing different perspectives and traditions th
Speaking of Music
Language: en
Pages: 345
Authors: Keith Chapin
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-07 - Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Addresses the ways that writers, musicians, philosophers, politicians, critics, and scholars speak of music from varying standpoints and in varying ways
The Musician's Way : A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness
Language: en
Pages: 357
Authors: Gerald Klickstein
Categories: Music
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-08-06 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide asp
Learn to Speak Music
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: John Crossingham
Categories: Popular music
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009 - Publisher: Owlkids

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From songwriting and artwork to shooting a video and setting up a practice space, Learn to Speak Music explores every aspect of the world of popular music.