About this product: Product Description "In this book I hope to reach a new audience with the positive message of America’s greatest music, to show how great musicians demonstrate on the bandstand a mutual respect and trust that can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life–from individual creativity and personal relationships to conducting business and understanding what it means to be American in the most modern sense." --Wynton Marsalis
In this beautiful book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis explores jazz and how an understanding of it can lead to deeper, more original ways of being, living, and relating–for individuals, communities, and nations. Marsalis shows us how to listen to jazz, and through stories about his life and the lessons he has learned from other music greats, he reveals how the central ideas in jazz can influence the way people think and even how they behave with others, changing self, family, and community for the better. At the heart of jazz is the expression of personality and individuality, coupled with an ability to listen to and improvise with others. Jazz as an art--and as a way to move people and nations to higher ground--is at the core of this unique, illuminating, and inspiring book, a master class on jazz and life by a brilliant American artist.
An Interview with Wynton Marsalis
Q: You’re a musician and composer. Why did you write this book, which is about life and lots of other things besides jazz? A: When I first decided to become a musician, at the age of 12 or 13, I was inspired by my father, and by the New Orleans jazz tradition. I was under the impression that I had only to learn the fundamentals of music--rhythm, melody, harmony, texture--to progress as a musician. What I didn’t know then was that over the next three decades, jazz music would teach me many significant things about living. This book grew out of ten years of conversatins with my friend Geoff Ward, and is my attempt to share some of it—about how important it is to be yourself in the world, and at the same time create while respecting the creativity of others.
Q: What does the title of this book, Moving to Higher Ground, mean to you? A: Too often in life, petty squabbles and small-mindedness keep us from realizing a higher purpose. In jazz, that higher purpose is not theoretical: We want to sound good. And when we do, you can hear what it’s like when people are really trying to get along. It’s purely human: In Jazz, you can mess up and still come together, still move together to higher ground. The title means ascending through engagement.
Q: You suggest that the ideas at the heart of jazz can carry over into everyday life. How so? A: Let’s take two ideas in jazz that are most central: swinging and the blues.
Swinging is the art of negotiation with someone else, under the pressure of time. It shows you how opposites can come together, without compromising who they are. The one who plays the highest-sounding instrument in the rhythm section--the time-keeping cymbal--has to find a way of working with the one who plays the lowest instrument, the bass. And the bass player, who plays the softest instrument, has to find a way of working with the player of the loudest, the drums. To succeed, everybody has to have a very clear idea of the common goal: What exactly are we here to do? In jazz we know: swing. In life, if everyone involved can agree on a primary objective, a group can accomplish almost anything.
The blues is many things--a musical form, a distinctive sound, a universal feeling--but above all, the blues is survival music. It’s message is simple: things are never so bad that they can’t get any better. It’s about crying over something, actually wailing--and it’s about coming back. The words may be sad but the dancing shuffle (the definitive rhythm of the blues) is always happy or heading toward happiness. The blues is about what is--and what is has demons and angels sitting at the same table. That’s a bitter-sweet and realistic message about life that everybody needs, that everybody can hear and respond to. I’ve heard people respond to it, all over the world.
Q: How do jazz principles apply to, say, holding a successful meeting? A: If you come to a meeting without an agenda it’s probably not going to be a very good meeting. In jazz improvisation, the agenda is the form of the song. But an agenda alone doesn’t guarantee success. If everybody feels free to participate, unexpected things are sure to come up and will have to be dealt with intelligently. That’s true in jazz improvisation, too. Things are bound to come up. Some need to be discarded right away. Others need to be expounded upon. Anyone in the rhythm section playing along behind the soloist can decide, "Hey, we need to investigate this further." And the soloist can respond, "Yeah, let’s go into that." It’s a system of checks and balances, but what makes it work is the fact that everybody is listening and responding to what the soloist is saying without ever forgetting the agenda. That’s a pretty good model for swinging, and for getting things done.
Q: How do jazz principles apply to a family? The central relationship on the bandstand is between the bass and the drums. They’re opposites of volume and register. The drums are the loudest and the swung cymbal is the highest-pitched while the bass is the softest and lowest-pitched. In order to swing, the right-hand stroke on the cymbal must find the right-hand pluck of the bass on every beat. While it is impossible to line those beats up with metronomic perfection it is possible to achieve a perfect intent to be together. That’s what you would like to see with a mama and a daddy. They represent gender opposites. While they try to come together to solve a problem we can go in the direction of a good time. When they don’t--when one is too loud or the other is unyielding--it becomes a matter of endurance, not swinging.
Q: What can jazz teach us about our feelings and ourselves as individuals? A: We’re all given the gift of creativity. It comes out in all kinds of ways--the way we talk or dress or cook or whistle. I remember when I was a kid my friends and I used to see who could cut grass in the most creative way. But many times young people are put down for having a gift or skill that doesn’t fit with somebody else’s idea of what he or she should do with their lives. Jazz is the opposite of that. It tells you, "That’s you! Take pride in this thing. Express yourself. Your sound is unique. Work on it. Understand it." Often it teaches you to celebrate yourself.
When we talk about expressing feelings in jazz, we mean spiritual feelings, empathetic feelings, feelings that are beyond thought. In jazz, musical ideas move too quickly for you to stop and analyze or to formulate a lie. By the time you think about it, that moment of music is long gone. Jazz teaches you to cherish how you feel in the moment. It puts a premium on having faith in the people you’re playing with. Because the second you lose that faith and start to question what they’re doing, the distraction takes your mind off the music and onto bad decisions that you will surely begin to make. The combination of emotional honesty and mutual trust that jazz demands can help you if applied to almost any field.
Q: How can jazz help you understand your own friends and family better? A: At first it may seem like a paradox, but jazz helps you understand other people by teaching you that you never really know anybody. When you play music with someone--even someone you think you know really well--they’ll play things you don’t expect and can’t anticipate. You’ll go in one direction, based on what you think is going to happen and they’ll take a completely different path. Jazz lets people be free, and to surprise you--and them. It doesn’t let you mail in your response or let you lump people into categories that turn out to be meaningless.
It also shows you that people, even geniuses, evolve over time. The Duke Ellington who played in 1931 was very different from the Duke of 1961. So you learn to be patient with other people and respect the progress they’ve made and are still capable of making. One of the biggest challenges in dealing with friends and family is communication and more communication. Jazz forces us to communicate with people while recognizing their objectives, and over objectives, and where we can come together.
Q: How is jazz related to America, the country that created it? A: This art form was created to explain who we are. We have rights and responsibilities in the music just as we do as citizens. The Constitution can be amended and songs can always be added to or changes. In jazz we place a premium on the individual’s right to self-expression but we also insist on checks and balances between one person’s rights infringing on another--the soloists and the rhythm section have to work things out together. Otherwise the piece is a mess.
Jazz allows us to improvise, to negotiate with one another. It’s the sound of many people coming together in one thing. You might be from Chicago and be Jewish but you can stand on this bandstand with a Creole from New Orleans and when both of y’all play, you’ll agree on what sounds good, and you’ll agree on it because you both can hear it. It’s democracy in action and it allows us, for all our faults, to see the success of our history. It tells us who we have been, who we are now, and who we can be in the future.
Q: Why is jazz especially relevant today? A: This country is looking for change. Just look at what’s going on: An African American and a woman were leading contenders for the presidency; Big questions of race and identity; millions of brand-new voters turning out. Barack Obama carrying southern states in the primaries with a charismatic message of coming together. It’s a different time in our country and I think it’s the perfect time for this music.
Now, jazz has always been timely because it deals with the timeless issues of people, and of our democracy. Louis Armstrong dealt with them. So did Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. But if you listen to political candidates today, they almost never talk about culture. It’s never really been part of our national dialogue and it should be, because it’s the best was for us actually to come together. We talk a lot about having national conversations and we’ve tried legislating unity. But we need to understand that art can bring people who are different together. Jazz provides a context for all the experiences we as human beings share.
The direction of our culture is ascendant. Jazz is a perfect embodiment of that. Jazz is ascendant. If we take a long view of the past 150 years, we won’t come to the conclusion that things are getting worse. We still have problems of corruption and greed. Jazz can provide a good antidote for them, too. To maintain their integrity, musicians have had to make many decisions that placed substance over commercial success. Jazz musicians have always aspired to an almost Utopian vision of a country in which everybody would come together and swing.
The contemporary excitement around empowering people is not new to jazz. Jazz is empowerment. Its first great achievement was to empower individual musicians to take part in the creative process through improvisation. Participation is essential to a healthy American democracy, and it’s essential to America’s greatest music, too. Everybody has to participate to make it sound good. Whether you’re playing or listening, you have to be active. If you’re just sitting there and waiting for something to happen, nothing will. I hope this book will empower as many people as possible to take part by showing how an understanding of jazz and its principles can change your life, and our lives together.
About this product: Based on the fourth edition of The Law of Higher Education—the indispensable guide to law that bears on the provision of higher education—this Student Edition provides an up-to-date reference and guide for coursework in higher education law. It also provides a guide for programs that help prepare higher education administrators for leadership roles.
This important reference is organized into five main parts Perspectives and Foundations; The College and Its Governing Board and Staff; The College and Its Faculty; The College and Its Students; and The College and the Outside World. Each part includes the sections of the full fourth edition that most relate to student interests and are most suitable for classroom instruction, for example:
The evolution and reach of higher education law
The governance of higher education
Legal planning and dispute resolution
The interrelationships between law and policy
The college and its employees
Faculty employment and tenure
Academic freedom
Campus issues: student safety, racial and sexual harassment, affirmative action, computer networks, services for international students
Student misconduct
Freedom of speech, hate speech
Student rights, responsibilities, and activities fees
About this product: BONUS FEATURE: EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Lucky, age ten, can’t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.
It’s all Brigitte’s fault–for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she’ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won’t be allowed. She’ll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she’ll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own–and quick.
But she hadn’t planned on a dust storm.
Or needing to lug the world’s heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
About this product: "Leading at a Higher Level translates decades of research and 25 years of global experience into simple, practical, and powerful strategies to equip leaders at every level to build organizations that produce bottom-line results. At Nissan, we have made these principles a core part of our leadership philosophy, better equipping our managers to bring out the great energies and talents of our employees." Jim Irvine, Vice President of Human Resources, Nissan North America "At Southwest Airlines, we have always strived to lead at a higher level. We truly believe that profit is the applause you get for taking care of your internal and external customers. We have always insisted upon a happy, carefree, team-spirited--yes, even fun--working environment, which we think results in motivated employees who will do the right thing for their internal and external customers. Reading this book will make a positive difference in your organization." Colleen C. Barrett, President, Southwest Airlines "If you want to have a great company, you don't have a choice but to lead at a higher level.When you do that, you excite your people, they take care of your customers, and your cash register goes ca-ching. " Horst Schulze, President and CEO, The West Paces Hotel Group, LLC; Founding and former President & COO, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC "Leading at a higher level is a must today if leaders are to rebuild trust and credibility, as we are doing at Tyco. This book will teach you how." Eric Pillmore, Senior Vice President of Corporate Governance, Tyco International The definitive "Blanchard on Leadership" 25 years of breakthrough leadership insights in one extraordinary book! From The One Minute Manager(R) to Raving Fans, Ken Blanchard's books have helped millions of people unleash their power and the potential of everyone around them. The Ken Blanchard Companies has helped thousands of organizations become more people-oriented, customer-centered, and performance-driven. In Leading at a Higher Level, Blanchard and his colleagues have brought together all they've learned about world-class leadership. You'll discover how to create targets and visions based on the "triple bottom line"...and make sure people know who you are, where you're going, and the values that will guide your journey.Blanchard extends his breakthrough work on delivering legendary customer service and creating "raving fans. " You'll find the definitive discussion of the renowned Situational Leadership(R) II techniques for leading yourself, individuals, teams, and entire organizations. Most importantly, Leading at a Higher Level will help you dig deep within, discover the personal "leadership point of view" all great leaders possess--and apply it throughout your entire life. For everyone who wants to become a better leader...in any company, any organization, any area of life Set the right targets, follow the right vision Focus on the "bottom lines" that really matter Serve your customers at a higher level Deliver your ideal customer experience, and create "raving fans" Beyond ego: the way of the servant leader Listen, praise, support, guide, and help your people win Lead at a higher level. Lead your people to greatness as you create high performing organizations that make life better for everyone. This book will guide you, inspire you, provoke you, and be your touchstone.Ken Blanchard (coauthor of The One Minute Manager(R)) and his colleagues have spent more than 25 years helping good leaders and organizations become great, and stay great. Now, for the first time, they've brought together everything they've learned about outstanding leadership. Discover how to...Go beyond the short term and zero in on the right target and vision Deliver legendary, maniacal customer service, and earn raving fans Truly empower your people and unleash their incredible potential Ground your leadership in humility and focus on the greater good For a long time, leaders have relied on Ken Blanchard's insight, wisdom, and practical techniques. Now, he and his colleagues have delivered the leadership classic for a new generation: Leading at a Higher Level. www.LeadingAtAHigherLevel.com Contents Introduction: Leading at a Higher Level--by Ken Blanchard xvii Section I: Set Your Sights on the Right Target and Vision Chapter 1 Is Your Organization High Performing?3 Chapter 2 The Power of Vision 21 Section II: Treat Your Customers Right Chapter 3 Serving Customers at a Higher Level 39 Section III: Treat Your People Right Chapter 4 Empowerment Is the Key 67 Chapter 5 Situational Leadership(R) II: The Integrating Concept 87 Chapter 6 Self Leadership: The Power Behind Empowerment 103 Chapter 7 Partnering for Performance 117 Chapter 8 Essential Skills for Partnering for Performance: The One Minute Manager(R) 145 Chapter 9 Situational Team Leadership 167 Chapter 10 Organizational Leadership 195 Chapter 11 Strategies for Managing a Change 219 Section IV: Have the Right Kind of Leadership Chapter 12 Servant Leadership 249 Chapter 13 Determining Your Leadership Point of View 277 Endnotes 297 Organizational Change Readiness Assessment 309 Acknowledgments and Praisings 313 About the Authors 317 Services Available 333 Index 335
About this product: Colleges and universities are among the most cherished institutions in American society—and also among the most controversial. Yet affirmative action and skyrocketing tuition are only the most recent dissonant issues to emerge. Recounting the many crises and triumphs in the long history of American higher education, historian John Thelin provides welcome perspective on this influential aspect of American life.
In A History of American Higher Education, Thelin offers a wide-ranging and engaging account of the origins and evolution of America's public and private colleges and universities, emphasizing the notion of saga—the proposition that institutions are heirs to numerous historical strands and numerous attempts to address such volatile topics as institutional cost and effectiveness, admissions and access, and the character of the curriculum. Thelin draws on both official institutional histories and the informal memories that constitute legends and lore to offer a fresh interpretation of an institutional past that reaches back to the colonial era and encompasses both well-known colleges and universities and such understudied institutions as community, women's, and historically black colleges, proprietary schools, and freestanding professional colleges.
Thelin's lively history has particular relevance for a society still struggling to determine what constitutes a legitimate field of study, reminding readers that Harvard once used its medical school as a safe place to admit the sons of wealthy alumni who could not pass the undergraduate college admissions examination and that the University of Pennsylvania once considered the study of history, government, and economics unworthy of addition to the liberal arts curriculum. Thelin also addresses the role of local, state, and federal governments in colleges and universities, as well as the influence of private foundations and other organizations. And through imaginative interpretation of films, novels, and popular magazines, he illuminates the convoluted relationship between higher education and American culture. For anyone attempting to understand America's colleges and universities, A History of American Higher Education offers a much-needed challenge to conventional wisdom about how these institutions developed and functioned in the past.
About this product: Step-by-step instructions for identifying and reprogramming the "biocomputer" of the mind by freeing oneself from addictions to negative desires, demands and expectations. 32-page guide and cassette.
This new edition of American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century explores current issues of central importance to the academy: leadership, accountability, access, finance, technology, academic freedom, the canon, governance, and race. Chapters also deal with key constituencies -- students and faculty -- in the context of a changing academic environment.
While the contributors agree with critics who argue for ongoing reassessment of public institutions, they provide a more balanced perspective. They take issue with the "crisis" culture that has emerged among critics of current higher education practices, pointing out that higher education has faced challenges through its history.
By illuminating the complex interplay between institutions and external forces, the book provides a key to guide the endeavors of faculty, students, and administrative leaders. Fully revised and updated, the second edition includes a new chapter on higher education markets. Contributors include Philip G. Altbach, Michael J. Bastedo, Robert O. Berdahl, Robert Birnbaum, Mitchell J. Chang, Marc Chun, Melanie E. Corrigan, Eric L. Dey, Judith S. Eaton, Peter D. Eckel, Roger L. Geiger, Lawrence E. Gladieux, Patricia J. Gumport, Fred. F. Harcleroad, Sylvia Hurtado, D. Bruce Johnstone, Jacqueline E. King, Kofi Lomotey, Aims C. McGuinness Jr., Michael A. Olivas, Robert M. O'Neil, Gary Rhoades, Frank A. Schmidtlein, Sheila Slaughter, and Ami Zusman.
Edited by Michael B. Paulsen and John C. Smart, this volume is a comprehensive examination of policies and practices and the essential theories and areas of research that comprise the field of higher education finance. Nine of the fifteen chapters were written for this volume; the other six are reprinted from various volumes of Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Finance, each with an updating epilogue provided by the authors.
A unique feature of the book is its comprehensive, systematic presentation of the theories and models from the policy science of economics that have been the most frequently and productively applied to the study of higher education finance. These perspectives include human capital theory, public sector economics, the microeconomic theories of cost and productivity, and the price theory of microeconomics, each of which is addressed in a separate chapter.
Among topics addressed in other chapters are how affordable college attendance really is for students under different circumstances; trends in the revenues and expenditures of public and private colleges and universities; detailed examinations of the nature and effects of federal, state, and institutional policies in the area of higher education finance; the new student-choice construct as a framework for expanding our thinking about how financial policies related to grants, loans and tuition can affect students' enrollment decisions; the effects of financial and other policies on the aspirations and participation of prospective and current students from families of varying socioeconomic status; state and institutional budgeting practices; and the many issues associated with the finance of community and technical colleges, including the special role of state and local sources of revenue and the importance of the tuition charged by such institutions.
A groundbreaking chapter by David W. Breneman, James L. Doti, and Lucie Lapovsky examines the analytics of tuition discounting as the predominant means by which many private colleges and universities achieve enrollment targets. Based on the results of their latest research, the authors present a new model of the pricing and enrollment practices of private institutions and use it as a framework for examining the key relationships between tuition, enrollment, merit-based and need-based aid, composition of the student body, and tuition discounting practices. Their analysis redefines the boundaries and extends the frontiers of knowledge about tuition discounting.
Taken together, the fifteen chapters of this book provide a set of rigorous, but accessible and workable, frameworks that can help build a strong analytic foundation to better inform and forearm those engaged in the development of policies and practices related to the finance of higher education.
The roots of controversy surrounding higher education in the US extend deep into the past. This original, incisive history goes far in offering a needed sense of perspective on current debates over such issues as access, costs, academic quality, social equity, and curricula. Eminently readable and always lively, this timely historical account is sure to be an invaluable resource for assessing the present condition and future prospects of American colleges and universities.
About this product: This text introduces students to basic techniques of writing proofs and acquaints them with some fundamental ideas. The authors assume that students using this text have already taken courses in which they developed the skill of using results and arguments that others have conceived. This text picks up where the others left off -- it develops the students' ability to think mathematically and to distinguish mathematical thinking from wishful thinking.
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