Green Roof Systems goes beyond the fashionable green roof movement and provides solid information on building accessible space; often as important public space; over structure. It offers brief coverage of the entire process; including planning and collaboration; and focuses on the technical aspects of these roof systems; their components; and their applications.
#905932 in eBooks 2007-10-05 2007-10-05File Name: B005RBU93A
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Invaluable treasure for all interested in 18th-century musicBy Olli Vauml;isauml;lauml;This is an outstanding book. It is one of the most informative. enjoyable. fascinating. and thought-provoking books on music that I have ever read. Through hundreds of musical examples. it demonstrates how extensively the music of the "galant" 18th-century era was based on the skillful treatment and combination of a limited number of basic schemata. also discussing the Italian practical pedagogical methods through which these schemata were taught to aspiring musicians. Gjerdingens expertise of the subject seems enormous. and I feel grateful indeed for his generosity in delivering this expertise for the reading audience.As Gjerdingen notes himself. the style of his presentation reminds of 18th-century lavishness. His perspective is by no means limited to the musical scores. He not only considers the underlying courtly social structure. but inserts excursions to a wide variety of parallel phenomena (concerning topics such as figure skating. fairy tale schemata. Beatles research). While these excursions may not be necessary for the main argument. I find them throughly enjoyable. as I find the thoughtful and colorful discourse in general.(To offer perspective for these assessments. I should perhaps note that I am a professional musician and music theorist. Nevertheless. it seems probable that most of the book will be accessible to those with much less technical knowledge. as long as they can read musical notation.)While anyone interested in 18th-century music will benefit enormously from the treasure of this book. a more critical attitude is needed for assessing Gjerdingens arguments against alternative analytical approaches. such as sonata theory or Schenkerian theory. Whereas Gjerdingen refers to such approaches as "tyrannizing." there may be equal risk of his being inadvertently tyrannized by his own schema categories. Sometimes. for example. he analyzes a progression as a complex combination of schemata. even though it may appear to the reader as a uniform larger pattern. and the main justification for the analysis seems to be just the absence of this pattern from his list of schemata.Another problem is the overly indistinct definition and analytical application of schemata. The protype of "Prinner." for example. is described as having a ^6-^5-^4-^3 progression in which ^6 is metrically strong. In the analyses. however. ^6 is often weak. in one case even a weak 32nd-note. In the end. almost any melodic detail that descends from ^6 seems to qualify as a Prinner. and one begins to wonder whether. say. J. S. Bachs numerous ^5-^6-^5-^4-^3 Fugue themes also contain Prinners. For that matter. also the first modulation in the first prelude of WTC I would seem to qualify as a modulating Prinner. All in all. if the Prinner is supposed to be the distinctive characteristic of Italian galant that Gjerdingen asserts. it requires a clearer definition.Finally. I would note that Gjerdingens negative stance against Schenkerian analysis is hardly supported by his actual findings. To begin with. his schema theory and Schenkerianism have much in common. since both seek to reveal underlying patterns of composition. which in both cases involve characteristic scale-degree combinations. The relationships between the two approaches might be a fruitful subject of future studies. To mention just one example. Gjerdingens identification of a Prinner and an "Indugio" in Mozarts Sonata in C. KV 545. mm. 18-23. helps us to understand how these details relate with the general vocabulary of the stylistic environment. but the Schenkerians identification of the peak tones D6 and C6 as parts of a ^5-^4-^3-^2-^1 descent in G major. helps us to understand their syntactic position within this particular piece.As is so often the case. a scholar with a grand vision seems to be a bit blinded by his vision from seeing the merits of alternative viewpoints. This should not. however. distract us from recognizing and making good use of his amazing accomplishment.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great book. poor book designBy NoeticaA useful. refreshing. and original account of 18th-century compositional practice. I use it to enhance my own understanding and writing of music. and warmly recommend it to others. Still. four stars not five.There are small errors that copyediting and checking should have picked up (Riepel appears as Reipel at least once. etc.). But thats common enough.The general index would be better with more secondary entries and cross-referencing. Why not an entry for "hemiola cadence" (like the one for "Cudworth cadence"). which turns up only under "cadence"? The first occurrence of that rechercheacute; term occurs in analysis of a minuet by Somis on pages 74 and 76 ndash; but that use is neither explained there nor indexed. Are there other occurrences. elsewhere? I dont know. The term is only indexed for page 168. where it is defined well enough. Why not a direct reference on page 74 to the explanation on page 168? Instead we are sent on one of too many goose chases that the book will impose on the diligent and attentive reader.Not least among inconveniences is the small font chosen for the main text and all auxiliaries. Many will struggle to locate or identify the exiguous flyspeck endnote markers in particular. And then. where are those endnotes anyway? They begin. we find. on page 481 ndash; sandwiched between two appendixes and two indexes. Fine. you say: keep a bookmark at the relevant point in the endnotes. Not fine. say I: what if I am merely consulting the book rather than reading it continuously? More generally. whats the POINT of such a cumbersome system? Here the notes are mainly just bibliographical. But I need to thumb through to check every time. so I can be sure of capturing what could turn out to be important even if Im dipping into this book as an aside while reading another.These and similar features of design mar the book. and make for inefficient transmission of knowledge. Publishers note: We want to take the fruit of your authors labour seriously; but your designers are not immersed in that task as we are. More insight into our plight. please! As for endnotes. I advise against them in nearly all cases. If there must be notes. why not have footnotes (trivially easy to maintain as a book is evolved. these days)? We can then see immediately. at a glance to the bottom of the page. whether the addition is substantive or a mere reference. It should not be beyond the wit of publishers to help us like this. as Norton do in Daniel Heartzs huge Music in European Capitals: The Galant Style. 1720ndash;1780 (recommended to be read along with this book).I agree also with Olli Vauml;isauml;lauml;s reservations ( review. 3 October 2012). Sometimes Gjerdingens analysis seems forced and doctrinaire. A schema is sometimes "imposed" where another reading ndash; even one using this authors own stock of resources ndash; seems at least as viable.If you love the 18th century and want deep insights into its music. buy this book. Patience gets rewarded.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Back then they were called the Illuminati (The Higher Wisdom Secret Society) Its amazing what this book reveals and goes througBy Steven OddenHow many people understand the Secret Mysteries of the Creation of High Classical Music and the Galant Style.Not only that but how many people understand the Societies under the Galant Style. Most assume that Mozarts whole life was hiswritings to his Father. No Sorry. Mozart never talks about the Lodges he belonged to or the one He Created himself or even the Humanistic Approach to Composing Music. Back then they were called the Illuminati (The Higher Wisdom Secret Society)Its amazing what this book reveals and goes through. Its step by step process on understanding the creation of classical music From the Masters of Naples. I doubt there are even a handful of people in this world that know these secrets.It takes a while to truly understand them.To many. no everyone! all schools. all people are obsessed with the V-1. ii-V6/4-1 etc.and the calling out of all harmonies and there positions against a melody. Yea question and answering phrases and bla bla bla bla.well no... That does not explain the creation of the classical Galant Style of Music and composing that style of music.This book however....Does....
