The musical instruments of East and Southeast Asia enjoy increasing recognition as parts of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Helen Rees edits a collection that offers vibrant new ways to link these objects to their materials of manufacture, the surrounding environment, the social networks they form and help sustain, and the wider ethnic or national imagination. Rees organizes the essays to reflect three angles of inquiry. The first section explores the characteristics and social roles of various categories of instruments, including the koto and an extinct Balinese wooden clapper. In section two, essayists focus on the life stories of individual instruments ranging from an heirloom Chinese qin to end-blown flutes in rural western Mongolia. Essays in the third section examine the ethics and other issues that surround instrument collections, but also show how collecting is a dynamic process that transforms an instrument’s habitat and social roles. Original and expert, Instrumental Lives brings a new understanding of how musical instruments interact with their environments and societies. Contributors: Supeena Insee Adler, Marie-Pierre Lissoir, Terauchi Naoko, Jennifer C. Post, Helen Rees, Xiao Mei, Tyler Yamin, and Bell Yung

Instrumental Lives is an account of instrument making at the cutting edge of contemporary science and technology in a modern Indian scientific laboratory. For a period of roughly two-and-half decades, starting the late 1980s, a research group headed by CV Dharmadhikari in the physics department at the Savitribai Phule University, Pune, fabricated a range of scanning tunnelling and scanning force microscopes including the earliest such microscopes made in the country. Not only were these instruments made entirely in-house, research done using them was published in the world's leading peer reviewed journals, and students who made and trained on them went on to become top class scientists in premier institutions. The book uses qualitative research methods such as open-ended interviews, historical analysis and laboratory ethnography that are standard in Science and Technology Studies (STS), to present the micro-details of this instrument making enterprise, the counter-intuitive methods employed, and the unexpected material, human and intellectual resources that were mobilised in the process. It locates scientific research and innovation within the social, political and cultural context of a laboratory's physical location and asks important questions of the dominant narratives of innovation that remain fixated on quantitative metrics of publishing, patenting and generating commerce. The book is a story as much of the lives of instruments and their deaths as it is of the instrumentalities that make those lives possible and allow them to live on, even if with a rather precarious existence.

"An intense, eloquent, and appropriately furious memoir with the transporting beauty of classical music . . . The cumulative effect of the literary concert [Rhodes] gives in these pages is transcendence, both for him and for the reader." --Los Angeles Review of Books “A mesmeric combination of vivid, keen, obsessive precision and raw, urgent energy.” --Zoe Williams, The Guardian James Rhodes's passion for music has been his lifeline--the thread that has held through a life encompassing abuse and turmoil. But whether listening to Rachmaninov on a loop as a traumatized teenager or discovering a Bach adagio while in a hospital ward, he survived his demons by encounters with musical miracles. These--along with a chance encounter with a stranger--inspired him to become the renowned concert pianist he is today. Instrumental is a memoir like no other: unapologetically candid, boldly outspoken, and surprisingly funny--shot through with a mordant wit, even in its darkest moments. A feature film adaptation of Rhodes's incredible story is now in development from Monumental Pictures and BBC Films, following a competitive bidding war involving major U.S. and U.K. companies. An impassioned tribute to the therapeutic powers of music, Instrumental also weaves in fascinating facts about how classical music actually works and about the extraordinary lives of some of the great composers. It explains why and how music has the potential to transform all of our lives.

Instrumental teaching in the UK is characterised by a lack of regulation and curriculum, whereby individuals can teach with no training or qualification. Kerry Boyle explores the way in which individuals who begin teaching can negotiate successful careers in music without formal training. Existing studies suggest that individuals in this context have complex understandings of professional identity, preferring to identify as musicians or performers rather than teachers, even when most of their income is derived from teaching. Boyle explores the complex working lives of instrumental teachers in the UK, including routes into instrumental teaching and the specific meanings associated with the role and identity of the professional musician for individuals involved in portfolio careers in music. Through an examination of the lived experience of instrumental teachers, this study highlights the need to revise existing notions of the professional musician to acknowledge contemporary careers in music. The resulting insights can be used to inform and enhance existing approaches to careers in music and contribute to career preparation in undergraduate music students.

The first comprehensive exploration on the subject of older men, Older Men's Lives offers a multidisciplinary portrait of men and their concerns in later life. Using both a life-course and gendered perspective, the contributors to this collection of original articles point out that the image and self-image of men are continuously reconstructed over the life cycle. They examine older men's position in society and the changes wrought in their status and roles over time. Their relationship with their spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends are also explored, as are policy implications of a gendered, life-cycle view of masculinity. This volume also discusses faith development in older men, masculinity identity from work to retirement, older men's sexuality, and older men's friendship patterns. Older Men's Lives will be of interest to professionals and students interested in gender, men's studies, gerontology, and sociology. "This book begins to remedy the lack of information and provides data and research on aging men. . . .The strength of this book is the specificity of its focus. By focusing solely on male concerns the book is able to identify issues in the male aging process and discuss them on their own terms rather than simply as a contrast to females." --Clinical Gerontologist

From children sharing a love of music to professional musicians and teachers, authors Simonia E. and Archie K. Milton believe their lives are a testament that the Lord orchestrates His plan in the lives of His children. These best friends, who grew up in New Orleans and married in 1964, trust that when they stand united as one in Christ, they can get around any obstacle they may encounter. From the birth of their three children and their grandchildren, to their successes in music, to their individual battles with cancer, to the loss of loved ones and of their home as a result of the flooding from Hurricane Katrina, they know God has blessed them in the good times and brought them through the difficult times in their lives. They have found that living in harmony with the Lord, these words-which Archie said one day in college to an afraid Simonia-ring true: "You're going to be all right." As with the Miltons, when you diligently seek Him, you too will find Him. Jesus is there ready to intercede with the Father for us!

The romantic lives of emerging adults are often baffling and contradictory. While they prize committed and authentic relationships, they appear to be reluctant participants. They prefer to foster ambiguity in their romantic relationships, even as they value honesty and clarity. There is, at once, a valuing of long-term as well as a decentering of romantic relationships. Although our current understanding is incomplete, this text grapples with these perplexing questions. In attempting to understand emerging adults and their romantic lives, researchers must consider the challenging economic conditions in which today's emerging adults find themselves. With an emphasis on commitment and sacrifice and their centrality to one's readiness for a long-term relationship, this book reviews the main milestones in transitioning from an "I" identity to a "we" identity and discusses the concepts of choice and risk. Further, the book examines structures such as asymmetrically committed relationships, cohabitation, and marriage through the lens of commitment, risk, and risk avoidance. Probing extensively into the romantic lives of emerging adults -- their attitudes, values and expectations -- this text examines some of the developmental and contextual realities against which romantic attachment must be viewed. Critical topics such as casual and sexual experiences and relationships, integration of work and love, breakups, marriage, going solo, and social media and its influences are considered. The commonality and the individuality of the emerging adults presented throughout this text contribute to a rich understanding of emerging adults and how they live and love.