JERRY SILVERMAN
MUSICOLOGIST, AUTHOR, FOLKSINGER, TEACHER
B.S. (Music) CCNY 1952
M.A. (Musicology) NYU 1955
My master’s Thesis: “Blues Guitar Technique” led directly to the publication of my first book, “Folk Blues,” (Macmillan, 1958). It was and remains the only comprehensive collection of traditional blues ever published.
My career as an author really took off during the ‘60s with the publication of “The Folksinger’s Guitar Guide,” (Oak Publications,1962) based on an instruction record by Pete Seeger. The book sold over 327,000 copies.
Since then I have authored over 200 books: Instruction manuals for guitar, banjo and fiddle; music theory; folksong anthologies - American and international; textbooks for teaching history through folksongs; arrangements for various instruments.
Many of them have gone out of print over the years but a number of them can be found on Amazon.com. Others may be reprinted from time to time. I continue to write new books. Updates on the new and reprinted editions will be posted here as they become available.
Currently in-print books are listed below.
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As a music teacher, parent and author, I have always been acutely aware of the need to stimulate and enrich the learning experience of music students of all ages. These books have gained a wide acceptance among hundreds of thousands of teachers and students because they were not written in a vacuum or to satisfy some abstract notions, but have grown out of my own real teaching and learning experiences.
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Publishers’ abbreviations and links:
MB = Mel Bay Publications >Jerry Silverman
HL = Hal Leonard Publications >Jerry Silverman
WB = Warner Bros. Music >arranger >Jerry Silverman
KP = Kensington Press >Jerry Silverman
SH = Schott Musik International
>English >detailed product search >particpant >Jerry Silverman
SC = Scarborough House > Jerry Silverman
SY = Syracuse University Press >Jerry Silverman
* = books of particular significance
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 *The
Baseball Songbook (Alfred Publications)
*The Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs
of the Holocaust (SY)
*Of Thee I Sing (KP) - Patriotic American songs from the Revolutionary
War to the present day.
*The Guitarists’ Guide And Almanac (MB) - A re-edition of the
famous Folksingers’ Guitar Guides, Volumes 1 and 2, with extensive
never-before-published historical, musical, technical and personal
commentary.
A Guitarist’s Treasury Of Song (MB)
Ballads And Songs Of The Civil War (MB)
Songs Of Ireland (MB)
Songs Of England (MB)
Songs Of Scotland (MB)
Recorder Music For Children (MB)
Folksongs For Schools And Camps (MB)
Kidsongs (MB)
Kidfiddle (MB) - Easy fiddle tunes with piano accompaniment
Campfire Songbook (MB)
Songs Of Mexico (MB)
Backpacker’s Songbook (MB)
Guitar Tabsongs: Blues (MB)
Guitar Tabsongs: Bluegrass (MB)
Guitar Tabsongs: Beloved Ballads (MB)
Blues For Guitar (HL)
 Blues Harmonica (HL)
Children’s Songs for Guitar (HL)
Folk Harmonica (HL)
Fingerstyle Contemporary Movie Songs (HL)
Fingerstyle Broadway Ballads (HL)
Fingerstyle TV Tunes For Guitar (HL)
Best Of Broadway For Guitar (WB)
Gershwin For Guitar (WB)
Ellington For Guitar (WB)
Swinging Jazz For Guitar (WB)
Jazz Classics For Guitar (WB)
Great Standards For Guitar (WB)
Pop Classics For Guitar (WB)
The Ultimate Guitar Folk Song Collection (WB)
Three Chords For Christmas Guitar (WB)
Solo Guitar Jazz Standards (WB)
Solo Guitar Great Standards (WB)
*Folk Blues (SH) In German edition. Text in German; songs in
English. www.schott-music.com
Herewith some currently out-of-print books of interest:
*The Folk Song Encyclopedia (HL) 2 vols. - over 1000
songs.
The Yiddish Song Book (SC)
The Immigrant Song Book
The American History Song Book
Ballads And Songs Of World War I
Songs That Made History Around The World
Songs And Stories From The American Revolution
Songs Of The Western Frontier
Train Songs
Mexican Songs
Songs Of France
Songs Of Latin America
Italian Songs And Arias
Gypsy Songs Of Russia And Hungary
Songs Of Germany
How To Play The Guitar
Note Reading And Music Theory For Guitarists
The Chord Player’s Encyclopedia
Traditional Black Music (13 vols.)
Singing Our Way Out West
Beginning The Five-String Banjo
How To Play Country Fiddle
How to Play Blues Guitar
How To Play Ragtime Guitar
The Liberated Woman’s Song Book
String Along With Scott (String quartette arrangements of Scott
Joplin rags)
Just Listen To This Song I’m Singing (Afro-American history
through song.) Selected as one of the 1997 best “Books for the Teen
Age” by the New York Public Library.
The Complete Chorales Of Johann Sebastian Bach
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