Dr. Steven Porter
Books and Works for the Stage

If you were planning to teach a choral/vocal program on the secondary level, this would be your most valued textbook. Starting with the very first day of summer planning and ending with the very last day of school, the book discusses absolutely everything needed for a program of excellence from tone production to exchange concerts. Written by a professional with over 30 years of experience whose choirs have been chosen four times for ACDA concert appearances. The book has many charts and diagrams, is indexed, and comes with an accompanying cassette tape which demonstrates the techniques discussed with the author’s own HS chorus.

If you are a secondary school music teacher, aspiring to be one, or a college professor training students to become one, this is the perfect text. It covers virtually every course (general music, music appreciation, music theory, musical theatre, chorus, band, and orchestra) you are likely to encounter with complete syllabi as well as topics rarely discussed (such as the copyright law, student discipline, church-state issues, etc.). Written by authors with over 50 years of combined secondary music teaching and supervision, the text contains a comprehensive bibliography, many charts and diagrams, and an index of subjects.

A complete and comprehensively researched study of American public education since World War II centering on the various aspects of educational decline (academic, behavioral, etc.) and explaining their root causes. Even more, the book at every turn offers real solutions to America’s educational dilemmas from how to improve test scores to how to upgrade teacher training. A valuable contribution to the field. Extensive bibliography. Indexed.

A complete musical theatre course which has proven to be an invaluable text for musical theatre programs. The book contains a history of the musical theatre, a blueprint for mounting musical productions, analytical discussions of every aspect of a musical (composition, lyric-writing, libretto-writing, costuming, stagecraft, choreography, acting, etc.) Finally, the text discusses how musicals are written and offers the student a chance to convert either a novel, play, or motion picture to the musical stage. Dozens of photographs. Dozens of assignments.

This is a full two-act musical setting of Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities. It comes with a libretto (which also contains all the single-line vocal parts as well as the choral parts), a full piano/vocal score (with orchestration cues for the conductor), and complete orchestra parts. There is a cassette available with highlights of the score. An expertly crafted work suitable for college or professional mounting.

A companion to The American Musical Theatre, this work is a compendium and synopsis of over 300 films indispensable to the theatrical or musical theatre student. Virtually every aspect of theatre and cinema can be scrutinized in these undying screen classics, all of which are available on video cassette for study and enjoyment. Dozens and dozens of some of the motion picture industry’s most beautiful photographs. A great book for home, office, or classroom.

Written by the “New Works” group, this is a series of highly diverse, highly entertaining monologues. The works are grouped according to the suggested age of the speaker (child, adult, senior citizen). Again, some of the materials deal with adult themes and are not suitable for any but a mature theatrical audience. This work is perfect for an evening of monologues or for the actor in search of fresh audition material.

A critically acclaimed compilation of theatrical vignettes for a variety of performers (solo, pairs, small ensembles, etc.). Written by a group of expert, seasoned, theatrical authors, this work provides entertaining self-contained works covering every mood the stage possesses. Some of the materials involve adult themes and are therefore suitable only for mature theatrical audiences.

A full-length two-act play based on the romance between Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge and the effect which the relationship had on Lincoln and the nation. Carefully researched and beautifully written, the play has been performed to the delight of audiences since its inception. The cast calls for six actors (4M, 2W). The script contains a historical forward, and many rare photographs and drawings.

The Prairie Man also exists as a full-stage musical which has converted the original play into a two-act work for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra.

A unique philosophical and political treatise concerning the rights and responsibilities of the individual toward the state and the state toward the individual in a pluralistic democracy. Every great social theme of our times is discussed: abortion, capital punishment, taxation, public schooling, military service, free speech, pornography, etc. What is offered is a blueprint by which a democracy can deal with the controversial issues which inevitably arise in the social and political structures of human society. A guideline much needed in the complexity of modern life.

A collection of four stories of varying length, the first of which, The Senator’s Son, is a novella about the murder of an American Senator and the involvement of his son in the political intrigue and espionage surrounding his father’s death. The stories are topical and poignant. A good read for all ages.

The story of a young boy who, growing up as a member of the Hitler Youth, becomes a Nazi soldier and through the various events of his life redeems himself for the atrocities he has committed. It is a work of fiction, but it is based on a real person, a person who became a friend of the author and provided the memoirs from which the novel was written.

Our story opens in August of 1991. We are in Moscow, and it is the time of the August coup when Russia's hard-line conservative communists have placed Gorbachev under house arrest and are moving their tanks toward Yeltsin's barricade at the Praesidium. Hannes, now sixty-seven, has come to Moscow to stand up for Yeltsin. At the end of the first chapter, as he sees the Russian tanks approaching, he thinks to himself, "I have seen this before."

When the page turns, we are in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It is now 1937, and a thirteen-year-old Hannes is standing with his mother at a parade watching Hitler's tanks rolling down the main thoroughfare. From this point until the end of our story, we follow Hannes's life, eventually returning to Moscow and the oncoming Russian army.

It is a life of great trauma and transformation. Hannes becomes a paratrooper in WW II. He is ordered to kill part of the population of Novgorod when he is dropped behind the Russian lines during the battle of Leningrad. Later, he is injured at Stalingrad and forced to spend months in recovery. He becomes a POW and escapes, but his best friend is killed, his girl friend bombed in Hamburg, his home and parents destroyed. He sees Dachau first-hand and gradually realizes that he has been victimized by Hitler's propaganda. He begins to change.

He marries Anna, a Jewish obstetrical nurse who has escaped from Dachau. He becomes an electrical engineer, and travels with his wife to Scotland and eventually America. As the years go by, Anna helps him in his moral and spiritual transformation. Eventually he realizes that his redemption will not be complete until he helps the people of Russia whom he once fought against. We follow his journey back to the beginning of the novel and to the fate which awaits him at the Praesidium.

Purchase Hannes Klar by clicking HERE.

A collection of interviews done just at the moment Russia changed from a communist empire to its present form. The respondents are from both Russia and America and are matched by profession (teachers, doctors, lawyers, students, athletes, government leaders, farmers, artists, military personnel, etc.). The interviewees talk about the past, present, and future of their nations and the world. A truly fascinating primary-source historical document at a seminal moment of modern history. Each interview is accompanied by photographs and a brief biography of the people speaking. Faithfully transcribed and translated.

United States Senator Irwin Rubin is killed, and his estranged son, David, is drawn into an investigation of his father's death. What follows is one of the most incredible spy stories of the post-World War II era. The novel is Dr. Porter's reworking of a previously published short story, and is also available as a screenplay.

Purchase The Senator's Son by clicking HERE.

AMERICA'S DYING DEMOCRACY is a political treatise by a writer and researcher who has also run for major office and thus has insights which few political observers possess. It is an explanation of how and why the government of the United States has wandered significantly from it's birth as a democracy to become little more than the servant of the special interests which control it-control it to the point where it no longer primarily serves the interests of its people and where its misuse may actually endanger the world. But this treatise offers more than merely decrying the withering of the American democracy. Unlike other works which do only that, this one offers a possible course of action by which America's democracy might be restored not just to the benefit of the American people, but to the benefit of a world which has reached a critical juncture in its own survival.

Purchase America's Dying Democracy by clicking HERE.

CAESAR'S CHILDREN AND OTHER STORIES is a collection of sixteen short stories by the author of HANNES KLAR and THE SENATOR'S SON. On the surface, the stories deal with two topics. The first nine are about dogs; the last seven about education. The scope of the stories, however, goes considerably beyond those two subjects for through the stories, the author plumbs the depths of the human character and human society. Every emotion is explored; every literary technique employed. Here the reader will find laughter and tears, narrative and commentary, fact and fantasy in as wide a variety as can be found. Drawing on a lifetime's work with students and animals, Dr. Porter has created a collection of fiction which the reader will not soon forget.

Purchase CAESAR's Children and Other Stories by clicking HERE.

One of the most unique, intelligent, and comprehensive music theory books of the modern era. This text teaches the complete species counterpoint regimen and applies it to the harmonization of Bach chorale melodies. By the end of the course of study, students will be able to write any counterpoint exercise first through fifth species and to harmonize any chorale melody diatonically, chromatically, with a variety of non-chord tones, and with modulations to either closely related or foreign keys. The text is written with hundreds of examples, dozens of assignments, and room on the pages of the book to copy assignments, thus providing the student with a life-long record of music theory studies. The final chapters of the text deal with the fundamentals of Schenkerian analysis and offer the student a chance to harmonize twenty chorales and then compare them with those of J.S. Bach. In use since 1987, this text has proven itself to be indispensable to the college level theory student.

One of the most comprehensive works of its kind, this is a complete introduction to music suitable for use on the secondary or college level. The text covers the physics of acoustics, the elements of musical notation, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, the history of music, the development of jazz and popular music, the many uses of music in today’s society, and performing music (vocally, on the guitar, on the drums, on the recorder, and on the keyboard). The book is indexed and chock full of photos, drawings, and diagrams. Available as supplemental materials with the text are a teacher’s guide (containing chapter synopses and sample tests), a music theory workbook, and beginning methods workbooks for playing both guitar and piano.

The invaluable theories of Heinrich Schenker have often been disseminated in complex, arcane forms. Here, at last, is a thorough discussion of the analytical techniques of Schenker written in understandable language and presented in a comprehensive pedagogical way. Thomas Pankhurst, the webmaster of the SchenkerGuide website, has this to say about Dr. Porter’s text. “I like the richness and diversity of the examples and the way in which analytical material is introduced bit by bit so that the student is never suddenly overwhelmed. This is the least threatening book on analysis/theory in its tone and language that I have ever seen.” From Schenker’s fundamental concepts to the intricacies of graphing, Schenker Made Simple guides the student through dozens of works with dozens of graphic examples and many assignments for practice. The text is indexed and contains a useful list of suggested readings. If any theory student wishes to understand the world of Schenkerian analysis, this text is an indispensable aid.

An exacting study of the relationship between the so-called “classical” and “popular” genres of post-1900 music seen through a study of the music of The Beatles. Included are chapters defining various popular styles, chapters discussing the development of 20th-century popular music and the place of the Beatles within that development, chapters discussing the Beatles themselves as well as the key people who surrounded them, and chapters discussing the various rhythmic, harmonic, and contrapuntal aspects of the music of the Beatles. A painstakingly comprehensive bibliography and thorough indexing make this a very accessible research tool. Of particular interest are the comments of George Martin, the Beatles’ arranger and producer relative to the innovative musical and technical aspects of their work. Technical reading for the professional musician or musicologist, but very understandable chapters for the average listener, particularly the chapters on the history of popular music and the Beatles themselves. A pioneering work in the field of modern ethnomusicology. (UMS 79-13,156).

A detailed discussion and analysis of the development of the string quartet genre through a comparison of the Opus 20 with the Opus 76 Haydn quartets. Complete Schenkerian graphs are used particularly to delineate the changing concepts of the development sections of the works involved. Highly technical reading of original academic research.

Dr. Steven Porter's books & Phantom Publications
may be ordered from:

Empire Publishing Service
PO Box 1344
Studio City, CA 91614-0344 USA
[818] 784-8918