This collection brings together an anthology of articles by Thomas Christensen, one of the leading historians of music theory active today. Published over the span of the past 25 years, the selected articles provide a historical conspectus about a range of vital topics in the history of music theory, focusing in particular upon writings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Christensen examines a variety of theorists and their arguments within the intellectual and musical contexts of their time, in the process highlighting the diverse and idiosyncratic nature of the discipline of music theory itself. In the first section of the book Christensen offers general reflections on the meaning and interpretation of historical music theories, with especial attention paid to their value for music theorists today. The second section of the book contains a number of articles that consider the catalytic role of the thorough bass in the development of harmonic theory during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the final two sections of the anthology, focus turns to the writings of several individual music theorists, including Marin Mersenne, Seth Calvisius, Johann Mattheson, Johann Nicolaus Bach, Denis Diderot and Johann Nichelmann. The volume includes essays from hard-to-find publications as well as newly-translated material and the articles are prefaced by a new, wide-ranging autobiographical essay by the author that offers a broad re-assessment of his historical project. This book is essential reading for music theorists and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century musicologists.
Written as a music theory text that not only addresses the important fundamental syntax of music in the classical sense but also relates this syntax to current practices and styles, this book should be particularly well-suited to musicians focusing on aspects of the music business and of popular culture.
Tune in to how music really works Whether you’re a student, a performer, or simply a fan, this book makes music theory easy, providing you with a friendly guide to the concepts, artistry, and technical mastery that underlie the production of great music. You’ll quickly become fluent in the fundamentals of knocking out beats, reading scores, and anticipating where a piece should go, giving you a deeper perspective on the works of others — and bringing an extra dimension to your own. Tracking to a typical college-level course, Music Theory For Dummies breaks difficult concepts down to manageable chunks and takes into account every aspect of musical production and appreciation — from the fundamentals of notes and scales to the complexities of expression and instrument tone color. It also examines the latest teaching techniques — all the more important as the study of music, now shown to provide cognitive and learning benefits for both children and adults, becomes more prevalent at all levels. Master major and minor scales, intervals, pitches, and clefs Understand basic notation, time signals, tempo, dynamics, and navigation Employ melodies, chords, progressions, and phrases to form music Compose harmonies and accompanying melodies for voice and instruments Wherever you want to go musically — as a writer or performer, or just as someone who wants to enjoy music to its fullest — this approachable guide gives you everything you need to hear!
Third in a series designed to expand the idea of music theory to points beyond the written page, to have students realize that the music they are performing, listening to, and composing evolves from the realm of music theory. Book 3 covers notes on the grand staff, rhythm, eighth notes, intervals, pentachords, and triads.
This introduction to music theory, designed primarily for producers of pop music, includes sections on rhythm, scales, triads, songwriting, seventh chords, and more; with musical examples.
Music Theory for the Bass Player is a comprehensive and immediately applicable guide to making you a well-grounded groover, informed bandmate and all-around more creative musician. Included with this book are 89 videos that are incorporated in this ebook. This is a workbook, so have your bass and a pen ready to fill out the engaging Test Your Understanding questions! Have you always wanted to learn music theory but felt it was too overwhelming a task? Perhaps all the books seem to be geared toward pianists or classical players? Do you know lots of songs, but don't know how the chords are put together or how they work with the melody? If so, this is the book for you! • Starting with intervals as music's basic building blocks, you will explore scales and their modes, chords and the basics of harmony. • Packed with fretboard diagrams, musical examples and exercises, more than 180 pages of vital information are peppered with mind-bending quizzes, effective mnemonics, and compelling learning approaches. • Extensive and detailed photo demonstrations show why relaxed posture and optimized fingering are vital for good tone, timing and chops. • You can even work your way through the book without being able to read music (reading music is of course a vital skill, yet, the author believes it should not be tackled at the same time as the study of music theory, as they are different skills with a different practicing requirement. Reading becomes much easier once theory is mastered and learning theory on the fretboard using diagrams and patterns as illustrations, music theory is very accessible, immediately usable and fun. This is the definitive resource for the enthusiastic bassist! p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Helvetica; min-height: 16.0px} This book and the 89 free videos stand on their own and form a thorough source for studying music theory for the bass player. If you'd like to take it a step further, the author also offers a corresponding 20 week course; this online course works with the materials in this book and practices music theory application in grooves, fills and solos. Information is on the author's blog.
For one-semester, freshman-level courses in Basic Musicianship, Music Fundamentals, or Music Foundations; and for graduate courses in theory review. This classic, self-paced, auto-instructional introduction to music fundamentals allows students to work independently through a programmed format, allowing instructors to concentrate on the more creative aspects of their course. From the wealth of clearly laid-out lessons and exercises, students receive continual feedback and reinforcement as they work through the sequence at their own pace.
Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice contains the basics of music theory with the vocabulary used in harmonic and formal analysis. The book assumes few music reading skills, and progresses to include the basic materials of music from J. S. Bach to the twentieth century. Based on Blatter's own three decades of teaching music theory, this book is aimed at a one or two year introductory course in music theory, can serve for individual study, or as a review for graduate students returning to school. Drawing examples from well-known classical works, as well as folk and popular music, the book shows how theory is applied to practice. The book is divided into five parts. The first part introduces music notation, reviewing the basics of pitch, time, and dynamics as represented in written music. Part 2 introduces the concept of melody, covering modes, scales, scale degrees, and melodic form. Part 3 introduces harmony, dealing with harmonic progression, rhythm, and chord types. Part 4 addresses part writing and harmonic analysis. Finally, Part 5 addresses musical form, and how form is used to structure a composition. Revisiting Music Theory will be a valuable textbook for students, professors, and professionals.
This Music Theory for Young Musicians in the Style of Russian School of Piano Playing multi-volume collection of books is targeted to pre-college students of all levels, both children and adults, and is drawn largely from the materials the author has developed for her own students over the years.This collection was originally conceived as a supplement to the Russian School of Piano Playing (Russian Piano School) book series. A number of piano teachers, both Russian and American, who use the Russian Piano School method, have noted the need for a comprehensive music theory supplement since the three books of the series provide very scarce theory information. This Music Theory is intended to fill this gap, though it can be used effectively with any piano method. Moreover, the Music Theory books have evolved beyond their original conception as a supplement to the Russian Piano School books, incorporating more advanced concepts and skills than those found in the Russian Piano School series, which stops at intermediate levels.What makes these Music Theory books unique:*This collection is expected to be one of a kind written in English language for the following important reasons: 1) The author applies European and Russian music school musical terminology and classifications in the books; 2) The author offers her own terms and classifications; 3) The author provides some unique illustrations, charts and graphics; 4) Such advanced concepts as tonality, functionality , chromaticism, enharmonicism, all forms of resolutions and modulations, and all forms of cadences/chord progressions have never been included in any pre-college or college introductory courses; therefore, the books of intermediate and advanced levels are extremely helpful for those students who plan to continue their musical education in college. *This Music Theory collection uniquely combines textbook and workbook (theory and practice), teacher and student book components in each volume, providing greater ease of instruction for both teachers and students at every level. *This Music Theory books contain a broad anthology of repertoire at every level. It include not only excerpts/fragments, but also complete music pieces that are offered for analysis and performance. *This Music Theory collection uniquely develops the student's analytic and logical skills through detailed analysis of its large number of musical examples. This is accomplished by accompanying each musical example with a number of questions about various musical components that lead the student to his/her own conclusion about the uniqueness of a concrete musical work. With every analysis of a musical example, the student's attention is drawn to the style and genre of a musical piece, to the historical period in which it was composed and to the background (nationality) of a composer.*Starting with Level 2, each book includes additional biographical articles about the composers and musical genres, either in footnotes or in the appendix/endnotes; this forms a concise "encyclopedia" for the student to turn to when he/she needs to answer the questions about genres or composers backgrounds.*The books include a number of unique comparison exercises. *This collection presents, through the performance tips found throughout the books, the important connection between theory concepts and piano performance. A student's attention is consistently brought to the new music terms as they are introduced in the musical examples. This helps the student to comprehend and memorize important musical terms in relation to performance.The unique teaching tools offered in this Music Theory series will encourage students to look more closely and deeply at the music, and will intensify their ability to read music quickly and effectively. Upon completion of the theory training in these books, a student should be able to sketch a musical image in his/her mind just by looking at the score, before he/she even begins to play it.
There have been far-reaching changes in the way music theorists and analysts view the nature of their disciplines. Encounters with structuralist and post-structuralist critical theory, and with linguistics and cognitive sciences, have brought the theory and analysis of music into the orbit of important developments in intellectual history. This book presents the work of a group of scholars who, without seeking to impose an explicit redefinition of either theory or analysis, explore the limits of both in this context. Essays on the languages of analysis and theory, and on practical issues such as decidability, ambiguity and metaphor, combine with studies of works by Debussy, Schoenberg, Birtwistle and Boulez, together making a major contribution to an important debate in the growth of musicology.
