Basic Music Theory, 4th ed.: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music - Softcover

Jonathan Harnum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1492831638 ISBN 13: 9781492831631

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

What do all those lines and squiggles and dots mean?Basic Music Theory takes you through the sometimes confusing world of written music with a clear, concise style that is at times funny and always friendly.The book is written by an experienced music teacher using methods refined over more than twenty years in schools and in his private teaching studio. Lessons are fun, well-paced, and enjoyable.Whether you’re a beginner of any age, whether you’re an experienced player who wants to bone up on your theory, or whether you teach music and need a fun way to do it, you’ll find this book valuable and will refer to it again and again.

About this title

From the Back Cover

What do all those lines and squiggles and dots mean? Basic Music Theory takes you through the sometimes confusing world of written music with a clear, concise style that is at times funny and always friendly.

The book is written by an experienced music teacher using methods refined over more than twenty years in schools and in his private teaching studio. Lessons are fun, well-paced, and enjoyable.

Whether you're a beginner of any age, whether you're an experienced player who wants to bone up on your theory, or whether you teach music and need a fun way to do it, you'll find this book valuable and will refer to it again and again.

You will discover how easy it is to:

• Learn quickly and efficiently with easy lessons designed by a professional teacher.
• Learn the symbols used in written music.
• Understand the terms most musicians use.
• Use memory devices to learn terms and symbols.
• Use the study guides to remember it all.
• Apply what you've learned with short Practical Use sections at the end of each chapter.
• Find examples of musicians making excellent music.

With Interludes on:

• How to practice: the author conducted his PhD research on music practice. Learn some great practice tips.
• Conducting. What does all that arm-waving mean, and how does it help? Find the answers and learn to do it yourself.
• Learn some Italian. Most musical terms are in Italian. Learn them in this section.
• Ultra-brief history of music notation.

Special Features:

• Piano keyboard with note names
• Guitar fretboard w/ note names
• Chapter & Section reviews
• Practical use exercises
• Extensive cross-references

From the Inside Flap

Music programs in schools across the United States struggle to make the case for music in an effort to raise funds and in some cases, to keep programs from being cut altogether. Advocates often point to extra-musical benefits in an effort to justify the inclusion of music in the curriculum. Some of these claims have been supported by quality research, and some have not. For example, researchers at McGill University in Canada found that kids who take piano lessons showed improved general and spatial cognitive development; studies at a Miami Veterans Administration hospital indicate that music making may improve the brain's natural production of regulatory hormones like melatonin; piano students who begin studying by age 7 have a larger corpus callosum (the channel through which the two hemispheres of the brain communicate). Musicians appear to be better able to detect emotion in sound, and hear better in noisy settings according to research from leading auditory neuroscientist Dr. Nina Kraus and her research team at Northwestern University.

Pretty cool stuff, but it's important to remember that the true benefits of music lie elsewhere. Music is its own reason for existence, as is any art form. To justify the existence of music in the schools, or its general importance by pointing to other effects is like saying that eating food is important to the economy. It's true, but there is a more fundamental importance that lies deeper.

Reasons for including music and music education in one's life has nothing to do with larger brains, better social skills, or better math skills, even if these benefits actually exist. The reason for including music in one's education is that music is a source of authentic and meaningful personal expression, as valid and important as any other personal expression, whether it be linguistic, mechanical, mathematical or scientific. If providing a balanced education is important, music and the other arts must be included.

Written music is a recent development in music history and has only been around for about 800 years in our Western tradition. Many musical traditions, and many highly successful musicians around the world don't use written music at all. Written music is simply one more tool a musician can draw upon in the pursuit of messing around with sound. Being able to read music is no guarantee that you'll actually be a musician, of course. In your quest, as soon as you can let go of the written note and dive deeper into the sounds themselves, do it.

The best of luck to you!

Jon Harnum 10/15/13

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1492831638
• ISBN 13: 9781492831631
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 226