3 comments about Music Kit (Fourth Edition).

1. This book was used in my Introduction to Music Theory class which was the entry level music theory class for music majors at Fullerton College.IN the class we covered up to chapter ten so becuase we would cover the material for the rest of the book in our next semester music theory course which is called "Harmony I". I think it did a good job at providing the essentials and basics of music theory. THe book was not boring and provided in a very interactive way. The book goest from the very rudiments to some of the topics found in first year harmony. This book also did a great job at introducing elementary sight-singing using several methods based on the instructors choice. I think the book should include elementary ear training so that the book would be complete. It did a good job of introducing rythms from easy to more complex. This book should provide a proper foundation for students who are advancing to high studies of music theory and muscianship. This book was easy to understand for the most part and did not go into scholary jargon. I would reccoment this text to anyone who wants a proper foundation of music theory. This book was very well written.



2. Good book. Does a very good job of explaining concepts and methods, especially to someone new to music theory.



3. i received the Music Kit promptly in the mail and in new condition like it said in the details. the only thing i missed out on was the CD-ROM that i thought was suppose to come with it. But apparently you need to look for the words "Computer Assisted Version" when ordering this book.
   i just wish i knew that before ordering this book.
   other than that i give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
   THANKS AMAZON!
   
   (wow this is the most boring thing i've done all day and its only 8:30am)

2 comments about Alfred's Basic All-In-One Course For Children - Book 1: Book 1 (Alfred's Basic Piano Library).

1. We bought this for my 7 year old daughter to begin learning piano basics at home. It is a good introductory book to expose her to the basics of theory. It has lesson pages to build on the theory presented and exercises to increase the comfort level with white and black keys and counting. It introduces these concepts before introducing letter names of the keys (on page 22). The lessons work with both hands from the beginning.
   My mother, who has played piano for over 50 years, and taught piano lessons, did a study of piano lesson books for a music theory class, and recommended the Alfred books. This one puts it all together in one book in a logical sequence so we aren't juggled multiple books. It is also less expensive than buying three books (lesson, theory, and solo).



2. This book is a nice all-in-one. Good for an introduction and easy to teach from. Great price as well.

2 comments about Berklee Music Theory - Book 2.

1. Reviewing this book is saying most what it isn't but what it is. For those who are studying on Berkleeonline.com it's important for you to know that this book is not for the course Music Theory 201, but for the second part of Music Theory 101. It's a great book where you can find lots of examples and exercises, and a cd with all ear training exercises is included. What I don't like at all on this book is that there's no answer keys for the exercises, so you won't know if you did it ok or not.
   
   Anyway, it's a good book to learn basics on Music Theory :)
   
   Enjoy it!



2. This is a good book on basic harmony. The information is presented in a clear and concise manner with examples to supplement the text. There are also great excercises for the reader to do as a way of putting the material to work. However, there is no answer key in the book so one has to run the risk of knowing they did it all right. Despite the missing answer key I still feel I gained a lot of knowledge from this book and therefore I'm giving what could have been a 5 star book 3 stars.

5 comments about Composing Music: A New Approach.

1. The book's author is clearly influenced by minimalism not only in his approach to music, but also to writing and music instruction. His clearly modal approach to both melody and harmony is presented in superbly logical and fluff-free sequence of explanations and exercises. Some of advanced chapters on topics such as mating lyrics with music or writing picture music are brilliant as well.



2. I see that most people have high ratings for this book, but I cannot give it more than 2 stars for several reasons. First of all, the book does give a ton of exercises, but I didn't find these very useful--most of them were very simple exercises that had restrictions on how you could write the piece. This book does give much information about music theory, and the author does allow you to use this theory to write small (usually 10-15 bar) monophonic melodies, but by the end of the book this was all that I had learned to do. Yes, I did learn a lot of theory but I did not learn how to use the theoretical concept to its fullest potential when I composed a piece. At the end of the book, I found that, since the book gave me no practice at writing for more than one instrument at a time, I was not any better of a composer than I was at the start of the book.

   In my opinion, the author should add a CD to the book to illustrate how each concept he teaches is used to its fullest potential in a musical example. A major part of learning to compose is to listen and imitate--without listening, how are you supposed to know how to use this new music theory that you have just learned?

   Overall, the book is just a music theory book with a bunch of useless (to me, anyway) compositional exercises. Perhaps this book is for people who already have experience composing for a while. Personally, I am an ameateur and have piano skills and I wanted a book to teach me to compose, but I am afraid it did not help me very much, and I don't think it will help other ameateurs either.




3. If you are a real musician or lyricist, this book will help inspire you and give you some background in the format of western pop music. I recommend this book to any seroius songwriter, but please no more songs about butterflies!



4. I picked this book up a few years ago, and am still getting a lot out of the exercises. The processes used are very refreshing, from a music student's perspective. The approach is from the view of more contemporary music, and the text leaves out the stuffy, "unnecessary" theory. If you want to study theory, get a theory book.
   
   This book is designed to teach the individual who has little experience outside of very basic music fundamentals. From the first page you'll be writing "mini-compositions". The book works through the following concepts (chapter by chapter):
   
   1. The Cell, the Row, and Some Scales
   2. Harmony (I)
   3. Transformation
   4. The Small Theme and the Large Theme
   5. More Scales and teh 12-tone Row
   6 Isomelody and Isorhythm, Combined
   7. Ostinato
   8. Accompaniment Procedures
   9. Harmony (II)
   10. Counterpoint
   11. Organum
   12. Imitation: A Useful Game
   13. Words and Music
   14. Picture Music
   15. Popular Music as a Source
   16. Minimalism
   
   Although you certainly don't need to have advanced theory knowledge to make use of this book, once you do gain those skills, the book will prove that much more helpful.



5. This book was very helpful to me; the excercizes have you writing right away, and I liked that- learning by doing. I had very little technical knowledge when I started, but it didn't hinder me from understanding and using this book. I think this is an excellent starting point for someone just learning to compose. It is encouraging to be writing right away, especially when something ends up sounding good. I never thought I could write music!

4 comments about Modes for Guitar (Private Lessons).

1. I bought this book about 2 years ago. I really liked it. It was extremely useful when I was first learning about each of the major modes. That said, it focuses mostly on the application of the modes, although there is a rather brief introductory chapter on "The Theory of the Modes." Each major mode is covered in detail in it's own chapter, which includes:
   
   -Harmony, matching chord types, and pattern shapes.
   -Description of the mode's "character," what gives it that character, and common usages of the mode.
   -7 to 10 licks, riffs, and solos illustrating and explaining different applications of the mode, all on accompanying CD and all in both tab and standard notation.
   -A jam track for improvising over in that mode (on CD).
   
   It also contains a chapter on "Other Modes," where it briefly touches upon melodic & harmonic minor, the blues scale, and a couple modes of each (like the Altered scale, Phrygian dominant, and the Bluegrass scale). It's somewhat helpful.
   
   One final note: while the examples are not overly technical (for example, no shredding), some of them might be a bit daunting to those who haven't been playing very long. But with a bit of practice anyone could probably get them down. All in all, this was a great book for me, and I recommend it to anyone who's want to be able to do more with the modes. It answers that question, "Okay, so now I know what modes are, but how do I actually use them?"



2. A clear and well presented account of the modes of the major scale. Kolb has a knack of explaining abstract musical idea in the written word, although in this account it is augmented by a CD of examples and useful backing tracks. I'm not sure that this title is aimed at beginners-I doubt they'd follow it, but for the guitarist with a bit of a grasp of music theory and some playing experience, I believe this is an excellent book. Indeed buying this has prompted me to search out and purchase Tom Kolb's other titles. Highly recommended!



3. Presented in straight forward speak. Covers the modes you are probably interested in and none of the ones you probably don't care about. I wanted to learn more about this subject after hearing that Jimmy Page frequently played in Mixolydian and that many of Queensryche's solos are played in Aeolian. I am novice at best and usually just improvise using straight pentatonic scales. After a few weeks with this book and studying Michael Wilton's solos (watching concert videos on DVD) I am now soloing in major scales in aeolian mode. My playing has way more variety now.



4. I found this book to be a great way to connect the dots in your head when it comes to modes. It gave me a better understanding of the rules involved in applying modes, and how to bend and break those rules to suit my own style. I would recomend at least a basic understanding in some music theory in order for this book to be truly effective.

5 comments about Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns (Text).

1. Nicolas Slonimsky's "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" is a mind-bending book filled with harmonic morsels for the curious and self-motivated musician.
   
   Although this book is usually described as a musical "reference" book, it is much more than just a few hundred pages of specific licks to spew over specific chords. There are plenty of books in print today to buy if that is the type of book you are after. Slonimsky's "Thesaurus," however, is in a totally different vein. The concepts are just as deep, interesting, and fresh today as they were in 1947 when the book was first published. For anyone who has tackled the ins and outs of conventional harmony and wants something more interesting to think about, this is the book.
   
   It is true that Slonimsky does not come right out and say how to specifically apply these concepts and phrases. Instead, he leaves little clues (many of which are in the Introduction) to help guide and provide the reader with a few different options of harmonizations and applications. Quite simply, with the "Thesaurus," you get what you put into it. If you spend time analyzing, applying, and considering the things in this book, it will over time become clear as to what it is all really about. One of the great things about this book is it inspires an individualistic approach; you learn to develop your own way of thinking as you work through it. This makes everyone's appplication of the scales just a bit different from the next person. Two people might approach the same pattern in a totally different way, therefore making the applications constantly evolve and change.
   
   A few things should be said to those who might be thinking of purchasing this book. First of all, if you can't read musical notation (treble and bass clef), learn that first, as you will get nothing out of this book if you can't. Also, if you are thinking this book will provide a "quick fix" for your playing, or make you sound like Coltrane, don't bother buying this book either. One should also be well aquainted with both classical and jazz harmony before working through this book (for those interested in jazz theory, a good place to start is "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine).
   
   Besides the contents of the book there are a few other nice things about it. There is an explanation of terms, which is most helpful as the musician learns Slonimsky's terminology. It is also extremely well organized which lends itself well to an individual curriculum.
   
   For the musicians that are ready, and are motivated enough to put in the required time and effort, it will be well worth it, and the musical rewards will compensate the price of buying the book many times over. Slonimsky states in the Introduction, "There are 479,001,600 possible combinations of the 12 tones of the chromatic scale. With rhythmic variety added to the unbounded universe of melodic patterns, there is no likelihood that new music will die of interval starvation in the next 1000 years." Good news for musicians and audiences, eh?
   
   Also recommended: For a book in a similar vein, check out Wayne Krantz's "An Improviser's OS," available through his website.



2. This book is a collection of phrases and scales with the purpose to present some raw material for modern/avantgarde composers, or etude material for the musician preparing themselves to play such ouevres. From a contemporary composer's view, it's probably old news. If you are an improvisor, it is quite interesting stuff, because it contains mainly stuff beyond what you might know as scales from jazz theory. On the other hand be warned, there is nothing of "real" musical "meaning" in it - most of it is just symetrical, mathematically constructed stuff, similar to the diminished scale or whole tone scale. Up to you how to make sense of this material and incorporate in your playing.



3. I purchased this for a friend, so I know very little about the book. All I can comment on is the reaction I got when he received it. He was quite inpressed by the book and it's detail. He spends hours going over the book and using it as a practise guide. I can only assume that it's helping him in his quest to master "Scales And Melodic Patterns".



4. I am an extremely serious composer and theorist. The ONLY reason one would be impressed by this book is because they don't understand its contents and therefore assume it must be saying something profound. I do understand its contents and can attest to the fact that Slonimsky has created a book which hides his intentions behind big words of his own design. Ex: he says "dodecaphonic" instead of 12 note scale. Other ridiculous terms are "intra-ultrapolation" and Sesquiquardritone progression which means "Major 6th". I can assure you that while many talk about how wonderful this book is, no one is using it. They are merely leaving it on they're coffee tables for people to talk about. Aside from severely inflating the books worth with big words, the drills themselves are useless. He has deliberately sought out every obscure and "bad" sounding pattern for the sake of making the book modern. None of the patterns are usable. Even on the chance that there is a pattern or two that is usable, the book is so long at 244 pages with literally THOUSANDS of thorny, awkward tongue twisty patterns, you will never find those few examples that may be useful. I dare anyone to say that they have really spent time practicing with this book, or have done more than one or two of the exercises. This is the single worst example in history of a man who was a musicologist yet dreamed of being a composer. He applies his mathematical ability to the task yet reveals that he possesses not taste or sense of art whatsoever and therefore did not bother to edit his ideas.



5. Very technical, obviously. Not for the faint of heart. But if you have some theory background and want to fill in some of the gaps, this is a great resource. I am still learning from it.

2 comments about Musimathics, Volume 1: The Mathematical Foundations of Music.

1. After about a ten year hiatus on books of this type being published, this is one of several new books combining mathematics, music, and programming aimed at musicians who want to know more about the math behind their musical compositions and are not content to just know what drop-down windows to click on using the latest musical software. The book starts with the basics of music and sound and works up to basic music theory, physics and sound, and acoustics and psychoacoustics. The final chapter of the book is the most interesting, since it concerns mathematics and composition techniques using the author's C++ based library "Musimat". Both this book and Musimat have companion websites, although the Musimat site is the most interesting with plenty of downloads in case you are interested in how to use this compositional library. There is a volume two scheduled for release in Spring 2007 that gets into signal processing, the role of digital signals, and the wave equation, so together they are a very complete treatise on math, music, and programming aimed at the musical composer. I highly recommend it. Of course, if you want to dig deep into individual subjects such as acoustics and psychoacoustics, you are going to need additional references. But this text is clear enough to get you started. The following is the table of contents:
   
   1 Music and Sound 1
   1.1 Basic Properties of Sound 1
   1.2 Waves 3
   1.3 Summary 9
   
   2 Representing Music 11
   2.1 Notation 11
   2.2 Tones, Notes, and Scores 12
   2.3 Pitch 13
   2.4 Scales 16
   2.5 Interval Sonorities 18
   2.6 Onset and Duration 26
   2.7 Musical Loudness 27
   2.8 Timbre 28
   2.9 Summary 37
   
   3 Musical Scales, Tuning, and Intonation 39
   3.1 Equal-Tempered Intervals 39
   3.2 Equal-Tempered Scale 40
   3.3 Just Intervals and Scales 43
   3.4 The Cent Scale 45
   3.5 A Taxonomy of Scales 46
   3.6 Do Scales Come from Timbre or Proportion? 47
   3.7 Harmonic Proportion 48
   3.8 Pythagorean Diatonic Scale 49
   3.9 The Problem of Transposing Just Scales 51
   3.10 Consonance of Intervals 56
   3.11 The Powers of the Fifth and the Octave Do Not Form a Closed System 66
   3.12 Designing Useful Scales Requires Compromise 67
   3.13 Tempered Tuning Systems 68
   3.14 Microtonality 72
   3.15 Rule of 18 82
   3.16 Deconstructing Tonal Harmony 85
   3.17 Deconstructing the Octave 86
   3.18 The Prospects for Alternative Tunings 93
   3.19 Summary 93
   3.20 Suggested Reading 95
   
   4 Physical Basis of Sound 97
   4.1 Distance 97
   4.2 Dimension 97
   4.3 Time 98
   4.4 Mass 99
   4.5 Density 100
   4.6 Displacement 100
   4.7 Speed 101
   4.8 Velocity 102
   4.9 Instantaneous Velocity 102
   4.10 Acceleration 104
   4.11 Relating Displacement,Velocity, Acceleration, and Time 106
   4.12 Newton's Laws of Motion 108
   4.13 Types of Force 109
   4.14 Work and Energy 110
   4.15 Internal and External Forces 112
   4.16 The Work-Energy Theorem 112
   4.17 Conservative and Nonconservative Forces 113
   4.18 Power 114
   4.19 Power of Vibrating Systems 114
   4.20 Wave Propagation 116
   4.21 Amplitude and Pressure 117
   4.22 Intensity 118
   4.23 Inverse Square Law 118
   4.24 Measuring Sound Intensity 119
   4.25 Summary 125
   
   5 Geometrical Basis of Sound 129
   5.1 Circular Motion and Simple Harmonic Motion 129
   5.2 Rotational Motion 129
   5.3 Projection of Circular Motion 136
   5.4 Constructing a Sinusoid 139
   5.5 Energy of Waveforms 143
   5.6 Summary 147
   
   6 Psychophysical Basis of Sound 149
   6.1 Signaling Systems 149
   6.2 The Ear 150
   6.3 Psychoacoustics and Psychophysics 154
   6.4 Pitch 156
   6.5 Loudness 166
   6.6 Frequency Domain Masking 171
   6.7 Beats 173
   6.8 Combination Tones 175
   6.9 Critical Bands 176
   6.10 Duration 182
   6.11 Consonance and Dissonance 184
   6.12 Localization 187
   6.13 Externalization 191
   6.14 Timbre 195
   6.15 Summary 198
   6.16 Suggested Reading 198
   
   7 Introduction to Acoustics 199
   7.1 Sound and Signal 199
   7.2 A Simple Transmission Model 199
   7.3 How Vibrations Travel in Air 200
   7.4 Speed of Sound 202
   7.5 Pressure Waves 207
   7.6 Sound Radiation Models 208
   7.7 Superposition and Interference 210
   7.8 Reflection 210
   7.9 Refraction 218
   7.10 Absorption 221
   7.11 Diffraction 222
   7.12 Doppler Effect 228
   7.13 Room Acoustics 233
   7.14 Summary 238
   7.15 Suggested Reading 238
   
   8 Vibrating Systems 239
   8.1 Simple Harmonic Motion Revisited 239
   8.2 Frequency of Vibrating Systems 241
   8.3 Some Simple Vibrating Systems 243
   8.4 The Harmonic Oscillator 247
   8.5 Modes of Vibration 249
   8.6 A Taxonomy of Vibrating Systems 251
   8.7 One-Dimensional Vibrating Systems 252
   8.8 Two-Dimensional Vibrating Elements 266
   8.9 Resonance (Continued) 270
   8.10 Transiently Driven Vibrating Systems 278
   8.11 Summary 282
   8.12 Suggested Reading 283
   
   9 Composition and Methodology 285
   9.1 Guido's Method 285
   9.2 Methodology and Composition 288
   9.3 Musimat: A Simple Programming Language for Music 290
   9.4 Program for Guido's Method 291
   9.5 Other Music Representation Systems 292
   9.6 Delegating Choice 293
   9.7 Randomness 299
   9.8 Chaos and Determinism 304
   9.9 Combinatorics 306
   9.10 Atonality 311
   9.11 Composing Functions 317
   9.12 Traversing and Manipulating Musical Materials 319
   9.13 Stochastic Techniques 332
   9.14 Probability 333
   9.15 Information Theory and the Mathematics of Expectation 343
   9.16 Music, Information, and Expectation 347
   9.17 Form in Unpredictability 350
   9.18 Monte Carlo Methods 360
   9.19 Markov Chains 363
   9.20 Causality and Composition 371
   9.21 Learning 372
   9.22 Music and Connectionism 376
   9.23 Representing Musical Knowledge 390
   9.24 Next-Generation Musikalische Würfelspiel 400
   9.25 Calculating Beauty 406
   
   Appendix A 409
   A.1 Exponents 409
   A.2 Logarithms 409
   A.3 Series and Summations 410
   A.4 About Trigonometry 411
   A.5 Xeno's Paradox 414
   A.6 Modulo Arithmetic and Congruence 414
   A.7 Whence 0.161 in Sabine's Equation? 416
   A.8 Excerpts from Pope John XXII's Bull Regarding Church Music 418
   A.9 Greek Alphabet 419
   
   Appendix B 421
   B.1 Musimat 421
   B.2 Music Datatypes in Musimat 439
   B.3 Unicode (ASCII) Character Codes 450
   B.4 Operator Associativity and Precedence in Musimat 450



2. The book is simply useful. Musicians and teachers can review their knowledge base. Novices have the possibility to learn the math-based laws of music by means of a non-academic language. Above all, the book is extended into a second volume for an in-depth learning.

4 comments about Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples.

1. This book is wonder and a treasure trove of musical ideas from around the planet. For example, how many music historians are aware of how the Native Amercians used song to identify each of their tribes?
   Mr. Titon has provided very interesting facts about music making from many world cultures. He has also produced a 3 CD sound compilation of musical examples for this book that is indispensible.
   If you're tired of today's bland market of music that has sadly squashed historical music making of any kind, this book is an excellent journey into the world's most basic roots of song and music.



2. I've been teaching a world music course out of this textbook for a couple years now and will say that there are some positives to it: the CD compilation is great, good variety and interesting and there is some really good, detailed information that students would find interesting-it's good for people who go into world music without knowing much, it can be engaging and intriguing. It was the book I used as a student. But, on the other hand from an academic, teaching point of view there are some flaws. I will admit it's difficult to cover an entire world of music in one book, it must be an editor's nightmare on how to arrange the information. But one problem is that some chapters focus on a country or region within a country, i.e. - Japan, South India, Native America. Whereas other chapters focus too broadly-an entire chapter that covers the whole continent of Africa and one on South America!! It doesn't cover Brazil which is full of various musical traditions and is such a large country. Some of the chosen examples of traditions are highly localized too and not indicative of the general population. My Bosnian student had never heard of Bosnian ganga singing until this class. It's not that the information is at all wrong or presented in a bad way, it just needs clarification for students. You wouldn't want them walking away from a class thinking these musical traditions are known and practiced by the entire population (as with ganga singing). One other problem is that there is no chapter on the Middle East which is really unfortunate. I don't think this is a horrible textbook, of the few out there, this is probably the better one. Students can get a lot out of it, and especially the CDs, but if you teach with it, I highly suggest using supplemental information and even make your students be critical of the information they find in the book as well as how it's arranged.



3. While the text book is informative and enlightening on many of the aspects of World Music, it is frustrating that he continually puts out newer editions that have minimal changes except for the CD. For the general information gathered from this text, anyone will be able to gain loads of interesting facts about the different cultures and their musical ceremonies/practices.



4. Excellent service. Shipped very fast, and received well within the time stated. Product is in great condition, same as described.

5 comments about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality: 33 1/3.

1. A lovely gem of a book. An incredible meditation on fandom and teenage pain, and a truly Foucauldian take, in simple and biting language, on the mental institution as one of this culture's most misbegotten engines of conformity and punishment, which stands in here for everything rock, at its best, rebels against.



2. While John Darnielle's rigid personal enforcement of guileless-ness elevates many of his 3-minute songs to a state of genius, that same straight-shooting methodology just doesn't work in the context of a short novel. As a reader, I felt compassion for the unjustly incarcerated teenage narrator Roger Painter (and his mid-twenties incarnation as a restaurant manager), but the connection between his story and Sabbath's "Master of Reality" seemed tenuous at best -- I mean, the same story could have been spun around "Blizzard of Ozz" or the first Whitesnake album or the Misfits' "Walk Among Us" or any of the (many, many) other likely candidates. In the end, as a book, it fell flat for me -- but I bet it would have made a great Mountain Goats song.



3. I feel like I should start out by saying that I am an intensely dedicated fan of Darnielle's many outlets, whether it be his LPTJ blog, The Mountain Goats, The Extra Glenns, his contributions to Decibel, etc. etc. Let me say also that I am pretty sure most of the reviewers (though I haven't read them all) giving this a five star rating are similar in their positions.
   
   I cannot blindly give this book a five, as much as I adore Mr. Darnielle. It was not perfect, as much as a enjoyed it. There were stumbles, in my opinion, where Roger became a little too repetitive, or where some things just seemed oversimplified. But as a whole, especially as his first book, I really enjoyed the book, and it was a quick read. I appreciated it even though I am not a well-versed fan of metal or anything. The character of Roger seemed to cover his bases enough that I could still understand what he was saying about the music--I think this is mostly in part not to his descriptions of the music itself, but to his feelings about it. Darnielle successfully creates emotional attachments which allowed me, as a reader, to sympathize, despite never having been locked up in a mental institution.
   
   I think anyone who had even a remotely rough time in their adolescence and who turned to music to make their way through their troubles will thoroughly enjoy this book and be able to, in some extent, relate to Roger's troubles.



4. yes, he's pretty great. john darnielle, master of words. oh, the book was good too.



5. Having read other books in this series, i.e., "Aqualung", "Led Zeppeliin IV", "Aja", I expected an intelligent review or analysis of the titular recording's music in this book, not a self-indulgent fantasy.
   
   What Darnielle writes isn't brilliant, it's absolute garbage. Plus, the illiterate point of view of his character isn't endearing or charming, it's downright annoying.
   
   I don't care what this guy's puported street cred is insofar as his band and other writings elsewhere--if he wanted to publish a novel, it simply should not have been under the guise of Continuum Books' "33-1/3" series.
   
   When I was a teenager, and coming home from high school, and listening--as a catharsis--to mix tapes of Black Sabbath I'd made, my Dad was amazed that I could fall asleep to the likes of "Symptom of the Universe", "Lord of This World", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", etc. For years, I had to argue with people that Black Sabbath was not a band that espoused Devil-worship, but like all great art, they simply had the Devil appearing in their work--as an element of conflict.
   
   Metal is not just for disaffected, middle-class youth. It is a very empowering music, and when done right, it doesn't have to be nihilistic, depressive or evil - any more than Edgar Allen Poe was a murderous closet-psycho, or Bela Lugosi actually drank people's blood off-camera.
   
   There is so much more that should have been--but wasn't--said, about Black Sabbath's work on this album because Darnielle felt compelled to write this implicitly drug-induced flow-of-consciousness drivel.

5 comments about Harmony and Voice Leading.

1. The main reason that I want to write a review here is on the off-chance that any AP music theory teachers or students are coming across this and are considering buying the book. My teacher made the mistake of using this as our primary textbook for the year, hoping that it would cover the AP curriculum. Well, it doesn't. It only helps on about 20% of the test, and for the rest you will be dead in the water.

   That said, it does a pretty good job introducing and expanding the concept of basic four-part voice leading. It doesn't expend very many pages teaching the absolute basics like major and minor chords, so it helps to approach the book with some understanding of chords, intervals, and the like.

   The progressions and rules that it allows do seem a little bit stringent and antiquated considering the many changes in classical music over the past century, but at least you can voice-lead like Bach after reading this!




2. When I was a student at the University of Michigan School of Music in the late seventies and early eighties, we used the then brand new first edition of this book. I thought it was quite good then, and I believe this third edition to be an even better book. It treats the subjects of tonal harmony and voice leading quite well. There have been some solid improvements in the way a few things are explained and some changes in the musical examples. However, it is still fundamentally the same sound course for undergraduate music theory it has been since 1978. However, it now comes in one volume instead of the two volumes of the first edition.
   
   The text begins with a quick review of the basics of musical grammar, a brief introduction of the rudiments of musical notation, intervals, rhythm (and meter), chords, and four-part harmony. Part II talks about the powerful relationship between the tonic and dominant chords, chord progressions elaborating that relationship, and even the dominant as a key area (whether you call it tonicization or modulation is up to you). Part III discusses the implications of root position, first inversion, and second inversion chords in elaborating harmonies and in sequences. Part IV is actually about contrapuntal issues, but is framed in a discussion of melodic figuration. Part V introduces chromaticism, modal mixture, and extends the discussion on uses of seventh chords. Part VI extends the discussion of chromaticism and includes ninth and eleventh chords, Phrygian II (Neapolitan chords), augmented sixths, and more types of mixture. There is also important discussion of the implications all this has for voice leading and modulation to other key areas.
   
   Some might wish that it contained some treatments of graphical (Schenkerian notation), and I am one of them, but that is a quibble compared to this book's many strengths. The counter argument is that until the students really have a handle on the basics of harmony and how voice leading is handled through the music of the early twentieth century, there really isn't a way for them to grasp the meaning of the larger structures Schenker's graphical notation was created to represent. I think that is a fair point, but still think there are some basics in notation that could be introduced early in the process when talking about the basic structure of melodies and supporting harmonies and candential formulas.
   
   The explanations are clear and the musical examples apt. In fact, someone could actually work through this book on his own and grasp what is being presented. Of course, an instructor is helpful to check work and explain things that remain unclear in the student's mind, but that is really true for any book on any subject.
   
   There are some wonderful materials to supplement this text. The most important are the two work books (WB I - ISBN 0-15-506226-3 / WB II - ISBN 0-15-506234-4. They are useful exercises that help the student learn the material by actively working through the application of the materials discussed.
   
   Another resource that should not be overlooked is the two-CD set (ISBN 0-534-52216-5) that contains performances of the hundreds of musical examples in the textbook (not the workbooks). It can really help a student to listen to examples that are unclear. If a student can play them herself or hear them in his head, so much the better, but these discs can enrich reading through the textbook and making sure that you understand what is being presented to you.
   
   Kudos to Professors Aldwell and Schachter for this wonderful text and supporting materials.



3. One thing to understand about this book - it was not written with amazon.com beginners in mind. It is a college-level theory textbook, and is probably one of the few books that present basic theory concepts in a coherent, unified fashion. The "restrictions" some reviewers complain about, are actually part of a time-honored approach to teaching theory (think "species counterpoint"). To understand the book, a teacher needs to understand something of the ideas and approach of Heinrich Schenker (Schachter was one of Schenker's students). Unlike many theory books, which are into quick summaries and labels, this book is based on a deep understanding of how western tonal music works (at least from the Schenkerian perspective). Even basic concepts like scale degrees, intervals, and triads, are presented in such a way that important relationships among tones become evident. Chords are not merely chunks of notes that deserve a label, but are part of a larger, contrapuntal whole. Sticking with the early chapters, and especially getting a good grasp of the contrapuntal nature of even the most basic chords (insights gained into the similar "passing chord" functions of the V4/3 and viio6 chords, for example) are well worth the effort. Upon successful completion of the first 10 or 11 chapters, a student should have a new understanding of how tonal music works.



4. I've yet to find an alternative to the Roger Sessions, HARMONIC PRACTICE, which I believe to be the best theory text ever written. However, the teaching of theory has changed over the past forty years since my first "date" with Sessions and his text... and students have changed as well. Hence, I find Messrs Schachter & Aldwell have done a commendable job (a nearly impossible job, I think) in writing this new, single volume edition. Whilst I never expect to find the perfect text, this one will do nicely.
   
   The text clearly cannot stand apart from a good theory teacher. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), a credible do-it-yourself theory text has yet to be written.



5. I agree with the positive comments in the reviews but no one has mentioned the feature of the book that I like the best...the table of keyboard progressions in the back of the book. The progressions increase in difficulty and they illustrate perfectly the concepts presented in the text. I am finding the best way to proceed is to play them, and once you have started getting them into your ears and fingers, analyze the details of their voice leading and turn back to the text for a theoretical explanation.