5 comments about Emotion and Meaning in Music (Phoenix Books).

1. I found this book quite enlightening, as well as pleasant to read. Like Professor Tolkien's hobbitts, I enjoy books that tell me things I already intuited but had no terms for.

   The book explains concepts by illustrations from several fields. If you are familiar with even one of the fields, it gives you immediate insights to the others.




2. I see that the other reviewers here either hate this book or love it. I fall in the latter category. Having studied music theory extensively, this is the one book that actually deals with music as a communicating art, not as a bunch of symbols on paper. I think that any composer of music (pop, Classical, rock, etc.) could learn valuable pointers on how to write music that is interesting and moving to the listener. One of the problems with much 20th Century music is that it exists on paper as something interesting, but does not reach the ear as such. It appears that Leonard Meyer has been daring enough to admit that music can affect people's emotions and maintain their interest intellectually, rather than just existing as an exercise in note placement (alla Schenker or Forte).



3. How many music theory books written over 45 years ago are still taken seriously, never mind still in print?
   
   It was my great pleasure to study with Leonard Meyer at the University of Pennsylvania from '86 through '89. Even though I am a composer and not really a theorist any more, I consider him one of my most influential teachers. His writings and lectures deeply affected me as a composer in that his understanding of music -- how it works, how it affects us, how our individual cognitive processes come to bear on what we are hearing -- found its way into my aesthetic. Even though Dr. Meyer in later years came to argue with himself (this was tremendous fun, by the way: sitting in his lectures, listening to him tell himself why his earlier writings were so wrong), this is great stuff, written by a great man.
   
   Be forewarned that in spite of the title, this is musically technical stuff: don't expect vague, poetic philosophizing. The analyses are intense and detailed and require a strong background in music theory and form.



4. What can I say? This book is essential reading for anybody who loves music. Period.



5. I have yet to finish up with the book but it's a very clear thorough book. Meyer explains details that you thought couldn't be explained. I have intuited a lot of the material but it is so darn gratifying to see it written, to see I haven't made it up out of thin air!
   Really a must read!!!

2 comments about Understanding Music.

1. This book does not come with the CD's that most college students will need. I returned the book because it did not have the disks with it and was able to find a book locally thru my college book store that came with the 3CD student disk set for less money than I paid for it with out the disks thru Amazon.com



2. no CD's with this!!!!!!!! cd's are necessary for college course, and virtually unobtainable by themselves. item description needs to notate that cd's are NOT included. overpriced for incomplete item.

2 comments about Music for Ear Training (Workbook & CD-ROM).

1. This book and cd has helped me a lot with developing my ear training. I reccomend it to anyone who needs a boost.



2. First of all, there is no "book". What you receive is an almost empty workbook (of the kind you could buy in any papershop), and a CD with a poorly designed software.
   If you want some quality, buy a common, GOOD music notebook and a GOOD ear training software, like EarMaster School. This book is a waste of money. I bought it, do not make the same mistake.

No comments about The Music Tree Activities (Part 1) (Music Tree (Summy)).

5 comments about Introduction to Guitar Tone and Effects: A Manual for Getting the Sounds from Electric Guitars, Amplifiers, Effects Pedals and Processors.

1. First, an introduction to myself; I took some folk/classic guitar lessens around the age of 13. In high school, I learned the electric bass, but was not involved with any bands or musicians outside of school. After graduation, I rarely played either instrument until about a year ago. Now, I've renewed my interest in guitar and bass and I've been trying to educate myself more about guitars, amps, and effects--things I never really learned about in my younger days. Before purchasing this book, I started by brushing the dust off and reading my old copy of The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer (A "must have" book)--a book I partially read in my youth, bought and read Guitar Effects Pedals: The Practical Handbook by Dave Hunter (Read this before you buy any effects pedals!), read a library copy of The Stompbox by Art Thompson (History of pedals with many photos), bought and read Getting Great Guitar Sounds 2nd ed. by Michael Ross (A fine book about tone).
   
   I read this book as if I had not read anything else prior. The positives going for this book are that it is well organized and follows a logical progression starting with the guitar itself then amplifiers then effects and so on. The last four chapters, Building a Pedalboard, Multi-Effects Processors, Amplifier and Effect Modeling, Getting a Good Tone through Your PC, Stylistic Guitar Tones, and Famous Effected Guitarists are topics usually not discussed in the other books that I have read. The appendix titled Effected Guitar Music contains a list of effects with a selection of songs along with the artist that demonstrate the effect, something that I wish other books would do. The CD that comes with the book lets the reader hear an example of each effect from the effects chapters 3-12 and also samples from chapters 13-17. I think this book would be good for absolute beginners, but even I picked up a few new things.
   
   The negatives: While this book is meant to be in the genre of an introduction and at 60 pages, is clearly not meant to be a handbook nor encyclopedia, it just barely passes as an introduction due to its very short descriptions and definitions. After reading chapters 13-17, I came away with more knowledge than before, but now wanting more information with no direction on where to go from here. The information you get from this book is analogous to going to a party and getting introduced to several new people then leaving the party coming away with knowing only their names and how they said the word hello. Getting Great Guitar Sounds 2nd ed. by Michael Ross, has 77 pages and does a better job covering most of the material that is presented in Introduction to Guitar Tone & Effects chapters 1-12. The CD contains approximately 13 min of examples. Though not expecting a fully loaded CD, I was expecting maybe 20-30 min of samples. One or two strums on the guitar to demonstrate an effect seems deficient given that effects produce different sounds whether you are strumming chords or playing arpeggios. The examples from the Style chapter were also short and limited. (Note: Getting Great Guitar Sounds does not come with a CD.) Finally, the back cover touts over 74 photos but almost all of them are either out of focus or are some fuzzy computerized representation.
   
   Overal, If you start out knowing nothing about tone and effects, you will have gained some basic understanding by reading this book but you will have little practical knowledge. For more experienced players, I think this book could easily go from "pass on" to "must have" with a little rewriting, clearer photos, and more and better examples on the CD, while still keeping the number of pages between 60-80.



2. The information was very helpful in setting up my pedal board. The CD with the audio of all the pedals was really helpful in shopping for new sounds. The diagram for the suggested setup was helpful also.



3. this book is a nice introduction to effects pedals and their use for the guitar enthusiast who doesn't know the difference between a fuzz tone and a compression pedal.



4. I really enjoyed reading this book. It is worth, but contains only small amount of information. You may find the entire contents in the book could be written as a couple of chapters. However, the CD was absolutely useful.



5. if it where possible id give it a no star or a half star this book is not worth wasting money. it will just confirm what you already know. i bought it because i thought i was going to read information that explained extensively each pedal effect and talk about pedal chains. i was going to write a lot about it but not worth it, simply put you can google anything that's in this book, you'll have it for free and it will be detailed information .. as opposed to this book.

5 comments about Noise/Music: A History.

1. One of the books we had been longing for and dreaming of for a long, very long time, since the time when Pierre Schaeffer or Pierre Henry invented concrete music in the early 1940s. Finally out and so rich. Noise music is an old, very old human activity but it is finding a new vital energy in our modern world. There is no real difference between noise and music. Both have to be listened to to be heard and eventually appreciated in a way or another. If you don't listen you won't hear the thunder and you may miss the warning it may represent to us. And yet it is only noise. The only difference between noise and music is that music is noise that has been worked upon to create a rhythm and a harmony that did not exist originally in the noise itself and had to be worked into the noise. But any noise, any sound in the world is potential music. It only takes one composer to transform the noise of a rattle into music, or the noise of a washboard into music. The second idea of importance is the change of the general meaning of noise and music in our world over the last twenty-five centuries. It used to be only (was it really true) some dressing up of rites, mainly religious rites and rituals, but also military or festive rituals or actions. Little by little it became a pure entertainment (but is it only that) in our modern world with the invention of concert halls, theaters, museums, and particularly the radio that enabled jazz and some other types of music to emerge and impose themselves as pure entertainment. And television, not to speak of the Internet, Youtube or Myspace Music or the iPod. The final essential idea is that the world has completely changed technically. The radio was only the very beginning of that revolution. The final phase is that of digitalized music, sampling and virtual composition and performing. And that goes along with the change it all brings to the younger generations. They live today in a constant musical world and they develop new capabilities. The hearing band is getting wider. The sense and feeling of rhythm and harmony have completely changed in intensity and concerns so many more people than just twenty years ago, not to speak of two centuries ago. And now our modern machines and their tools, computers and digital music software enable everyone who is not deaf to gather sounds, then to sample them, then to build some kind of architecture that used to be called composition. That revolution leads more and more young people who live in continuous sound to reject the old discrimination between noise and music and they start using noise, plain ordinary everyday sonic pollution (meaning sounds that are produced as a collateral side-effect of some motivated and profitable activity), in order to produce music, to transform it into music. And that's exactly what the author tries to explain and explore, at times a little bit theoretically and not enough musically. But it sure is a rich and enticing introduction to what we used to call concrete music and is today called noise music.
   
   Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines



2. In high school physics I was given an assignment to comprehend the entire mathematical equation of the respiratory cycle. Fortunately, here the subject is noise music, a bit closer to my interests. To say this book is pretentious would be to do it a dissevice. In fact, "Noise/Music A History" is actually more scientific, an examination of noise, music, their relation and the various manifestations of which have existed and continue to exist. From John Cage to free jazz to industrial music to Merzbow, it has the feeling that someone is using sonar equipment to measure the sonic vibrations at a Masonna concert and presenting a thesis of the results. Fortunately, there are footnotes so that you can fill yourself in. Be prepared for a quiz.



3. Sometimes the writing tends to be a tad dry, but this is a serious work of scholarship regarding the "noise" movement through the history of music so one wouldn't expect a page turner. There is a whole chapter devoted to Japanese Noise music, as well as one specifically on Merzbow, who is like the god of noise. I appreciated the fact that in the introduction the author did mention that he only touches on Coil, Nurse With Wound, and Current 93 b/c they have their own book ("England's Hidden Reverse" by David Keegan). Several mentions of Throbbing Gristle are made as well, though the book "Wreckers of Civilization" by Simon Ford is an excellent read on that wacky troupe. I was entertained by the author's description of listening to specific pieces of music, and he raised my interest in several artists I wasn't familiar with. This was a gift, but I would have gladly paid full price for this excellent book.



4. Hegarty comes at the topic from the standpoint of an avid listener and performer, explaining and exploring what the various artists are trying to achieve. His coverage of historical and contemporary performers/composers is exceptionally broad and adds a invaluable context for the work -- even if some influences are only mentioned in passing.
   
   The chapters on Japanese noise and Merzbow are spot on and alone make the book a worthy purchase. I have been listening to this stuff for over ten years and found the discussions both accurate and enlightening.
   
   I only give it four stars since while reading other parts of the book I kept wishing that he would describe what the music sounds like rather than engage its theory. One other minor point: the font on the paperback is a small narrow sans serif which increased the reading effort (although given the topic this might have been a design decision)



5. Hegarty's book is not a dry,excessively detailed history but rather a work much more usefull to myself and perhaps all noisicians and sound artists.It tries very well to reason why we make noise.If you make or dig noise,even if you are a philosophical novice,read this book.

1 comments about Elements of Music (2nd Edition).

1. Elements of Music by Joseph Straus is arguably the best textbook currently available for the course it is designed for (i.e. Music Fundamentals for music majors as a pre-theory review course, as well as for non-music majors). It covers topics in a comprehensive progressive manner - pitch recognition, rhythm and meter, scales, intervals, triads and 7th chords, introduction to 4-part harmony and music organizations - and at the same time leaves the instructor and students a great degree of flexibility. The 2nd edition varies little from the 1st, but the improvements are noticeable and welcomed: larger font sizes, rearranged music examples in certain exercises (in accordance with the level of difficulty), and the addition of a self test at the end of each chapter.

5 comments about Patterns for Jazz: Treble Clef.

1. Although I have played saxophone for many years, I'm a rather
   late-comer to improvisation. In spite of a couple classes, this book has given me the most insight. By that, I think its pre- sentation of studies as connection of,let's say, various chords
   in ascending or descending creates a challenge to develope familiarity and smoothness one will obviously need in real life improvisation. Have only got to the first 10 pages and all I can say is this book has exposed my weaknesess and shows what I need to work on.



2. If you want to play jazz, and are willing to put the time into it, you need this book. Excellent practice.



3. This book is a classic all jazz students should have. Really helps the cerebral jazzer work on his improvisation. Jerry Coker is the father of all jazz educators, even Aebersold and Baker would agree!



4. The book (Patterns for Jazz, by Jerry Coker and others) is an absolute MUST for everybody who takes playing Jazz and Improvisation seriously.
   Your pricing was excellent and the(international) delivery was 3 weeks faster than expected. Bravo



5. The word "pattern" is sometimes associated with mechanical execution without thought or inspiration. The truth is that before a musical idea can be executed the mechanics must be worked out. The fingers must be ready to move to the right keys or frets to produce the tones the ear is hearing. Practing patterns is a great way to get the fingers and ears in synch.
   
   As far as pattern books go this one is well rounded -- many other pattern books concentrate on specific progressions or idioms (see: David Baker).
   
   I would like to recommend this book however there are some things that anyone who is considering purchasing it should be aware of:
   
   * The book is written for ALL treble clef instruments***. That means there are no suggested fingerings, and DEFINITELY NO TAB!
   
   * In most cases only a short sketch is given to establish a pattern. The student is required to transpose the pattern according to a given chord progression that cycles through all 12 keys.
   
   * It is up to the student to apply patterns to his/her instrument. That means working out each pattern in all fingerings through the full range of the instrument. If you only play each pattern using the easiest fingering through one octave in the most comfortable range, the fruits of your labors will be minimal at best.
   
   *** There is also a bass clef edition.

2 comments about High School Musical 2 (Piano/Vocal/Guitar).

1. My 13 year old daughter is at an intermediate piano level (level 3-4) and wanted to play something more contemporary than the piano methods, or classical scores, or the NYSMA selections. She liked the songs from High School Musical 2 better than the first, and asked me for the music. This songbook sounds authentic. The transcriptions play nicely and sound like that used in the movie. My daughter is pleased that she can now play songs that her schoolmates recognize and can sing along with.



2. I bought this for my 14 year old son, who is taking piano lesson's, and loved the movie's. He was very pleased with and is playing from this song book.

5 comments about Music in Theory and Practice Vol 1 w/ Anthology CD.

1. My class worked with Dr. Benward on this book--we were his test class. Although this may not be the best book for everyone, it is a very comprehensive text that requires the instructor's input. As Benward told us, if we were to teach theory we must work towards the student's understanding of the concepts and not allow the text to work magic. Hence, we must illustrate and re-inforce the principles with our examples and experiences.
   
   I hope I am lucid enough to help.
   
   Good book.
   
   Ian



2. Not a hardcore music analyst or anything. Just taking a music theory course with this text and it's not too shabby considering that other theory texts can be really vague. I wish in some ways there were more examples and actually that it was more clear in some areas but that's why we have a teacher to teach it to us.



3. I wouldn't recommend this book for self-study unless you are well acquainted with music theory and are using this as a review. Some of the concepts are not that well explained. However, it is designed as a classroom text, and for that and with a good teacher, it is excellent. Well organized and logical in it's progression. An intro to music notiation would be very helpful before taking a class using this book. It progresses very quickly. The accompanying workbook is highly recommended for reinforcement.



4. I have used this text successfully for several years with first-year college theory students, both in the classroom and in directed study. It offers many clear examples and a variety of exercises for students to complete. I intend to continue using it and would recommend it not only as a classroom text but as a vehicle for independent study for practicing musicians without an extensive knowledge of music theory.



5. This is a very helpful book for anyone looking at taking music theory class. It's simply a good reference point whether you have a good professor for the class or not.