The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory
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Forewords<br />
This is the book I wished I had in high school.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, along with choir and concert band, my primary outlet for music was a<br />
rock band, and each of us would gather nightly in my garage, rehearsing, scheming,<br />
and dreaming, trying to knock out our own music, but without a solid grasp of the<br />
language and technical know-how. This book would have been such a big help<br />
back then. It’s still a big help now! <strong>Music</strong> is a communicative art, and the first<br />
persons the composer, arranger, or players must communicate with are other<br />
musicians. <strong>To</strong> a beginner, or to the uninitiated, written music may seem like an<br />
American trying to read Mandarin! If you wish to read and write music, this<br />
book could be more than your first primer—it could be your Rosetta Stone.<br />
In my own teaching, I often use <strong>The</strong> <strong>Complete</strong> Idiot’s <strong>Guide</strong> to <strong>Music</strong> <strong>The</strong>ory as a<br />
means to jump-start the learning process for my students. <strong>To</strong>o often young<br />
musicians and teachers alike approach music theory as a Very Hard Subject<br />
That Must Be Learned, instead of a set of liberating tools that makes one’s<br />
music-making easier and better. However, this book makes learning theory fun!<br />
Michael’s diagrams, language, and wit will often contain the bit of information<br />
that enables the student to finally grasp the material at hand, oftentimes with an<br />
accompanying smile at the author’s language and antics. Consequently, I’ve<br />
often found that theory teachers at all levels will employ it for its numerous<br />
strategies, often at a time when nothing else has conveyed the concept.<br />
Beginning with the basic terminology and concepts, Michael invites the reader to<br />
work through a course that eventually leads them to a point where they can use<br />
the elements and concepts of music theory to improvise or compose whatever<br />
kind of music they’ve heard in their heads, and then present it to the rest of us,<br />
so we can perform it, too. Each chapter contains several individual nuggets of<br />
information: clear explanations about notation, rhythm, melody, and harmony,<br />
along with further chapters on counterpoint, form, score layout, and even rehearsal<br />
technique. Each chapter is filled with tips, often with just the right kind of<br />
language or explanation to simply illuminate the trickiest of concepts. Each bit of<br />
technical language that is presented is done so in a logical and straightforward<br />
fashion, often humorously, helping the reader remember the concept more easily.<br />
This edition has added more aural skills/ear training materials—probably the single<br />
most important skill musicians learn and continue to hone their entire lives.<br />
Indeed, the chart that provides examples of all of the melodic intervals, based on a<br />
number of famous melodies, is superb—invaluable to any musician! Additionally,<br />
the accompanying compact disc provides a number of exercises: pitch recognition<br />
(often incorporating your instrument!), interval and chord identification,<br />
rhythmic and melodic dictation, as well as some others. All these skills are valuable<br />
assets, and Michael ably sets you on the road to acquire them.<br />
Making music seems to be a drive that’s inherent in all of us. We must have all of the<br />
tools and knowledge of their use to musically reach out and express ourselves. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Complete</strong> Idiot’s <strong>Guide</strong> to <strong>Music</strong> <strong>The</strong>ory, Second Edition, is one of the first and best tools<br />
in your musical toolbox. And you know what the song says: “If I had a hammer … ”<br />
—Frank Felice, Ph.D, Associate Professor of <strong>Music</strong> <strong>The</strong>ory, Composition<br />
and Electronic <strong>Music</strong>, Butler University (www.frank-felice.com)