Music Theory For Dummies

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Oct 7, 2011 - Music - 336 pages
Grasp the concepts needed to compose, deconstruct, and comprehend music

Whether you're a student of music or a music lover, Music Theory For Dummies presents you with essential information on how to read, write, and understand music, as well as helpful hints on composing, arranging, and creating original melodies, harmonies, and chords.

Music Theory For Dummies gives you a friendly, unintimidating overview of the material covered in a typical college-level course and makes music theory easy to understand. It includes updated information on current teaching techniques; the newest music examples and genres; information on mastering major and minor scales, using intervals, and recognizing pitches and clefs; the lowdown on rhythms, tempo, dynamics, and navigation; how to transcribe the music you hear and transposing it to other keys; harmonizing and accompanying melodies; composing and arranging for voices and instruments; performing your own music; and much more.

  • Audio CD includes musical excerpts played on a variety of instruments
  • Makes learning music theory as enjoyable as it is useful
  • Tracks to a typical college-level music theory course

Don't get discouraged by the seemingly complicated written structure of musical theory. With Music Theory For Dummies, understanding music has never been easier!

CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Table of Contents
Appendixes
What Is Music Theory Anyway?
Examining the notes and their
Half Minim Notes
Ei hth uaver Notes and Be
Giving It a Rest
Extendin the Break with Dotted Rests
Listening to the minor scales
Recognizing Seconds Thirds Sixths
Building Intervals
Chord Building
Expanding to Seventh Chords
Manipulating Triads through Voicing
Chord Progressions
Assigning chord names

Using measures to count
Working with Compound Time Signatures
Getting a Jump on PickUp Notes
Music Notes And Where to Find Them
Identifying Half Steps Whole Steps
Changing pitch with accidentals
Finding the Notes on the Piano and Guitar
Using Mnemonics to Help Remember Notes
Discovering All Minor Scale Patterns Have
Adding a Seventh Chord to a Triad
Applying Chord Knowledge to Fake Books
Authentic cadences
Halfcadence
Establishing Rhythm
Onepart form
Starting with the exposition
Combining Forms into a Symphony
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

12-bar blues augmented authentic cadence bass clef Chapter chord progressions Circle of Fifths CLAP CLAP CLAP two three composers count diminished seventh dominant seventh dotted eighth notes eighth quaver example F major F sharp flat major flat minor flat natural minor fret G flat grand staff half minim half steps harmonic minor scale instruments lines and spaces major chord major key major second major triad measure melodic minor scale minor 7 flat minor key signature minor seventh minor-major seventh music theory musical phrase musicians natural minor key natural minor scale note value octave pattern pedal perfect fifth piano and guitar piece of music pitch plagal cadences Play Track quarter crotchet rhythm scale degree seventh chords sharp natural minor sheet music shown in Figure signatures and scales sixteenth semiquaver sonata song sound string tempo third tonic treble clef triads and sevenths whole semibreve whole step writing music written

About the author (2011)

Michael Pilhofer teaches music theory and percussions at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. He's toured and recorded with Joe Lovano, Marian McPartland, Kenny Wheeler, and others.

Holly Day is a writing instructor at the Open Book Writing Collective in Minneapolis.

Bibliographic information

TitleMusic Theory For Dummies
--For dummies
AuthorsMichael Pilhofer, Holly Day
Edition2, illustrated, unabridged
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons, 2011
ISBN111816928X, 9781118169285
Length336 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Music / General
Music / Instruction & Study / Theory
  
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