Customer Reviews

Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory Complete (Books 1-3)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very good book for those who have little knowledge of musical theory, and those who have none. It contains three books which can also be bought seperatly. This book was used as a textbook for me for my voice lessons. It proved to help me a great deal since I am going to be studying music in college this fall. It's best to buy the CDs so you can do the ear trianing as well. You have no way of checking your answers unless you also purchase the teacher's answer key. I gave it a three just because you have to buy the CDs and teacher's answer key to get the most out of the book.

I just used this book to teach an introductory music theory class for adults (primarily community members with a recreational interest in playing/knowing more about music). I must say I was very pleased with this book in general. It offers straghtforward theory lessons with appropriate drills for getting a grip on the content. This is not an in-depth tome by any means, but it worked out well for my purposes.

I have the following minor gripes:
-This is really three books spiral bound together as one. A combined table of contents would have been most welcome.
-The CDs with the listening examples are not included and it seems the only way to acquire them is to buy the answer key book at almost $40. Phooey. How about offering the CDs with the student book for an extra $10?
-I don't care for the way this book teaches the compound meters 3/8 & 6/8. The method used is very practical and straghtforward, however, so it works out okay. It just never mentions 'compound' or 'simple' in presenting meters.
-9/8 & 12/8 are not presented. Ever.
-No asymmetric meters are presented. Ever.

With all of that out of the way, I'm happy to recommend this book for your middle school level band kids or even high school students looking to pick up some written theory, and of course as I used it for your bare-bones beginning adults with an interest in the subject.

A motivated student with the listening CDs could run through the course on his or her own, but I think you really still need a teacher for best results. Particularly as this book lacks the depth of background and explanations that an engadged student will inevitably be curious about.

This is a terrific book for any age. I teach theory to students who are all under the age of 12, the youngest is 6, and it makes sense to all of them, but I would also reccomend it to adults who know nothing about Theory, or a small amount, because it covers everything clearly and the excercises are great for anyone.

This is a good series if you are trying to learn music theory. The material is well organized, and clearly explained. Anyone can learn the essentials of music theory from these books.

Unfortunately, the material is available in so many formats, you can get lost trying to figure out which version to buy.

1st up, you can buy 3 separate books. Since each book is only about 40 pages long, this really doesn't make that much sense. Also, you are going to want the ear training CDs. There are only 2 CDs for the 3 books. and you have to buy them as a complete set.

So, you want to buy all the material at once. That brings us to this collection, which contains the text from all three books, but lacks the CDs.

As I mentioned, the CDs are available separately, but if you could buy the book plus the CDs as a single package, you could save a little bit over purchasing both items separately.

But, where is this all-in-one package? You might expect this to be called "Alfred's Essential of Music Theory Complete (Books 1 - 3 plus Ear Training CDs)."

Alas, it is not. It's called "Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs)", and you can find it on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Essentials-Music-Theory-Self-Study/dp/0739036351/ref=sip_rech_dp_10

This version also appears to have the Answer Key (which you would have to purchase separately, for even more money, if you wanted to check the answers to the quizzes). I say "appears" because I foolishly purchased this version of the product, along with the separate CDs. But glancing at the Table of Contents of the other edition has convinced me that it includes the Answer Key as well.

To summarize: this material is well worth buying, but there are too many ways to purchase it. Do yourself a favor, and buy the Complete Self-Study Course, not this edition.

This Alfred book does not contain the ear training CDs or the answers to the exercises. For those wishing to self-study, the following Alfred book includes all the material in this book plus the ear training CDs and the answers to the exercises: "Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians."

My husband is 35 and beginning to learn the guitar. But in addition to learning the instrument, he is a total beginner reading music and counting beats, etc. This student book along with the related Teacher Activity Book has been very helpful taking things step by step in a fun way. I recommend it!

Music Lovers,
This book is not a stand alone book it say complete version but in reality it is not. You need to buy another book to find the answer, then.you need to buy again, their CD's to listen to ear training. Beware of this kind of business strategy that will end up, you buying their 3 products to learn little. You can buy one book with CD for half the price of these three books.
They should give WARNING telling the buyer that they need to buy another sets to complete their music education.
If there is zero star I will give this book zero rating

This is a good music theory book. It's easy to follow the lessons, and you don't really need a teacher if you have the other book with ear training CDs as well as answers. But the thing is that this guide book costs around $26, and that's more expensive than ths theory book itself. If you want the whole bunch at cheaper price, buy a book that has practice questions and answers together.

I purchased these books to teach basic theory in my music courses to high school students. What I like about the books:
1. The topics are clearly explained and the lessons have visual examples on each page.
2. The lessons are divided half between explanation and application on one worksheet, so the information isn't overwhelming.
3. There are unit tests that cover all of the material learned through each section, providing tangible evidence of progress.
4. Books 1-3 are all in one notebook!


What I don't like about the book:
1. To be able to utilize all of the material, the students have to read both treble and bass clef. Working with beginning music students, learning one clef alone is often overwhelming, but two at the same time? My students got confused and frustrated very quickly. I altered the worksheets to best fit my students.
2. The sequence of topics covered. Personally, the sequence does not fit my opinion of when they should be introduced. Now, that's MY preference - it might work for you!


Overall, I find the books effective and easily altered to meet the needs of my classrooms.

I have studied most of the material in these books and can say they cover everything you can imagine starting with basics. I bought all the books separately at the music store spending about $20. It's amazing how you can get all three for the price of one here at Amazon.

I've been playing jazz piano for several years by ear, I can play any chord in any key solely by the feel and position of my hands. I have for so long desired to learn theory and teach. Why does this lead to that? How is it all connected? I can explain it all now, as music theory is an exact science. The content in these books, if learned well is priceless, especially if you're teaching others to play as well.

For those who commented on needing the cd's and the teacher's edition to get full use of these books are in no doubt being unreasonable based on the price.