Basic Guide to How to Read Music (Perigee) [Paperback]

Helen Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Series: Perigee | Publication Date: May 13, 1985

Guides the reader through rhythm, scales and intervals, keys, and tonality right through to score reading.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (May 13, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399511229
• ISBN-13: 978-0399511226
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good...., November 14, 2003

By 

GothCrone (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Basic Guide to How to Read Music (Perigee) (Paperback)

This book was adequate in the description and explanation of music theory, however it is not my favourite . . in several areas there are details that are not very clear - the instruction seems to start off very basic (which is exactly how it should begin) but then ramps almost too quickly into sketchy but complex explanation . . it is a slim volume and brief, but a bit too brief for some of the more difficult to grasp concepts. For just about the same money you can get (from Amazon) Learn to Read Music by Howard Shanet which is much more thorough, still starts with the very bare bones basics, but then is more consistent with the explanations as the concepts become more and more difficult.

72 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good, easy to use book., July 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Basic Guide to How to Read Music (Perigee) (Paperback)

I found this to be a very good book to learn the basics of how to read music. I sing in a choir and always had a hard time following the music in the sheet music books. The book helped a great deal, and I only wish that it contained a bit more instruction.. but I think that for less than ten bucks, it's a great deal.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, but some glaring omissions., May 21, 2006

By 

Anthony Daliasi (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Read Music (Paperback)

This is a pretty good book, but my biggest problem with it starts on page 54, "The Structure of the Minor Scale". In it, Helen Cooper writes, "There are two forms of the minor scale...the harmonic minor and melodic minor." The problem is there are really three. She neglects to mention the natural (or pure) minor scale, which is really the most common of all three. If you play the first eight white keys on a piano, starting with A, that's the natural minor scale. She also doesn't mention modes at all, which the major scale and natural minor scales came from. The major scale is Ionian mode, and the natural minor scale is Aeolian mode.

The book I come back to over and over is "Every Musician's Handbook". Major scales, minor scales (all three of them), and modes are covered on pages 7 and 8.