Customer Reviews

Basic Guide to How to Read Music (Perigee)

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I give this book 5 stars because it is exactly what I was looking for while learning to play guitar. I didn't study music through high school so a lot of the concepts of music escaped me.
I have another book full of tests to challenge your memory as you work your way through (with a CD) but found it lenghty.

If you are wanting to learn to read music and are after an easy to access, easy to read, easy to understand book explaining all the symbols you are likely to encounter ... then this is it.
80 pages of straight to the point explanations with examples (not just definitions). Best used in conjunction with learning an instruement. If you have access to a keyboard (piano), then your learning will accelerate.

Reading music was always something of a mysterious art to me. This book really clarifies it and makes it seem possible for me to sight-read in my lifetime!

I give this book 5 stars because it is exactly what I was looking for while learning to play guitar. I didn't study music through high school so a lot of the concepts of music escaped me.
I have another book full of tests to challenge your memory as you work your way through (with a CD) but found it lenghty.

If you are wanting to learn to read music and are after an easy to access, easy to read, easy to understand book explaining all the symbols you are likely to encounter ... then this is it.
80 pages of straight to the point explanations with examples (not just definitions). Best used in conjunction with learning an instruement. If you have access to a keyboard (piano), then your learning will accelerate.

This book helps so much. I bought a wookbook required for a class, but this book mentions everything the wookbook doesn't. It helps so much

This book was a little hard for me to understand. Music doesn't come easy for me but I keep trying. I think it's a good book but not for me. I need music for dummies I guess or the thick headed.

A good an logicial presentation of the material