Customer Reviews

Contemporary Music Theory - Level One: A Complete Harmony and Theory Method for the Pop and Jazz Musician

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mark takes you through chapters on notation, major and minor scales, intervals, triads and four-part chords, modal scales and diatonic relationships. A VERY detailed and well explained book w/ great examples on what a certain topic is about. A must for anyone who's just starting to get into music theory. Might want to also consider Contemporary Music Theory level 2, also by Mark Harrison once you're well versed in Level 1.

I have 3 of mark's books. This one, the second one and the pop piano book. The one I like most is the pop piano book but this book is almost required reading. On with the review!

This book teaches music theory and it is what you will get. It is very clear and moves in a slow steady pace. If you pay attention you will never lose yourself. It is ideal for someone learning alone because it has exercises at the end of each chapter you can use to brush up on what you just learned. Just like chemistry (which is what I always read!) theory isn't going to take you anywhere. You need to use it too. This is almost prequisite reading for the "pop piano book" unless you already have a good grasp of music theory. I use it in conjunction with my keyboard playing. If you just read and go through the exercises, you will learn but you will forget too! So it is recommended you actually use what is learned in conjuction. This will not tell you how to "use" the theory. That is up to you. Play your instrument frequently!

So if you always wanted to know the background about music get this. Stop memorizing chords having no idea why they are what they are. The print is clear, large, easy to read. But I don't like the binding on the book. kind of weak.

Contemporary Music Theory is a well paced thorough introduction to music theory. It starts with the basics and then builds on them in a very strightforward way. Each step is explained in depth with simple and clear examples. Beginners should already know note names on the keyboard and music staves, but that's about it.

"CMT - Level 1" serves it's purpose wonderfully. It taught me many things clearly where other books failed (such as intervals, and the Circle of Fifths/Fourths). Mr. Harrison is a good teacher, and I would recommend this book to my friends. But I will keep the praises brief seeing as there are many reviews here that do just that for me.

The reason I give this book four stars rather than five is because of the typesetting used. The text is very large, and there is a *lot* of wasted real-estate on each page. If the typesetting had been improved, this book could have been truncated by at least 100 pages, allowing for cheaper production, and finally, a less expensive book for the public. If it's any revelation, I was able to complete this book in only four days, with two-three hours each day (this includes doing half of the exercises).

Also, there is one more complaint. Mr. Harrison is a great teacher, but is not as fortunate in his writing skills. Although this does not take away from the things learned, it is a bit annoying at times. For instance, about every other sentence is terminated with an exclamation mark. There were times I felt like I was reading a chat log from an AOL channel. Also, there are numerous places where paragraphs (and sometimes several pages) were copied and pasted into another area of the book, with a few [music] notes changed here and there. About one-third of the book is a result of copy and pastes from the other two-thirds.

All of that aside, it did exactly what it was meant to do: give me a clear introduction to music theory.

While the book kind of sputters at the beginning it really takes off in the third chapter. Alot of emphasis is placed on the contemporary jazz second dominant. Also I liked the treatment of styles of Bill Evans and John Abercrombie. Both of these artist"s styles are meticulously broken down and analyzed. The book also does a good job on the I-ii-iv-v-I progression.

This book is clear enough that even a young student can learn from it.

I must echo the sentiments of the earlier reviewers: If you can already read music and want to get started on the theory (scales, intervals, chords, and the like), then this is an excellent choice.

I'm not really a musician, so I can't compare this book or its method to other books on the same subject. But I found this book very clear and understandable and I read it all the way though, did all the exercises. And it taught me a lot. This really is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone who can read music but doesn't know the theory behind it.

It is the first of three volumes but I can say that if they had used a little smaller font sizes, all volumes can be in a mid-size book. And the information in all volumes is just for the very beginner. If you got his The Pop Piano Book so don't get them - just a waste of money. It's bad that in the text the writer is always offering you another book of him, sounds like 'i never teach you anything if you don't buy all of my books'. And after all he's got 6 books but the other 5 except the Pop Piano Book, are useless: Don't let the very big font sizes fool you, all the page have only 15-20 sentences, so with a normal size font it can take only 40-45 pages. Buy just a little book about harmony for beginner and you'll get what you expect from this one.

If you're trying to teach yourself piano in one or more popular styles, you can't go wrong with anything written by Mark Harrison.

This book is no exception.

I bought this book even though I already own "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory". Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, but it doesn't compare to Harrison's treatment of the subject matter in this book.

It's the difference between a good presentation and a great presentation.

I've looked at a few treatments of elementary music theory, and although they all cover the same ground more or less, Harrison's book shows the logic behind the suff you have to memorize. That's what separates this book from the others.

Quite the best explanation of music theory, for both classical and contemporary music, that I've come across.

Mark Harrison does not "put the cart before the horse" (as he explains himself) and as such brings clarity.

Even though there is some repetition to bring home important points, overall there is a delightful brevity.

Don't even think of skipping any.

The appendices contain a very useful set of triads in all keys.

Highly recommended. I can't wait to order volume II.