Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals [Paperback]

William Duckworth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0534164765 | ISBN-13: 978-0534164768 | Publication Date: September 27, 1991 | Edition: 4th

This book should be of interest to undergraduates of music and music theory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This textbook approaches the subject matter by weaving into and through the fundamentals of music in an organic fashion, introducing topics the way one might do in explaining music verbally. I like the way William Duckworth talks directly to the student in a conversational tone throughout the text.

The Focus on Fundamentals CD-ROM allows students to work at their own pace, providing reinforcement of basic concepts for those students who need it and an opportunity for enrichment for those students who grasp the basic material more quickly.

The information is interestingly presented. Mr. Duckworth's obvious knowledge of today's popular culture would be appealing to many students. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

An internationally known composer, acclaimed teacher of American music, and the founder of Postminimalism, William Duckworth has written more than 200 works, including the well-known Time Curve Preludes for piano. In addition to numerous teaching awards?Rolling Stone called his teaching "hip, bright, and innovative,"?Duckworth has been honored by the American Music Society as one of Six Master Teachers in America. Additionally, his Cathedral , created with Nora Farrell and on-line since 1997, is one of the first interactive works of music and art on the Web. Duckworth's recent honors include the 2001 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Internet Award, and the 2002 Award in Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc; 4th edition (September 27, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534164765
• ISBN-13: 978-0534164768
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,187,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on *all* the basics, October 14, 2000

By 

Kristin "Ol'Line Rebel" (Ellicott City, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals (Music Series) (Paperback)

I thought this was a terrific book when I had it in college! That was way back and it was the 4th ed., but I doubt it's changed much (I need to buy it myself). This book covers all the "basics" of music. Now, I'm a little biased because I learned the very true basics of music through several years of band as a kid (notes, scales, basic time, etc), but there are still very many things I never learned from those kid days that are contained herein. It is concise and complete, covering many topics and makes it easy to understand everything very quickly. I was devastated when the last WEEK of the semester I left the book somewhere - and when I tried to find it in the likely places that day, it was gone. Some other engineering student (I was taking this as an extra class) probably picked it up and realized what a great source it was. I liked it so much I went back to the school store during the next-semester sale to buy one - only to see the department had given it up for another book! Bummer!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent content - criticism surprising, June 25, 2007

By 

Peter Hulen (Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals (with CD-ROM and Keyboard Booklet) (Paperback)

Criticism of this text as not good for people with little background is somewhat surprising. It begins rhythm with the idea that music is organized around an underlying pulse, then introduces basic note values and meters. It begins pitch at the level of "this is a staff." How much more basic can you get? I am an experienced music theory professor, and I find this an excellent systematic approach to music fundamentals. If you can learn, you can learn very well from this book; if you can teach, you can teach very well from it.

My only criticism regards the tear-out exercises. This 9th ed. has been improved so that the tear-outs won't take the rest of the text with them--that was a cheapskate, profit-centered approach to book design. Now they are all at the end of the chapter, albeit lumped together so they still don't come out individually. After students and I have all purchased a copy of the text, I still photocopy and distribute the exercises (now termed "Practice Materials") according to my lesson plans and overall course schedule.

The material itself is still presented as clearly and systematically as ever. As with any course content, mastery of material for many students still requires best teaching practices.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Must have some background in music or it's gibberish, June 27, 2000

By 

Scott Andrew Hutchins (Bronx, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals (Music Series) (Paperback)

Duckworth is not a very good writer of educational texts. I was able to follow it fairly well, but this was a textbook for an introductory class, and much of the material is poorly explained, with an assumption that the reader, whom he seems to intend to be a beginner, knows more than they probably do. I found this textbook to be needlessly challenging for the wrong reasons. It is fairly useful, but my professor even hated using this book for an introductory course (the department selected it for her). If you are in step with a lot of music fundamentals, it should help you advance much farther; however, if you are not,, this book will seriously confuse you.