Customer Reviews

Elementary Training for Musicians (2nd Edition)

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Paul Hindemith was one of the 20th Century's preeminent composers, and was also known as a superb teacher. This book is not a textbook on harmony or composition. Rather, it is a collection of exercises intended to develop basic musicianship skills, including note-reading, and rhythmic and melodic sight-singing and dictation. The exercises start off deceptively simple and increase rapidly in difficulty. For example, a typical rhythmic exercise might have two separate rhythmic lines to be performed by each hand tapping, or by singing one of the lines and clapping or tapping the other. Melodic exercises are often accompanied by a contrasting rhythm line. Exercises are presented in alto and tenor clefs as well as the more usual bass and treble. Determination is the key to success with this book. Many of the exercises must be practiced assiduously--slowly at first, then faster as skill improves. Anyone who completes at least half the book will have improved his or her musicianship level significantly.

I'm taking music lessons - one hour a week. We started on this book a little over a year ago, and I think I'm on page 14. In that year, I feel that my eyes have opened up finally (or more literally, ears). My sense of rhythm, harmony, melody, and pitch, all have improved to probably double if not triple where I was last year.

I'm nowhere near god-like status, and not quite a professional level musician (though I imagine that's not far off if I keep working, which I will), but then - I'm only on page 14.

One caveat, with this, as with all music books, it helps tremendously to have a teacher to point out your mistakes & do the exercises with you. My music teacher keeps telling me that a lot of teachers don't do this method because *they* have to work too with this book. They can't just sit back & watch you read the notes, nor can they give you hour-long dissertations on whatever theory they think is relevant. They have to listen, work, and there are dictations that are meant to be done with this book as well where your teacher sings or plays or taps a part & you write it down or repeat it.

I work hard every week with this book, and so does my music teacher. If I master one exercise in that time great, if I breeze though 5 (yeah right!) fine - I know I'm getting the skills I need, and Hindenmith doesn't skimp, so I know I'm getting *all* the skills I need.

The book is broken down (if I remember correctly) into 3 repeated parts - action, time and action-in-time. Or, pitch, rhythm, and pitch with rhythm. A fourth part is the dictations.

The exercises are also inherently musical, not mindless. My teacher is constantly pointing out "that's an important interval for you to know - see how he's making you sing it?" or "that's an important rhythm for you to know..."

I wouldn't reccomend this book to someone who thinks they can sit at home with a book & "get it". Though the excercises can, technically be done alone (the dictations can't), how can you HEAR something your skill level doesn't allow? How can you practice singing intervals if you yourself don't hear them? Who will bring you to the next level?

Someone needs to write a computer program based on this book - tap the space bar in the appropriate way, sing into the microphone, etc. While it couldn't replace a teacher, it could give you something to work with between lessons.

Interested in talking about music? Write me at fourstrings@mailandnews.com

This is by far the best book on its subject that I've ever worked with. For some reason it wasn't used until the second year second semester of Ear Training where I went to school, and I wonder why the college made us waste time and money on previous texts when this one had it all.

That being said, it's definitely written without self-teaching in mind. From Hindemith's mindset, and that of many pedagogues both living and deceased, the idea of teaching oneself musicianship is about as nuts as teaching oneself surgery or carpentry. Even if it were possible, the same results could be achieved with less time and effort through proper instruction, which Hindemith sought to facilitate with this text. So if you're looking for a self-teaching text, look elsewhere - you are outside the scope of this book.

My only concern about this book, and this could be simply the edition I have, is that it's in desperate need of a facelift. Taking advantage of computer layout techniques could make the exercises easier to read and the pages easier to navigate. Other than that, it's a teacher's dream for working on the nuts and bolts of musicianship.

Paul Hindemith should have a more prominent place in the minds and repertoire of musicians. However, he was also a music professor at Yale during and after the war. He returned to Europe in 1953 and taught at a university in Zürich. As a pedagogue and even as a theorist, he was very interested in the practical applications of music. He saw absolutely no use of learning abstractions from a book that you lacked the ability to apply. Makes sense, doesn't it?

This book provides activities at a basic level. He is correct that if you can learn and do all of the activities in this book, you will inevitably get a solid grounding in basic theory. You will not only learn about rhythm, pitch, and notation, you will also learn to write down what you hear (an ability called dictation).

The material here is fairly easy for a well trained musician, but very difficult for a beginner, and probably impossible for a beginner without a good teacher. The main thing to note is that this is a very activity oriented approach and was put together by a fine musician who was an important composer, theorist, and teacher.

Originally published in the 1940s, Paul Hindemith's remakable textbooks are still the outstanding works of their kind. In contrast to many musical textbooks written by academic musicians, these were produced by a man who could play every instrument of the orchestra, could compose a satisfying piece for almost every kind of ensemble, and who was one of the most stimulating teachers of his day. It is therefore not surprising that nearly forty years later these books should remain essential reading for the student and the professional musician.

I am in the 9th chapter as i am writing the review and i must tell it is a must read for anyone who aspires to be a 'Musician'. No wonder musicians during and before Hindemith lived were conisdered as artists unlike today's overtly commercial, artificial, completely lacking in talent 'sound makers'. I would particularly recommend this for teachers as it is a wonderful tool for teaching the intricacies of music(though this is only Elementary Training).

Elementary Training is great for any musician. Applicable to anything you might be doing musically. I love this book

I first encountered "Elementary Training for Musicians" when I was a teenager, several decades ago. It was recommended by a couple of professional musicians whom I admired as role models. They must have had a grudge against me. I approached the book with an open and eager mind, as if it were the Bible, and by the fifth page it had absolutely dashed my hopes and dreams. This book would have represented a major setback for me, had I not had the courage to say, "Hindemith, you're full of [it]," and moved on with my life.

As I got to know my musician friends better, I could see that what made them good had little to do with the torturous training in this turgid tome. I suspect that the same is true of Hindemith, who probably wrote his music with his right brain, and wrote this book with his left. I think he secretly penned this particular monument to obtuseness to dumbfound his professor peers, as if to say, "You see? This is what is 'elementary' to a genius like me."

You probably won't take to this book unless you happen to have perfect pitch and an appetite for unmusical exercises. Even if the latter description fits you, you would probably find the layout boring and confusing, a relic from the pre-War era, when pools of type swam in undifferentiated masses on the page. In this case, the pools are notes. The type enshrines an authorial voice that is professorial and pedantic. There is little sympathy on Hindemith's part for the "beginner's mind" -- yours, presumably -- so if you are really a beginner at music, seek your elementary training elsewhere. I would suggest going to the bookstore of a major university and seeing what is available now in music fundamentals. Avoid all texts that do not have at least one accompanying CD. Why be cruel to yourself? Your progress will be easier and faster if you can hear what the symbols mean.

One other recommendation: David Lucas Burge's Relative Pitch Ear Training Course (I have no financial interest in Burge's courses). Burge seems to be a bit of a showman, but this course is indeed meticulously worked out. I think there are some drawbacks to it, but it is truly Elementary Training for Musicians, and it will serve you well for a lifetime. As for his Perfect Pitch course, there may be something to it, but I haven't seen (or heard) any confirmation.

Good luck!

Paul Hindemith is probaly the greatest teacher, composer, and author of the 20th Century. This Book gives insight to many students (such as myself). It is a great source of help for music theory and composition, history and literature majors. Buy the Book and I gurantee you will not regret it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul Hindemith is probaly the greatest teacher, composer, and author of the 20th Century. This Book gives insight to many students (such as myself). It is a great source of help for music theory and composition, history and literature majors. Buy the Book and I gurantee you will not regret it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!