Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Music - Chords, clefs and scales made easy., February 1, 2009
Modern Music Systems makes the study and understanding of chords, scales and clefs so easy. I wish I would have had access to this book when I first began studying piano years ago. It's written in plain, concise language and is so logical that it will be appreciated by students and teachers of music. Anyone who is open-minded to new ideas will be blown-away by the author's approach to scales, chords and clefs.
Debbie Beamer, owner, Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun New View, December 14, 2008
For those trained in standard music theory, this is a fun new view, if they like to see an object (or a piece of "truth") from various angles. Music theory is full of delightfully subtle (yet sometimes perplexing) similarities and contrasts. I've seen new theory texts mapped around one or two small changes in how to look at those. Mr. D'Agostino tackles three big ones head-on: standardized clef notation, a comprehensive approach to 8-note scales and a logical system of chord-labeling.
At age 12, I attempted my own rudimentary notation system, but gave it up when I ran into problems, and when I decided I'd spend more time trying to get others to use it than in perfecting it. Some will assume D'Agostino's book is the over-reach of a dabbler, proceeding without careful thought or investigation. They will be wrong. If his suggestions do not soon come into common use, I would be disappointed--as they would be most helpful--but not greatly surprised. We creatures of habit have to bump into improvements (or be replaced by new creatures who are willing to establish new habits).
My only criticisms of the book have to do with those "new creatures." There's much that's well-crafted for the novice, but there may be a few small problems as well. I wonder if a student would struggle to see a difference between the book's definition of "scale" and "mode," or if a young composer might be made to feel he cannot use more than 12 divisions per octave, or more than 8 notes for his own synthetic scales.
For a young tonal composer, the fascinating, colorful catalog of eight-note scales could be a deep well of inspiration. For the practicing musician or the old theory buff, the book is a useful and fun new view of old bits of truth, put together in a clever way.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended, December 11, 2008
Modern Music Systems is most interesting. The three systems offered are all practical. There are gems to be found in this short book. I suspect that once these systems have received enough exposure, they will be incorporated into most musicians toolboxes.
The System C Clef System invites little review: either you like it or you don't. Personally, I like it.
The Scale Phrase System is the system I like best. The reasoning is that the author simply took the traditional "tetrachord" system, which has been around for ages, and revamped it. The simplicity is striking. New students will be relieved to know that they don't have to memorize all of the old traditional scale names.
System 2000 is really interesting. This system denies the user any excuses for presenting an ambiguous chord symbol. The only thing that might irritate professionals who currently use their own systems is that System 2000 doesn't allow the use of "sharp" or "flat" signs with modifiers. This might annoy some performers, but teachers will probably want to start new students off correctly from the beginning, so they might like the choice of modifier symbols that are allowed.
Overall, I recommend this fine work. I think these systems will be here for a long time.
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