| Review
By David Bennett
Music theory is often seen as unnecessary and boring to even the most musically
inclined persons. Many see it as a hindrance to their natural creativity.
However, without a sense of music theory, nobody will progress from playing
music, to understanding and even writing music. I took a music theory class
in college and used a textbook that tried to say the same things that Miller
says, only the textbook was far more confusing. I think this book would
actually make a fine textbook for an "Intro to Music Theory" class. He
covers most basic topics, even assuming that the reader has no music knowledge.
This is good for beginners, but for me it meant that I only skimmed the
first few chapters. He does cover more advanced topics such as harmony,
counterpoint, transcribing from audio, and transposing. At the end of each
chapter, he has quizzes to review and test what was learned in the previous
chapter. He includes most important topics in music theory, including scales,
pitches, rhythm, melodies, chords, chord progressions, phrases, transcribing,
arranging, writing lead sheets, and performing.
At the end, the book has a glossary, a guitar and piano chord reference
section, and answers to the quizzes at the end of each chapter. Overall,
this book has many good qualities. It is very readable and interesting.
He also is able to convey difficult topics in an understandable way without
sacrificing his point. Most music theory textbooks cannot do this, and
overwhelm the reader. I would say this book is best for students who need
an easy-to-understand book to complement a more advanced book, to clarify
what they have learned in a music theory class. It is also good for musicians
who don't want to be experts in music theory, but who wish to further their
musical abilities. However, as I have said, it also works on its own, and
I believe rivals many textbooks that are five times as expensive.
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