KVR Audio

Sleaze · Post by **Sleaze** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:50 pm

Hello,
I'm a little rusty on my music theory and looking for suggestions of books/ebooks for music theory in general. What are some of your favorites?

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:58 pm

Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book worked for me when I was learning.

stanlea · Post by **stanlea** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:48 pm

In english ?

Sleaze · Post by **Sleaze** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:07 pm

stanlea wrote:In english ?

Si

runagate · Post by **runagate** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:09 pm

Shoenberg's Theory of Harmonization?

llatham · Post by **llatham** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:06 pm

Sleaze wrote:Hello,
I'm a little rusty on my music theory and looking for suggestions of books/ebooks for music theory in general. What are some of your favorites?

The traditional university textbooks are:

Kostka/Payne "Tonal Harmony"
Aldwell/Schachter - similar title
Walter Piston "Harmony"
Schoenberg - I believe it's just "Theory of Harmony".

Of those, the K/P and A/S are most used in universities (in the US) today, Piston is used a little bit. Schoenberg is kind of a tedious read, and neither of these two (piston and schoenberg) are as "student friendly" as the K/P and A/S. I prefer the K/P.

These though are a little "heavy duty". Believe it or not, the "for Dummies" people have come out with "Music Theory for Dummies" (I think there's the Idiots one too). Actually, you can't make it but so simple, and this is not a bad choice for brushing up (and I don't think you're a dummy

.

The other thing is, the K/P and such are expensive - the Piston less, and the Schoenberg fairly cheap (you may actually find it on bookstore shelves). The Dummies series is probably realtively cheap and easy to find, so it might be at least worht investigating.

HTH
LSL

alienjim · Post by **alienjim** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:27 pm

http://www.ravenspiral.com/ravenspiralguide.pdf

good for starters and if you're not intending to become a second Mozart

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:41 am

Arranging Techniques For Synthesists- Eric Turkel

Jostein · Post by **Jostein** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:10 pm

Thanks for the Ravenspiral guide. Great reading!

Jostein.

buscemi · Post by **buscemi** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:25 pm

Favorite I've ever used is Principles of Orchestration (Rimsky-Korsakov). Probably a bit too specific for what you need right now but keep it in mind for the future.

Jono-60 · Post by **Jono-60** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:06 pm

The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles

sundancemusic · Post by **sundancemusic** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:22 pm

"Harmonic Experience" by W.A.Mathieu. Recommended by J.Coltrane, P.Seeger, and me.

Jazzy.Shredder · Post by **Jazzy.Shredder** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:42 pm

Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" is pretty much the standard, IMO.

jdtrbn · Post by **jdtrbn** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:18 pm

Jazzy.Shredder wrote:Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" is pretty much the standard, IMO.

+1
Helped me, though I knew the basics before reading it.

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:24 pm

The Musician's Guide to Reading and Writing Music
though not near as heavy as the Levin book, enjoyable reading

Favorite Music Theory Book?