General music theory help

[Marar]

Hi, I need recomendations for some really basic music theory dvd's or video training that does not focus on any particular instrument (I just have my virtual midi keyboard with me :p). Also, it would be great if some sort of interactive courses are available somewhere

http://www.musictheory.net/index.html has been somewhat helpful, but on several occasions it confused me even more by using clasical notation when I'm just getting used to the piano roll.

Thanks in advance!

[sammy24]

Hi. My recommendation would be the Musicianship course from Dick Grove"s "School Without Walls" program. It is broken into 2 parts, the first being 12 DVD's, and the 2nd part 8 DVD's (more advanced). If you know everything from just the first part of the course, you will be well on your way to being an excellent musician. They also have options to purchase one chapter at a time.

Each DVD comes with a workbook/textbook that explains everything and gives you a lot of practice, as well as an accompanying ear training DVD. And all this is taught by the great Dick Grove himself, who, if you don't know, was a top Hollywood arranger who has tons of television and film credits, and arranged jazz albums, big band, etc. And he is a great teacher as well, which is the main thing.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will excel so much more with this course than any other self-study/music theory DVD or books. He gets right to the heart of the matter, explains difficult concepts in a simple and clear way. And he teaches you how to improve your musicality on your own, which is probably a musician's greatest asset. (This is not an advertisement , hope it doesn't sound like one! I have no personal connection to them other than having taken his courses myself.)

P.S. I know you wanted a recommendation for very basic music theory-- these courses start out assuming you know next to nothing, other than some idea of how to read music, and even if you don't, they even have a primer on reading music, i believe, to get you started on that, too. His methods extend from the very basic to the complex-- but it's all based on simple concepts, slowly built up to the more advanced.

[DrawMusic]

I'd be interested to know if you find the articles on my site helpful:

http://DrawMusic.com/HowToWrite

[wrench45us]

I think the latest Rikky Rooksby project would be a good place to start, esp if what you're rreally interested in is song writing.

once that settles I'd look into Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book
but give the Rikky Rooksby stuff some time first

If the basics aren't set there can be an awful lot of information flying around with little to latch onto

[johnjaypl]

Hi, I need recomendations for some really basic music theory dvd's or video training that does not focus on any particular instrument (I just have my virtual midi keyboard with me :p). Also, it would be great if some sort of interactive courses are available somewhere

http://www.musictheory.net/index.html has been somewhat helpful, but on several occasions it confused me even more by using clasical notation when I'm just getting used to the piano roll.

Thanks in advance!

Not a dvd or video but I wrote my own basic music theory book, mostly for myself but if all else fails you might want to take a look.

It's called BASIC MUSIC THEORY FOR ROCKET SCIENTISTS.

Here's a link to it:

http://johnjayplatko.com/Documents/mtfrs4.pdf

[seraphicpanoply]

It's called BASIC MUSIC THEORY FOR ROCKET SCIENTISTS.

Here's a link to it:

http://johnjayplatko.com/Documents/mtfrs4.pdf

Very nice, thank you.

[hibidy]

http://www.musictheory.net/

Hope that helps