The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals
The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals
Jane Piper Clendinning
Elizabeth West Marvin
Joel Phillips
Description
A focused, musical approach to fundamentals, online or in-person
Reorganized and streamlined, the third edition of The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals features a new, laser focus on the core concepts of music fundamentals. The text features NEW online resources—including formative quizzes and a self-grading workbook—while retaining the Musician’s Guide’s emphasis on real music from Bach to Broadway, Mozart to Katy Perry.
The best online resources for mastering music fundamentals
Experience a complete online system for teaching and learning fundamentals. Every new copy of the text includes access to the interactive ebook. The ebook links seamlessly to Know It? Show It! pedagogy, helping students to master skills. End-of-chapter workbook exercises can be completed on paper or online, with the all NEW self-grading online workbook. Best of all, these resources and more are included free with every new copy of the text.
Focused introduction to music fundamentals
The Third Edition has been revised and streamlined to highlight what’s important and focus on core concepts. Additional information appears in NEW In Depth boxes and in capstone Make Music projects.
Unique listen-write-perform framework
Every chapter begins with music; students listen first and concepts follow. Three or four workbook assignments in each chapter include a range of creative activities that students can complete online or on tear-out-and-turn-in pages. The Musician’s Guide features more practical musicianship exercises than any other text, giving students the opportunity to use what they’ve learned to perform.
Music students love
The Musician’s Guide encompasses the wide range of music available to students in the twenty-first century. Mozart piano sonatas appear next to Broadway show tunes and recent Top 40 hits. The text includes music that is relevant to every student. NEW Make Music projects give students the opportunity to compose in a popular or folk style.
Review
The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals is my primary recommendation for those wanting to start learning music theory fundamentals on their own. Not only is the style of writing approachable to musicians of any level, the musical examples Clendinning, Marvin, and Phillips chose vary much more than the other big music theory text books. This text book series includes not only classical examples, but also examples from folk music of many cultures worldwide as well as from pop music.
It does leave out some specific details for particular topics, but I think this was deliberate, as too much information when students first learn concepts can be overwhelming and detrimental to actually comprehending the material.
I give The Musician’s Guide to Fundamentals 5 out of 5 stars for its comprehensive content, diversity of musical examples, and approachability for musicians of al levels.