Elements of Music
- Book Review,
by Joseph N. Straus
From the Back Cover
Elements of Music covers the traditional fundamental topics in tonal music theory: pitch notation in bass and treble clefs; rhythm and meter; major and minor scales; intervals; triads and seventh chords; and simple harmonic progressions. Musical literature. Elements of Music includes an anthology of core works in diverse tonal styles (both in score and recorded on CD), and these are the source of all of the musical examples and many of the written exercises. Students learn the concepts through the musical works, and the musical works through the concepts. Interactivity. Elements of Music comes with an interactive CD that contains all of the written exercises. Students can thus hear the music they write as they write it. Flexibility. Elements of Music, with its transparent organization and its extensive, imaginative, interactive exercises, is designed as a set of flexible resources for the teacher rather than a prescribed curricular sequence that must be followed in lockstep. In-class Activities. Each lesson is accompanied by suggested in-class activities, including singing, dictation, and keyboard exercises designed to supplement and reinforce the theory lessons. The goal of these activities, and of the book as a whole, is to bring beginning students into close contact with music. At every stage, this book emphasizes that music is to be heard and made, not merely seen and contemplated.
About the Author
Joseph N. Straus teaches at Queens College of the City University of New York. He has written extensively on topics in music theory and is a former president of the Society for Music Theory.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Who is this book for? This book is designed for a one-semester course for two groups of students: (1) Nonmusic majors who are taking a course in music because they want to write their own music or are simply curious about how music is put together; (2) Aspiring music majors who need some extra work in fundamental topics. before beginning a sequence of theory courses for music majors. What topics does this book cover? This book covers the traditional fundamental topics in tonal music theory: pitch notation in bass and treble clefs; rhythm and meter; major and minor scales; intervals; triads and seventh chords; simple harmonic progressions and cadences. What makes this book different? Musical literature. This book is immersed in musical literature. It includes an anthology of core works in diverse tonal styles (both in score and recorded oil CD), and these are the source of all of the musical examples and many of the written exercises. Each musical excerpt is thus understood in its larger context; there are no isolated snippets. The theoretical concepts and musical works are integrated with each other. As students learn each basic concept, they see how it functions in music of high artistic quality At the same time, they use their newly acquired theoretical ability to come to an intimate understanding of a small group of fine works. They learn the concepts through the musical works, and the musical works through the concepts. Interactivity. The book comes with an interactive CD. Recorded performances of the pieces in the anthology are available there. More important, for each concept in the text, the CD provides interactive exercises. Students will be able to engage aurally and interactively with the musical concepts and the musical works in the anthology. They will be able to hear the music they are studying and to hear what they themselves have written. Flexibility. The book is organized into six chapters: (1) pitch; (2) rhythm; (3) scales; (4) intervals; (5) triads and seventh chords; and (6) harmony. This transparent organization provides instructors with a significant degree of flexibility. For example, teachers who prefer to teach rhythm before, or simultaneously with, early work in pitch notation will find it easy to do so. The book, with its extensive, imaginative, interactive exercises, is designed as a set of flexible resources for the teacher rather than a prescribed curricular sequence that must be followed in lockstep. Written exercises ad assignments. For each concept, there are extensive written exercises, both in traditional written and electronic formats. Many of the exercises incorporate music from the anthology and many encourage creative composition. There are far more exercises than any one class could do; the instructor will thus have a wide range of choices. Many of the exercises also work well for in-class drill and study. In-class activities. Each lesson is accompanied by suggested in-class activities, including singing, dictation, and keyboard exercises. These activities do not comprise a course in sightsinging, dictation, or keyboard harmony; rather, they are designed to supplement and reinforce the theory lessons. The goal of these activities, and of the book as a whole, is to bring beginning students into close, intimate contact with musical materials, not only to understand them intellectually but to embody them in some way. At every stage, this book emphasizes that music is to be heard and made, not merely seen and contemplated in the abstract. What is the goal of this book? Learning music is like learning a foreign language. Some hard work is required to master the basic grammar and vocabulary. But once you gain a reasonable degree of fluency, a whole new world opens up to you. You can express yourself and communicate in a new language, and you can listen with far deeper understanding when others speak to you. Mastery of the basic material of music described in this book will enable you to write your own music in a more thoughtful way, enable you to talk with and learn from other musicians, and give you insight into the uses that master composers have made of these basic materials. A great adventure lies ahead of you in the following pages!
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