Appreciation Books - Page 2

Edly's Music Theory for Practical People

Ed Roseman

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Musical Ed Ventures Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $13.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Don't try This at Home 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Ed Roseman has written a charming book, but has provided the reader with an inadequate explanation of its subject matter. I had to ask my trumpet instructor more than once to explain what Mr. Roseman failed to provide in the way of information about the concepts presented here. The student either has to guess or find the information elsewhere in order to avoid getting lost. I definitely do not recommend this book for anyone new to the subject of music theory unless they have access to someone well versed on the subject, such as a music teacher.

Painless Music Theory 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

An interesting, logical, and understandable approach to Music Theory. Filled with enough examples, insights, and relationships to round out your unterstanding.

A Great Buy ! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This takes most of the information in the "much thicker and formal" Music Theory books and condenses to something manageable, easy to understand, easy to read AND easy to learn. A good book for any musician to own !

Great for Jammers, and those intimidated by Jazz! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Like many a piano player, I learned to play by imitation, that is, imitating what my piano teacher taught me to do as a 9-year old. Ten years later, in my first `college band', I finally learned how to improvise and actually create music by taking a Jazz improvisation class. If you have time to take a class, do it...if not, buy this book. Perhaps this would be a bit complex for the complete novice, but if you're like me, (a person `classically trained' with little knowledge of how music is actually made) then this book is great.

If you're a pop composer and always wondering why you go from C to A-minor, to F, to G, then back to C, this ACTUALLY explains it! Even better, it explains what other chords you can play to make your progressions more interesting. Heck, you may even write a Jazz tune while you're at it.

A definite thumbs up.

Not 5 Star...
-A CD would be nice to accompany the various voicings of scales,etc
-Should have more variety of example songs besides `old susana'
-Could have gone deeper into music history, other than simply stating "most music is composed of the I, IV, and V chords."

The Infinite Variety of Music

BERNSTEIN LE

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: HAL LEONARD CORPORATION Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $10.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Still excellent!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Inspite of having been written so many years ago, these talks are still valid and outstanding.- I am a commentator on Music on Television, and Leonard Bernstein has been, and continues to be, my model and idol in this respect.- Very recommended indeed.-

Editorial Review:

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Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (Vintage)

Glenn Kurtz

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vintage Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $7.89

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I found that I could not put it down. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

To previous reviewers: Yes, the book has a lot about the guitar's history, maybe too much. Yes, the book rambles at times. Yes, I wish that he had discussed more about technique and his technical growth; what were some of the "ah-ha moments"? Yes, it does have an unhappy ending. And, yes, in my opinion, Kurtz is wrong to think of guitar as having show-stopper limitations. But, then, we weren't in Kurtz's shoes when he made the decisions that he made, were we?

This is a one-of-a-kind book and if you have a serious interest in the classical guitar then this book is a must read; other kinds of musicians might find it tedious. I found that I could not put it down.

Editorial Review:

In a remarkable memoir written with insight and humor, Glenn Kurtz takes us from his first lessons at the age of eight to his acceptance at the elite New England Conservatory of Music. After graduation, he attempts a solo career in Vienna but soon realizes that he has neither the ego nor the talent required to succeed and gives up the instrument, and his dream, entirely.

But not forever: Returning to the guitar, Kurtz weaves into the narrative the rich experience of a single practice session. Practicing takes us on a revelatory, inspiring journey: a love affair with music.

Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (Ted Reed)

Ted Reed

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Alfred Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $3.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

All music students could benefit from this book. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I am currently using this book to teach my son basic drumming with a roland practice pad. It has been a fantastic help.

This book would be helpful to any beginning student learning to read music, not just drummers, since it so clearly breaks down rhythmic notation. The exercise progressions make a lot of sense, and there are quarter note guides that align the drum notes relative to the downbeat, which is very helpful for learning syncopation.

Editorial Review:

Voted second on Modern Drummer's list of 25 Greatest Drum Books in 1993, Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer is one of the most versatile and practical works ever written for drums. Created exclusively to address syncopation, it has earned its place as a standard tool for teaching beginning drummers syncopation and strengthening reading skills. This book includes many accented eighths, dotted eighths and sixteenths, eighth-note triplets and sixteenth notes for extended solos. In addition, teachers can develop many of their own examples from it.

All You Have to Do is Listen: Music from the Inside Out

Rob Kapilow

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $13.09

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Rob Kapilow has been helping audiences hear more in great music for almost twenty years with his What Makes It Great? series on NPR, at Lincoln Center, and in concert halls throughout the US and Canada. In this book, he gives you a set of tools you can use when listening to any piece of music in order to hear its “plot”—its story told in notes. The musical examples are available free for download to help you hear the ideas presented. Whether you are an experienced concertgoer or a newcomer to classical music, the listening principles Kapilow shares will help you "get" music in an exciting, fresh new way.

"Kapilow gets audiences in tune with classical music at a deeper and more immediate level than many of them thought possible."
—Los Angeles Times

"Rob Kapilow is awfully good at what he does. We need him."
—The Boston Globe

"A wonderful guy who brings music alive!"
—Katie Couric

"Rob Kapilow leaps into the void dividing music analysis from appreciation and fills it with exhilarating details and sensations."
—The New York Times

"You could practically see the light bulbs going on above people's heads. . . . The audience could decipher the music in a new, deeper way. It was the total opposite of passive listening."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection

Theodore Libbey (aka Ted Libbey)

List Price: $15.95 By: Workman Pub Co Amazon Marketplace: 130 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent attempt at the most difficult of tasks 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It takes guts to write a book that attempts to identify the 350-or-so most important works and their best recordings out of the entire canon of classical music. On top of that, Libbey includes a countless number of interesting, informative, and entertaining commentaries of the pieces and their recordings as well as a number of lists to provide the reader with some ideas on how to start their classical music collection. Libbey does an excellent job of providing the information in a way that will neither intimidate the classical novice, nor insult the more experienced listener. As someone who considers himself somewhere in the middle between those two extremes, I appreciated Libbey's descriptions of the pieces as a guide to "what to listen for".

As a result of this book, I discovered a wide range of composers and compositions that I was not familiar with, and deepened my appreciation and understanding of the composers and works that I already knew. Some reviewers have criticized this book for spending too much time on X and leaving out Y, or for having a skimpy section of Z. While the comments are valid, one must recognize that they miss the forest for the trees. This book could be picked apart on the details, but that would miss the thoroughness and helpfulness of this book as a whole. I would give this book 4.5 stars if allowed, but given the difficult nature of the task before Libbey, I will round up and give him 5 stars. For the approximate price of one CD, this book contains an enormous wealth of information. My hat is off to Libbey's accomplishment!

One final note, while Amazon (and other sources) have the majority of the recordings listed in this book (if not all of them), don't forget that your local library often will have many of them as well. It does not hurt to sample some of the music first to see what suits your taste before spending money on the CD.

Editorial Review:

In this informed and indispensable guide, National Public Radio's Ted Libbey takes you by the hand through the classical repertory and helps you build a core collection. Not just another rating book, this is an expert's lively appreciation-work by work-of the symphonies, concertos, chamber pieces, keyboard works, sacred works, and operas that belong in every music-lover's library. Where do you start with Berlioz? If you love Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, what about his sonatas? "Cosi fan tutte" or "The Marriage of Figaro?" Webern or Vaughn Williams? And which of Beethoven's 16 string quartets should you not live without? Moreover, the author's discriminating picks of the best performers, performances, and recordings for each work-all on CD-will get you started immediately.

Hearing and Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician

Ron Gorow

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Most important book in your library 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book will become the most important book in your music library!! They don't come around very often. The author amazingly manages to wrap up the "big picture" and lay it out at your feet.

Editorial Review:

Designed as a self-training manual as well as a classroom text, this book is a complete step-by-step course to develop the musician's ability to hear and notate any style of music. Personal training, theory and exercises form an integrated, subconscious technique, which may be applied to composition, improvisation or performance.

A definitive guide and reference book for composers, orchestrators, arrangers and performers, Hearing and Writing Music teaches a fast sketch technique and emphasizes accurate communication through music notation. The goal is to recognize and notate any musical sound without using a keyboard or any other instrument. Contents include:
Developing your ear
Hearing intervals and phrases
Transcription technique
Perception to notation of all elements of music
Preparation for production and publishing
Reference and resource section for composition and film scoring

Adult All-in-one Course: Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, Book 2

Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, Amanda Vick Lethco

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Alfred Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $5.93

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, the most popular and successful piano course ever written, has just been given a new dimension. Along with the Lesson pages that teach the concepts and fundamentals of music, Theory and Technic pages have been added. Now, for the first time within one book, an adult beginner can learn all that is needed to perform successfully. Lesson pages are designed to provide a basic course of instruction that contains all the concepts and fundamentals needed to perform. Theory pages give beginners an added understanding of music not possible in any other way. Every concept and principle introduced in the Lesson pages is reinforced. Additional drills in note recognition make this a valuable aid in developing reading skills. Important tips are presented that make learning chord progressions easier. Technic pages offer suggestions for the proper care of your hands. Most adult beginners feel awkward at the keyboard because of stiffness in their fingers, hands and wrists. They have trouble with coordination, and they feel they could play much better if the muscular agility and flexibility of their hands could somehow be made to keep pace with their comprehension. At the completion of this course, the student will have learned to play some of the most popular songs ever written while gaining a thorough understanding of the basic concepts of music.

Guitar Effects Pedals: The Practical Handbook

Dave Hunter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Guitar Effects w/ great examples 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Having little to no experience with guitar effects and which pedal does what and, more importantly, what certain effects sound like, I found this book to be an excellent resource. It's also nice that the author doesn't make an attempt to steer the reader to a specific product, model or manufacturer. I found the historical approach to be very interesting and the organization of the book was well thought out. And I also enjoyed the interviews with some selected guitar effects "wizards."

My only complaint is the lack of a sound sample of all of the pedals/effects that were listed in the compendium in both chapters dealing with the effects themselves.

There is a chapter on how best to set up effects for different types of amplifier set ups. But again, the best part of the book is the suggestion throughout that the decision on what effect to buy or how to hook it up is entirely up to the individual and what sound the individual hopes to achieve.

If you're looking for a tutorial on how to wire your own effects, this isn't the book for you.

If you've been playing guitar for years, or are a beginner for that matter, and are looking for ways to create a new sound, then I would highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

Starting with the dawn of effects building and continuing to the present day, this detailed compendium investigates effects pedals and how they can supercharge a guitarist's sound. Experienced player Dave Hunter offers insight from the top builders and tips on how to get the most from each pedal. The author also dissects chains used by top guitarists in creating memorable recordings. The accompanying CD features standard as well as unusual sounds from a wide range of pedals, and classic combinations used by the guitar greats.

Classical Music for Dummies

David Pogue, Scott Speck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The more you know about classical music, the more you love it. Now, thanks to Classical Music For Dummies, you can achieve a whole new level of insight into both the composers and the compositions that have made classical music one of the great accomplishments of humankind.

Classical Music For Dummies doesn't assume that you have a degree in musicology -- or even that you took a course in music appreciation. Rather, the multimedially gifted David Pogue and renowned conductor Scott Speck explain classical music in terms you can understand, and they describe musical elements so that you can hear them for yourself.

A reference you can dip into at any point, Classical Music For Dummies covers such topics as

• The various forms that classical music takes -- from symphonies to string quartets
• What goes on behind the scenes and on stage to fill a concert hall with great classical music
• How to recognize, by sight and by sound, the many instruments that make up an orchestra
• The nuts and bolts of classical music -- from rhythm to harmonic progression

Plus, Classical Music For Dummies comes complete with a CD containing over 60 minutes of masterpieces compiled especially for the book. The CD also includes a demo version of the Angel/EMI Classics For DummiesTM multimedia interface to try out on your Windows-based PC or Macintosh computer.