Music Fundamentals: A Balanced Approach, Second Edition comprises a textbook/workbook and interactive website designed for those who want to learn the basics of reading music. Intended for students with little or no prior knowledge of music theory, it offers a patient approach for reading, writing and even performing music. Musical examples range from Elvis Presley songs to Beethoven symphonies, from rhythmically challenging African songs and syncopated Brazilian choro melodies, to humorous Filipino ballads and Schubert lieder. The website includes graded quizzes and numerous skill training exercises.
By reinforcing musical concepts with numerous written examples, offering a more balanced mixture of global, classical, and popular music, and encouraging practice through an online, interactive tutorial, Music Fundamentals: A Balanced Approach, Second Edition is a comprehensive textbook for building musical foundations.
Second Edition Features:
- Modular structure allows instructors to reorganize chapters.
- A variety of exercises help the student transform knowledge into practice:
- Listen and sing exercises for ear training
- Keyboard drills to be played on a real keyboard or piano, or the keyboard insert provided in the inside cover
- Clapping and counting exercises to ingrain a cerebral understand, but also a visceral feeling for pulse and rhythm
- Workbook review exercises at the end of each module facilitate progress to the next module.
- "Cultural Notes" discuss musical genres or place musical examples in a broader social context to give an enriched approach to music learning.
- Online tutorials assist with ear training and general concepts, and streaming of audio examples help to connect the study of theory to real music-making.
The website features student interactive tutorials, and an Instructor Manual supplements teaching with a wealth of classroom exercises.