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The Basic Guide to How to Read Music

Paperback
$13.00 US
7"W x 9.9"H x 0.2"D   | 5 oz | 94 per carton
On sale May 13, 1985 | 80 Pages | 978-0-399-51122-6
The Basic Guide to How to Read Music will teach you the principles of reading music in staff notation quickly and painlessly. If you could once read music but have forgotten how, it will refresh your memory. It contains all the terms and symbols you are likely to come across when studying music and explains them fully. Helen Cooper explains the written language of music in greater detail than you might get from your teacher. This book is ideal for the classroom, private lessons, and the home.
© Photography by Gem
Helen Cooper is the author of The Other Guest and The Downstairs Neighbor. She is from Derby and has a MA in Creative Writing and a background in teaching English and Academic Writing. Her creative writing has been published in Mslexia and Writers' Forum; she was shortlisted in the Bath Short Story Prize in 2014, and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2018. View titles by Helen Cooper
The Basic Guide To How To Read MusicIntroduction

1. Pitch
The concept of pitch
The Staff
The clef
Notes
Leger Lines
Other clefs
Naming notes
Following the shape of a melody

2. Rhythm
The concept of rhythm
Rhythm values
Simple rhythm values
Compound rhythm values
Note stems
Flags and beams
Rests
Bars (measures) and barlines
Stresses in music
Time signatures
Simple time signatures
Compound time signatures
The organization of rhythm values
Learning to read rhythm patterns
Tied notes
Syncopation
Triplets and duplets

3. The formal organization of pitch: the structure and notation of intervals, scales and keys.
Section A$#151;The piano keyboard
Introduction
Intervals
The octave
The piano keyboard
Steps and half-steps
Sharps, flats and naturals

Section B$#151;The structure of the major scale
The structure of the major scale
The construction of subsequent sharp major scales
Flat major scales
Technical names for the degrees of the scale
Intervals of the major scale
Key signatures
Enharmonic keys
Key circles
Double sharps and double flats
Accidentals

Section C$#151;The structure of the minor scale
The structure of the minor scale
Harmonic form
Melodic ascending form
Melodic descending form
Comparison of major and minor forms
The construction of subsequent sharp minor scales
Flat minor scales
The minor key circle
The intervals of the minor scale
Relative keys

Section D$#151;The chromatic scale
The chromatic scale
The intervals of the chromatic scale

4. Transposition and score reading
Transposition
Transposing instruments
The transposing instruments of the orchestra

5. Glossary of terms
Tempo
Dynamics
Mood, feeling and style
General terms
Articulation
Signs on the staff

About

The Basic Guide to How to Read Music will teach you the principles of reading music in staff notation quickly and painlessly. If you could once read music but have forgotten how, it will refresh your memory. It contains all the terms and symbols you are likely to come across when studying music and explains them fully. Helen Cooper explains the written language of music in greater detail than you might get from your teacher. This book is ideal for the classroom, private lessons, and the home.

Author

© Photography by Gem
Helen Cooper is the author of The Other Guest and The Downstairs Neighbor. She is from Derby and has a MA in Creative Writing and a background in teaching English and Academic Writing. Her creative writing has been published in Mslexia and Writers' Forum; she was shortlisted in the Bath Short Story Prize in 2014, and came third in the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2018. View titles by Helen Cooper

Table of Contents

The Basic Guide To How To Read MusicIntroduction

1. Pitch
The concept of pitch
The Staff
The clef
Notes
Leger Lines
Other clefs
Naming notes
Following the shape of a melody

2. Rhythm
The concept of rhythm
Rhythm values
Simple rhythm values
Compound rhythm values
Note stems
Flags and beams
Rests
Bars (measures) and barlines
Stresses in music
Time signatures
Simple time signatures
Compound time signatures
The organization of rhythm values
Learning to read rhythm patterns
Tied notes
Syncopation
Triplets and duplets

3. The formal organization of pitch: the structure and notation of intervals, scales and keys.
Section A$#151;The piano keyboard
Introduction
Intervals
The octave
The piano keyboard
Steps and half-steps
Sharps, flats and naturals

Section B$#151;The structure of the major scale
The structure of the major scale
The construction of subsequent sharp major scales
Flat major scales
Technical names for the degrees of the scale
Intervals of the major scale
Key signatures
Enharmonic keys
Key circles
Double sharps and double flats
Accidentals

Section C$#151;The structure of the minor scale
The structure of the minor scale
Harmonic form
Melodic ascending form
Melodic descending form
Comparison of major and minor forms
The construction of subsequent sharp minor scales
Flat minor scales
The minor key circle
The intervals of the minor scale
Relative keys

Section D$#151;The chromatic scale
The chromatic scale
The intervals of the chromatic scale

4. Transposition and score reading
Transposition
Transposing instruments
The transposing instruments of the orchestra

5. Glossary of terms
Tempo
Dynamics
Mood, feeling and style
General terms
Articulation
Signs on the staff