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Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:21 am
by Dosva
Hey,
While going through the Production Bible I saw several books about Music Production listed and also read the thread regarding Basic Music Theory. However, I'm looking for a pretty in-depth book regarding Music Theory. (Preferably something that spans from Basic to more Advanced stuff, I know a lot of the basics but am always looking for refreshers/reinforcers on what I know) So I was wondering does anyone have some suggestions of Music Theory books that really helped them or that they thought were a good reference?

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:51 am
by benjam

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 3:05 pm
by Dosva
Thanks a lot, I'm sure this will be of great help. Exactly what I was looking for! :Q:

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 6:22 pm
by bigdaveo11
Theres a series of three books that have helped me starting with music theory for computer musicians, composition for computer musicians and harmony for computer musicians. Can't think of the author of the top of my head sry

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:33 pm
by drake89
i started out on foundations of music and musicianship by damschroder and am currently taking a class using Tonal Harmony (5th ed). I'd say get both, but if you have a bit of knowledge already you might be able to jump straight into Tonal Harmony. It's one of the few books that I'm not selling back 8)

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:18 am
by Dosva
drake89 wrote:i started out on foundations of music and musicianship by damschroder and am currently taking a class using Tonal Harmony (5th ed). I'd say get both, but if you have a bit of knowledge already you might be able to jump straight into Tonal Harmony. It's one of the few books that I'm not selling back 8)
Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I'll have to check both of those out. Tonal Harmony is by Stefan Kostka and Dorthy Payne right?

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 3:57 pm
by Dosva
bigdaveo11 wrote:Theres a series of three books that have helped me starting with music theory for computer musicians, composition for computer musicians and harmony for computer musicians. Can't think of the author of the top of my head sry
Found it! Those three books are by Michael Hewitt, and I was reading reviews on them and they seem like they are really worth checking out. Thanks for the suggestion. :4:

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:12 am
by SanKtum
I bought Music theory for dummies a couple years ago and it was super helpful.
i recommended it to all my friends i know that play instruments.

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:16 pm
by Dosva
SanKtum wrote:I bought Music theory for dummies a couple years ago and it was super helpful.
i recommended it to all my friends i know that play instruments.
I considered that buying that one a while back but ended up not doing so. I've never used any of the '...for Dummies' books so I wasn't sure how good they actually were. I'll think about checking that one out too since you said you would recommend if for anyone who plays instruments, and I play a few.

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:33 pm
by drake89
meh the theory for dummies is kinda pointless if you're going to get a 'real' theory book. and you were right about those authors. now that i've learned about voice exchange I feel like a bo$$ 8)

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:54 pm
by Anne Droid
i bought "for dummies" and i didnt like it at all. idk why, but every time i try one of the dummies books they are just laid out weird and are not done well imo

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:17 pm
by extremesociety
Honestly, I think the best thing to do for a music theory novice is to pick up guitar or piano and get a teacher. You'll learn infinitely more by practical application. Theory is great, but if you only know why and not how you're missing half the picture.

But, (to kinda plug myself lol) I was an "Artist In Residence" @ Indaba Music and I wrote a ton of lessons for Beginners to Advanced here: http://www.indabamusic.com/artists_in_r ... omposition

There's a lot of stuff, and if any of ya'll have specific questions let me know, I'm pretty knowledgeable about it.

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:33 pm
by Dosva
While we're at it, anyone know of a nice resource/book that is focused on Jazz Theory?

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:34 pm
by extremesociety
Dosva wrote:While we're at it, anyone know of a nice resource/book that is focused on Jazz Theory?
This is the one: http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book- ... 1883217040 Mark Levine's book.

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:44 pm
by Dosva
extremesociety wrote:
Dosva wrote:While we're at it, anyone know of a nice resource/book that is focused on Jazz Theory?
This is the one: http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book- ... 1883217040 Mark Levine's book.
Perfect, looks like I have yet another book to order :h:

Re: Books on Music Theory?

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 5:28 am
by Dosva
extremesociety wrote:Honestly, I think the best thing to do for a music theory novice is to pick up guitar or piano and get a teacher. You'll learn infinitely more by practical application. Theory is great, but if you only know why and not how you're missing half the picture.

But, (to kinda plug myself lol) I was an "Artist In Residence" @ Indaba Music and I wrote a ton of lessons for Beginners to Advanced here: http://www.indabamusic.com/artists_in_r ... omposition

There's a lot of stuff, and if any of ya'll have specific questions let me know, I'm pretty knowledgeable about it.
Just got around to giving these lessons a quick overview and this seems like it will be of great help! I'm definitely going to sit down and go over them in depth when I have some more time to do so. And as for picking up an instrument, I play the guitar and that is where I have learned a lot of very basic music theory.