Music Theory Secrets: 94 Strategies for the Starting Musician

(Paperback)

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Modeled on the brilliant approach first formulated by distinguished professor of music and master clarinetist Michele Gingras in Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets (both available from Rowman and Littlefield), Music Secrets is designed for instrumentalists, singers, conductors, composers, and other instructors and professionals seeking a quick set of pointers to improve their work as performers and producers of music. Easy to use, contributions to the Music Secrets series fill a niche for those who need quick and easy methods for learning what they needfrom those just starting to the advanced musician in need of a refresher or new insights.

Rhythms, melodies, and harmonies are the building blocks of music. In Music Theory Secrets: 94 Strategies for the Starting Musician, Brent Coppenbarger offers a full range of methods to help musicians, not only grasp, but remember those key elements upon which the music they play is built: pitch, rhythm, scales, key signatures, and harmony. With over eighteen years of experience teaching music theory, Coppenbarger offers the various teaching and memory strategies he has designed to help musicians understand and retain what they need to know.

Coppenbarger covers critical information on how to determine pitch, the use of meter, and how to count rhythms in simple and compound meter; explains major scales and major key signatures, as well as minor scales and minor key signatures; surveys other types of scales (such as those used in jazz) and explains how modes work; presents necessary data on scale degree names and intervals; covers triads and various types of chords; touches upon Roman numeral analysis, inversions, and figured bass; presents non-chord tones and discusses solfege singing, including several pages of sight singing using various clefs and keys (strongly recommended for instrumentalists for practicing transpositions for the appropriate clef and range) demonstrates the different techniques musicians can use for transposing keys; and finally discusses more advanced concepts such as part-writing rules, the use of sequences, and form.

Music Theory Secrets: 94 Strategies for the Starting Musician is an indispensable resource for instrumental teachers wishing to incorporate music theory into lessons, classroom teachers, high school and college students, amateur musicians, those wanting to learn to read music, home-schooled students, and college bound music students.

Reviews

This book was written for a number of audiences: high school students planning to study music in college, private music teachers wanting to incorporate some music theory into their lessons, adult amateur musicians who wish to understand music theory and construction much better, and for music teachers having to teach music theory as part of an overall classroom experience. As the author states, many college music majors struggle to understand music theory, and many of them drop out of the major because of this. This book attempts to fill both basic and advanced music theory challenges through various tricks, descriptions, explanations, and mnemonics. It starts out with very basic concepts such as pitch, rhythm, major and minor scales, scale degrees and chords, and Roman numeral analysis and chord inversions, and moves to more advanced concepts such as singing with solfege syllables, transposition, and four-part writing analysis. Having had major issues with music theory myself while obtaining my undergraduate music degree, I can say that this book is a wonderful addition and of practical help to anyone in the music profession dealing with various aspects of music theory. * American Reference Books Annual *
Brent Coppenbarger has written a concise and valuable reference aid for musicians of any shape or size. . . .This book provides clear 'secrets' in theory concepts and answers for musicians working outside their comfort zone. . . .Music Theory Secrets . . . offers concise and thorough theory strategies for musicians from beginner to accomplished; the tables and illustrations are clear and the practice exercises (including answers) qualify this book for a valuable bookshelf tool. * American Music Teacher *

Author Bio

Brent Coppenbarger is professor of music at the Cline School of Music at North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina where he has taught music theory and woodwinds since 1995. He has published in The Clarinet, NACWPI Journal, and The Instrumentalist. He is also a composer who works are available from Dorn Publications and Musica Rara.