Music Theory for Dummies

View other editions of Music Theory for Dummies.
View books by Holly Day & Michael Pilhofer.

Music Theory - Rated
This is an impressive book making a normally dry subject amusing and entertaining. It is fun to read and understand, explaining everything for the beginner and going into real detail for the more experienced.
The only word of criticism is that it is American and as a result doesn't consider that terminology such as semibreve, crotchet, quaver, semi-quaver even exist. Minim is mentioned but the others are not. Having said that the terms note, half-note, quarter-note etc. are more easily understood - however a little addendum would have helped even if in part of the history section.
It also comes with a CD that has a fantastic array of examples and concepts to listen to.
I have yet to work my way through the more complex parts of the book but I'm sure that it will provide me with the answers to questions that have puzzled me for years. I fully recommend buying it to anyone.

Just enough of everthing you need to know about Music Theory - Rated
It's harder than it should be to find a good, readable book on Music Theory. In my experience many turn out to be classroom references or music notation only books, but Music Theory for Dummies covers the gamut of subjects, including on the way, music notation, a brief history, and forms of music and it does it all logically and informally with clearly laid out sections and diagrams.

So if you want to know the difference between an imperfect and plagal cadence; between a Rondo and a Sonata or the contribution to music of Pythagoras, this 336 page book has it all and for these reasons, I can recommend it to anybody that wants to study music theory from beginners to intermediate level.

Crash course in music theory - Rated
When my son started taking piano lessons a couple of months ago, I was terrified of the day that he needed my help with his studies. Thanks to this book, though, I can now look over his shoulder while he's playing and know exactly what it is he's doing--and supposed to be doing--while working through his music lessons.

Not only does this book cover the basics, but I'm confident that I'll be able to help my son with his piano and music lessons for years to come, all the way through to the point where he starts writing his own music. And who knows? Maybe by then I'll be playing music as much as he is now--even thought I've only had the book for a few days, I've been really inspired to try to figure my way through some piano pieces myself, or just sit and play around with chord progressions and some of the other more interesting parts of improvisation covered in this book.