Understanding Basic Music Theory

Read more about Understanding Basic Music Theory

Reviewed by Rika Uchida, Associate Professor of Piano and Theory, Drake University on 12/30/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text covers various concepts in music theory, some of which are fundamental, and others are advanced and complex, such as form. Although it is written in user-friendly manner, I would like to have musical examples for most topics. For example, it would be difficult to introduce Rondo form without musical examples; verbal definition of form is simply insufficient, and students do not attain practical knowledge without reference to the music. In short, adding more musical examples and exercises would be beneficial.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

As other reviewers noted, there are numerous errors in musical examples. Notation and terminologies should be authentic, clear, and accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text includes concepts that are not often found in most introductory music theory textbooks, such as sound wave, and standing waves in different instruments in Chapter 3 (Physical basics). It can be a useful online resource for those who are seeking for information or definition of particular topics.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is written in user-friendly manner and easy to follow. As stated above, definition of concepts with reference to more musical examples would be practical.

Consistency rating: 3

Some chapters cover concepts at advanced level (e.g., form) with oversimplification. Narrowing down to topics that are at basic level and presenting them comprehensively would make it more consistent.

Modularity rating: 4

Divisions and subdivisions are well organized for most part. I would categorize harmony and form in separate chapters (chapter 5), as this chapter seems incomplete.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is well organized in most part, but topics can be organized in a better order. For example, definition (Chapter 2) can be placed as a glossary at the end of the text, and it can be in alphabetical order.

Interface rating: 5

The online interface is easy to navigate. The PDF version worked well for iPad and MacBook.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The text is written in user-friendly manner; however, some of the definitions are oversimplified and vaguely written.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text covers music of diverse variety of styles and cultural backgrounds. Including standard repertoire as musical examples would be beneficial for some topics (e.g., form).

Balance among verbal definitions, musical examples and exercises could be improved. I would like to have more musical examples, and definition of concepts to be presented with reference to musical examples rather than verbal explanation. Implementation of more exercises would be helpful to use in music courses. I don't see application of Chapter 6.1, ear training in any music courses. Perhaps the author expects instructors to use another textbook for ear training, but the verbal description on this topic seems irrelevant and incomplete.

Reviewed by Derek Shapiro, Assistant Professor/Director of Bands, Virginia Tech on 12/13/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers all areas of what one would consider basic music theory and is geared truly for the beginner who has had experience in reading music on some level, but desires more comprehensive descriptions of the "why". I especially liked the idea of the "Challenges" section at the end of the text which touched on some commonly found problems amateurs may find when dealing with music.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not find any inaccurate material.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book does exactly as it postures itself to do, gives a fundamental explanation of the many aspects of basic music theory. It is slanted towards a western-classical music influence, which may find itself out of date in a few years time, depending on how musicological trends continue.

Clarity rating: 4

If I had any negative comment it would be the way things are laid out. The use of color is helpful but the presentation tends to be on the cluttered side. Admittedly, this is often the most difficult thing about a theory book as the layout needs doesn't conform to the way word processing software organizes content. Good use of both general and specific/real-world musical examples.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent in style and layout. Once you understand the how the text is formatted it stays the same.

Modularity rating: 5

Well-laid out with a very clear table of contents.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Anyone acquainted with a music theory text will understand how and why this book is laid out the way it is. This sticks to that formula which is progressive and scaffolds from the simple to the more complex.

Interface rating: 4

As I mentioned earlier, the layout is a little cluttered but it is more a victim of the way software works rather then the concept.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Did not find any errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Perfectly acceptable in terms of western music theory and the way it has been taught, but may find itself lacking as musicology trends to be more inclusive of cultures outside the western-classical tradition.

This is great resource for students looking for a text to help them refresh or broaden their skills.

Reviewed by Salil Sachdev, Professor, Bridgewater State University on 6/2/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

A good concise introduction to music fundamentals. The textbook contains chapters on various aspects of music, not all of which may be necessary for a basic music theory course. However, instructors have much to pick and choose from and adapt the material to their specific requirements. As well, the text serves as a springboard for learning beyond the introductory level.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Clarity rating: 5

Consistency rating: 5

Modularity rating: 5

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Interface rating: 5

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is primarily on Western music theory.

Reviewed by Robert Wells, Assistant Professor of Music Theory; Director of Keyboard Studies, University of Mary Washington on 7/4/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Given that this book is intended to be a fundamentals text (rather than a textbook for the entire music major theory sequence), it is fairly comprehensive. For the mathematically-based theory fundamentals course I teach, which is targeted to non-music majors, this is the perfect text, as it devotes equal attention to fundamentals and quantitative concerns such as tuning systems, interval ratios, and acoustics. Other topics that took this book well beyond the typical fundamentals text were introductory material about reading musical scores (repeat signs, dynamics, tempo markings, etc.), which are of great practical help if you plan to look at musical scores with your class; scales other than major and minor, such as whole-tone, pentatonic, modal, and jazz scales; and non-Western traditions, such as Hindustani music and Balinese gamelan. Additionally, there are links scattered throughout that go beyond the basic content (e.g., pages on tablature, transposing instruments, conducting, etc.). I also appreciated that the author does a good job of addressing common student questions such as, “What stem do I use for chords or groups of notes under the same beam?” or “Why would a composer choose 2/2 over 2/4?” For me, the biggest content omission is that there is no discussion of figured bass. This causes a bit of awkwardness in the chapter on harmonic analysis. For instance, in the analysis exercises in the Cadence section, inverted chords in the solution are labeled with root-position Roman numerals (i.e., no inversion figures). Additionally, if you are looking for part-writing training or post-tonal techniques, you will need to look elsewhere, as these topics are beyond the scope of this text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Most of the content is accurate, as far as I could tell. The most significant errors I found were in the section on chord additions/extensions. For instance, the author writes that labeling an added note as “sus” in a lead sheet symbol means it “replaces the chord tone immediately below it,” which is not true in the case of sus2. Moreover, in one of the charts, she labels a Cadd9 chord as “Csus9”. (To be fair, she does fix this label in the chart that follows.) Her explanation of Csus4 vs. C11 is also somewhat lacking, as she does not clarify that the latter has a chordal seventh while the former does not. Finally, in the section on Roman numerals, the author labels all chords very literally using Roman numerals where, in some cases, there should be labels in terms of applied chords/secondary dominants. Aside from these minor quibbles, I had few complaints, and I was impressed with all the physics and acoustics material, which was generally well handled. The bibliographic information scattered throughout also shows that the author has referenced a wide variety of scholarly musical sources in writing this text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

In many ways, this book is very relevant to the needs of today’s musicians, as it is designed to serve as a starting point for musicians with widely ranging goals, from education to composition to performance. For instance, the author includes numerous activities with a music education bent, such as an activity to teach fractions to elementary-schoolers using musical rhythm, musical meter activities relevant to a wide variety of age groups (I used some of these for my college students), and an activity for children on the shape of a melody. There are also discussions of hands-on applications of music theory, such as methods for learning to improvise on one’s instrument and transposing music for a singer. My main complaints regarding relevance and longevity involve some outdated pedagogy and musical examples. In particular, I was bothered by the fact that this text exclusively teaches intervals using the half-step-counting method, which is now widely considered a sort of “last resort” for learning intervals. Inclusion of the white-note and scale methods for interval ID/construction would make this book much more in line with current pedagogy. Additionally, I was disappointed by the sparse musical examples, which are essential for helping students connect with the material. In many chapters, there are only one or two examples drawn from actual music, and when these appear, they are often somewhat dated (for instance, how many 21st-century students will be inspired by selections such as “And the Band Played On” or “The Girl I Left Behind”?). Perhaps this was due to copyright concerns, but it was an issue, nonetheless. On the plus side, the fact that this is an open music theory textbook gives it built-in longevity, as many of these complaints could be addressed in the future.

Clarity rating: 4

Overall, the text is very clear, and I have never received complaints from students about having to read the textbook. Sometimes there is a bit too much information, though, especially for beginners, as the author provides a lot of tangential material that may be overkill for a first fundamentals course. The weakest point, in terms of clarity, is probably scales/key signatures section, as key signatures are introduced way before scales/keys have been introduced. Major scales are then introduced several chapters later in terms of whole/half steps, but their relation to key signatures is treated cursorily. Relative minors are then introduced with respect to key signatures, which is confusing since we haven’t fully discussed key signatures yet. Moreover, there is an example of relative major/minor keys that references Eb being a “minor third higher than C,” but intervals haven’t been introduced at this point in the text. In the harmonic analysis section, there is no explanation of Roman numerals for seventh chords; the author simply begins using them. Finally, while there are good strategies for finding the key of a piece, there is no demonstration of harmonic analysis, which would have clarified the abstract suggestions. These points perhaps sound more critical than I intend, for by and large, the book is clearly and lucidly written.

Consistency rating: 4

The book seems to be mostly consistent, although the order of topics was sometimes illogical (see Organization/Structure/Flow below). When teaching with this book, I found myself having to jump around and assign readings out of order. However, the hyperlinks between different sections of the book are very helpful in preserving consistency between different parts of the text. The most concerning inconsistency was between the online and PDF/EPUB editions of the book, as chapter numbering and even some of the written material differs slightly. Thus, I had to be very explicit about which edition I was referring to when assigning readings.

Modularity rating: 5

The modularity factor is strong. In teaching using this text, I found it very easy to jump around between pitch/scale/harmony topics, rhythm/meter topics, and acoustics material. For instance, I was able to cover the first half of the rhythm/meter chapter early in the course, and came back to the latter, more advanced half of the chapter later in the course after introducing triads.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Overall, a well-organized text, besides the aforementioned differences in organization between editions. However, topics are sometimes presented in a strange order. For instance, key signatures and the notion of major keys are introduced very early, before a scale has even been defined, as discussed above. While introducing the intuitive notion of key signatures this early was fine (i.e., a symbol that tells you which notes to play sharped or flatted throughout a piece), learning to identify the “key” was too abstract this early on (how can students understand what a key is if they don’t know what a scale is?). Relative minor keys are then introduced, making things even more abstract. Similarly, the notion of enharmonic keys/scales is introduced before the scale chapter. It also bothered me that enharmonic chords/intervals are introduced before students have any conception of what a chord/interval is. A careful instructor can get around these issues by simply skipping the confusing material and coming back to it later, but this does create some extra work for an instructor who wants to use this book.

Interface rating: 3

The online interface seemed to be the most user-friendly. The EPUB file worked well on my iPad, but had different chapter numbering from the online version (as previously noted). Many students liked the PDF version, as it could be used offline on just about any device, but hyperlinks in the PDF aren’t active. I ended up copying important links into our LMS when listing each day’s reading assignments, in case people were using the PDF/print version. I loved the links in the online and EPUB editions, which made the text very interactive. However, the audio for some examples included loud hissing or was very quiet, and some examples you have to directly download to hear. There were also broken links scattered throughout the text. I will say that the built-in exercises were helpful, but I ended up supplementing these with my own homework exercises.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors, although there did seem to be a discrepancy between editions regarding “staffs” vs. “staves” in the first chapter.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text references a wide variety of styles, including Western classical music, Indian classical music, Medieval music, popular music, and jazz. Hindustani music and Balinese gamelan music are discussed in some depth, which creates a more global perspective than most theory books exhibit. Additional musical examples, especially from the last few decades, could make the text even more culturally relevant, as most of the material is presented using out-of-context scales, chords, etc.

While not perfect, this textbook works very well as a completely free music theory text (and let’s face it—fundamentals texts can be very expensive). I would highly recommend it for a music theory for non-music majors course, as students won’t have to buy an expensive book they’ll never use again. Instructors should just be aware that the most effective use of this book is probably not in order, chapter by chapter, and the instructor will have to plan carefully before the semester begins to determine appropriate topics to include, omit, and reorder. Despite the book’s shortcomings, it is extremely valuable as one of the few open textbooks in music theory.

Reviewed by Matthew Svoboda, Music Instructor (Music Theory, Keyboard Skills, Choir), Lane Community College on 6/18/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This music theory concepts taught are roughly equivalent to those covered in Fall term of the three-term Music Theory course I teach at Lane Community College (LCC). I couldn't use this book for that course because it doesn't go into enough depth on subjects such as part writing, counterpoint, resolving chordal dissonances, etc., which I need to cover in the sequenced course I teach. That being said, I do think this would be a fine resource for a Music Fundamentals course. Also, there is some excellent information in chapter 7 on Ear Training, Tuning Systems, Modes and Ragas, and Transposition which far exceeds what is found in the textbook I currently use. This information is very valuable and I could see referring my students to it in the future.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Overall, I found the book to be accurate. However, I found the some information on intervals, sharps and flats, pentatonic scales, phrases, and the circle of fifths to be less than clear. Also, some of the musical examples presented for understanding meter were largely jazz-centric and not simple or straightforward enough for beginners or were classified incorrectly. I think this section could be improved by finding more straightforward listening examples that are more varied (not so often jazz centric.)

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Generally speaking, the book's content is not obsolete. It seems that any improvements/updates could be done easily. One update that I think would be helpful would be to go beyond approaching interval identification by counting half steps so that students could learn to identify intervals without merely counting in this way.

Clarity rating: 5

The prose is clear and accessible. It does not rely heavily on overly "academic prose" and, for the most part, explains concepts clearly and sequentially.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the book to be internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework

Modularity rating: 5

The book is organized well and could be taught in smaller sections or modules.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized well and it is easy to navigate through various topics. I appreciate the searchable index, which I found very helpful.

Interface rating: 3

I appreciated the links to musical examples, theory problems/solutions, and outside resources. Occasionally, some of the links presented in the book no longer opened as intended. These could be fixed in an update.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors in the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

This book makes the point that a lot of the traditional music theory texts and terminology in use are Western/Euro centric. It does a nice job of introducing this point of critical thinking to students. While the Western/Euro centric approach is it's main focus, the the book does reference some other kinds of music/music traditions from around the world.

I appreciate this book and plan to use some of its contents in the future, particularly the material from Chapter 7: Ear Training, Tuning Systems, Modes and Ragas, and Transposition.

Reviewed by Craig LiaBraaten, Music Department, Mesabi Range College on 5/18/20

The text is "too complete" for a beginner level study of music theory. Much of the text can be deleted with no ill effect, for example Chapter 3 pp.95-116 and Chapter 6 pp. 218-258. read more

Reviewed by Craig LiaBraaten, Music Department, Mesabi Range College on 5/18/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text is "too complete" for a beginner level study of music theory. Much of the text can be deleted with no ill effect, for example Chapter 3 pp.95-116 and Chapter 6 pp. 218-258.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

There are numerous errors and omissions, and other reviewers have correctly noticed a bias versus guitar players, where the author uses condescending tone on several occasions. Errors include listing the types of musical texture out of order: in order of complexity it should read 1. monophony 2. heterophony 3. homophony 4. polyphony. In addition, the definition of non-western music fails to recognize non-European styles in the western hemisphere. On p. 144 the statement "always classify the interval as it is written; the composer had a reason for writing it that way" is bad advice; rather this passage should read something like: "always use correct spelling for intervals, scales and triads."

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

All throughout the text, more current musical examples than art music of the 18th and 19th centuries should be cited to inspire and captivate the young reader. One other example, the content would be more relevant and interesting to beginner-level college students if the author emphasized references to topics such as "The Nashville System" and its impact on studio and recording musicians when discussing Roman Numerals.

Clarity rating: 3

The writing style is verbose - which frankly is not at all appealing to college-age students whose available time (due to work study and other commitments) is at a premium. The book should be edited and condensed by deleting and re-wording the superfluous language.

Consistency rating: 2

The text is consistently inconsistent. What is lacking is a glossary to tie the book together. The author made attempts at this (pp. 71-72, 83-86, 201-202, 209), but what is needed is to have an alphabetical listing (with cross-references) that includes every necessary term in the whole book.

Modularity rating: 3

The author has divided the chapters into sections, but the overall effect is too many words. Again lengthy explanations are unnecessary. Get to the point. Repeat the point. Move on.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The text should be re-organized into focused chapters of shorter length, each of which cover the single subject more concisely. A minimalist approach to writing style and a logical succession of chapter titles would help, instead of so many cross-references which usually take the reader hopping throughout the book. Sidebars with definitions can cut down this busywork.

Interface rating: 4

Navigation problems include the references every chapter to citations in other chapters, which has the student leap frogging unnecessarily. Smart use of sidebars can minimize this interruption. The author does not need to "tie everything together".

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The author's use of colloquial writing is an annoyance. The author is attempting a friendly discourse but it contradicts the lengthy verbose writing style everywhere else. While not technically grammatically in error, the end result is incongruent, wasting valuable time for any student (who may be working two jobs to help pay for their college textbooks).

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

When using foreign words and providing a pronunciation, make sure it is correct. For example: mezzo is not pronounced with a "t", but rather "MED-zo", using the thick Italian T which sounds to the American ear more like a D. Similarly fortissimo is not pronounced TISS as is suggested, but "for-TEE-see-moh". This may well offend any serious student of Latin or Italian.

Page 7 the author mentions Bass and Treble clef, but nowhere mentions F-clef or G-clef. Pages 13-14 are a good start; author needs to elaborate. Page 23 regarding the term "enharmonic" the author missed the opportunity to discuss CORRECT SPELLING with regard to intervals and scales (and later on, with triads). Page 29 author states: "may connect the notes that are all in the same beat" instead of teaching the student the correct approach is to "beam the beats". Page 42 missed the chance to discuss "anacrusis". Page 51 missed the definition of "rubato" as "steal time". Page 59 missed clear definitions of Legato (notes long and connected), Staccato (notes short and separated), and in between Portato (notes long but separated). Page 79 the quotation from the "Chorale" symphony contains an error at the end of line 3; the "E" is syncopated and tied to the next measure in the double bass solo. Page 128 missed the chance to teach that major scales are built from two identical TETRACHORDS separated by a half step. Page 153 the Circle of 5ths Ascends to the Right and Descends to the Left (it is an error to call the flat keys the "circle of 4ths"). Page 156 missed the chance to teach the Greek word "chromos" - meaning "all colors" - as the basis for "Chromatic Scale". Page 157 did not discuss "anhematonic pentatonic scale" - by definition, a five-note scale that has NO half-steps. P. 179 missed the opportunity to teach that, in a major and minor triad, it's the BOTTOM 3rd that names the triad. Fun reading. Best wishes.

Reviewed by Juliana Han, Assistant Professor, Augustana College on 6/26/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This book is intended to cover the "bare essentials" of music theory, such as those covered in a fundamentals or prerequisite course at a high school or college level. The index includes the necessary topics at that level. However, the text emphasizes definitions and explanations, rather than exercises and examples, which makes it an insufficient text for the beginner learner.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The content is carefully written. However, in an attempt to be conversational and accessible, the author writes in oversimplifications that border on the inaccurate or misleading. Examples of this can be found in chapter 3.8 (Classifying Music), which defines entire eras of music or fields of musicological study (e.g., Western, non-Western, world music, classical music) with unwarranted certitude. I would not recommend anyone utilize this chapter.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Because it covers the most basic concepts, there is no issue with content becoming obsolete.

Clarity rating: 5

The book's strength is its conversational, accessible writing style. It is also clearly organized, and terms are highlighted and defined. In the online version of the text, hyperlinked terms make finding definitions easy.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

Because of the clear division and subdivision of topics in the book's index, it is easy to identify modules relevant to a particular topic.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is organized clearly into topics and subtopics. The exception is Chapter 3 (Definitions), which only has one subheading each for such substantial topics as harmony and counterpoint. Even given that this is a basic text, more space could have been devoted to these topics, at the expense of others (e.g., tuning systems) that are not as useful for the beginning musician.

Interface rating: 5

The online interface, hosted on the OpenStax CNX network, works fine.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book is carefully edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

In attempting to be basic and brief, the book does a disservice to the topic of music in non-Western cultures. For instance, the author states in Chapter 3.8 (Classifying Music): "The only easy-to-find items in [the non-Western classical] category are Indian Classical music, for example the performances of Ravi Shankar." This statement is unnecessarily definitive and narrow; the author could instead suggest recommendations and further reading in a less opinionated way. Another statement that generalizes to the point of misrepresentation is this statement: "If you live in a Western culture, it can be difficult to find recordings of non-Western folk music, since most Western listeners do not have a taste for it." Perhaps omitting this topic altogether would strengthen the credibility of this book, since it is often covered in history or other survey courses.

The author should be commended in attempting to create a very readable, organized, and accessible text to introduce new musicians to the most important topics. However, while some content may be useful as background reading at the most basic level, the book does not lend itself to use within a course. The language used is too general to be used in an academic setting, and the lack of exercises, exhibits, and musical examples leave the reader with little path to true comprehension or mastery of music theory skills. Perhaps the largest reason this book is unsuitable for use in a course is that its focus is misaligned to most music theory sequences. The book spends significant space on topics in the scientific basis of music, such as tuning systems, the physical basis of sound, and mathematical derivations. While these topics may be germane to the author's personal interests and training, they are not very important in the early stages of study for applied musicians such as those the author lists on the very first page of her book: "[a] trumpet player interested in jazz, a vocalist interested in early music, a pianist interested in classical composition, and a guitarist interested in world music ." Surely, a deeper look at harmony and counterpoint would be more useful. Overall, this text may be most useful simply as a glossary for definitions of musical terms.

Reviewed by Christopher Cook, Lecturer in Music, Oakland City University on 1/10/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This book does include an index of terms, which can be quite helpful. It doesn't quite cover as much as is normally covered in a single text for music theory instruction in many college courses. Some topics are discussed well enough, while others leave or gloss over standard sections. In other cases, the author chooses topics either adjacent to or nearly unrelated to standard music theory texts. i.e. music physics

The notation section, as others have reviewed, is considerably longer than any other theory text I have read. Indeed, I thought everyone was overstating the issue a bit until I checked it for myself. Far too long, with portions that could have been incorporated into other chapters in the book with ease.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is quite accurate. The information provided seems well researched and factual.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Considering the topic, most of the elements in a music theory text will remain relevant for a long period of time. Some texts include examples of music that are very current, but do not become irrelevant for those current examples. This book does a fine job of showing information that seems well researched with recent studies and long-established theory techniques.

Clarity rating: 4

I found the majority of the text very easy to understand, with exceptions during the physics chapter where a few of the sections were a bit unclear. Considering the content of this text and that it is intended as an introductory source for beginning students, I believe complete clarity should be the goal.

Consistency rating: 5

The terms and concepts presented in this text are consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 3

While sections of this text could be subdivided for use in coursework, substantial page lengths on the very first chapter, along with the nearly as lengthy second chapter, cause this to rate lower. Those first two chapters are so long I know my students would despair any reading assignment solely on the basis of length.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

As stated earlier, the definitions and terms presented in Chapter 2 could easily have been and should perhaps have been pieced out to different chapters covering those topics. I do not see a purpose why they should all be grouped together. Additionally, the break between learning about notation to then wait for two more chapters to learn about Notes and Scales seems illogical in the extreme.

Interface rating: 5

No noticeable defects in the interface. Navigation would benefit from links to jump to chapters, but otherwise no issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not culturally insensitive in any way, but does lack inclusion of non-Western music techniques. Considering some of the side topics presented in the text, inclusion of non-Western music would not be unfeasible to include.

Reviewed by Sarah Muehlbauer, Doctoral Student/Teaching Assistant, James Madison University on 11/17/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

I thought that this textbook covered too much for a music appreciation/intro to music theory non-music major course if the students had little to no background whatsoever in music reading, but far too little for any music major music theory sequence. For a music major, it would not be able to be used beyond the first semester of the music theory sequence and much of the first 90 pages would likely be skipped by music majors who already know how to read music, and typically schools adopt a textbook set that covers 3-5 semesters of music theory in the music major theory sequence. The textbook spends so much time on notation (60 pages) plus “definitions” (another 30+ pages), so 90+ pages is spent on introductory material, which would really only be helpful for someone who is just now learning to read music, so I cannot really see this effectively being used. A music major fundamentals course (prior to Theory I) would not need quite that much on notation, but too detailed for a non-music major music appreciation course.

This book goes on to spend a significant amount of time on tuning, harmonic series and acoustics, which would most likely be overwhelming to a non-music major. These topics are not always even included in standard music theory textbooks for music majors, or if they are, it does not have much time spent on it. Those topics are generally pretty confusing to freshmen/sophomores, even for music majors and I would not call them “basic” music theory, unless just introducing them in a few paragraphs, but this book spends half/full chapters/long sections on those topics.

For a music major theory sequence, it is missing a ton of expected topics (voice leading, part writing, secondary/applied chords, modal mixture, phrase model tonic-predominant-dominant progression, figured bass, non-chord tones, far too little on Roman numbers/analysis, modulation only gets a paragraph, sequences, an introduction to 20th century theoretical analysis and other topics, etc.), so it would not be usable for that. This book takes 136 pages in until it even gets to talking about intervals!

The book, however, does include a lot of definitions throughout the text, but at times can be overwhelming with just pages and pages of definitions without examples—just text, like a research paper.

The text includes a decently well detailed index at the end but no glossary.

It has links to an online website with more information, which is a good idea.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

Overall, for the topics it chooses to present (although it lacks many topics or spends too much/too little time on many), it is mostly accurate as far as I could tell, but did find a handful of errors in my look-through of the book. My guess is there is more if you read it word for word. While I’m sure I missed some, here are the errors I found:
• Double flat symbol is inaccurate- the two flats are on top of each other, rather than right beside each other (pg. 18)
• Enharmonic scale example is technically “accurate,” but very poor in truly explaining it—uses E-flat major and D-sharp major scale as its example of enharmonic scales—do we really ever use D-sharp major, a scale with F-double sharp? Why not use a “real” example, such as G-flat and F-sharp major as an enharmonic scale? That would be much less confusing to someone reading this for the first time (pg. 24)
• The meter/beats section (with duple simple, duple triple, etc. meters) ignores divisions of the beat—should have a chart for this, which is much clearer in other theory texts I’ve seen (pg. 37).
• The suggested list of pieces to listen to for texture examples is not bad, and somewhat useful, but not the best examples for a student first learning about this—this could be easily improved (pg. 82).
• Octaves- labels them as C1, C2, etc. on a piano which is correct, but then says, “many musicians use Helmholtz notation” system of “CC, C, c, c1, cii,…” (pg. 119-120) and is not a basic understanding of this
• Scale degrees are simply listed as numbers under the scale (“1, 2, 3,…”) instead of with the little carrot-type symbol above them to indicate that they are a scale degree and not just a number (pg. 190)
• Chord labeling (pg. 198)—ignores mentioning secondary dominants, and chose poor examples for Roman numeral chord analysis in a traditional textbook sense)

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I don’t see relevance as a huge issue with a music theory textbook presenting “basic” or standard concepts. These don’t really change. If it was a textbook on 21st century or more modern music, that may be more of an issue.

Clarity rating: 4

The textbook is generally pretty clear in its explanations, although a bit wordy at times. It has long paragraphs of text sometimes without having any examples or anything to break up the textual information. It does explain all terminology/vocabulary words and has all of them bolded, which I found helpful. It seemed very definitions-based.

Consistency rating: 4

While there are other issues with this textbook, it is very consistent in its formatting. Terms are bolded, examples contain red and blue color highlighter, and sections are organized with headings. I found the “section citations” useful to go back if you need to, which I would say is incredibly helpful to a student rather than flipping through fretting when you forget something and going “now where was that information on inverting intervals again?” (i.e.: within the text for a particular topic when it references a formerly discussed topic, it puts “Section 1.2.3” in parentheses if you need to go back and review that information; it has basically in-text citations of topics rather than having to look at the index for a previously discussed topic).

Although the formatting is consistent with colors and all, I found it to be literally very “black and white,” and it could use some color or graphics to spice it up and keep a student interested.

Modularity rating: 2

The text is divided into a copious amount of sections within a chapter. That said, I think it would benefit from a greater number of chapters and lower number of divisions within each chapter. There are only 6 chapters within 270+ pages, which creates lengthy chapters. They are divided into very small sections, but the large number of divisions within a long chapter creates confusion when you have headings like 1.1, then 1.1.1, 1.1.1.1, 1.2, 1.3.1.2, 1.5.2.3, etc. (you get the idea)—too many decimal points for these mini-sections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

Besides comprehensiveness or usefulness in a music major theory vs. non-major course, organization is the biggest drawback with this textbook.

60 pages on music notation….and another 30 pages on “definitions.” Harmony, form, cadences, and analysis together only comprise about 40 pages, and notes, scales, half/whole steps, and intervals together only get about 40 pages. I don’t understand this division of pages, unless you’re intending it for someone who does not read music, but then (as mentioned in “Comprehensiveness”) it would be too detailed in the latter sections on tuning, acoustics, and harmonic series for someone just learning to read music in the same semester. Acoustics is put before chords and scales, which I don’t think is needed first for a beginner. It will likely confuse them.

The book is more than half way through before it mentions key signatures and circle of 5ths. Acoustics and harmonic series are discussed before intervals and key signatures in a “basic” book. It has very long chapters (40-70 pages) with a copious number of subheadings rather than shorter chapters and less confusing subheadings (see “Modularity” comments). More of this supposedly “basic” book is devoted to acoustics, tuning, temperament, and harmonic series than to chords, intervals, harmony, and form. Form only gets about 6 pages. Scales are all mushed together, including pentatonic, 12 tone, whole tone, etc. with the more basic major and minor scales. The book is 175 pages in before harmony and triads are discussed (in other standard theory texts, I’ve seen this be about 30-80 pages in, for comparison). Transposition isn’t discussed until the very end, and the first suggestion is to “avoid it” if possible (pg. 242), yet transposition is mentioned in passing (pg. 157) before it is discussed later. Modulation only gets 2 paragraphs. Roman numerals are not thoroughly explained to do harmonic analysis if you did not already know this. Counterpoint only gets a short paragraph. Cadences are only very basically explained.

Ear Training is at the end and is not a thorough enough explanation to begin to learn that.

Some of this was mentioned in “Comprehensiveness,” but, in regarding use for a music major: the book’s organization lacks information on voice leading, part writing, figured bass, non-chord tones, chromatic chords/altered/applied chords (secondary dominants & secondary leading tones), modal mixture, phrase model (tonic-predominant-dominant phrase analysis), sequences, or an introduction to 20th century theoretical analysis.

Interface rating: 3

I did not find errors or distortion of images/charts. My main issue with its presentation was the section headings and all the decimal points (under “Modularity”). I did not find the book’s text to be crammed in and was decently well spaced out on the page to read. However, I would appreciate greater variety of examples to keep the reader from getting bored. It does not have much other than examples with the picture of a keyboard or staff lines. I would also like to see something other than black text with red/blue text on examples to read, which are the prevailing colors and seems very much like a research paper to read since it has no color backgrounds or anything else to look at (very little else, maybe 2-3 pages had something else). Other pictures, graphics, charts, colors, text backgrounds, etc. would be useful to aid in understanding and keep a student more interested in reading.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I found it to be relatively free of errors. I have found wording/grammatical errors in expensive printed textbooks before, so I could forgive a few minor errors if the text is otherwise readable. This text seemed pretty good in that regard, other than some minor issues regarding word order or lacking spaces between some words, but you can understand it without significant problems. Some of the text/long paragraphs could be cut down, however.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found no issues with this. (Similar to “relevance,” I don’t think cultural issues are a big issue in music theory textbooks, unless it had inaccurate examples for ethnic music/techniques.)

I found “Understanding Basic Music Theory” by Catherine Schmidt-Jones to be an average textbook. It does average or above in regard to accuracy of content, relevance, clarity, consistency, grammar, and cultural issues, but I found moderate problems with interface and modularity and discovered significant problems to be in regard to comprehensiveness/intended audience and organization. My review and opinions are based on what I know of standard music theory textbooks, which come from my own undergraduate theory courses, graduate level work in the pedagogy of music theory, and my own teaching as a DMA student.

I liked the worksheets at the ends of chapters to give the student a “trial run” on the topics, but again would prefer a greater number of chapters that are shorter compared to fewer chapters that are super long, and then insert mini worksheets at the ends of each chapter, or within a chapter.

At this point, I still see a value in purchasing a traditional textbook, if I am comparing this with many of the well-known, standard theory textbooks that I have looked at before.

Reviewed by Jacob Lee, Adjunct Professor, Southern Utah University on 6/19/18

For a book on basic music theory, this textbook is quite (if not excessively) comprehensive, covering much of what should or could be covered in a Theory Fundamentals or Remedial Theory course. read more

Reviewed by Jacob Lee, Adjunct Professor, Southern Utah University on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

For a book on basic music theory, this textbook is quite (if not excessively) comprehensive, covering much of what should or could be covered in a Theory Fundamentals or Remedial Theory course.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The text approaches music theory from a physical (sound waves, overtones, and other physical science) and world perspective (attempting to integrate aspects of jazz and non-western music with typical western music theory). The content appears to be mostly error-free with a few exceptions that I found:

- Minor grammatical issues: nothing too serious. My favorite example, though was on pp. 28: "If a note does not have head. ".
- Theoretical disagreements that might be addressed: pp. 37: in Figure 1.53 the text says "how many downbeats in a measure". For consistency, the author could use what they wrote in Figure 1.55: "Beginning of beat". The argument that there are 4 downbeats in a 4/4 measure is misleading - there should be one downbeat per measure, the other beats being "weaker". Perhaps the author could say: "How many beats in a measure". Some small mention of hypermeter might do well here.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

By involving non-Western music, jazz, and popular music alongside Western classical music, the text provides a resource that is relevant in modern society at large. Updates undoubtedly will need to occur as time goes on, but any relevant music theory book will have to do so.

Clarity rating: 2

Although the text often provides succinct definitions for musical terms, it does tend to be somewhat on the verbose side. With music being a somewhat difficult subject to capture verbally, I would have appreciated more visual and audio examples.

The formatting of the text could be improved so that it is more clear what is to be gained by reading the text (ie more use of bold and/or italic text; summary sections at the beginning or end of chapters; short definitions of vocabulary in the margins).

Consistency rating: 4

The text's framework and terminology is mostly consistent (see "accuracy" section for an example where the book is somewhat inconsistent).

Modularity rating: 4

The text, although at times quite wordy, are divided into units that could easily be addressed (perhaps at times with some pre-assigned reading) within a typical class period.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

The flow of this text is where I take the most issue. Beginning with the chapter on notation requires the reader to look ahead from nearly every section in the chapter to fully understand each concept. Some examples: the section on sharps/flats (1.1.3) is addressed well before the section on half steps/whole steps (4.2); Enharmonic intervals and chords (1.1.5.3) is addressed before chords and intervals (4.5).

I understand with the larger organization of the text why these topics are not put close together, however, I would advise shifting chapters or sections around to avoid constantly flipping ahead in the book. It might be nice to move the chapter on definitions or the chapter on physical science to the beginning. In any case, the sections on tone and rhythm should occur before the sections on notation.

Interface rating: 2

Several of the hyperlinks are ineffective. On the positive side, the images are all free of distortion.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are a few grammatical errors (see "Accuracy"). They are mostly minor issues that would not greatly distract from the subject at hand.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This is a huge bonus for this text. It makes a point to cover aspects of music involving jazz and popular music topics such as chord symbols, upper extensions, and swing, as well as world music topics such as exotic scales and ragas. Although based in Western theory, the text involves plenty of non-Western musical approaches.

This text would be ideal for a theory fundamentals or remedial theory course - especially if there is minimal teacher interaction available. Although at times the text diverges to topics arguably more advanced than basic (ie altered chords), with guided reading the student could fill gaps in their musical knowledge that would better prepare them for a collegiate music education.

One additional suggestion would be to have even more exercises available at the end of each section.

Reviewed by Keith Bradshaw, Associate Dean, College of Performing and Visual Arts, Southern Utah University on 6/19/18

The text is fairly comprehensive, a bit too comprehensive for a music fundamentals class. Sections of the book go a little too much in depth for a beginning music theory student with no experience. The index is useful and thorough. read more

Reviewed by Keith Bradshaw, Associate Dean, College of Performing and Visual Arts, Southern Utah University on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The materials presented are accurate and presented well, though the sequence of materials is perhaps different than other similar texts. Explanations are sometimes too in depth and others too shallow.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text is current and is not likely to lose its relevance. The elements of music are fairly constant, though teaching styles may vary. Updates should be simple to make.

Clarity rating: 4

The writing is accessible and reads well. At times, the explanations are too lengthy for a beginning fundamentals text and cover elements that are for more advanced study.

Consistency rating: 5

Consistency is appropriate for the subject. Terms and explanations are constant throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is easily divisible into smaller sections. Instructors should be able to tailor the content to fit their desired teaching style and delivery method.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The flow can be a bit awkward at times, mentioning terms and concepts before an explanation has been provided. The text seems to wander as it covers a bit too much material for a fundamentals course.

Interface rating: 5

I found no interface problems with the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The language of the text is appropriate and grammar is correct.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text discusses western music and is not meant to be all-inclusive culturally. I discern nothing offensive in the text.

Though the text may be a bit too comprehensive, it can be a valuable resource for OER users.

Reviewed by Jason Heald, Associate Professor, Umpqua Community College on 6/19/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook is very comprehensive in the range of subjects it covers. In an effort to "cover all the bases", some of the most crucial skills necessary for understanding music theory receive relatively superficial treatment, while topics with less immediate application are covered in great detail. For example, one might question whether a student with no musical background could successfully learn to read music notation given the brief explanations and limited exercises presented in the opening chapter, and one might also be skeptical of the usefulness of such a detailed explanation of the physics of sound to the beginning musician. That said, the topics covered in the textbook represents a broad base of knowledge.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book is generally quite accurate with occasional lapses. For example, on page 198, labeling a V7/vi as a III7 and a V7/IV as a I7 is incorrect, and is likely to cause confusion for the student when they study secondary dominants. It would be best if all musical examples could be explained accurately with the information presented in the textbook.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

It is not likely that the subject matter will become out-dated, so this textbook should remain relevant for a long period of time. Supplementing the text with new information should be easy to incorporate.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is clear and well-written. Again, for the non-musician, the compressed presentation of some topics, e.g., notation, might be difficult to understand and quite daunting.

Consistency rating: 5

The book seems consistent in its use of language and accurate in its terminology.

Modularity rating: 5

One of the strengths of this book might be its modularity. Chapters are relatively self-contained and could be used to supplement other textbooks or course materials.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The organization of this textbook is somewhat baffling and, perhaps, its weakest attribute. For instance, it is perplexing that the concept of key signatures is introduced in the first 20 pages, yet intervals and the circle of fifths are not discussed until the second half of the book. if the topics were to be taught in the order presented in the book, instructors might find this book very difficult to use.

Interface rating: 5

The textbook has rather primitive-looking graphics and notational examples. But it doesn't detract from the overall effectiveness of the textbook.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text appears to have no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is grounded in Western European tradition, but makes some effort to be culturally inclusive. Its language is in no way culturally insensitive.

This textbook is very intriguing and well-written. However, I would find it difficult to use as a primary textbook for either music majors or non-majors. It lacks the necessary depth in subjects like figured bass and harmonic analysis for music majors, and it covers too much ground for a music appreciation or music fundamentals classes. However, it might be an excellent supplemental textbook for all three of the prior courses and a host of other music classes.

Reviewed by Scott Ethier, Adjunct Lecturer, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY on 2/1/18

In some ways, this book is very comprehensive – maybe too comprehensive (do we really need 4000 words on tuning systems in an introductory text?). But it does cover all of the topics you could expect to get through in an introductory theory. read more

Reviewed by Scott Ethier, Adjunct Lecturer, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

In other ways, it’s missing some vital components. So much of introductory music theory is about mastering skills like reading music and building scales and chords. There are some exercises in this book, but there is no attempt at bridging the gap between the concepts being discussed and their practical application.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found to book to be accurate throughout.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The core content of the book (such as notation, scales, and chords) is well-traveled ground. 80% of the material is identical to what a music student would have learned a century ago, and unless the priorities of music theory pedagogy change radically, it will be relevant for the foreseeable future.

What feels out of date to some degree is the nature of the project – a closed-source, PDF/HTML-based textbook. We live in an era where someone in a video will take you by the hand and show you how to voice an C7b9 chord, the best way to finger a Bach cello suite, or how to create the nastiest bass drop in your dubstep remix. There’s no way a single authored textbook could compete with resources that vast and accessible.

Perhaps the answer is a text that is open source, allowing many users to edit and contribute to the text?

Clarity rating: 2

This book is clear enough if you’ve already mastered the subject and just need a reference.
If you don’t have a background in music theory, this book will be a dry and potentially confusing read.

It’s difficult to write clear and engaging prose about music theory. The best music theory writing emerges organically from a question or observation about a piece of music. Music must be at the center of any effective music theory discussion. This book takes the opposite approach, introducing many topics abstractly without any reference to an actual piece of music.

Take for example its discussion of the triad:

Harmony (Section 2.5) in Western music (Section 2.8) is based on triads. Triads are simple three note
chords (Chords) built of thirds (pg 137).

[Fig 5.1 is here in the original]

The chords in Figure 5.1 are written in root position, which is the most basic way to write a triad.
In root position, the root, which is the note that names the chord, is the lowest note. The third
of the chord is written a third (Figure 4.26) higher than the root, and the fifth of the chord is
written a fifth (Figure 4.26) higher than the root (which is also a third higher than the third of the
chord). So the simplest way to write a triad is as a stack of thirds, in root position.

This is all technically correct, but it’s not very helpful to the student who knows nothing about triads. And it’s dull. Learning how to build and play triads should be one of the great “aha” moments for a student in music theory. They’re so simple, yet so powerful and versatile. When you understand the triad, a whole world of harmony opens up to you.

A student may be able to decode (with some difficulty) the book’s instructions for building a triad, but they’ll have no sense of why the triad matters (here’s a place where examples of actual music could be helpful).

We generally don’t expect that an introductory music theory text will be a compelling book. But we really should (and this is a criticism I’d level against many commercially produced textbooks too). Some of our students are artists. Some of our students are civilians who are starting a potentially life- long engagement with the arts. If teaching music theory is important, we must get in the habit of writing our textbooks with clarity and passion.

Consistency rating: 5

The ideas and terminology seemed consistent from section to section.

Modularity rating: 5

It is as modular as an Intro to Theory text could be (although it’s not clear to me why modularity would be desirable in this case). When the book references material from other sections, it clearly points students in the direction of that material.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization of the topics made sense. The chapter on acoustics, while informative, seemed to disrupt the flow of the rest of the book a bit (although one could skip that chapter without any problem).

Interface rating: 1

The book’s interface is a real problem on several levels.

The book’s layout (at least the PDF version) is reminiscent of a journal article. The text is formatted in a clear but small font and densely packed with very little whitespace (we’re working in a virtual medium – please use all the whitespace you need!). Diagrams and musical examples are referenced (such as “Fig. 4.2.1”) rather that incorporated directly in the layout of the text. There are copious footnotes and headings are numbered four levels deep (“6.2.2.1 Pythagorean Intonation”).

All of this works to make entry-level music theory look as inviting as the instructions on your tax return.
There are plenty of references to supplementary material, but those references are buried in footnotes that contain inactive web links (meaning you can’t just click on them, you need to copy the link and paste it in your web browser). And many of the links are broken.

The diagrams are unappealing and poorly laid out, making it difficult to understand the concepts they are trying to communicate (for example, the circle of fifths chart in Fig. 4.44). The book is set mostly in black and white, but every once in a while parts of the text in figures will be arbitrarily printed in red or blue (see Figure 1.74).

The most troubling element is that the musical examples themselves look amateurish. Music notation software capable of creating professional-looking music layouts has been widely accessible for decades.
Some of the problems I have are quibbles (like the out-of –proportion bass clef in Fig. 1.1), but some are inexcusable (like the incorrect stemming of the bass clef line in Fig. 1.10), and some are just bizarre (like Fig. 4.9 where an un-metered musical example is given the time signature 8/4). But in an introductory theory class where learning to clearly and correctly notate music is a priority, sloppy musical examples are inexcusable.

Design may seem like a trivial thing to criticize in a textbook, poor layout and design can be a major impediment to effectively communicating a book’s ideas.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn’t find any problems with the grammar of this book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

There is very little actual music in this text, and as a result the book has almost entirely removed music theory from its cultural context. It equally ignores the actual music of most eras and cultures. There’s no Mozart, no Bach, no Gershwin, and no Stevie Wonder. It does deal with some theory topics outside of the realm of classical music, such as the blues scale. But there isn’t a single lick by Robert Johnson or Thelonious Monk to be found. In the places the book does use actual music, the choices lean in the public-domain folk direction (for instance, transposition is introduced via the sea-shanty “The Saucy Sailor”). I realize the nature of this project might limit it to public domain music, but that still includes a vast amount of repertoire. Also, there is some room under fair use for some use of copyrighted material (and maybe the Open Library Textbook project could guide authors on how to use that right to its fullest extent).

I’ve been critical of this text, but I’d like to acknowledge the enormous amount of work that Catherine Schmidt-Jones has put in to creating this book. Her task was not only to write a theory text from scratch, but also to make the case that an open textbook could be a viable alternative to commercially produced textbooks. This is a necessary and important first step. I’m grateful that she took it and I’m rooting for its ultimate success.

Reviewed by Sean Doyle, Professorial Lecturer, American University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Overall, the text is a comprehensive approach to the fundamentals of music theory, with particular focus on the standards and conventions of music notation. There is a detailed index but no glossary. The addition of a glossary could be helpful, especially with regard to terminology that is often mixed-up or easily confused by students beginning to read music - "meter" vs. "time signature", for example. This is described in a note in the body of the text, but appearing in a glossary would make for a quicker, more straightforward delineation between the two concepts.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content, in general, is accurate and unbiased. Some of the notational symbols are a bit of out the ordinary - the double-flat, for instance - is graphically not quite what one would see in printed music (the flat signs "smushed" together or overlapping). This may be a result of the unique notation program being used to render the musical examples. The inclusion of a more systematized approach to counting rhythms (rather than 1-&, 2&) would not only be more helpful but certainly appropriate to the learning abilities of the student for whom this text is intended.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content is relevant and will not be obsolete, other than perhaps occasional references to specific technologies.

Clarity rating: 4

The tone of the text is straightforward and accessible. Concepts are expressed simply and directly. Longer sections/bodies of text (especially in later chapters pertaining to form) could be clarified by including more musical examples.

Consistency rating: 5

The text maintains a conscious, consistent use of terminology.

Modularity rating: 5

This is perhaps this text's greatest strength - the sectionalization and numbering of each concept. There is occasional self-reference, but entirely to the benefit of the reader in developing upon concepts and ideas. The text is very easily navigable and assigning discrete units to correspond with distinct sections of an assignment or course outline would be very easy for any instructor to manage.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Overall, the organization of the topics in this text is good. Perhaps the early, detailed introduction to acoustics (Ch. 3) would be better suited with the later discussion of those concepts within the context of hearing (ear-training), would form a more cohesive organization of that concept.

Interface rating: 5

The interface of the text seems clear and easy to navigate. It took me a while to realized the linked content in footnotes was occasionally supplemental material and not just online access to the print material of the text - this could be made more explicit in the front matter of the book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The grammar is accurate. Occasionally the tone of the text suggests a certain uncertainty (using colloquial terms like "pretty much", "tends to", etc.)

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Although there are not many examples of notated musical works cited in the text (for reasons of copyright, presumably), there are mentions of musical examples from a diverse variety of cultural backgrounds.

Reviewed by Joshua Harris, Assistant Professor of Music, Sweet Briar College on 8/15/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The title and introduction's stated objective ("to explore basic music theory so thoroughly that the interested student will then be able to easily pick up whatever further theory is wanted") are vague enough that the question of comprehensiveness becomes difficult. There is in the book a comprehensive discussion of musical mechanics and notation, in some cases more than a "basic" course would require (specifically discussions of orchestration, acoustics, and temperament). However, these tangential topics are far from comprehensive themselves. Also, it is difficult to place this in a college music theory curriculum; it's too advanced at times to fit the rudiments or fundamental (i.e., preparatory) course, but it lacks any substantial discussion of counterpoint, voice-leading, modulation, or chromatic harmony, which are common to the typical four- or five-semester theory course, usually covered by a single text. As an introductory survey of music-theoretical concepts, however, I would call this very comprehensive.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is accurate for the most part, if imprecise at times. The discussion of time signatures, for example, is misleading but ultimately harmless (the old top number/bottom number rule about what note gets the beat, etc., doesn't apply to compound meters). Da capo and Dal segno are also translated incorrectly as "to" the head and sign, although the gist remains correct (i.e., one does, in fact, go back "to the head," etc.).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The basic mechanics of music and music notation are unlikely to change soon, but some broken links here--apparently intended to take the reader to online discussions about certain ideas--suggest that it might already be out of date. There is some indication on another website that updates are being made, or were intended to be made, by the author, but it isn't clear what the timeline for these updates is. The only date seems to be the original publication date of 2013.

Clarity rating: 3

The conversational style of the prose undermines the book's clarity. The technical terminology is adequately explained, although sometimes it is not well-defined at the time it is introduced. However, a hyperlink is always provided to a more complete definition.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is internally consistent. This is reinforced by hyperlinks throughout the epub version.

Modularity rating: 5

Generally, the book is modular enough to be useful. I can envision a teacher being able to easily realign the subunits without presenting disruption to the reader. However, the layout (of the epub version, especially) often detaches subheadings from text, causing some mild confusion.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

It seems like modularity has won out over logical flow of ideas. Enharmonic intervals and chords are included in the discussion of enharmonic pitches, for example, well before the concept of chords is introduced. I like the idea of links, but they might be overdone. The structure of the text relies on students' ability to make good use of the links to follow threads of complementary and reinforcing ideas, but beginning students won't know what fits together, and they could get lost. Also, there are intrusive notes from the author regarding an online survey, which is now closed, throughout the text.

Interface rating: 3

The layout (epub version) feels cluttered. I would appreciate more space between headings and text, as well as above and below musical examples. Musical examples were very amateurish, using an unusual music font that was difficult to read. There were also frequent collisions of musical symbols (especially double flats) and some superfluous symbols (for example, it's distracting and irrelevant to use an 8/4 time signature when discussing intervals).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors, though inconsistencies in style and fonts are distracting and imprecise.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text does a good job including discussion of (or at least mentioning) music from a variety of cultures.

At the risk of criticizing the book for what it isn't instead of what it is, I would just say that for this reviewer, an introductory text that had less prose and more focused text, such as lists with key terms, definitions, etc., to accompany the already useful examples, would be more helpful.

Reviewed by Claire Boge, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Undergraduate Music Theory, MIami University (Oxford Ohio) on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book covers material corresponding to what most call Basic Musicianship and Fundamentals of Music and Music Notation, as well as more general terminology that would apply to Music Appreciation. It also adds material introducing the basic concepts of the Physics of Music and how it works in various instruments. Despite showing modules on Form, Cadence, and Beginning Harmonic Analysis, the author makes it clear that many of these concepts are more advanced and recommends additional sources be used. The book could use a module covering figured bass -- and although there is a cross reference to other published software on this topic (ArsNova), that software requires purchase or a site license and is not accessible through the open source text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate but some of it needs to be updated. See below.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text is written in a way that updates should be easy to implement, and the author is very conscientious to tell students in the preface that whenever multiple terms exist, they will be given. The current content is accurate but some of it needs new supplementary data: 1) Octave designations should also refer to include Acoustical Society names as well as Traditional names, and given the book's implied target audience, MIDI-standard might also be a good idea; and 2) Outside references should be maintained to make sure that the most recent editions are cited (such as Grout [Palisca/Burkholder] History of Western Music).

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clearly written. I particularly like that the author sometimes interrupts the "facts" by asking questions which take the reader to the next explanation. This begins to subconsciously set a theoretical mindset of looking for deeper explanations. I especially recommend that everyone read the Introduction before going into any of the modules! It is one of the best parts of the book, and not only sets the stage for what the book does, but also how it fits within the larger context of explanations.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is clear, with terminology consistent throughout. But, different modules seem to be written for different levels of students. The early chapters are presented very basically and are extremely thorough -- some even contain external lesson plans clearly written for beginning classroom teachers following national standards. Later chapters, such as those on acoustics and terminology, seem to be addressed to a college audience. This extends to methodology as well. Earlier content is more algorithmic in nature (teaching treble clef as EveryGoodBoyDoesFine instead of G-clef with the alphabet surrounding the G-line); later material is more linguistic (definitions of different textures and presentation of interval inversion, for example). It is not offensive, but it does make for some awkwardness if one jumps around in the modular sequence.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity is one of the best aspects of this publication. Sections are clear; subheadings are frequent, examples are peppered throughout, and everything is graphically pleasing. It would be easy to use some modules and not others and maintain consistency.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book generally follows an established pedagogical flow frequent in many similar presentations. The only interruption is with the Physics materials. It does make sense to introduce the scientific explanations when they are pertinent, but it would also be helpful to collect them all in one place. For thorough review readers, compile Module 3 with 4.6 for a complete unit.

Interface rating: 3

I found the book difficult to navigate on a Mac and iOS. I did not test materials on a Windows interface. I looked at all three options: PDF, e-pub, and Open Stx CNX. CNX is by far the easiest to navigate with the cleanest links. All versions require that one leave the text and download the audio examples, play the examples, and then return to the text. Many examples would not play. When I would look up the direct weblink in footnotes, I would often encounter "error 404". It would be difficult for a less patient person to keep trying in different formats. I was initially confused by the fact that Examples, Exercises, and Text all have numbers but that the numbers don't necessarily align. Text unit 4.5.3.3 also contains Example 4.8 and Exercise 4.14. For a while, I couldn't find anything and their placement made no sense while jumping from module to module and checking out answers. Once I figured it out, it was okay but remains counterintuitive.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammar is accurate and clear. It is mostly uncomplicated.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book primarily is focused on materials relevant to popular, jazz, and classical musicians. Lead sheet and Roman numerals are both covered, but there is a clear tilt towards the skills and knowledge needed for gigging musicians. There is some inclusion of other cultures and nontraditional scales, moreso than in most introductory books of this nature. Modes and Ragas are covered, as well as octatonic and some older scales such as Hungarian major. With the exception of using "Every Good Boy Does Fine", the prose is ungendered and the explanation that underlies "western" and "world" terminology is clearly presented and its bias is acknowledged.

This book is most appropriate for use by amateurs who wish to know some details about the construction of musical elements. It would be useful as a textbook in a non-AP secondary school level music theory class. It could also be a good supplement for students taking a Music Appreciation type of Gen-Ed course. It could possibly supplement a World Music Gen-Ed course. It is not appropriate for adoption by music majors at the university level for anything past a first-semester or remedial Music Fundamentals course. It could, however, be a good resource for summer study by music students prior to their first university theory course. The author has clearly spent a great deal of time and effort on this resource, and I hope she continues her devotion to the task. Disclaimer: I am a coauthor of a different Music Fundamentals textbook; nonetheless, I have reviewed this resource objectively and dispassionately and made every attempt at balanced scholarly evaluation in my comments. This is a valuable resource for everyone concerned about the cost of materials to consider.

Reviewed by Stephen Martorella, Adjunct Instructor, Rhode Island College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text covers the basics of music theory as laid out in the table of contents in four of six sections with some additional peripheral material in the other two sections. While some subjects are well covered, including the most important basics of music theory, many other more advanced concepts are “introduced” but given only cursory treatment. This makes an instructor an essential element in terms of how to present the material, how much of it to present, in what order to present it, and what perhaps is better left to another course. The introduction explains the rationale to the book and suggests the many ways it could be used. The table of contents is very well organized presenting topics and sub-headings that function as keywords. The index was less useful as it was a bit confusing, in some cases referring generally to sections but not necessarily specific to the item being looked up. Terms were generally given a specific page, but some were missing. A glossary would have been helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

Clarity rating: 3

Sometimes the text is clear, straight forward and easily accessible, unfolding complex ideas in a clear step-by-step manner that aids in overall comprehension. At other times, however, the text is wordy and confusing, introducing terms that are not always explained, and often requiring the reader to jump about to receive those explanations. Some of the more basic yet difficult to grasp ideas, as for example the basics of rhythm such as downbeat and upbeat, are more easily shown by example, perhaps a video link, in the event the book is being used in a class where musical demonstration might not be available by the instructor.

Consistency rating: 3

The text is not consistent in terms of terminology and framework, some chapters are very advanced but incomplete, while others are clear and lucid. The first module on notation seemed the most complete, being comprehensive, clear and well laid out in terms of organization and unfolding of the topic.

Modularity rating: 5

This is the strongest suit of the book, being well sectioned and in such a way that modules can be arranged and re-arranged with sub-headings also referenced numerically, i.e. 3.1, 3.2 etc. Since many sections introduce ideas that are explained in later chapters and/or subdivisions, instructors may chose to re-arrange that material accordingly. Similarly, one might not want to break up introducing the basics with “The Physical Basis of Sound” a well-laid out but far more technical and scientific chapter (3) which comes between Notation - Basic Music Definitions (chapters 1 and 2) and chapter 4 which introduces intervals and scales along with such concepts as half and whole steps, octave, intervals, major and minor, harmonic series and the circle of fifths. It would do well for the instructor to read the Introduction which gives the rationale of the book, its organization, and how it’s various modules can be adopted to fit “different needs, levels, and skill strengths”.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The topics in the text are often, but not always, presented in a logical and clear fashion. It is sometimes necessary to jump about to get a more comprehensive understanding of a topic. Some very advanced concepts are introduced in an incomplete manner and then dropped, perhaps better to be left for another course. Other ideas seem to interrupt rather than complement what is being presented. To be fair, the author states up front that people have different needs and are at different levels, and what might suit one might not do as well for another. That is the beauty of the modular organization, that it can be refitted in so many ways, but it will require that insight from an instructor, so this is not a book to be recommended for those who wish to be self-taught.

Interface rating: 4

There are many music examples given in the text which display what is going on, and there are often links to sound or score samples of music that demonstrate the various concepts under discussion. Not all of the links worked, but that is something that can be addressed as the work undergoes review and revision.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

While the theory of music is culturally neutral, the examples that underscore draw from an inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds, and styles, and from popular, rock and jazz as well as classical musics. This is sensitive not only to cultures but also to different historical periods, as for example chapter 6 “Challenges” which contains sub-sections on different tuning systems and one on modes and ragas.

This is such an enormous venture to undertake that I can only express deepest admiration and congratulations for the fine work that has been presented thus far, acknowledging that this book has the potential to reach a very wide audience of potential converts to the wonderment of the musical arts through an understanding of the structures and ideas that form the basis of musical creation, musical performance, musical listening, and musical enjoyment. Kudos and much thanks.

Reviewed by Maristella Feustle, Music Special Collections Librarian, University of North Texas on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text is imbalanced in proportion. I don't believe it necessary to have 63 pages on notation (Section 1), the longest section in the book. Perhaps there is also a distinction to be made in scope under the umbrella "music theory," between mechanics (notation and key signatures), and analysis. In any case, the time spent on notation is disproportionate given the length of the other sections of the book.

There is no glossary; terms are only referenced in the index. There certainly should be a consolidated, systematic glossary, especially given how much jumping around is already built into the book (e.g., early sections referring to later sections for definitions). It would be much easier to flip to the back of the book. For that matter, definitions are sometimes inconsistent in usage and rendering (upbeat and up-beat), or neglected/left for later (relative minor is discussed without definition in Part 1).

Content Accuracy rating: 1

The book contains serious errors and oversimplifications. For example, the assertion about jazz eighth notes on p. 54 is false. The faster the tempo, the straighter the eighths get, with no concerted effort to accent the upbeat. (For the record, I have master's degrees in jazz guitar and music theory.) I also take issue with the use of the guitar as an example of a need for accommodations to dumb down music (pages 28, 242, 258). Chord symbols ought not to imply a crutch for the less musically literate, and capos have a nobler use than merely avoiding accidentals.

The discussion of time signatures as being like fractions on p. 35 is misleading and unhelpful.

For another example, on page 54, the literal translations of DC and DS are wrong. "Da/dal" means "from/from the." "Al" means "to the."

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

That depends. The current plethora of problems with the book gives it a shelf life of zero. Much of the subject matter is quite timeless; revised versions would leave room for update/expansion in discussions of contemporary and international music.

Clarity rating: 1

I regret to put so fine a point on it, but the problems of style and usage in the book are such that it would not make it through the door of a conventional publisher. The text is riddled with filler words and disruptive prepositional clauses and insertions (See, for example, the introduction), such that much of it could be condensed and presented much more straightforwardly. The text's attempts to be informal and conversational do not help clarity, but again introduce unnecessary verbiage (e.g., on page 42, "A piece that is using pickup measures. "). The frequent use of contractions and beginning sentences with "So" seem stylistically inappropriate. Further problems with clarity arise in cases like page 36, figure 1.51, which reads "If the time signature is three eight, a measure may be filled with any combination of notes and rests that adds up to three eight." [Did the author mean three eighth notes?]

Consistency rating: 4

There are inconsistencies such as those already mentioned with terminology. As also mentioned earlier, the proportions of the sections needs to be evened out. Stylistically, it is consistent, other issues notwithstanding.

Modularity rating: 3

Sure, the text is modular, but in its present state, modularity works against it. I believe there is a balance to be struck between modularity and linearity of presentation -- the development of topics should build on what comes before. This text may be too modular, to the point of disjunction. For example, relative minor is mentioned in part 1, but the main treatment of it does not appear until part 4. On page 38, compound meter is introduced without definition in that section. Similarly, intervals are discussed without definition or introduction early in the book, but treated in earnest in part 5. The discussion of enharmonics should at least make a nod toward issues of temperament, brass, and fretless stringed instruments much sooner. Also, it may not be necessary to reinvent the wheel in terms of organization: Many conventional theory texts model an effective progression of concepts.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 1

As already noted, the text's modularity is in some cases counterproductive, thwarting a linear progression of ideas that build upon one another. Within smaller sections of the text, there are also instances where a discussion could be consolidated, such as the disjointed discussion of accents on pages 57 and 59. The discussion of enharmonics on pages 21 and 22 seems redundant with that of page 17. It seems like the text was not edited to combine, rearrange, expand, and contract what was originally entered into the word processor.

Interface rating: 1

The choice of font is not easy on the eyes, at least in the current PDF presentation. It should be a consistent black, rather than the varying shades of black to gray the PDF currently renders. Inconsistencies in the font (and the use of too many fonts in examples) detract from the presentation of the text.

The text also links to a multitude of file formats of questionable audio quality (midi, mp3, swf). It would help at least to pick a format and use it consistently.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

As already noted, the text contains numerous problems of style and usage, partly in an attempt to be informal/conversational. The larger problems are stylistic and typographical.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I've already noted the apparent bias toward the guitar as the dummy of the stringed instrument family; the other item that jumped out at me was the implication of a single, monolithic African-American tradition on page 48. I would also strongly discourage the word "jazzy," which causes actual jazz musicians such as myself to cringe inwardly. The discussion of ragas and international music is not wrong, but seems general, perfunctory, and does not add much value in terms of detail.

This text urgently needs to be proofread, edited, re-organized, and rigorously held to a style manual for matters like the placement of punctuation inside quotation marks, the use of "p." rather than "pg," and overall writing style. Again, I regret to put too fine a point on things, but the text as it stands now is not a credit to the noble goal of the open textbook initiative.

Reviewed by Miriam Webber, Assistant Professor, Bemidji State University on 2/8/17

This book covers a variety of topics needed for a basic understanding of music theory. Topic include notation fundamentals, acoustics, scales, forms, cadences and even transposition, modulation and an introduction to ear training. read more

Reviewed by Miriam Webber, Assistant Professor, Bemidji State University on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Well-informed, this book attempts to cover a wide knowledge base for music theory, with more complex terms being introduced in less detail that would typically occur in an advanced text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text appears up-to-date, with regular responses to surveys, etc. recorded within the book.

Clarity rating: 5

Very clear writing. Although a bit conversational as other authors have pointed out, I believe the audience for this text would appreciate the tone.

Consistency rating: 5

Seems fairly consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Modularity clear and easy to navigate.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Well organized for the most part, although some finer points seemed less logical. For example, a discussion of the harmonic series appears both the "Notes and Scales" and "The Physical Basis" chapters.

Interface rating: 4

Interface is strong. Multiple colors are used for examples, but the choice of colors seems a bit arbitrary.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors that I found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book attempts to appeal to a varied audience, and makes use of popular and more classical, and occasional non-Western styles.

Reviewed by Matthew Andrews, Graduate Student, Portland State University School of Music on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Quite comprehensive for its stated purpose of covering "only the bare essentials of music theory." I would not use this textbook in a course intended for music majors, but it would make an excellent textbook for a non-major "introduction to rudiments of music" type course. The book spends a lot of time on notation and other *very* basic musical concepts, without going into very much of what I would consider serious first-year music theory.

I loved the chapter on "The Physical Basis" of music. This perspective is missing from many classic books on music theory, and I would use this chapter by itself even in an advanced undergraduate theory course. I also very much enjoyed the sections on tuning and tuning systems, another subject which is usually glossed over.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No complaints in this regard. The author's approach to terminology is broad enough (e.g. giving several terms for the same types of cadence) that any errors or limitations inherent in a single term are covered by the use of alternates.

I was satisfied with the brief mention of raga theory, a subject about which I know more than a little. It's easy to mischaracterize raga, and the author did a better job than most.

The section on tuning was well researched and clearly written, although I doubt anyone who reads it will be intrigued enough to investigate Partch's or Harrison's writings on the subject.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is up-to-date, but in terms of relevance it is geared more toward pop or jazz musicians than classical musicians. That said, musicians who are totally new to the basics of music theory will find plenty of material they can apply to their existing understanding and practice.

Clarity rating: 4

All jargon is well-contextualized, both in-text and with links. Organization and prose are clear enough, although the written passages could all use another round of editing for empty/hedge verbiage (lots of "probably" and the like).

Consistency rating: 5

Absolutely consistent. The author's broad approach eschews ironclad terminology for a more diffuse approach, which supports a certain robustness. On occasions when the author does make an unequivocal decision (e.g. regarding the numbering of harmonic overtones), she explains the alternatives and gives her reasons for choosing one framework over others.

Modularity rating: 5

Very customizable. Each chapter is self-sufficient, especially in an electronic format; asides and explanations can be skipped or investigated with a click.

I would happily use just the chapters on acoustics and tuning. Total newcomers could use the first two chapters as a primer on self-study in notation as preparation before beginning a term (this is something I might assign for summer or winter break reading).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Considered as a linear book, too much time is spent early on in explaining notation and other rudimentary concerns before arriving at the meat of music theory as such. The e-book format somewhat obviates this problem. The chapters themselves are well organized.

Interface rating: 3

The musical examples - both written and recorded - are too few and too disparate. It would be best to create a companion site to host all of it.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No grammatical issues (but see above re: prose style).

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is explicitly written with practitioners of the Western tradition in mind. Other traditions are mentioned, if only passingly. The important thing is that the author takes care to emphasize when a topic under discussion is a Western-normative practice and not a universal rule. This is an improvement over many other theory texts.

The book could use a lot of editing; there are huge blocks of text that don't need to be so long or so wordy. A book of this nature should either have a lot more exercises or a whole separate workbook, and there should be vastly more musical examples drawn from the real world.

There is practically nothing in the way of music school level theory - no figured bass, almost no roman numeral analysis, very little discussion of cadences, harmonic rhythm, and all the other things that make theory so interesting to students of the Western art music tradition. It may only be my bias: I learned first-year theory from Piston.

However, this textbook could be great in an introductory or survey course intended for non-majors. A rock guitarist, jazz pianist, or pop singer who wants to learn the bare minimum of musical knowledge to improve their understanding of popular music and ability to communicate with other musicians will find this book comprehensive and very useful.

Reviewed by Jeffery Kyle Hutchins, Artist/Teacher, Virginia Tech on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I found this text to be very comprehensive in scope of teaching basic music theory. I found a great deal of emphasis was put on naming notes, scales, and rhythms, which is perfect for a introductory text. The other sections, such as Harmony and Form were very surface level, allowing the reader to familiarize them self with the topic and not get too bogged down in the details. I would say this text is best suited for an adult students brand new to reading music.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found the content to be very accurate and clearly articulated. The examples were easy to read and easily understood.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book is mostly a summary of basic musical concepts, and to that end I suspect will remain relevant for some time. I think it would be necessary for a student to look into additional material for any sort of historical context or a further understanding of form and harmony.

Clarity rating: 5

I feel that the terminology is defined very well in the text and the material provided is quite clear in meaning. The format and layout of the text is very plain and clear to read.

Consistency rating: 5

The language used in this text, the formatting, and the work examples are very consistent throughout the text. The material in each chapter is organized well and presented clearly. The examples and images provided are engraved very well.

Modularity rating: 4

I think this book would absolutely be modular. Were I to teach out of this text, I could definitely see myself picking some material to use while supplementing or omitting some other sections. I think one could very easily use these sections to fit their particular needs.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As mentioned early, I think this book is very well put together. Each chapter is organized in a similar and well articulated fashion, and is sequenced well to cover the basic music theory material.

Interface rating: 3

There are definitely no distractions from this text. I think the layout and formatting are consistent, but very plainly done. It would have been nice to see some (even minimal) graphic design done to this book. As such, it reads more like a pedagogical dissertation. Even though I find the material accurate and structured well, this book is quite dull to look at graphically.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text includes examples of Western and non-Western music. It is not insensitive or offensive.

Reviewed by John Irrera, Instructor of Music, Virginia Tech on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This book is meant to be an introduction to music theory, presenting to the learner the basics of how music is composed, performed, and interpreted. This book accomplishes this task, as it explores rhythm, pitch, notation, form, analysis, with a helpful glossary at the back of the book. However, it deals with subjects that I find are not necessary for the beginner when it comes to trying to understanding music theory, such as the entire section upon the physics of sound and harmonics.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The information in the book is accurate. The way some terms are used in the book I question, however, such as the use of "downbeat" to refer to all of the beats in a measure, as outlined in the time signature discussion, as opposed to just the first beat of a measure, but in general the information as presented is correct.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up to date, and makes a special effort to try to have examples from more popular musical artists and genres. This aids in making the material more relatable for individuals that don't listen to musical in the Western Classical tradition.

Clarity rating: 3

The text is easy to understand and straightforward. Sometimes I found the terminology used occurred a bit earlier in the text than was needed to help explain a point. For instance when discussing rhythm and time signature, the author chose to discuss tempo in terms of the Italian terminology, such as allegro, which had yet to be explained, instead of simply using the number of beats per minute method. By adding the Italian terminology, fairly early in the book, and not yet having explained what these terms mean, it created another layer of complexity, that was not needed when trying to discuss note duration and rhythms.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistently organized and formatted clearly for the reader.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is readily divisible into smaller sections, making it a great asset for excerpting. A wonderful aid for use in many different course settings.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

This I found to be the weakest part of the book, as it was organized in a manner that often took a certain amount of knowledge, on the part of the reader, for granted, especially after it states that it is specifically designed for the beginner. I think some things were not explained in the correct order, to allow for greatest understanding by the reader. For instance, when discussing note names the author discusses enharmonic keys and scales, when the concept of what a scale, major/minor, or even a key signature had yet to be explained.

Interface rating: 4

The interface works well. It is best to not view as a PDF, but instead via "ePub" as this allows for the links to work, allowing for one to quickly jump around to different sections of the book to find examples.

I could have used a bit more examples to explain concepts, and also would have benefited to have an example/figure right after its description. This book often lists many different concepts in a block of text, and then has all the examples on the next page.

Overall, it accomplishes its goal and is user friendly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The use of art music and, also popular music, as examples, make this book more inclusive than others.

A fine text, but would require significant lecture time, and supplemental examples, to ensure that the material was firmly understood by the student and that they were able to apply this knowledge to actual musical practice.

Reviewed by Shane Anderson, Associate Professor of Music, Nicholls State University on 12/5/16

The text covers all basic introductory material of Music Theory. From the Introduction, it is clear that the author intends this text to be an introduction to Music Theory and not a comprehensive text for advanced concepts. I would like to have. read more

Reviewed by Shane Anderson, Associate Professor of Music, Nicholls State University on 12/5/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Music theory content is unchanging and does not need updating. The "Challenges" chapter at the end is a nice addition to include some contemporary concepts and non-western music.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is very clear and easily understandable.

Consistency rating: 5

The overall layout of the material is clear and well-planned.

Modularity rating: 5

The author has divided the concepts into easily accessible modules.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text generally introduces concepts in a well-organized manner. I would like to have seen Diatonic chords in major and minor introduced earlier in the text, with more practice examples concerning how to recognize and write them.

Interface rating: 5

The text has no interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text includes examples of both Western and non-Western music.

This is an excellent text for beginning Music Theory. I would like to see more practice examples for basic concepts such as intervals, triads, scales and diatonic triads/seventh chords.

Reviewed by Christopher Van Hof, Assistant Professor of Music, Colorado State Univeristy on 12/5/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

While the fundamentals of how music is read, written, and functions are indeed covered clearly, there is no mention whatsoever of the common Practice Period, which is the source of modern basic music theory. Not presenting that historical context is a distinct shortcoming in this text. In a way, the text seems to make an attempt to be *too* comprehensive by covering topics that could (should?) have been dispensed with in a separate book. What is presented is accurate, but really the scope to this reviewer is far too broad to be useful in a semester-long introduction class.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book presents accurate information. I have personal problems with some of the definitions of articulations (e.g. what the text labels as "legato" I refer to as "tenuto," or, how the first mention of a dorian scale is in reference to jazz, as opposed to the Greek modes). But, in general, the information here is good.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I sincerely appreciate the author's consistent reference to popular music forms, harmony, and instruments. many theory texts gloss over that aspect, but it often an important part of how a student becomes interested in how music works. Using these references is culturally relevant, and will stand a pretty long test of time.

Clarity rating: 4

Overall, the information is presented clearly. The tone is occasionally too conversational for my taste (the use of conjunctions abound, there are informal turns of phrase). While some terminology may require additional digging for the reader or explaining from a professor, the syntax and prose is accessible to a competent advanced high school/early college reader.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter is laid out clearly and in a similar fashion.

Modularity rating: 5

This is, I think, the books greatest strength. While I would not choose to use exclusively this text for a beginning theory class, I would eagerly excerpt it for either that kind of class or even for a general education music appreciation class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Related to question 5, i appreciate the book's flow.

Interface rating: 3

The biggest issue here is the need to cut-and-paste links from the PDF in order to listen to/see the examples provided. This caused quite a lot of navigation problems, and needed the use of a very large number of browser tabs. A single website with clearly organized links to click related to each chapter would have helped a great deal.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

Too informal for an academic text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Again, the use of popular music as well as art music references makes this text more culturally relevant than others.

There is good content in this book, but i would not use it as the sole basis for an intro music theory class. As an excerpt-able document, it could be a strong addition to either a brick-and-mortar theory or music appreciation class, or for an online class of the same content. The cut-and-paste requirement for the examples was a major nuisance.

Reviewed by Lewton Jones, Graduate Student/PSU/Music Teacher/Community Ed, PCC on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book by Catherine Jones is condensed and takes on many aspects of music theory even the physics of sound.Her comment regarding its peripheral states; "The course is about a better understanding of where the basics come from and will lead to a better and faster comprehension of more complex ideas." She accomplishes this with chapters that focuses on notation, definitions, basic physics, notes and scales, harmony and form, transposing and a good glossary of terms at the end of the book. The book reads like a thesis with graphs that appear like a lecture series. Its possible that that for some it could appear obscure with assumed musical jargon. In an academic way the book is comprehensive, it however leaves out emotional intelligence and the intuitive common sense of music. It has a good historical section.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The information is accurate especially regarding modes and their history and the diagrams they pertain to. It is accurate but the narrative is connected to concepts without enough proofs. The Pythagorean history was substantial but not complete.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The book is a really a summation of older texts and information. I would suggest that students take Music History or read "How Music Works" by John Powell as a guide to this jargon. He was in fact a physicist, and discusses music with out a firewall of IQ separation.
I would add his book to this book if I taught this class in order to break down the array of a timeline of passed down Italian terms.
In terms as the book's authenticity regarding musical facts it will be relevant for several years.

Clarity rating: 4

As I stated it is very condensed. It would confuse a beginner if the lecture was not clear. It defines its musical terms very well and is well researched but truncated when it comes to what is being explained. Many of the topics are books by themselves. I thought the spacial presence of the illustrations and graphs were very clear and helpful to any level.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent in its shared historical information much like a dictionary. The chapters are all strong. I can tell that the book is written by one person. It displays solid organization of concepts and truths, but it is not an easy to read narrative.

Modularity rating: 4

The modularity is the staple elements of this book. It is very objective almost to a fault. It is not enabling as much as dictatorial. "Jones States in the introduction; "The final section of this course does include a few challenges that are generally not considered "beginner level musicianship."

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is strong in regarding to organization.

Interface rating: 5

All the interface is professional.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

Not a great flow in the narrative. It could be informative to some and confusing to others. Too condensed for me. For no reason/\.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

A western view of music and appealing to the Scientific rather than organic.