Analysis

Music Theory for Beginners

The book that I have been reading for the past couple of weeks is 'Music Theory for Beginners' by Usborne. (Music Theory for Beginners. 1996.) I have found the book really simple to follow and quite easy to read, it’s a light-hearted sort of children's book that is easy understandable because of this I have been able to get a better grip on theory and how it works. However, because my keyboard is still broken I haven't been able to put into practice my reading yet, although I feel it will be successful when I do. I would recommend this book to others as it has given me more confidence when it comes to theory in that I would be able to understand when learning more in depth things now that I have started to study the basic, it has also made me want to take this further and by other books that would teach me how to play. The reason I have found this book so interesting is the way it is set out and the simple-ness of it, it is so quick to read and would be great for children beginning theory themselves as it is illustrated profoundly and the text is simple too, with no long terms or complicated descriptions.

The book also encourages those to learn further as it ask questions and quizzes the reader whilst they are learning to make them think about the subject instead of just reading and it going over the readers head. When reading the introduction of the book it encourages it further by asking the reader to test themselves after they have read it and offers answers at a section at the back in order to make the reader feel as though they have learned something indefinitely.

Something else I found positive within the book was that it also shows you scale charts at the back of the book, this could really help the reader when using the book practically (in which I intend) as it is demonstrated clearly and has options to choose from so that the reader can learn different things.

The book gives options for those who play different instruments which I believe it really helpful because if I also wanted to learn the violin or flute I could because it is not biased to one instrument therefore I would not have to purchase another book.

Overall, I believe the book to be really helpful and with its simple-ness come easy learning, for adults or children. I would highly recommend the book as it is colourful and light-hearted which means there is no awful pressure that is added like when buying big heavy books.

Jane Chisholm (ed). (1996). Music Theory for Beginners. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd.