Druid Magazine

Materials and Techniques of Post-Tonal Music, Fifth Edition provides the most comprehensive introduction to post-tonal music and its analysis available. Covering music from the end of the nineteenth century through the beginning of the twenty-first, it offers students a clear guide to understanding the diverse and innovative compositional strategies that emerged in the post-tonal era, from Impressionism to computer music. This updated fifth edition features: chapters revised throughout to include new examples from recent music and insights from the latest scholarship; the introduction of several new concepts and topics, including parsimonius voice-leading, scalar transformations, the New Complexity, and set theory in less chromatic contexts; expanded discussions of spectralism and electronic music; timelines in each chapter, grounding the music discussed in its chronological context; a companion website that provides students with links to recordings of musical examples discussed in the text and provides instructors with an instructor’s manual that covers all of the exercises in each chapter. Offering accessible explanations of complex concepts, Materials and Techniques of Post-Tonal Music, Fifth Edition is an essential text for all students of post-tonal music theory.

Designed to serve as a primary text for the first two years of college music theory, TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS OF MUSIC, 7th Enhanced Edition covers all the basics of composition--including harmony, melody, and musical form. The authors present essential materials of common-practice music and an overview of 20th century techniques, and include numerous hands-on exercises to help students better retain key concepts. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

This book addresses core questions about the role of materials in general and of wood in particular in the construction of string instruments used in the modern symphony orchestra – violins, violas, cellos and basses. Further attention is given to materials for classical guitars, harps, harpsichords and pianos. While some of the approaches discussed are traditional, most of them depend upon new scientific approaches to the study of the structure of materials, such as for example wood cell structure, which is visible only using modern high resolution microscopic techniques. Many examples of modern and classical instruments are examined, together with the relevance of classical techniques for the treatment of wood. Composite materials, especially designed for soundboards could be a good substitute for some traditional wood species. The body and soundboard of the instrument are of major importance for their acoustical properties, but the study also examines traditional and new wood species used for items such as bows, the instrument neck, string pegs, etc. Wood species’ properties for musical instruments and growth origins of woods used by great makers such as Antonio Stradivari are examined and compared with more recently grown woods available to current makers. The role of varnish in the appearance and acoustics of the final instrument is also discussed, since it has often been proposed as a ‘secret ingredient’ used by great makers. Aspects related to strings are commented.As well as discussing these subjects, with many illustrations from classical and contemporary instruments, the book gives attention to conservation and restoration of old instruments and the physical results of these techniques. There is also discussion of the current value of old instruments both for modern performances and as works of art having great monetary value.The book will be of interest and value to researchers, advanced students, music historians, and contemporary string instrument makers. Musicians in general, particularly those playing string instruments, will also find its revelations fascinating. It will also attract the attention of those using wood for a variety of other purposes, for its use in musical instruments uncovers many of its fundamental features. Professor Neville H. FletcherAustralian National University, Canberra

John D. White's comprehensive approach to music education is updated here in the second edition of Guidelines for College Teaching of Music Theory. The text demonstrates presentation styles for developing aural, keyboard, and writing skills as well as examining the theoretical and pedagogical conventions of musical education. Twenty years after the publication of the first edition, this revised second edition responds to the new trends in pedagogical study, highlights the transcendence of the canon by international music styles and popular music, and takes a fresh look at the current state of American academia. Features an additional chapter by William E. Lake on the benefits of technology in the classroom.

Designed to serve as a primary text for the first two years of college music theory, TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS OF MUSIC covers all the basics of composition-including harmony, melody, and musical form. The authors present essential materials of common-practice music and an overview of 20th century techniques. Numerous hands-on exercises promote students' memorization and retention of key concepts. And the text's concise outline format, which has been enhanced for this edition, allows instructors maximum flexibility in choosing which materials, concepts, and techniques to emphasize in their course. An e-Workbook in PDF format provides more than 200 pages of exercises to complement TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS OF MUSIC, 7th Edition. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Most classical musicians, whether in orchestral or ensemble situations, will have to face a piece by composers such as Ligeti, Messiaen, Varèse or Xenakis, while improvisers face music influenced by Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Aka Moon, Weather Report, Irakere or elements from the Balkans, India, Africa or Cuba. Rafael Reina argues that today’s music demands a new approach to rhythmical training, a training that will provide musicians with the necessary tools to face, with accuracy, more varied and complex rhythmical concepts, while keeping the emotional content. Reina uses the architecture of the South Indian Karnatic rhythmical system to enhance and radically change the teaching of rhythmical solfege at a higher education level and demonstrates how this learning can influence the creation and interpretation of complex contemporary classical and jazz music. The book is designed for classical and jazz performers as well as creators, be they composers or improvisers, and is a clear and complete guide that will enable future solfege teachers and students to use these techniques and their methodology to greatly improve their rhythmical skills. An accompanying website of audio examples helps to explain each technique. For examples of composed and improvised pieces by students who have studied this book, as well as concerts by highly acclaimed karnatic musicians, please copy this link to your browser: http://www.contemporary-music-through-non-western-techniques.com/pages/1587-video-recordings

A treatise of Common Practice Harmony. This document covers everything from the very basics to the most advanced figured bass and analytic techniques.