ABSTRACT
Theory Essentials for Today’s Musician offers a review of music theory that speaks directly and engagingly to modern students. Rooted in the tested pedagogy of Theory for Today’s Musician, the authors have distilled and reorganized the concepts from the thirty-three chapters of their original textbook into twenty-one succinct, modular chapters that move from the core elements of harmony to further topics in form and 20th-century music. A broad coverage of topics and musicals styles—including examples drawn from popular music—is organized into four key parts:
- Basic Tools
- Chromatic Harmony
- Form and Analysis
- The 20th Century and Beyond
Theory Essentials features clear and jargon-free (yet rigorous) explanations appropriate for students at all levels, ensuring comprehension of concepts that are often confusing or obscure. An accompanying workbook provides corresponding exercises, while a companion website presents streaming audio examples. This concise and reorganized all-in-one package—which can be covered in a single semester for a graduate review, or serve as the backbone for a briefer undergraduate survey—provides a comprehensive, flexible foundation in the vital concepts needed to analyze music.
PURCHASING OPTIONS
- Textbook and Workbook Package (Paperback): 9781138098756
- Textbook Only (Hardback): 9781138708815
- Textbook Only (Paperback): 9781138708822
- Textbook Only (eBook): 9781315201122
- Workbook Only (Paperback): 9781138098749
- Workbook Only (eBook): 9781315103839
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|90 pages
Basic Tools
chapter 1|16 pages
Elements of Diatonic Harmony
chapter 2|12 pages
Cadences and Harmonic Rhythm
chapter 3|14 pages
The Outer-Voice Framework/Embellishing Tones
chapter 4|18 pages
Part Writing and Chorale Analysis I
chapter 5|14 pages
Part Writing and Chorale Analysis II
chapter 6|14 pages
Part Writing and Chorale Analysis III
part 2|100 pages
Chromatic Harmony
chapter 7|14 pages
Secondary Function
chapter 8|13 pages
Modulation
chapter 9|15 pages
Mixing Modes
chapter 10|18 pages
Altered Predominants and Dominants
chapter 11|19 pages
Modulation II
chapter 12|16 pages
Harmonic Extensions and Chromatic Techniques
part 3|80 pages
Form and Analysis
chapter 13|14 pages
Melodic Form
chapter 14|24 pages
Contrapuntal Forms
chapter 15|18 pages
Small Forms
chapter 16|14 pages
Sonata Form
chapter 17|8 pages
The Rondo
part 4|63 pages
The Twentieth Century and Beyond