Music Fundamentals
Music Fundamentals: A Balanced Approach, Fourth Edition combines a textbook and integrated workbook with an interactive website for those who want to learn the basics of reading music. Intended for students with little or no prior knowledge of music theory, it offers a patient approach to understanding and mastering the building blocks of musical practice and structure. Musical examples range from Elvis Presley songs to Filipino ballads to Beethoven symphonies, offering a balanced mixture of global, classical, and popular music.
The new edition includes:
- New cultural, historical, and vocabulary references
- New singing exercises with audio recordings
- New and updated musical examples with audio recordings throughout
- Revised counting method for compound meter (“1 la le 2 la le” in addition to “1 2 3 4 5 6”)
- An enhanced e-book edition with integrated audio for musical examples and direct links to online exercises
The author’s balanced approach to beginning music theory engages student interest while demonstrating how music theory concepts apply not only to the Western classical canon but also to popular and world music. With the beginner student in mind, Music Fundamentals: A Balanced Approach, Fourth Edition is a comprehensive text for understanding the foundations of music theory.
Sumy Takesue is an Instructor at Santa Monica College, teaching theory and class and individual piano. She has taught at the University of Hawai’i (Hilo) and the University of Southern California.