Books like Music by Nicholas Cook

Many people grimace at the sound of music theory. It can conjure up bad memories of grade school music classes, rattle the brains of college students, and make self-taught musicians feel self-defeated. Music Theory may seem tedious and unnecessary, especially since not many people can read music. Luckily, Music Theory for Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to understanding the concepts needed to compose, deconstruct, and comprehend music. This helpful guide will give you a great grasp of: Note value and counting notes Treble and bass clefs Time signatures and measures Naturalizing the rhythm Tempo and dynamic Tone, color, and harmonics Half steps and whole steps Harmonic and melodic intervals Key signatures and circles of fifths Scales, chords, and their progressions Elements of form Music theory's fascinating history This friendly guide not only explores these concepts, it provides examples of music to compliment them so you can hear how they sound firsthand. With a bonus CD that demonstrates these ideas with musical excerpts on guitar and piano, this hands-on resource will prove to you that music theory is as enjoyable as it is useful. Don't get discouraged by the seemingly complicated written structure. With Music Theory for Dummies, understanding music has never been easier! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included.

Alex Ross’s 2007 nonfiction work surveys twentieth‑century music, blending history, criticism and rich listening narratives to reveal how composers shaped and were shaped by the era’s cultural shifts.

Explores how the ear and brain transform sound into meaningful information, covering psychoacoustics, music cognition, and computational audio in a single introductory volume.

Nicholas Cook's Analysis Through Composition: Principles of the Classical Style, is a first: a manual of classical-style composition that thoroughly and explicitly incorporates the treatises, exercises, arrangements, compositional sketches, and fragments left behind by eighteenth-century composers