Amazon.com
In Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler traces the evolution of high and low culture in American society through the 19th and 20th centuries, and describes how low-brow entertainment became so influential in the United States. This is his central argument: "It is not any ism but entertainment that is arguably the most pervasive, powerful, and ineluctable force of our time--a force so overwhelming that it has finally metastasized into life." Although Gabler uses the word "metastasized," he doesn't seem to regard infotainment as a cancer that is destroying our society, but rather as something that grows rapidly and certainly worthy of close study.
The scope of Gabler's investigation extends far beyond the movies to publishing, television news, paint brands, fashion--anything that seems to have been transformed by the national passion for low-brow entertainment. Along the way, Gabler raises a series of intriguing questions: Why do some people feel more passionately about celebrities than about their own loved ones? Why is Donald Trump a celebrity? Why was the broadcast of the 1996 Olympics packed with so many biopics that the sporting events seemed afterthoughts? Why does Ralph Lauren call the blue paint he sells "Lap Pool Blue"?
Movies promote the fantasy that there are simple narrative solutions for all of life's problems. Movies are full of sex, scandal, gossip, and action. If our lives were movies, they would be more full of what Zsa Zsa Gabor once called "enchanting make-believe." In this book, Gabler demonstrates how this fantasy has shaped our society. --Jill Marquis
Book Description
"A thoughtful, in places chilling, account of the way entertainment values have hollowed out American life." --The New York Times Book Review
From one of America's most original cultural critics and the author of
Winchell, the story of how our bottomless appetite for novelty, gossip, glamour, and melodrama has turned everything of importance-from news and politics to religion and high culture-into one vast public entertainment.
Neal Gabler calls them "lifies," those blockbusters written in the medium of life that dominate the media and the national conversation for weeks, months, even years: the death of Princess Diana, the trial of O.J. Simpson, Kenneth Starr vs. William Jefferson Clinton. Real Life as Entertainment is hardly a new phenomenon, but the movies, and now the new information technologies, have so accelerated it that it is now the reigning popular art form. How this came to pass, and just what it means for our culture and our personal lives, is the subject of this witty, concerned, and sometimes eye-opening book.
Customer Reviews:
splendid essay on the necessity of keeping your attention.......2007-09-24
This is an absolutely fascinating look at the notion of entertainment, as it evolved as a form of popular culture into a political and even life compulsion. From the beginning, I was rivetted by Gabler's wonderful writing and unusual ideas. You can read this many times to great profit.
Gabler begins with a definition of what entertainment is: as opposed to the high art tradition, which requires elite education and effort to "get" it (e.g. to "properly appreciate" Opera), entertainment emerged as a democratic impulse soon after the beginning of the 19th century. Rather than high brow fare for esthetes, entertainment brought an immediate sensation of pleasure to the masses and a sense of losing oneself in a story without preparation. WIth the development of technology, Gabler continues, entertainment entered the news, particularly as images, but also as exciting stories, first in the penny press and then in film and finally TV. The penny press brought news to the masses at a price it could afford, largely replacing the elitist partisan editorials that cost 5 times as much in Jefferson's day. The trick was finding the right hook for less educated audiences, to get them into a narrative with which they could identify personally. This history is told in splendid detail, in a well spring of ideas that makes the reader (or at least me) want to research a lot more into this.
From popular culture, Gabler then argues that the need for entertainment created a kind of bizarre feedback loop, according to which it must be manufactured, even when it does not exist. That means that reality is made to fit the story, not the other way round. This leads not only directly to celebrity - those who are famous for being famous more than for having accomplished anything, e.g. Zsa Zsa Gabor as a "personality of glamour" - but also to a transmogrification of the news and even politics, particularly with Ronald Reagan. Rather than pondering complex issues, Gabler believes, the public now wants flashy stories, mood, and outsized personality. As such, he posits, Reagan could say it was "morning in America" while ignoring pressing issues, keeping the public lulled - diverting them - by spin and PR. This Gabler sees as a significant problem in our body politic and I would agree: who doesn't feel disgusted with the way the news media examines politics as a horse race rather than help to analyse the problems that politics should solve? As Gabler says, what reporters tend to report on is how campaign tactics get people to react. It is a bore.
In another example, Gabler tells the story of when doing a story on Christie Brinkley's lifestyle in her new Long Island house, House Beautiful journalists arrived to discover that she had not yet moved in or even decorated it. No problem! Without her approval, they hired an interioir decorator to "do it" for the interview photographs, and Brinkley liked it so much that she kept it. That is what readers, in Gabler's view, would take for a reality to model their own lives on!!
Or alternatively, we get celebrities "writing" books (with a little help from expert word smiths) that get attention because they are who they are rather than what they have to say. You even find public intellectuals taking outrageous positions because it will get them attention, as Gabler argues Camille Paglia has done with her attacks on feminism. In my reading, this is what gets thinkers like Steven Pinker to argue that parents have no impact WHATSOEVER on their children's personalities, whom he argues both learn more from their peers and whose behavior is primarily genetically determined. That argument is outrageous to parents, but it gets him ample media attention. The issues, even the truth, are secondary to entertainment value in this view.
To conclude, Gabler argues that we are all now seeking to create lives that are entertaining, drawing our own narrative in a kind of "mediated self"; the sources of these, he says, are film, celebrity journalism, and over-hyped "news". Reality, in his view, matters less than the idea one can make and maintain of one's life story; while this flatly contradicts Frued's "reality principle", perhaps it is possible now for people who live in a bubble of affluence.
Of couse, my description cannot do justice to the subtlty and elegance of Gabler's argument. This is extremely heady intellectual stuff. While I believe that he takes the argument too far as intellectuals often do when creating a new metaphor, the book is so dense with ideas and frankly so right on the money that it is worth a careful read.
For example, in my own work researching business, this argument is extremely relevant. I have been in many companies whose marketing strategy is to develop a kind of narrative for the consumer to enter, either to imagine they belong to some "tribe", or as a feeling of taking part in something bigger than themselves, or simply a series of products that evolve as a story progresses. For example, Ducati is making motorcyles that recall the company's past glory in races: they are still excellent bikes, but they also evoke an experience of belonging to a story, complete with accessories, the periodic appearence of Ducati bikes in films, etc. This is also true of Disney self-reinforcing multimedia marketing (characters in film and parks = buzz, which sells toys), LEGO's bionicles, Alessi's quirky appliances that bring art into the home, and any number of other companies: they are in part manufacturing an alternative reality, an experience (of entertainment), that is to be found in how we describe ourselves to ourselves.
This book has allowed me to articulate this to myself in a new way, though I must sift through the ideas in my own mind over time. I am sure that anyone interested in culture, politics, or business will feel the same way once they have read this book. This is delicious brain food.
Warmly recommended as an outstanding intellectual adventure. This is a masterful essay that consolidates a huge range of research, including updates of Neil Postman, Marhall McLuhan, Daniel Boorsten and many others. His prose is unusually dense and vivid. A final thing that I should add is that, while Gabler is very critical about these developments, he states very clearly that he wants to stimulate debate rather than offer prescriptions - he admits he has none.
Gabler's take on life.......2005-09-20
Gabler lays out his controversial opinions about culture in America very clearly in this book. You may disagree or agree with him, but the book is worth reading either way. Could be very useful for any college students writing about media.
Witty, Profound, Terse.......2005-09-12
Gabler has written about an age where collective narcissism finds its outlet in a culture where cinema represents our highest reality, where the movie screen projects all our unfulfilled fantasies. His thesis is that we have become actors, either unconsciously or not, and that as such events are contrived and/or interpreted as being "cinamatic." We all want to be the stars of the movie, that which is life.
Another important theme is that entertainment has trumped substantive knowledge in the media currency so that we are well entertained but grossly underinformed.
He quotes from and praises Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, a fine companion piece to Gabler's Life: The Movie.
"When I Crashed the Car It Was Just Like a Movie!".......2004-02-05
A good, often acid analysis of "entertainment state," Gabler's main thesis is that under the influence of the movies and the concomitant rise of the consumptionism, we have created an entertainment state where everyone is constantly considering how their performance is going -- which amounts to a new kind of discipline as Foucauldians might say. Further, these "roles" require props (material goods), which in turn supports the consumer society and the entertainment state at the expense of nearly everything else. To lay the basis for his theorectical claim, he cites the early 1960s thinking on the phenomenon of celebrity and the changes it has wrought in the American psyche. Here cites Boorstin's "The Image," and Riesman's "The Lonely Crowd." But he's not averse to cites postmodernists to serve his thesis, Umberto Eco, and Baudrillard come in for brief insights, too.
Some might say Gabler overstates his case. Have we really become so infused with "lifies" projected at us on a billion screens that we no longer know where we begin and where we end? Compared to the post-mods who can't resist hyperbole and grand gestures, though, he grounds his case historically, culturally and economically. Moving from a quick periodization of the rise of mass entertainment in the U.S. in conjunction with Jacksonian era during which elitist amusements were challanged and overthrown -- in 1849 29 b'hoys in NYC were killed during a riot where protested the English actor MacCready's reading of Shakepeare as a disparagement of the American style of Edwin Forrest -- he shows how entertainment has always been contested terrain. He also suggests that popular entertainment and diversion are as American as apple pie with supporting examples of the popularity of the political speech, the Great Awakenings, the Lyceum and Chatauqua.
Most chilling is his description of the two Americas: those who live behind the glass (TV) and those who don't, and how those who don't know that because they don't live behind the glass are lesser citizens. That people fight to obtain some type of stardom, or at the minor forms of celebrity, that CEOs now bestride the world like Hollywood stars of old, that brands now have personalities, are cited as evidence of celebritization of the world. The section of the dark side of celebrity-seeking -- e.g. Mark David Chapman, the Unabomber, and Arthur Bremer -- is effective in showing how these individuals' quest for celebrity was rewarded by the media in wall to wall coverage. The slippage of mainstream media into the gutter once occupied by the tabliods is also of related interest, though it cites the usual examples: e.g. Gary Hart, Monica, O.J.
Gabler's larger point is that all these "lifies" take up space in our collective consciousness, that they distract us, circumscribe our lives by setting norms, casting us in roles, and both limit and expand whom we might be and how we might behave: the affable talk show host, the news anchor, the family man, etc. These norms and role models now live behind the screen, he says. There is no "backstage" where we think our private thoughts and a "frontstage" where we interact with the world. It's all "frontstage." Observe an average Californian for awhile, he suggests. Steeped in movie and entertainment culture, they have no "backstage."
Gabler cites evidence that those who have ability to positively delude themselves, to "act" as if they are the center of our own postively scripted, headed- toward-a-happy-ending movie, do better in their lives and occupations. He notes that Prozac's popularity may be connected with this phenomenon. All in all a good, solid, and dare it be said, "entertaining" book.
Another flop of a Life.......2003-02-13
Remarkable and lamentable by what it manages to ignore this work
is more an example of what it tries to describe than an implement
for its understanting! That Gabler manages to write a book about
the spectacular engulfing of the everyday without engaging the
views of Guy Debord, Herbert Marcuse, Goddfrey Reggio, Georges Perec, Vince Packard or David Riesman is in itself a testemonial of how entertainment effectively compresses the depth of any analysis of its effects to a waffer thin prespective! What is advertised as revelatory soon is revealed as the author's emphatuation with his own subject. Wwept by the uncontainable wave of superficiality that he purports to denounce, Gabler is already a stand-in in the movie called Life, the delusion he
fully welcomes in his naive reconning...
Book Description
Like many texts on musical analysis, FORMS IN TONAL MUSIC equips students to critically examine a wide range of compositions and forms. However, Green's text takes students a step further by enabling them to approach musical works unencumbered by preconceived notions of what characteristics the text should or should not have. Providing specific help on every aspect of musical analysis, this text uses many of the compositions found in Charles Burkhart's ANTHOLOGY FOR MUSICAL ANALYSIS, but it allows students the freedom to explore works that they already own.
Customer Reviews:
A fine text to help students develop skills in analysis of tonal music.......2005-11-20
This is not a book on form in the old sense of the term. That is, it is not a collection of terms for students to use as decals to stick on pieces as they learn them. Green aims to provide the student with skills that aid him or her to understand what the piece is about. What is that the piece says about itself? This is important because every piece, especially the masterworks, takes its own approach to form and for every rule provided, you can find many exceptions. The problem with the label approach is that music, thankfully, is not so standardized that you can say for a certainty how a given piece of a certain type is going to behave.
Yes, Green does use the standard terms, but only as a means of generalization. He is very good at pointing out the range of behaviors one might expect within a given form. He also provides historical notes that discuss how certain composers or historical periods used certain materials in their compositions.
Again, the goal here is to help students to develop a set of tools and intuitions so he or she can look at any (tonal) piece of music and be able to analyze what is going on within the piece. The labels only help the student if they allow the student to look more deeply and directly at the music. However, if the analysis stops with the application of a label the student will actually have been harmed. Remember, most labels are developed after a sufficient body of music has been written to codify a form. So, the living composers often wrote the music without the benefit of the terms we often use to describe their work.
While the book has many fine musical examples and recommended exercises, the teacher may wish to supplement them with examples of her own in order to provide supplementary examples of the principles discussed in the text. I believe the student gets a better idea of how music works through multiple and varied examples from the literature. The more well-chosen examples the student hears the better.
highly informative, but leaving a few gaps.......2005-03-10
This book is jam-packed with facts.
I have just two major criticisms:
--The explanations on binary forms is unnecessarily difficult to understand.
Just in case you're wondering, a binary form is closed, or sectional, if the first half ends on the tonic.
It is open, or continuous, if the first half ends on the dominant or any other chord.
It is rounded if the second part ends with a restatement of the first part.
It is simple if the second part does not end with such a restatement.
That is all in the wide world there is to it!
--The book gives detailed analyses of compositions after offering few or no musical examples. (I should have read Annie Burridge's review and purchased the Burkhart Anthology.)
I also see a few high points which are missed:
--There is no discussion of development themes. An outstanding example is Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.
--There is no discussion of development canons. An outstanding example is Franck's Symphony in d minor.
--In the discussion on chorale preludes, he doesn't give the familiar example of "Wachet Auf."
--In the discussion on vocal chorales, he doesn't give the familiar example of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."
--In the discussion on baroque partitas, I would like to see the characteristic rhythms of each of the dance movements. The author probably considers this outside the scope of the book.
--He tells us that the recapitulation does not always treat all the themes in the exposition, but he gives us few examples. I have wondered why we never hear the lyrical theme in the recapitulation of the Dvorak cello concerto. This is such a well-known composition that I think it should be used as an example.
--I'm curious about how the Liszt piano concertos are constructed.
--I'm also curious about how the megalomanic symphonies by Mahler and Bruckner are constructed. It seems that the author was partial toward music of the baroque and classical eras, but nineteenth-century music is popular, like it or not.
--I would like more discussion about keyboard preludes. I have never been able to compose a good keyboard prelude.
--There is no discussion of standard liturgical texts for church vocal music. The author probably considered this outside the scope of the book, also.
Book bought for a class in school.......2002-04-15
This book, Form in Tonal Music, isn't the best of books for use in classes. I have found from using it that it give great examples, however, it doesn't explain definitions of words very well at all. If you are looking for a good book for examples to go with another book that you might be using on the same subject, then I would recomend it. However, if this book is going to be used without another guide, I don't recomend it.
What you must know before you buy this!.......2000-07-25
If you are using this book in a class then your teacher will guide you through it, BUT--if you are using this book to review music theory you must know a few things. 1) ALL the exercises in this book come out of the Burkhart Anthology, so you must purchase that as well. 2)There are no answers supplied for ANYof the exercises. 3) This book covers the analytical form of music (types of phrases, binary and ternary forms), it is assumed you are skilled in complex chord and harmonic analysis already. Overall, the book is fairly clear and well-organized and uses plenty of musical examples.
used this text in undergrad GREAT!.......1999-11-06
I used this text in my undergradaute study of music and find it to be useful even today. Greens' explanations along with exerpts and examples makes form in music an interesting facet. It is for those who are ready to dive into form and analysis head first. I would not recommend it to a beginner with little or no hard-core theory knowledge.
Book Description
A primer--rather than a survey--this book offers exceptionally clear, simple explanations of basic theoretical concepts for the post-tonal music of the twentieth century. Emphasizing hands-on contact with the music--through playing, singing, listening, and analyzing--it provides six chapters on theory, each illustrated with musical examples and fully worked-out analyses, all drawn largely from the "classical" pre-war repertoire by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Berg, and Webern. Considers three principal kinds of post-tonal music--free atonal music, twelve-tone music, and centric music. Makes extensive use of transformational graphs and networks to present analytical information; and includes a variety of exercises in theory, analysis, musicianship and ear-training, and composition. For anyone interested in Twentieth-Century Music Techniques and Post-Tonal Theory and Analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory (3rd Edition).......2007-08-22
I have read this book several times and simply cannot reconcile the text with music as i encounter it. When exactly did tonal music go away? turn on the television and you'll find that the name is itself a fallacy.
That out of the way. this is the textbook all Classical Composition majors are required to read. "harmony and melody be damned. serialism and the like have replaced it." if however you actually feel like writing music your first step should be to burn this book. there are better books on the subject many of them mentioned in the bibliography.
just like you learn counterpoint in theory class from Fux the sources of this type of theory are more useful and informative than this brief and poorly written distillation. On the other hand since there is already enough ugliness in the world why you would want to write atonal music in the first place is rather a mystery to me. but then i've written some myself in fits of rage so it must be the same reason punk rock came about. ah theres a good analogies for my friends serialism is classical punk rock. angry people venting their frustations.
Great Book - But expensive.......2007-07-15
I used this book in school to get a better grasp on atonal theory, Although most of my initial confusion came from teachers using different methods of computing pitch class sets... see other reviews for arguments based on the "Rahn" Method and the "Forte" method.
If your knowledge of basic western harmony is lacking, this book isn't for you yet. But after you have a good handle on your I's IV's and V/iii's and whatnot, you'll find this book helpful and extremely approachable. I really wish it could be reprinted cheaper, as it's price will undoubtedly keep it out of the reach of some while the rest of us fight over the one tattered copy remaining in the library.
great, but no answers.......2005-09-10
This is a well-organized and thorough review of post-tonal theory. And there are great exercises, but there is NO ANSWER KEY! This was a great annoyance to me as I reviewed for an exam.
Uninformed reviewers.......2004-05-09
Reviewers of such a book as Intro. to Post-Tonal Theory should know a bit about set-class theory before trying to discredit Straus's work. "A Reader"'s review (titled "Inaccurate") is itself blatantly wrong. Set [0,3,4,5,8,10,11], this reviewer proposes, does not yield prime form if one applies Straus's methods to it. What the reviewer doesn't seem to realize is that he has failed to apply the first rule of finding normal order, of finding the MINIMUM SPAN of a set, which Straus does tell readers to do. The aforementioned septachord must be put in normal order first with minimum span (that is, 0,1,2,7,8,9) before applying Straus's right-to-left rule. A review must be critical but such a mistaken reading must either be ignorance or willful malevolence, neither of which is appropriate here. "from the real world of music" is arguably a worse review, throwing up a veil of unnecessary "big words," to use the vernacular, to hide a critique based upon nothing. What abuses of terminology, what logical fallacies, and what errors does this reviewer refer to? And if Straus's book is "cliff notes", then what is the real version? I don't discredit these reviews from a difference of opinion on my part but rather I am disgusted by the ignorance present in these reviews.
Having said all that, is is no surpise that I firmly believe that Straus's text belongs at the top of a short list of anyone who wishes to pursue pitch class set theory. It is indeed designed as a text and as such is often times clearer and more practical than the Allen Forte original. He engages precisely the repertoire Forte set out to engage (the second Viennese school mainly) and supports his clear explanations with convincing musical examples and step-by-step analyses. The positive reviews here obviously outweight the astoundingly ignorant negative ones. As well, this book has the blessing of the majority of the music theory community behind it, and rightly so. This is a valuable book that deserves a place on any theorist's (or aspiring theorists's) shelves.
Very useful.......2003-02-25
I like this book a lot. It is a practical, balanced, to-the-point guide. I have been composing for a long time (14+ years) but I've only been studying it full time for 3 years now, and I found that the book really helped to clarify a lot of my thinking about pitch collections, 20th century harmonies, and 20th century compositional techniques.
RE: The Prime Form debate. There are two methods for computing the prime form, the "Forte" and "Rahn" method. This book uses the "Rahn" method and is perfectly consistent throughout. While this is a minor issue, because it only affect 5 pitch class sets (of 200), perhaps it would be good to add a paragraph about the differences in a future revision to help beginniners avoid confusion.
Book Description
This book is designed to be the primary text for the first two years of college music theory. It covers all the basics of composition including harmony, melody, and musical form.
Customer Reviews:
Clear and to the point.......2004-05-15
My theory pedagogy class reviewed about a dozen theory textbooks and the general consensus was that the Benjamin and the Kostka/Payne books were the only two that were worth using.
The Benjamin book is the best book for serious teachers. It provides the most complete description of tonal music of any text, and is always accurate, efficient, and very clear. In the hands of a good teacher it is the ideal tool. For students who have already studied theory, it is the perfect reference guide.
However, it is not a good "self-programmed guide" for students who wish study music theory on their own. Neither is it a good book for inexperienced theory teachers. For both of these cases, I would recommend the Kostka/Payne book.
[Full Disclosure: I was a student of Dr. Benjamin at the Peabody Conservatory for several years, studying composition and music theory, where we used his books]
Not a good book for a Theory student........2000-09-21
I'm rather surprised at the positive reviews of this book. It is, in my opinion, the poorest excuse for a Theory book I have ever seen. It is nothing more than a skeletal outline. The language is extremely dense with new terms. For example, the paragraph describing V7-I chord resolution uses the terms "leading" and "tendency" tones, having never introduced them before.
I have an Engineering degree, and am studying for a degree in music composition. This book is more difficult to read, and more poorly written, than most of the books I used in engineering school.
The thought of using this book for three semesters is excruciating. The authors were clearly more interested in showing off their knowledge, instead of teaching it.
Can you tell I hate this book?
Everyone in the class is utterly baffled, and some have just stopped coming to class, thinking that they are not smart enough to get music theory. This book has broken the spirit of young musicians. Way to go.
Outstanding Text on Music Theory.......1998-09-05
This text is an outstanding book on music theory. Complete with exercises, concise examples and reference materials packed into the 282 pages of this text. While not the complete reference manual for theory, it is a great general tool/text for education in music theory and the fundamentals of music notation, musical structure and musical form. Fat paced book covers all the details, and includes a reference section which details and demonstrates the handling of many musical techniques and analysis in a concise, direct way.
Highly recommended!
Customer Reviews:
a great instructional text.......1998-08-24
I had the honor of being a member of a graduate counterpoint class whose instructor was Dr. Green himself. This text is clearly written, with helpful and challenging exercises in writing counterpoint.
Average customer rating:
- Tonal Haramony
- Excellent Harmony Text
- good book
- Oh well ... nice try.
- Book does not come with Audio CD
|
Tonal Harmony, With an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music
Stefan Kostka
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
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ASIN: 0072415703 |
Book Description
Designed to meet the needs of the two-semester theory curriculum for music majors, Tonal Harmony is a straightforward book that emphasizes practicality and ease-of-use for both the student and the professor.
By focusing on the core elements of the theory curriculum in a single-volume format, the text is both a complete coursebook and a handy and cost-saving manual for students. On the professors side, the supplements package (with a collection of CD audio examples and an extensive Instructors Manual) makes the book easy to use and to teach.
Customer Reviews:
Tonal Haramony.......2006-11-10
Recommended by my piano teacher, I have found this book very helpful for the theory I never studied when I began piano lessons over 20 years ago. I wish I had read this book when I began playing the piano. My practice time would be much more efficient if I had.
Excellent Harmony Text.......2006-03-30
This is an excellent introduction, covering most aspects of theory thoroughly. It is also MUCH easier to read than Walter Piston's Harmony. The problem is that this book is much more abstract than piston's book, breezes over inversions of chords much too quickly and is a tad lax in the rules of voice leading. I do suggest you consider that text as well.
It's still a good introduction that you will ACTUALLY READ. It covers all triads, seventh chords, chord functions, chromatically altered chords like Neapolitan and Augmented sixth chords, covers non-harmonic tones, and even goes off onto other (more abstract) topics.
As to the reviewer below who pointed out that it neglects counterpoint and focuses too much on the vertical aspect of music (for example, in the exercises EVER note is a different chord and almost no non-harmonic tones are employed): this is an ELEMENTARY HARMONY text. Counterpoint is generally approached after the student has mastered all that is contained in this book. The exercises are meant to teach voice leading and chord functions. Fux's treatise on Counterpoint from Gradus Ad Parnassum clearly states that what is learned in the "first part" on Harmony still applies in writing counterpoint. The horizontal aspect of music can be taught better if the the vertical aspect is understood first. Multiple times Fux also says that exercises, whether those in the book on counterpoint or those in this text, are designed to instruct and make future writing of music easier, but aren't the same as writing music.
good book.......2006-01-03
I thought this was a very good text. I have also had a wonderful theory professor who made great use of the book.
Oh well ... nice try........2005-10-18
I've been teaching music theory for 35 years, and have seen a lot of texts that I like less than this one. However, it doesn't make this one wonderful.
As other reviewers have mentioned, there are a lot of errors. Also, there are far too many places in the examples where they say, "Ignore this note", or "Forget about this for now". You'd think they'd have found better examples without making the interested student wonder what's really going on, and the less involved student confused with excess.
This book is heavy in overkill. It's the same problem as in computer manuals: they obviously feel like they have to tell you EVERYTHING, and that nothing is more important than anything else. For example, they go on for pages and pages about chord spacing and voice leading, where a simple grounding in how to write and recognize decent melodies would go a lot farther and reduce dependance on mastering mountains of scrupulous finicky detail.
The authors obviously feel that the inner voices are no more or less important than the soprano-bass counterpoint, whereas perceptually, the soprano and bass carry most of the weight of what's heard and experienced. The emphasis is on recognizing the vertical component of harmony at the expense of the horizontal, but music is experienced as ongoing linear motion, not as successive blocks of stuff. On the other confused hand, they treat Alberti Bass as a note-to-note melodic line, where it's exprienced as just a rhythmised chord with the bass predominant. Minor scales and harmony are introduced as soon as major, and this much complexity before students know what's going on is pedagogically weak. It's the same with triads and seventh chords. And so-on.
You need to understand the simple before getting into the complex.
If you are good at taking a long string of finicky detail where all is of equal importance, and developing it all into a bigger picture with hierarchies, this book might be good for you. Otherwise, keep looking.
Book does not come with Audio CD.......2005-08-21
As the title of this review states, this book does not come with the audio CD that is needed for the book. They expect the student to pay over $60 for the book and about $30 (thats right, I said $30) for the CD. Their avarice cannot be any more obvious. It is a shame.
Average customer rating:
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An Introduction to Tonal Theory
Peter Westergaard
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc (Np)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
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Instruction & Study
| Theory, Composition & Performance
| Music
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Theory
| Theory, Composition & Performance
| Music
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ASIN: 0393093425 |
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