Product Description

This market-leading book for the Fundamentals of Music course addresses students' differing abilities. Internationally renowned composer William Duckworth covers the fundamentals in 14 concise main chapters that are supplemented by 11 enrichment appendices. These offer extended coverage for teachers or students who desire additional instruction. With a practical focus on developing skills, Duckworth presents many clear examples that show students the basics. Because students can best learn the fundamentals by using them, written and aural exercises give students the opportunity to creatively apply their knowledge in realistic music situations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3630 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
This textbook approaches the subject matter by weaving into and through the fundamentals of music in an organic fashion, introducing topics the way one might do in explaining music verbally. I like the way William Duckworth talks directly to the student in a conversational tone throughout the text.

The Focus on Fundamentals CD-ROM allows students to work at their own pace, providing reinforcement of basic concepts for those students who need it and an opportunity for enrichment for those students who grasp the basic material more quickly.

The information is interestingly presented. Mr. Duckworth’s obvious knowledge of today’s popular culture would be appealing to many students.

About the Author
An internationally known composer, acclaimed teacher of American music, and the founder of Postminimalism, William Duckworth has written more than 200 works, including the well-known Time Curve Preludes for piano. In addition to numerous teaching awards, Rolling Stone called his teaching "hip, bright and innovative." Duckworth has been honored by the American Music Society as one of Six Master Teachers in America. Additionally, Cathedral, co-created with Nora Farrell and online since 1997, is one of the first interactive works of music and art on the Web. Duckworth's recent honors include the 2001 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Internet Award and the 2002 Award in Music from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Customer Reviews

Review
I got my product I bought on time and it was what I wanted. Thank you!

. Class Book
This book was for my daughters class at PJC. She loves it and it seems to help her a lot.

Excellent content - criticism surprising
Criticism of this text as not good for people with little background is somewhat surprising. It begins rhythm with the idea that music is organized around an underlying pulse, then introduces basic note values and meters. It begins pitch at the level of "this is a staff." How much more basic can you get? I am an experienced music theory professor, and I find this an excellent systematic approach to music fundamentals. If you can learn, you can learn very well from this book; if you can teach, you can teach very well from it.

My only criticism regards the tear-out exercises. This 9th ed. has been improved so that the tear-outs won't take the rest of the text with them--that was a cheapskate, profit-centered approach to book design. Now they are all at the end of the chapter, albeit lumped together so they still don't come out individually. After students and I have all purchased a copy of the text, I still photocopy and distribute the exercises (now termed "Practice Materials") according to my lesson plans and overall course schedule.

The material itself is still presented as clearly and systematically as ever. As with any course content, mastery of material for many students still requires best teaching practices.