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: #340916 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 magazine 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

The best basic theory text available
Of all the basic theory texts out there, this is the only one that invites the student into a musical exploration of theory. Unlike other basic texts (Damschroder, Conley/Clough, Harder/Steinke), Duckworth's book connects theory with music through numerous musical games and activities. While it is designed for use in a college classroom--many of the activities require an instructor--it can be used for individual study by an advanced beginner. (Someone who has some experience playing an instrument or singing in choirs, for instance.)

I highly recommend this book--for beginners, or for teachers who, like myself, are always looking for a way to bring basic material to life. Duckworth does so marvelously.

A great book on *all* the basics
I thought this was a terrific book when I had it in college! That was way back and it was the 4th ed., but I doubt it's changed much (I need to buy it myself). This book covers all the "basics" of music. Now, I'm a little biased because I learned the very true basics of music through several years of band as a kid (notes, scales, basic time, etc), but there are still very many things I never learned from those kid days that are contained herein. It is concise and complete, covering many topics and makes it easy to understand everything very quickly. I was devastated when the last WEEK of the semester I left the book somewhere - and when I tried to find it in the likely places that day, it was gone. Some other engineering student (I was taking this as an extra class) probably picked it up and realized what a great source it was. I liked it so much I went back to the school store during the next-semester sale to buy one - only to see the department had given it up for another book! Bummer!

Must have some background in music or it's gibberish
Duckworth is not a very good writer of educational texts. I was able to follow it fairly well, but this was a textbook for an introductory class, and much of the material is poorly explained, with an assumption that the reader, whom he seems to intend to be a beginner, knows more than they probably do. I found this textbook to be needlessly challenging for the wrong reasons. It is fairly useful, but my professor even hated using this book for an introductory course (the department selected it for her). If you are in step with a lot of music fundamentals, it should help you advance much farther; however, if you are not,, this book will seriously confuse you.