Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122943 in Books
• Published on: 1979-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 482 pages

Customer Reviews

Some Historical Perspective
I had two courses with Prof. Read in the mid-1960's, and of course his notation book was required for both.

He was everything the negative reviewers say: pretentious, overbearing, and condescending. He was also a fantastic teacher, meticulous and extremely demanding.

In those days, remember, there were no desktop computers and software to write and print music. Everything, even printed scores, was hand-written and -engraved. Part of the music school experience was learning to write manuscript correctly, legibly and uniformly. In this Prof. Read and his book were indispensable.

Interestingly, in this age when textbook prices are rising faster than the price of gasoline, this edition of Prof. Read's book is *half* the price of the original trade paperback that i bought almost forty years ago.

Are there better books now? Probably. And in this computer age, there's a question whether books like this are even necessary. But this is a classic of its kind, and should be on every music student's, composer's, arranger's and copyist's (if ther are any left) desk.
efg

A classic for the Classical standard
My main composition professor at university was (and still is) a stickler for good, precise, consistent, and clear notation. He should know; besides his own scores (beautifully done, even though filled with many difficult and novel notations), he's also worked on the side for the last thirty years making clean beautiful copies of scores and parts for others. This book was what he insisted we all learn from, and is still considered as his own primary reference today. There aren't many questions of standard usage it doesn't cover (both current and historical), and it distills many of the more unusual indications that began to be used in contemporary music. Each composer will find their own usage and innovation, but thorough study of this book will ensure that a real, solid foundation of the fundamentals of notational clarity will be at their command for whatever they want to do.

The best guide to notation I have read.
This book covers everything you need to know about traditional music notation. It will serve as an excellent reference. Though the book might take some time to get through, it is definitely worth reading in its entirety at least once if you plan to write or arrange music of any kind.

A number of reviewers have recomended the "Norton Manual of Music Notation" instead of this book. I would suggest it in addition to this book as they cover different topics. This book is about the meaning and history of notation. The Norton Manual is a practical guide to writing out music by hand.