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How to Read Music
This highly accessible volume guides the reader through the fundamentals of rhythm, the structure of scales and intervals, keys and tonality to the more 'specialist' techniques of transposition and score reading. The book is also available with a CD containing 24 musical illustrations of many of the written music principles covered in each section of the book.
- GenresMusicReferenceNonfiction
80 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 31, 2011
I think I mostly learned that the part of music I don't understand yet is more complicated than I thought it was.
July 7, 2025
The Basic Guide to How to Read Music by Helen Cooper is exactly that, a very basic guide that explains what the common symbols of music stand for. Most of the terms and symbols commonly used in music are dealt with, from the lettering of notes to the structure of scales.
The problem I have with this book is that it reads like a math textbook with no example applications. While most music symbols are covered, there is little or no context given as to how they relate to the creation or playing of music or are combined in actual practice. It was like learning the words of a language but not knowing how to combine them to express complete thoughts. The sections on scales and key signatures are particularly bad, and after reading them I still have no idea how scales and key signatures relate to music or what their purpose is.
In fairness, Helen does mention in the introduction that it helps to have a keyboard while reading this book, and I didn't have one, so that may be part of the cause of my disappointment with this book. But although most music symbols and terms are probably listed in The Basic Guide to How to Read Music, I can't help but feel that there is something missing in the way a lot of this music terminology and symbols were presented.
The problem I have with this book is that it reads like a math textbook with no example applications. While most music symbols are covered, there is little or no context given as to how they relate to the creation or playing of music or are combined in actual practice. It was like learning the words of a language but not knowing how to combine them to express complete thoughts. The sections on scales and key signatures are particularly bad, and after reading them I still have no idea how scales and key signatures relate to music or what their purpose is.
In fairness, Helen does mention in the introduction that it helps to have a keyboard while reading this book, and I didn't have one, so that may be part of the cause of my disappointment with this book. But although most music symbols and terms are probably listed in The Basic Guide to How to Read Music, I can't help but feel that there is something missing in the way a lot of this music terminology and symbols were presented.
May 24, 2008
Very very helpful.
August 18, 2015
Falls well short of what it offers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews