About the Book
Elements of Music, Fourth Edition, is an introduction to music fundamentals for music majors and non-majors. Organized into brief, digestible, self-contained lessons, each of which is followed by exercises and in-class activities, the text offers instructors flexibility in how they teach music fundamentals. Unmatched concision and clarity make learning fundamentals simple. Throughout the text, a core repertoire introduces students to fundamental concepts,
helping students connect fundamentals to music they enjoy. And with the new Oxford fourth edition, the text offers more resources than ever for students to complete fundamentals work online.
Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Pitch Lesson 1: Staff The five-line staff, pitches and notes, noteheads, ascending and descending motion,
steps and leaps, ledger lines Lesson 2: Keyboard Piano keyboard, black and white keys, letter names for notes, steps and leaps, octaves, piano fingering Lesson 3: Treble clef Treble clef, accidentals (sharp, flat, and natural), semitones, enharmonic equivalence Lesson 4: Bass clef Bass clef, accidentals (sharp, flat, natural), semitones Lesson 5: Great staff Great staff Chapter 1: Supplementary Lesson Alto clef, tenor clef, octave signs (8va and 8vb), octave designations, double flats, and double sharps Chapter 1: Self-Test Chapter 2 Rhythm and Meter Lesson 6: Quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes in 4/4 meter Quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, stems, beats, measures (bars) and barlines, meter ("common time"), upbeat, downbeat, accent, conducting patterns, tempo Lesson 7: Eighth notes and sixteenth notes
Eighth notes and sixteenth notes, flags, beams Lesson 8: Dots and ties
Augmentation dot, dotted rhythms, ties, anacrusis Lesson 9: Rests Rests Lesson 10: Duple meter 2/4 and 2/2 meter, upbeat, downbeat, conducting patterns Lesson 11: Triple meter 3/4 meter and its conducting pattern Lesson 12: Compound meter Compound meter, 6/8 meter, and its conducting pattern Lesson 13: Syncopation Syncopation, accent marks, ties, and subdivision Chapter 2: Supplementary Lesson
Stem direction, anacrusis, rhythmic values smaller than a sixteenth note, triplets, other duple, triple, and quadruple meters Chapter 2: Self-Test Chapter 3 Major and Minor Scales Lesson 14: Major scale (C major)
Major scale, arrangement of semitones and whole tones, scale-degree numbers, scale-degree names, solfège syllables Lesson 15: Major scales other than C major
Transposition, major scales with sharps, major scales with flats, circle of fifths Lesson 16: Major keys and key signatures
Major keys and key signatures Lesson 17: Minor scale (A minor)
Minor scale, arrangement of semitones and whole tones, scale-degree numbers, scale-degree names, solfège syllables, and raising scale-degrees Lesson 18: Minor scales other than A minor
Transposition, minor scales with sharps, minor scales with flats, circle of fifths Lesson 19: Minor keys and key signatures
Minor keys, minor key signatures, relative keys, parallel keys Lesson 20: Harmonic and melodic minor
Harmonic minor and melodic minor scales Chapter 3: Supplementary Lesson
Modes and the pentatonic scale Chapter 3: Self-Test Chapter 4 Intervals Lesson 21: Interval size
Intervals, melodic and harmonic intervals, interval size, compound intervals Lesson 22: Seconds and thirds
Interval quality, natural intervals, major and minor intervals, diminished and augmented intervals, enharmonically equivalent intervals Lesson 23: Sixths and Sevenths
Sixths and sevenths, enharmonically equivalent intervals, interval inversion Lesson 24: Fourths and fifths, unisons and octaves
Perfect intervals, fourths and fifths, unisons and octaves, interval inversion, enharmonically equivalent intervals Lesson 25: Intervals in a major key
Intervals in a major key, intervals and scale degrees, consonance and dissonance Lesson 26: Intervals in a minor key
Intervals in a minor key, intervals and scale degrees Chapter 4: Supplementary Lesson
All intervals, doubly diminished and doubly augmented intervals, intervals in harmonic and melodic minor Chapter 4: Self-Test Chapter 5 Triads and Seventh Chords Lesson 27: Triads
Triads (root, third, and fifth), triad qualities (major, minor, diminished, augmented), natural triads, chord symbols Lesson 28: Triads in inversion
Soprano and bass, inversion of triads (root position, first inversion, second inversion), figured bass ( , , ) Lesson 29: Triads in major keys
Triad names, Roman numerals, triad qualities in major keys Lesson 30: Triads in minor keys
Triad names, Roman numerals, triad qualities in minor keys, and the effect of raising the leading tone Lesson 31: Seventh chords
Seventh chords, major-minor (dominant) seventh chords, inversions of seventh chords, dominant seventh chords in major and minor keys, figured bass symbols, chord names Chapter 5: Supplementary Lesson
Qualities of seventh chords, natural seventh chords, inversions of seventh chords, and seventh chords in major and minor keys Chapter 5: Self-Test Chapter 6 Harmony and Form Lesson 32: Tonic and dominant
Harmonic progression, tonic harmony, dominant and dominant seventh harmonies, harmonizing a melody Lesson 33: Extending a harmonic progression
Dominant preparation chords (ii and IV), preceding a dominant preparation chord (vi), and moving directly from IV to I
Lesson 34: Phrase and cadence
Phrase, authentic cadence, half cadence, and plagal cadence
Lesson 35: Form
Combining four-measure phrases into longer groupings (eight-, twelve-, and sixteen-measure periods) and song forms (A-B-A and A-A-B-A) Chapter 6: Supplementary Lesson
Nonharmonic tones, doubling, tendency tones, voice-leading smoothness, and parallel fifths and octaves Glossary
About the Author :
Joseph N. Straus is a Distinguished Professor of Music Theory at the City of New York Graduate Center.
Review :
This is my favorite fundamentals text I've encountered. It's clear, well-ordered, and comprehensive. It has a ton of in-class exercises, which makes lesson planning a breeze.
Elements of Music is very concise in its explanations, has plenty of possible activities to do in class, and includes good exercises for homeworkassignments. It also has musical examples to demonstrate every topic, and is organized in a way that makes sense for the progression of music theory fundamentals.
A very good introduction to the fundamentals of aural and written theory for non-majors.
