Contemporary Rhythms: v. 1 Sight Reading Exercises

In order to be prepared to read through any piece of music, the serious musician must be able to recognize, read and play rhythms fluidly. This volume concentrates on eight note rhythms and is a thesaurus of rhythmic patterns. Each exercise uses one pitch which allows the student to focus completely on time and rhythm. Exercises use modern innovations common to twentieth century notation, thereby familiarizing the student with the most sophisticated systems likely to be encountered in the course of a musical career. All exercises can be downloaded from the internet to facilitate learning. Muse-eek also features a FAQ section where students can direct questions that may arise as they work to the author, and which are generally answered within two days. This book is a required text at the New York University and Princeton University Music departments.The excerpt includes: The course of study presented in this book assumes that the reader has intermediate to advanced knowledge of music. With any course of study questions arise, therefore Muse-eek presents a forum where relevant questions will be answered by the author. Please visit the publisher's website at first and check the FAQ section for this book to see if your question has already been answered. If not, use the form on the website to e-mail your questions. Volume one of "Contemporary Rhythms" looks at the notation methods of contemporary music. Composers in the last 100 years have departed from the traditional method of notating rhythms. This in turn has created a situation where you may find a rhythm you know but you don't recognize it because of the notation used. Obviously, it is important to learn to recognize these alternative notations to improve your sight reading ability. Although some of the notations presented for rhythms in this book are unusual it is important that you familiarize yourself with these alternate notation methods. Let's first take a quick look at how this modern notation differs from traditional. The imaginary bar line is commonly used to divide music in 4/4 into two equal groups. If you look at example 1 you will see that it is difficult to see where the 3rd beat of the measure begins. In example 4 an imaginary bar line has been added making the beginning of the 3rd beat clear.

Table of Contents:
AcknowledgementsAbout the AuthorForewordHow to use this bookExample 1Example 2Example 3Example 4Example 5Example 6Example 7Example 8Example 9Example 10Example 11Example 12

About the Author :
Bruce Arnold (born 1955 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA) is an author, composer, educator and guitarist residing in New York City. His explorations into the applications of 20th century classical theory in contemporary forms such as Rock and Jazz has created a unique compositional and improvisational sound. As a guest artist Arnold has toured Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States.His performance and recording activities include work with a wide array of styles. He has played with such diverse musicians as Stuart Hamm, Peter Erskine, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Lennie Pickett, Randy Brecker, Stanley Clarke, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Absolute Ensemble under the baton of Kristjan Jarvi.Bruce Arnold's recording credits include over twenty five CDs and DVDs (on Muse-eek Records, MelBay Recordings, Truefire and other labels), ranging from the standard jazz repertoire to free improvisation to the reinterpretations of classical music with the ensemble Spooky Actions. His compositions are published by Muse Eek Publishing, and MelBay Productions.Mr. Arnold's theoretical works have explored the use of Pitch Class Set Theory within a improvisational setting. He is also written more than 60 music instruction books covering Guitar Pedagogy, Ear Training and Time Studies. He is the director of guitar studies at New York University and Princeton University as well as the creator of the New York University Summer Guitar Intensive He has taught at New England Conservatory of Music, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music, New School University, and City College of New York.