understanding music theory-- book recommendations

[flailingflute]

I'm an adult learner. I actually played the flute briefly in high school, but it has been seven years. In any case I'm picking it up again. My goal is to become good enough to be able to join a community ensemble within the next few years. I plan on finding a teacher and all that.

In any case, I've been practicing on my own and I remember quite a bit. I bought some good music books (the Trevor Wye books), but have realized that my very mediocre high school music program only taught me the VERY basics of reading music and that I need to know more if I'm going to be able to play even the music in the Wye intermediate-level practice books.

Any recommendations for a good introductory book on reading music/ elementary music theory? (Regrettably, I never learned to play the piano.) Basically, I'm looking for an accessible, but substantive introduction. Thanks!

[Fox]

I'm also an adult learner. I've pretty much taught myself (I did have a bit of help when learning about chords). The books I used were:
1. Practical Theory Complete by Sandy Feldstein
2. The Practice of Harmony by Peter Spencer (I have the fifth edition)
3. Music: In theory and Practice by Benward and Saker (seventh edition with workbook)

[fluteguy18]

There are some really great FREE online sources out there. My Theory Professor always has recommended using musictheory.net

It's actually pretty good.

[flailingflute]

There are some really great FREE online sources out there. My Theory Professor always has recommended using musictheory.net

It's actually pretty good.

Thanks! I'll look into all these books. I like the look of the Feldstein book. (At least what I'm able to glean from amazon.com.) I do know about the online sources-- they're great. I like Dolmetsch Online a lot. I think at this point I do want to buy a book--something about having it all on paper and being able to carry it around with me, mark it up, etc.

[pogorilowski]

Hello,

I am an independent music theorist and this is my book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-music-Tempora ... 480253871/
It describes a perceptual approach of time in music.
"The music of the Temporalists" received so far 4 five-star reviews, 2 four-star reviews and 1 three-star review
(Amazon.com & .co.uk combined) from its (now over 700) readers:
http://www.amazon.com/music-Temporalist ... 480253871/

Updates on the dedicated Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Temporalists

I hope this may be of some interest for you.
Thank you for your time,
Andrei Pogorilowski

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