Louisiana Music: A Journey from R&B to Zydeco, Jazz to Country, Blues to Gospel, Cajun Music to Swamp Pop to Carnival Music and beyond

April 1, 2008 | By Doug In Pop Music |

ALICE IN CHAINS Layne Staley Music Poster
ALICE IN CHAINS Layne Staley Music Poster 91×61cm

Teaching-you Music Theory Skills
List Price: ?9.99
Amazon Price: ?8.99
Customer Review: Great way to learn the fundamentals of music theory and notation
I’ve been playing music now for many years using keyboards and synths, but I always disliked the idea of learning music theory. I felt it was always better to learn through experimentation and practise rather than by rote from a book. Perhaps it was the memory of all those stuffy, slightly abstract music lessons I took in school that put me off music theory. It seemed that music theory had nothing to do with real music as it is played. However, as time went on I wanted to go back and fill in the blanks. My philosophy on writing music is like learning to speak: you learn through listening to others and expressing yourself in your own way, then after a time you learn the alphabet and begin writing formally. So I decided to learn musical notation and theory to round out my musical vocabulary. This is where this CD comes in. It covers all the basic ground you need to know - crotchets, quavers etc. It also deals with rhythm and time signatures, and of course the fundamental scales such as majors and harmonic and melodic minors. Its nice to see the things I knew ‘instinctively’ written down and discussed academically. In short, it covers a lot of solid, basic ground. What this CD really brings to the table is a very, very good teaching presentation. It is essentially a spoken commentary punctuated with diagrams, with the text of the commentary written out as the commentator speaks. The commentator is a superb teacher who really seems to be enjoying his teaching, and by far and away makes this a stand out production. The actual instructions are easy to follow, and there is an option to print out manuscript paper to practise writing musical notation. Are there any downsides? Well, the choice of colours is garish, and I suspect that the engine was originally built for Windows 3.1 (though it will work with Windows XP and Windows Vista without problems.) Mind you, your eyes will take some adjusting to normal colours after half an hour of looking at that garish blue background! The actual coding is really a little amateurish compared to its competitors, but the tutorial content is very good. Also, it follows the grade sylablus in a regimented fashion - its a matter of opinion if this is a good thing or not, though no doubt school students would appreciate it. As an introduction to music theory, this is an excellent tutorial that covers a great deal of ground very well. The content is excellent, though it must be said that the visual presentation is poor, and the whole thing feels a little cheap and tacky. But if you need to brush up on skills, or are learning music for the first time, you could do a lot worse - despite the amateurish feel of the presentation, the tutelage is first class. Recommended, but lose one star for poor visual presentation and an amateurish feel.
Customer Review: Reduces the pain in music theory learning
Kids really hate music theory, and this piece of software helps to reduce the pain and improve results. I didn't get to see the 'videos' included with it, but the option to have various scales and musical pieces played showing notes, piano keys and all in perfect timing is invaluable. I wish this existed when I learnt music 20 years ago! Well worth having. And as for the 'pain', my son sat next to it for 40 minutes, and done 60% of grade 2. Not bad …