Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice

by Gardner Read

Book Overview

Unsurpassed as a comprehensive and up-to date presentation. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087597080X
• ISBN13: 9780875970806
• Release Date: January 1972
• Publisher: Rodale Books
• Length: 482 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The best guide to notation I have read.

This book covers everything you need to know about traditional music notation. It will serve as an excellent reference. Though the book might take some time to get through, it is definitely worth reading in its entirety at least once if you plan to write or arrange music of any kind.A number of reviewers have recomended the "Norton Manual of Music Notation" instead of this book. I would suggest it in addition to this book as they cover different topics. This book is about the meaning and history of notation. The Norton Manual is a practical guide to writing out music by hand.

A classic for the Classical standard

My main composition professor at university was (and still is) a stickler for good, precise, consistent, and clear notation. He should know; besides his own scores (beautifully done, even though filled with many difficult and novel notations), he's also worked on the side for the last thirty years making clean beautiful copies of scores and parts for others. This book was what he insisted we all learn from, and is still considered as his own primary reference today. There aren't many questions of standard usage it doesn't cover (both current and historical), and it distills many of the more unusual indications that began to be used in contemporary music. Each composer will find their own usage and innovation, but thorough study of this book will ensure that a real, solid foundation of the fundamentals of notational clarity will be at their command for whatever they want to do.

Resourceful for the serious composer

As a free-standing piece of work to someone unfamiliar with the technical mastery it takes just to notate creative music, this text may seem ineffective. However, to the serious, grounded composer looking to martial the skills of not just any given solo instrument but also the extended techniques of all the major instrument families, it is an absolute gem.

A Classic

I have had this book on my reference shelf for over twenty years. While it hasn't answered every question I've ever had about music notation, it has always at least pointed me in the right direction. Anyone interested in putting music on paper should own this book--and read it.(I also think that this book will most certainly outlast--"Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz-Rock Keyboardist" by Jeff Burns. At least Mr. Read has something to be pretentious about.)

Best thing for any level musician

This amazingly thorough book covers every problem, concern or question that can ever come up in a musician's mind. Whether you are a performer, composer, arranger, or just interested in music notation, this book is perfect for reference. After a brief history of music notation's development through the Middle Ages, Mr. Read systematically examines every part of notation, giving plenty of examples and also providing new innovations in that area. Every chapter is well organized, and the reference tables are a particularly helpful resource. Being a young composer, I found this book extremely valuable for providing me with the knowledge that, although essential to all musical fields, is rarely taught in any manner. A must buy for all musicians.