Berklee Contemporary Music Theory

Learn to read, understand, and create music. This book will help musicians of all levels communicate more effectively, learn new music faster, and memorize repertoire more easily. This approach has been developed and refined at Berklee College of Music since the 1950s and has been used by many thousands of musicians worldwide – currently as a textbook in Berklee's Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive program. Included here are the essential concepts and terminology of music, with hands-on exercises and many listening recommendations so that you can hear how these principles are used in real music – to help you “see what you hear, and hear what you see.” Online audio tracks illustrate every concept. Whether you are interested in rock, country, jazz, hip-hop, or any other contemporary musical style, this book will help you become a more capable, more expressive musician. You will learn to: • Understand and use the basics of music theory, such as how to read notes, rhythms, key and time signatures, and other essentials. • Play and use scales, such as major, minor, pentatonic, blues, and modes. • Construct chords, such as triads and seventh chords. • Identify and use the most common chord progressions, cadences, song forms, and arrangement techniques. • Develop more advanced chord voicings, as well as use modal harmony.