Elements of Music 4e

Joseph N. Straus is a Distinguished Professor of Music Theory at the City of New York Graduate Center.

This is my favorite fundamentals text I've encountered. It's clear, well-ordered, and comprehensive. It has a ton of in-class exercises, which makes lesson planning a breeze.

• Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Pitch Lesson 1: Staff The five-line staff, pitches and notes, noteheads, ascending and descending motion,steps and leaps, ledger lines Lesson 2: Keyboard Piano keyboard, black and white keys, letter names for notes, steps and leaps, octaves, piano fingering Lesson 3: Treble clef Treble clef, accidentals (sharp, flat, and natural), semitones, enharmonic equivalence Lesson 4: Bass clef Bass clef, accidentals (sharp, flat, natural), semitones Lesson 5: Great staff Great staff Chapter 1: Supplementary Lesson Alto clef, tenor clef, octave signs (8va and 8vb), octave designations, double flats, and double sharps Chapter 1: Self-Test Chapter 2 Rhythm and Meter Lesson 6: Quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes in 4/4 meter Quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, stems, beats, measures (bars) and barlines, meter ("common time"), upbeat, downbeat, accent, conducting patterns, tempo Lesson 7: Eighth notes and sixteenth notesEighth notes and sixteenth notes, flags, beams Lesson 8: Dots and tiesAugmentation dot, dotted rhythms, ties, anacrusis Lesson 9: Rests Rests Lesson 10: Duple meter 2/4 and 2/2 meter, upbeat, downbeat, conducting patterns Lesson 11: Triple meter 3/4 meter and its conducting pattern Lesson 12: Compound meter Compound meter, 6/8 meter, and its conducting pattern Lesson 13: Syncopation Syncopation, accent marks, ties, and subdivision Chapter 2: Supplementary LessonStem direction, anacrusis, rhythmic values smaller than a sixteenth note, triplets, other duple, triple, and quadruple meters Chapter 2: Self-Test Chapter 3 Major and Minor Scales Lesson 14: Major scale (C major)Major scale, arrangement of semitones and whole tones, scale-degree numbers, scale-degree names, solfège syllables Lesson 15: Major scales other than C majorTransposition, major scales with sharps, major scales with flats, circle of fifths Lesson 16: Major keys and key signaturesMajor keys and key signatures Lesson 17: Minor scale (A minor)Minor scale, arrangement of semitones and whole tones, scale-degree numbers, scale-degree names, solfège syllables, and raising scale-degrees Lesson 18: Minor scales other than A minorTransposition, minor scales with sharps, minor scales with flats, circle of fifths Lesson 19: Minor keys and key signaturesMinor keys, minor key signatures, relative keys, parallel keys Lesson 20: Harmonic and melodic minorHarmonic minor and melodic minor scales Chapter 3: Supplementary LessonModes and the pentatonic scale Chapter 3: Self-Test Chapter 4 Intervals Lesson 21: Interval sizeIntervals, melodic and harmonic intervals, interval size, compound intervals Lesson 22: Seconds and thirdsInterval quality, natural intervals, major and minor intervals, diminished and augmented intervals, enharmonically equivalent intervals Lesson 23: Sixths and SeventhsSixths and sevenths, enharmonically equivalent intervals, interval inversion Lesson 24: Fourths and fifths, unisons and octavesPerfect intervals, fourths and fifths, unisons and octaves, interval inversion, enharmonically equivalent intervals Lesson 25: Intervals in a major keyIntervals in a major key, intervals and scale degrees, consonance and dissonance Lesson 26: Intervals in a minor keyIntervals in a minor key, intervals and scale degrees Chapter 4: Supplementary LessonAll intervals, doubly diminished and doubly augmented intervals, intervals in harmonic and melodic minor Chapter 4: Self-Test Chapter 5 Triads and Seventh Chords Lesson 27: TriadsTriads (root, third, and fifth), triad qualities (major, minor, diminished, augmented), natural triads, chord symbols Lesson 28: Triads in inversionSoprano and bass, inversion of triads (root position, first inversion, second inversion), figured bass ( , , ) Lesson 29: Triads in major keysTriad names, Roman numerals, triad qualities in major keys Lesson 30: Triads in minor keysTriad names, Roman numerals, triad qualities in minor keys, and the effect of raising the leading tone Lesson 31: Seventh chordsSeventh chords, major-minor (dominant) seventh chords, inversions of seventh chords, dominant seventh chords in major and minor keys, figured bass symbols, chord names Chapter 5: Supplementary LessonQualities of seventh chords, natural seventh chords, inversions of seventh chords, and seventh chords in major and minor keys Chapter 5: Self-Test Chapter 6 Harmony and Form Lesson 32: Tonic and dominantHarmonic progression, tonic harmony, dominant and dominant seventh harmonies, harmonizing a melody Lesson 33: Extending a harmonic progressionDominant preparation chords (ii and IV), preceding a dominant preparation chord (vi), and moving directly from IV to ILesson 34: Phrase and cadencePhrase, authentic cadence, half cadence, and plagal cadenceLesson 35: FormCombining four-measure phrases into longer groupings (eight-, twelve-, and sixteen-measure periods) and song forms (A-B-A and A-A-B-A) Chapter 6: Supplementary LessonNonharmonic tones, doubling, tendency tones, voice-leading smoothness, and parallel fifths and octaves Glossary