Ableton Forum

Music theory audiobooks: got any to recommend?

I could do with something halfway intellectually stimulating to listen to when doing mind numbing, repetitive tasks at work.

don't know any theory books in audio, but if you got that kind of work to do, I'd recomend the music lesson by victor wooten - its a book about a mysterious music teacher that draws comparissons between music and the world/enviroment.. it gets kinda cheeky in spots.. but again, better than nothing.

get This is Your Brain on Music on audio....Daniel Levitin

also his The World in 6 Songs

I think Music Theory is one of those things where you can't get very far talking about it or listening to someone talk about it. You have to learn to read music notation and then sit down at the keyboard and experience it -- the intervals, scales, chords, etc. Some theory books may come with a CD, but only to demonstrate what the book is showing you with music notation on the page.

You had me until

cxris wrote:You have to learn to read music notation

That maybe true in your case but someone can learn about intervals and building chords and root movement and such by reading a book and drawing it into the paino roll. I think you're right in that it has to be applied in some form, but reading notation isn't a prereq imo

the best book I've seen and one I use all the time is 'idiots guide to music theory'. This covers from basics up to complex stuff like counterpoint and conducting. cheap too

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Idiots ... 0028643771

Some other ideas in this post about learning music also

http://www.lostinmusik.net/?p=1839

Thanks guys, those are some great suggestions, I'll check them out.

cxris, I take your point. I can see that the depths of music theory are something that must be grappled with visually as well as aurally - and in depth! I'm not expecting to find a complete 'A to Z of music theory', though, just something interesting that will let me grasp music in greater detail. Maybe some more historical rather than purely abstract stuff would be good. I don't know, I'm casting my net wide!

I'm just saying that most books, like 'Idiot's Guide To Music Theory' (which I also learned a lot from), is going to show you the examples as notes on a music staff. But they teach you about that in the first few pages. That's not a big deal. You don't need to learn anything complicated about it or even be able to play a song from a sheet of music.
But with all that said, there are times when I have a lot of driving to do, or am out walking, when I would love to have an audio book about making music to just listen too. There are always new little tidbits to be gleaned.

Hmmm, wonder if there are any good music theory/analysis podcasts. May have to check it out.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Content/Top ... ion-101/62

Lots of stuff on classical