How to Read Music in 30 Days: Music Theory for Beginners - with exercises & online audio (Practical Musical Theory) Paperback – October 24, 2017

Great course. Easy but clear and thorough. Moderate tempo of progression from daily chapter to chapter makes it enjoyable. Is it a 30 day course? It’s not difficult to do a few chapter per session so it may take less than 30. But who cares as long as one’s is kept interested and learning. And this course does that better than many others.

Great, straightforward, no nonsense easy to get into and highly recommended. Excellent for musicians review or for any beginners to understand music notation. A must for any singer or performer or musician.

My son joined the school orchestra but he doesn't have much experience, so we got him this book to help him learn to read music. It's a great resource, with clear information, good exercises for practice, and a nice flow to the material. My son had no trouble with the concepts or activities because they were explained so well, and he feels much more confident in his music reading ability now. It's really coming through in his performance, as well - good book.

I bought this book because I'm currently studying voice (with a teacher) and piano (myself, primarily from Alfred books) and decided I needed a much better music theory foundation for both. I'm happy to say that after completing the book I feel that I have that.Separated into three basic sections — rhythm, pitch, and expression — it takes you from the most basic "this is what a quarter note looks like" to increasingly more advanced (but still appropriate for beginners) lessons in understanding how to read, write, and hear the different aspects of music.The structure and division of these concepts is well-paced and laid out. In each lesson, there are audio examples (which you're given a download link for when you get the book) which really help you understand the application of the concepts being discussed. Most of these are excerpts from well-known classical pieces. At the end of each lesson, there are written exercises (an answer key is provided in the download for these and the book's final test).On many days, there are additionally "listening challenges" where you're given a set of excerpts (some included in the download, others you can look up on YouTube or elsewhere) and are asked to determine things related to the lesson, like whether each one is a march or a waltz. Later you're also encouraged to follow along with the piece's sheet music as you listen for certain things.I found the exercises, audio, and listening challenges extremely helpful as I learn best with a combination of types of input — not just reading but writing, seeing, and hearing the music in action really helped cement the ideas for me.Throughout the book, the author gives his email address and says to contact him at any time. I took him up on that and he was extremely responsive, even updating the book itself based on my question. If you're looking for a good way to learn or brush up on music notation and basic theory, this is a great intro.

love it helps a lot

One regret I've had was never learning music, but it's never too late! This book is exactly what I needed to become aware and start understanding what lies within the lines of those staves! Well written and easy to follow, there are also many web-based audio examples which support the text making the lessons easier to comprehend! I might take a slight bit more than 30 days to read music but that's my choice! I have also ordered his Music Theory book to further my studies in music! 5 STARS!!!

UPDATE 2 4/6/22: The author has told me some of my criticisms of earlier parts of the book have been taken care of in the new edition.UPDATE 4/3/22: I finished the book. Some of the issues I mentioned are present throughout, but the author has gotten in contact with me and we went over them. I believe he has released an updated version of the book. I have yet to look over it, but it seems as though he took my criticism and put some of it in the revised version. Here's a summary of what I experienced going through the book:Days 1-15: Hardest in the whole book. I think some lessons in here may need a bit of revision (but that's just my personal opinion, as everything else I say).Days 16-24: Easiest material, well-written and easy to digest.Days 25-30: About medium difficulty. Might need a bit of brushing up, but overall better than the first 15 days. Well packed with plenty of material.I'm still sitting at 3/5 stars for now (good). I might look over the revised version in the future. I plan on starting the second book (30 day music theory) by the same author and reviewing that one as well.OLD REVIEW:I haven't finished the book yet, but I am on day 13. This is my opinion on the book up to this point. My opinion might change depending on how the rest of it goes.The biggest issues I have is some of the lessons are a bit verbose, and I feel like the author could've explained certain concepts in a more concise and clear manner. Instead, I would've also wrote the book as "How to Read Music in x Pages" instead of 30 days. Some material was confusing and, even after rereading certain lessons, certain concepts were still left unanswered or vague and up to interpretation. Not a fan of that. I wish they would've taken more time to explain certain things without getting overly technical about them, but oh well.1. Make sure you have a good internet connection (ideally on a PC or laptop too) so you can sign up for the free course on the internet to follow up with exercise answers and audio examples.2. Depending on your learning level, be ready to look things up on your own/read or listen to other material. Later parts of the book get a bit confusing and the contents of certain pages don't clearly explain how certain things work.The sad thing is I feel like this book is almost perfect in concept, but it's execution is a bit lackluster. Again, be ready to really focus and pay attention to the contents, and I STRONGLY suggest looking up other information about them on the web. That being said, I wouldn't call this a beginner's book, some concepts definitely felt more intermediate-advanced IMO. It definitely seems like a good road map, though. Just be ready to have other resources on standby.

This looks like one of those ubiquitous generic self published amazon books you see all over the site, but it’s very very good actually; it’s laid out exceptionally well. I wish the author had spent more time on the cover so it didn’t resemble those generally bad generic books. One of the better music books I’ve gone through lately.