Reviews

Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony by Poundie Burstein, L Poundie Burstein, Joseph N. Straus

laxtelle's review

2.0

I do not recommend this book for learning music theory. It doesn't provide in depth explanations and centers purely on a Western-tonal centric view of music theory. Anyone interested in more general music theory or pretty much anything besides European art music from the 1700s to 1900 this book is not for you. As a student of world music I found this textbook incredibly frustrating and Euro-centric. It's not really a general overview of music theory so much as the rules by which composers used to govern themselves. If that's your cup of tea then hey this is a great starter guide but if you're interested in any other type of music I would go with a different theory guide. One good thing about this textbook is that it had an accessible ebook which as a visually impaired person I very much appreciated, still not worth the $85 dollars but hey it's a textbook.