Beginning to Read Music for traditional musicians

I wrote this book because I couldn’t find one to recommend to my adult traditional music students which wasn’t either full of jargon from the start, based on classical music theory exams or aimed at children. This book covers the basic concepts of reading music and music theory. In simple, jargon-free language and diagrams, it explains:

  • the notes we play
  • how the notes are written
  • the length of the notes
  • bars and time signatures
  • reading rhythms
  • which notes to play – scales and keys
  • other symbols on the page

It also encourages students to use written music as a starting point only, and has suggestions for moving beyond the basic tune and adding all the extras which make a tune come alive. The book is based on Western European traditional music and its close relatives in North America.

Beginning to Read Music for Traditional Musicians by Sarah Northcott, published by Hartree Music (2006), 32pp, ISBN 0-9553865-0-0.

Price £6.49 including postage to UK addresses (contact me for overseas shipping or alternative payment options).

Buy online via Paypal below – you don’t need a PayPal account, you can select “Pay by debit or credit card” on the Paypal page.

Also available – last few copies of CD Cow TV by Matt Smith & Sarah Northcott

Buy online via Paypal below – you don’t need a PayPal account (contact me to arrange overseas shipping or alternative payment options).

Order book and/or CD online here