Synopses & Reviews
MUSIC FOR SIGHT SINGING presents music that is challenging, yet not overwhelming. Drawing on their own extensive experience as composers and arrangers who adapt music for their own students, the authors have struck a balance between rigor and accessibility.
Review
I like the fact that the bulk of the material is specifically composed-- and well written at that. The material is varied and musical, making it very easy to comment on and insist on musicality in performance. Well done.
Review
Another strength is the obvious attention to the whole organization of the text. Rhythm and melody concepts (with attention to 'melodized harmony') are very well thought out. The sequence of ideas and exercises is excellent.
Synopsis
Designed for the "musicianship" portion of the freshman theory sequence, Benjamin/Horvit/Nelson MUSIC FOR SIGHT SINGING, Fifth Edition, presents music that is carefully chosen to challenge--not overwhelm--you.
About the Author
Thomas E. Benjamin has recently retired as Chair of the Department of Music Theory at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. A composer, conductor, performer, and music theorist with more than 40 compositions published and recorded, he also holds fellowships and awards from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Table of Contents
PART I: COMMON PRACTICE TECHNIQUES: DIATONIC. 1. Rhythm: One-and-Two-Pulse Units (Unmetered). Pitch: The Major Scale. 2. Rhythm: Simple Meters. Pitch: Introducing Thirds. Pitch: Introducing Fourths. 3. Pitch: Tonic Triad in the Major Mode. Introducing Fifths, Sixths, and Octaves. 4. Rhythm: 2:1 Subdivisions of the Beat. Pitch: I, V, and V7; Introducing Sevenths. 5. Rhythm: Anacruses (Upbeats) and 4:1 Subdivisions of the Beat. Pitch: I, IV, V, and V7. Pitch: Introducing the Alto Clef. 6. Rhythm: Dots and Ties. Pitch: Minor Mode. 7. Music from the Literature. 8. Rhythm: Compound Meter. Pitch: Supertonic Traid. Pitch: Submediant and Mediant Triads. Pitch: Tenor Clef. 9. Rhythm: Triplets and Duplets. 10. Music from the Literature. 11. Rhythm: Syncopation. Pitch: Other Seventh Chords. Part II: COMMON PRACTICE TECHNIQUES: CHROMATIC. 12. Pitch: Decorative Chromaticism. Pitch: Inflected Scale Degrees. Pitch: Scalar Variants in Minor. Pitch: Modal Borrowing. 13. Music from the Literature. 14. Pitch: Secondary Dominants. 15. Pitch: Modulations to Closely Related Keys. 16. Rhythm: Quintuple Meters. Pitch: Chromaticism Implying Altered Chords; Modulation to Distantly Related Keys. 17. Music from the Literature. PART III: TWENTIETH-CENTURY TECHNIQUES. 18. Rhythm: Irregular Meters. Pitch: Diatonic Modes. Pitch: Changing Clefs. Part Music. 19. Rhythm: Changing Meters. Pitch: Pandiatonicism. 20. Rhythm: Syncopation Including Irregular and Mixed Meters. Pitch: Extended and Altered Tertian Harmony. 21. Pitch: Exotic Scales. 22. Rhythm: Complex Divisions of the Beat. Pitch: Quartal Harmony. 23. Rhythm: Polyrhythms and Polymeters. Pitch: Polyharmony and Polytonality. 24. Pitch: Interval Music. 25. Serial Music. 26. Music from the Literature.