I keep seeing theory books mentioned in lots of different threads so I thought I'd start a thread just for Theory books which I'll try and keep updated like the musicianship books thread. I've copied across some of the recent posts I've seen and are there any other recommendations or links to add?


Running list of books recommended in this thread (List amended up to post No. 39)
For more information about an individual book, search this Topic using the search box at the foot of the page, or do a general search on the forum, as a number of these books have been mentioned several times

* Child-friendly


MISCELLANEOUS

How to Read Music in 10 Lessons (inc CD) - Terry Burrows (inc Answers)
Monkey Puzzles
Music Literacy Workbook - pub Rhinegold
My First/Second/Third Theory Book - Lina Ng (pre Grade 1)*
The Fletcher Theory papers - Lelia Fletcher
The New Road to Theory of Music - Margery Dawe
Theory for Little Children - Lina Ng*


GRADES 1-5

SERIES BOOKS (one for each grade 1-5)
Music Theory in Practice - ABRSM
ABRSM Past Papers + Model Answers (published separately)
Practice in Music Theory - Josephine Koh
Theory Time - David Turnbull (inc Answers)
Theory of Music Made Easy - Lina Ng
Theory is Fun - Maureen Cox*

G1-5 IN ONE BOOK
First Steps in Music Theory - Eric Taylor (ABRSM)
AB Guide to Music Theory - Eric Taylor (ABRSM) Part 1
Pass Grade 5 Theory - Dorothy Dingle
Take 5 and Pass First Time - Christopher Dunn


GRADES 6-8

SERIES BOOKS (one for each grade 6-8)
Music Theory in Practice, ABRSM
Theory Workbook, ABRSM (known as the Big 6, 7, 8) (inc Answers)
ABRSM Past Papers, + Model Answers for each grade up to 8 (published separately)
ABC of Harmony, 2nd edition, Roy WIlkinson, series A, B, C (equivalent to 6,7,8)
ABC of Theory, 2nd edition, Roy Wilkinson and Maria Chen
Practice in Music Theory (revised), Josephine Koh

G6-8 IN ONE BOOK
AB Guide to Music Theory - Eric Taylor (ABRSM) Part 2
Harmony in Practice, Anna Butterworth, ABRSM + Harmony in Practice Answer Book (published separately)


ADVANCED

First Year Harmony - William Lovelock


WEB SITES

Dolmetsch
PracticeSpot
Sibelius

Hi skylark

The Josephine Koh series is very suitable for adults too, definitely not suitable for young children (in my opinion anyway). Am wondering if you need to categorise it further by saying if the book is good for little children (up to about 6 or 7), older children (up to about 11 or 12), teenagers, or adults. Lots of the books are going to be useful for more than one category.

Good idea by the way.

Can you add "Take 5 and pass first time" and "Theory for Little children" (Lina Ng) please?

I have found the Koh books to be suitable for older children and adults. On the other hand i've successfully taught 8 year olds with the Music Theory in Practice but I guess everyone works differently!

I wonder if you would like to add computer software to the thread as well. I came across CATS on here by accident and it's excellent, it would be nice if people could put their software recommendations in one place as well

I like 'The Fletcher Theory papers' by Lelia Fletcher (preferable to the Thompson theory papers which are similar). They were still in print last time I looked - I will check. I used these before starting the AB Theory in Practice books and I also use the 'Theory is Fun' series in tandem with the AB books.

I was brought up on 'The New Road to Theory of Music' by Margery Dawe and used them for teaching very successfully. Sadly no longer in print

Always on the look-out for new material I might have a look at the Music Literacy book mentioned as I haven't seen this.

I ordered this at the end of last week. When it comes I'll let you know what I think about it.

Yes please - thanks. I'll look out for your post

I'm hoping to start a theory class (and general musicanship if I can fit it in) on Saturday mornings to encourage more youngsters to take up theory lessons. Any ideas for new resources are very welcome.

I've used several different books, but I still come back to 'Music Theory in Practice' for both adults and children as it gives plenty of opportunity for practice.

David

The Theory Workbooks by Anthony Crossland and Terence Greaves from ABRSM are good - though they are only availiable for grade 6-8 but they are very good. Much like the theory in practice books, but with less writing and more examples and exercises.

Yes you're right, so I've removed the Adults/Children split and categorised where possible by grade instead.

These: AB Guide to Music Theory - Eric Taylor (ABRSM) Part 2 - Grade 6-8, though useful, are relevant to the syllabus as it was before 1999. There are a some changes in content I think but mostly the way the questions are answered is different and the length of the composition changed too.

Has this book been replaced by the Theory Workbooks on the first post do you think? For the moment I've struck it through ....

A lot of shops still seem to be selling both but I'm guessing it's just old stock?
Might get an answer from AB publishing.

I thought we could include music theory web sites here as well, like the Dolmetsch one.

AB Guide to Music Theory bk 2 (aka "the blue book") isn't a workbook and isn't specific to the format of the exam questions - it's a useful reference book for the higher level stuff (i.e. anything that's not in bk 1 ("the pink book")).
As far as I'm aware, these books replaced the old Rudiments of Music book.

You might want to add Harmony in Practice to the list (for grades 6-8).

Which books have people found most helpful for grades 6-8?
I've got AB Theory in Practice for all 3 and Theory Workbook for grade 6 so far. Wondering whether to get the Theory Workbooks for 7/8 and/or the Koh books for 6-8. Which are most useful? (This is for studing without a teacher.)

Thanks,
T.

The music shop I order from said that the Koh books were out of print - at least the Grade 8 one I wanted. If anyone knows if it is available somewhere please post - many thanks

quote -"I was brought up on 'The New Road to Theory of Music' by Margery Dawe and used them for teaching very successfully. Sadly no longer in print "

Musicroom.com has these in print. Margery Dawe was my music theory teacher - happy days!

I've had a reply from them to say that it's still relevant to today's syllabus.

Mostly it is but the questions are in the older format.
A couple of things I can think of are length of composition and style of questions on question 4 and 5.
In the current format these two things have been changed, composition is shorter and Q.4 and 5 are fill in the gaps in the sentence instead of fuller answers. Though the knowledge required is the same the questions take less time to answer and in the case of 4 and 5 I think they are a lot easier because the partial sentences tell you what to look for instead of a more open question expecting you to think out things yourself.

There are some nice handouts on sibeliusmusic.com - one man in particular has submitted loads - I can't remember his name - Kevin something I think.

But they are cool

Wow! Fantastic news! THANK YOU This could be a lifesaver as I have really struggled to find replacement supporting material for my lessons. I expect the reprint as replaced the old-fashioned language e.g 'shewn' to 'shown' etc ?





I'll check this out too - many thanks for the info

I think there might be some theory bits and pieces on Philip Johnson's practice spot - I can't remember offhand, I've used some of the resources there but mainly practical ones. Would be worth a look maybe.

www.practicespot.com

The sibelius man is Kevin Fairless I think because i've used some of his sheets:-

http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/user_...l=kevinfairless

On the topic of books, for anyone self-teaching grade 6 theory, having only the grades 1-5 of theory for experience, the ABC of Harmony book A (Author, Roy Wilkinson; Publisher, Boosey & Hawkes) is a very useful book for learning the basics of harmony, and figured bass realisation before moving on to the grade 6 theory workbook .

The grade 6 theory workbook itself (without the aid of a teacher) does not communicate legal chord progressions, needed for the first three questions, or offer a build up of practise in doing this. I think the ABC of Harmony book A is the gap bridging book from grades 5 to 6 .

Books B and C also exist, as the name suggests, but these correspond to higher grades....

Thank-you that's useful, I now have 3 pupils whom I happily took through grade 5 theory and now they want to take grade 6!!! I took my grade 8 in 1991 before the new syllabus so I have a lot of revising to do, I better get shopping

That's the man!!!

The book i started off with when i was 8 or 9 was Monkey Puzzles, which is meant to accompany waterman and harewood's 'Me and my piano' series. I really enjoyed it, but i'm sure it would be a bit (if not very) patronising for adults. After that, i've just worked my through the music theory in practice books and the grade 4 and 5 theory time books, but i'd say that the theory in practice are the better of the two.

As suggested, I'm going to buy the AB Grade 7 Theory Work Book, and the Music Theory in Practice Grade 7. I think they will help loads for my up-coming exam in November!

I've seen a book called the Big 7 by Anthony Crossland & Terence Greaves mentioned on another thread. I was going to add it to the list in Post #1 but is it the same book as the ABRSM Theory Workbook?

No

I've been searching for that book on Google etc. and it comes up with the ABRSM Theory Workbook front cover! here

As well as the Theory for Little Children books, Lina Ng does a series called My First/Second/Third Theory Book, which is also aimed at younger children, but not so young as the Little Children one. The three books cover pre-Grade 1. So once they've done them, they are ready to start Grade 1 Theory. They are also cheaper than then Little Children books, at only £2.50 each.

Yes, this is the same book. These are the books to replace the 'Music Theory in Practice' textbooks for grades 6-8. The MITP books are for the old syllabus and although it was very similar to the new one, the Theory Workbooks (or big 6/7/8 books) supercede these. People often still buy the MITP for the higher grades by mistake though; as they are the correct books for the lower grades....

Is Theory Time (David Turnbull) the only series of workbooks with answers?

I find that William Lovelock's first year harmony is a very good book if you want to make a very detailed study of harmony.

and also Aaaaaargh! Why did my music shop sell me the old one?!

Anybody who's just taken the theory exams and is planning to start working towards the higher grades might be interested in the books mentioned in this thread, and particularly these two posts ^

Hi!

I'm so glad to find someone else who was taught by Margery Dawe! I attended her music school in Mottingham in the 70's. I really didn't like her theory books because they were always so hard - BUT you really did learn your music, didn't you? Do you remember the card games at the end of term? And the musical quizzes?

Lauramay

If anyone wants to add or change anything listed in the first post, just let me know!

I thought I'd add to the list in the first post whether the book contained Answers. I don't know about the books below - if anyone can confirm, I'll amend the list in the first post accordingly.

I've also asterisked the books which have been said to be "child-friendly" books - if anyone thinks any of the others are child-friendly, I'll amend my first post if you let me know...

Does anyone know the Josephine Koh book "Musical forms and terms" - I had a brief look at it the other day but I didn't have time to have a proper look. It looked to have got in explanations of things like different dance forms, fugues, canons, gigues etc etc, and some seemed to have examples of music to illustrate the explanations. It's the sort of book I'd like - handier to carry around than an encylopaedia! - but does anyone recommend it or are there better alternatives?

Just out of interest, how large are the AB guide to music theroy books? In number of pages, prefferably.