AB Guide to Music Theory, Part I Eric Taylor (ABRSM)

“I’m a 73-year-old semi-pro in swing, jazz, ballroom, classical, Palm Court, church and traditional music, i.e. an old hack still gigging and in love with it all. Often, contact with the audience/congregation is quite close, so conversations spring up. People say kind things or ask questions and I try in return to enthuse non-musicians to have a go at learning. The most usual ‘but’ is age, which I try to counter with stories of adult pupils who have progressed as fast as children. The other main worry is that music is so complicated. Yup, there’s quite a lot to it, and that’s where this magic little volume comes in. It knits together so many aspects of musical theory in an understandable way, and at such an affordable price, that I unhesitatingly point people towards it. You don’t have to plough through acres of increasingly complex formality seeking that little bit which answers your need, because it isn’t arranged by progression of difficulty, but subject by subject. The language is user-friendly, and of course the appeal is wider now that AB have acknowledged and embraced Jazz. No longer does the intellectual/structural part of music have to be a dry and dusty pain.
My only reservation is that the word Theory will always have esoteric connotations, and if the title could be something like ‘How and Why Music Works’ or ‘Musicians’ Friend’ the whole volume would be user friendly from absolute beginning to end, and deserve six out of five.
I wish I could have had this book in my teens.”
Bravo, Eric Taylor!