Book Donation Drive
Free Spirit has partnered with Eric Fine, Author of “What You Need to Know Before Your Learn Music Theory”
Through this partnership, Free Spirit will distribute books paid for via donated funds, to local school districts, non-profit schools, music teachers, other educational non-profits, and other programs that will benefit from use of this learning material.
Due to economic hardship, there are many people around the world who miss out on the joy, the transformative power, and the overall benefits of learning how to play and understand music. It is well documented that learning music improves overall wellbeing, increases critical thinking, and cognitive skills. Furthermore, children who learn music theory and play an instrument tend to have improved grades in all their subjects.
Learning how to play an instrument and understanding how music works is exponentially easier and effective when students have the proper literature and learning tools to guide them. For these reasons we are excited to share with you our new initiative; put the proper literature and learning tools in the hands of each budding student.
What You Need to Know Before You Learn Music Theory has been received with wonderful praise from college professors, public school teachers and music students from around the world.
It is a self-guided play along course, that is taught via the piano; but the theory and concepts are applicable to all instruments. This new approach has proven to simplify the learning process; increasing the pace and ease at which students from around the world comprehend theory, saving time and money while reducing stress, confusion, and intimidation associated with learning.
The book aims to reframe the learning experience by adopting a remarkably simple yet astute assumption: all music, no matter the genre or time in history it was created, including all music theory terms and topics, can be distilled down to one Unifying Concept. This implies that understanding one concept is all you need to easily comprehend everything related to music.
No matter what aspect of music you are discussing, it can be discussed in these terms.
The book begins by stating the Unifying Concept- Music is the Interplay of Consonance and Dissonance.
Then, using a real-life metaphor, we define the terms Consonance, Dissonance, and Interplay; providing an easy language to aid student comprehension. From there, we
slowly build a music example to illustrate the musical blueprint or the architecture used to create all music. We show how music is comprised of music elements that are
assembled and varied like building blocks, whereas each variation will evoke a different feeling, mood, or emotion. Which is the sole purpose of music.
Furthermore, the student will learn that music can be made with any number of musical elements. Thus, enabling students to start expressing themselves immediately.
The book…
- starts at the very beginning asking- what is music? why do humans create and listen to it?
- delivers the material in an easily digestible, simplified manner that anyone can understand
- has lessons that flow naturally from one topic to the next; lessons that are so easy to follow it feels as if you have your own private music teacher
- helps students understand why every interval, scale, melody, and harmony can evoke a different feeling mood or emotion
- puts the student on a learning path that cultivates the skills needed to improvise and compose- so they can express your inner musical voice
- shows students how to practice with purpose on or away from your instrument
This book has proven to provide students with instant, continuous, gratification and joy- creating an upward and positive recursive loop.
Learning music theory through this lens might seem deceptively simple, yet there are a multitude of advantages. It’s an innovative, new perspective-giving students an easily digestible, distilled down, overview of not only how music works but how everything is connected. Facilitating students with fresh, empowering grammar enabling them to explore every new term or topic with confidence-all culminating in a learning path that is not arduous-but efficient and elegant.
