[linux-audio-user] Beginner singing, music theory (guitar) and ear training, solfege?

[Dave Phillips]

Loki Davison wrote:

> I'm keen on learning to sing in my now extensive spare time. Anyone
> now of any good books or sites aimed at beginner singers?

I've never looked at any books on singing, but I've picked up a lot of 
valuable tips from singers. Are lessons not possible ?

> I'm also wondering if doing some ear training stuff would be good. I'm
> mostly interested in improving my guitar playing but i'm guessing this
> would really help over all. Should i use GNU solfege for ear training?

Yes, Solfege rocks. I advise it for my students, it's one of the best 
self-trainers around.

> Is there a good intro for beginners somewhere? guitarnoise.com is the
> most useful stuff i've found so far. Anyone know a good book on any of
> these topics? If possible focused towards guitar, music theory, ear
> training, etc and not one of those horrible school music style method
> books. I have no interest in sing mary has a little lamb. ;)

Most of what you need you can find on the Web now. Harmony Central used 
to be a good place to look for such things.

I usually recommend Piston for harmony theory, but really any reasonably 
complete textbook should suffice. I prefer harmony texts by composers 
(Rameau, Schoenberg, Sessions, Piston, Persichetti, etc) but I'm not 
sure that really matters. Just make sure it covers the principles of 
so-called common practice harmony.

Btw, you might also check out Modus Vetus for even more standard 
ear-training exercises.

Best,

dp