Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: Teacher's Answer Key Paperback – Teacher's Edition, February 1, 1998

I like working in a workbook. I wish the answers were at the back of the book. You have to buy a separate book with the answers in it.

I teach private voice and piano. I love using this book with my students. It's the all building blocks of musical understanding presented in a systematic way. The older ones can work ahead on their own it is so easily explained. And for the younger ones each lesson is made easy to understand when I go over it with them. I've used this book with students as young as 5 and beginning adults as well. Every concept is kept simple and short. Having all three books together has been very important as well. Firstly because it's cheaper than buying them individually. And secondly because it gives them the vision of what to work for. I thought at first that it might be overwhelming to give my students the full book, but none of my students have ever seemed overwhelmed by it. If anything I see them excited to work through to the end. They continue to want to stick with it. It's been my goal to have all my students complete it. It's a great foundation for any musical study.

This curriculum is a much-needed answer to the dearth of texts for learning music theory outside of college, and it certainly has its merits. The curriculum is thoughtfully laid out, and overall it is an excellent guide, but it is somewhat lacking in heft. While the book touches on many subjects briefly, instructors may need to supply their own additional worksheets to help students fully grasp the concepts. Also, the clarity of the book's explanation of concepts (and the instructions for some exercises) leave something to be desired. Overall, I recommend this book because I have not found a music theory curriculum that is better suited to teaching pre-collegiate students, but teachers should be aware that they may need to augment the curriculum themselves.

I used this to teach a middle school homeschool co-op class. It was a good 20-30 minute lesson on basic music theory. There is a CD for ear training.

This book is no good for self-study but is absolutely necessary if you have the Music Theory study book that looks just like this cover. Each page looks just like any teacher's answer key book and there is no chance for learning if all the answers are in front of you. However, the study book provides NO answers so if there are doubts about your answers being correct, this book will guide you. I also used it for scoring my chapter review tests.

I would like to state that I really like this theory text. It's concise and to the point. Ear training examples are included so teacher does not HAVE to use the recordings. I loan the recording to the students and check out from the manual at the lesson. This is a time saver. Otherwise I don't need the answers - but good to reinforce with the student if needed.

This is an awesome book. The explanations are clear. It builds up well. The exercises are great.The 4 star rating is because it does not have an answer key (at the back of the book) to the exercises!! They make you buy the answer key book separately. Not nice!!

Wish it was of the bass clef. It isn't and that's unclear so not as good as I'd hoped. Overall would recommend.