Post by GLRuk on Feb 2, 2009 3:29:15 GMT 1
An invaluable tool: if you know how to use it Wikipedia is chock full of useful information on a wide range of fronts (not just musical), but it's music theory and history sections are particularly useful for the budding musician.. as a warning some of the articles do go into quite a lot of detail, but every effort is made to cover as much ground as possible - so even if you only get a half of the available information on a page crammed into your brain, its still plenty good.
Another great thing about Wikipedia in general is the whole 'tree of wiki' experience: you can go from looking up the date of an album release to reading up on the finer points of people who have inspired the creation of the album, to their muse's life history, to an article on eastern philosophies, to an article about mind expansion and even sometimes end up looping back on yourself.. if like me you have a brain like a sponge just waiting to soak up knowledge, then wikipedia will provide hours of usefulness to you.
Sounds obvious, but as Wikipedia is constantly updated by its users and the pages on the theory of music being a completely non-subjective affair its very rare that you will come across erroneous information. There is no grey ground - its either right or its wrong, and if its wrong someone will be very quick to point it out. So anyway, enough babble from me - here are the most useful links:
The Music page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music
The Music Theory main page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theory
From here you can get to almost any aspect within music or music theory from just a few clicks. Really its most useful if you already have a basic knowledge of music and how it all works, so if anything its one of the better online references, as opposed to something that will black and white teach you about music.
The Music History main page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_music
This page is accessible from the music theory page (right near the bottom) but I figured I'd put the link up just for posterity. From cavemen to nu-rave *shudder*, its all in there... however, if anywhere this is the place where you may come across some disinformation - 'facts' about history are a lot less definite than facts about the mechanics of musicianship and so on - just a brief warning to not take everything written there as gospel.
History Ancient music · Middle Eastern music · Medieval music · Renaissance music · Baroque music · Classical music · Romantic music · 20th century music · Contemporary music
Composition Musical notation · Musical improvisation · Music theory
Education Music history · Musicology · Ethnomusicology · Music cognition · Music therapy
Production Music genre · Album · Song · Suite · Lyrics · Record label · Record producer · Musician · Composer · Musical form · Compilation album
Lists Basic Topics · Topics · Terminology · Musical forms · Instruments · Free music
Miscellaneous Definition of music · Music theory · Musical instrument · Music and politics · Music and mathematics · Music industry
Category · Portal
Another great thing about Wikipedia in general is the whole 'tree of wiki' experience: you can go from looking up the date of an album release to reading up on the finer points of people who have inspired the creation of the album, to their muse's life history, to an article on eastern philosophies, to an article about mind expansion and even sometimes end up looping back on yourself.. if like me you have a brain like a sponge just waiting to soak up knowledge, then wikipedia will provide hours of usefulness to you.
Sounds obvious, but as Wikipedia is constantly updated by its users and the pages on the theory of music being a completely non-subjective affair its very rare that you will come across erroneous information. There is no grey ground - its either right or its wrong, and if its wrong someone will be very quick to point it out. So anyway, enough babble from me - here are the most useful links:
The Music page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music
The Music Theory main page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theory
From here you can get to almost any aspect within music or music theory from just a few clicks. Really its most useful if you already have a basic knowledge of music and how it all works, so if anything its one of the better online references, as opposed to something that will black and white teach you about music.
The Music History main page...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_music
This page is accessible from the music theory page (right near the bottom) but I figured I'd put the link up just for posterity. From cavemen to nu-rave *shudder*, its all in there... however, if anywhere this is the place where you may come across some disinformation - 'facts' about history are a lot less definite than facts about the mechanics of musicianship and so on - just a brief warning to not take everything written there as gospel.
Music
History Ancient music · Middle Eastern music · Medieval music · Renaissance music · Baroque music · Classical music · Romantic music · 20th century music · Contemporary music
Composition Musical notation · Musical improvisation · Music theory
Education Music history · Musicology · Ethnomusicology · Music cognition · Music therapy
Production Music genre · Album · Song · Suite · Lyrics · Record label · Record producer · Musician · Composer · Musical form · Compilation album
Lists Basic Topics · Topics · Terminology · Musical forms · Instruments · Free music
Miscellaneous Definition of music · Music theory · Musical instrument · Music and politics · Music and mathematics · Music industry
Category · Portal