La Théorie de la Musique

This new music theory explains all the elements of music, with graduated difficulties from the beginning of the 1st cycle to the beginning of the 3rd cycle. It is divided into 4 parts: - Writing - Rhythm - Harmony - Genres and Forms - Theoretical concepts are illustrated by numerous musical examples taken from the repertoire. An index at the end of the book helps you to quickly find the point of theory you are looking for. Marie-Alice Charritat has succeeded in giving clear explanations that will suit both adults and children. This is what makes her "trademark", already rewarded by the SACEM prize for the educational score in 2013. PressAwarded the Sacem prize for educational scores in 2013, Marie-Alice Charritat is engaged in a rather difficult exercise: to interest young and old alike in what is most often considered the scarecrow of musical training. This "theory" has the great merit of being clear, divided into four parts: writing, rhythms and measures, melody - harmony, genres and forms of music. Of course, these four parts must be discovered concurrently and not successively! This is the opposite of the "catechism" of questions and answers that some theories have been. One can always criticise certain simplifications, but it was very difficult to say so much in so few pages... In short, the whole is a success and could form the basis of a lively and musically nourished teaching of this "theory" so dreaded by pupils. L'Education Musicale, n°86 (November 2014)The book by Marie-Alice Charritat (director of the Kleber Martenot Centre and former teacher of musical training at the Conservatoire) is divided into four parts;: Writing, Rhythm, Melody and harmony, Musical forms and genres. The chapters are enriched by two boxes: "L'essentiel", whose title speaks for itself, and "Remarque" which completes the explanation or looks at the object studied from another angle. Finally, a brief paragraph entitled "Pour aller plus loin" (to go further) opens up perspectives of a historical nature (an extract from a score without barlines from the Renaissance), pedagogical (feeling the calm or tension of an interval in order to recognise it), technical (the different ways of dealing with a series of twelve sounds)... Everything is extremely concise in this theory, the comments as well as the musical examples - a theory that is intended for adults (above all, in our opinion) as well as for children. The dense but clear presentation, as well as the "medium" format of the book, make for a pleasant read. It was not the author's idea to write a scholarly theory - some elements are only briefly mentioned (Ornamentation, for example) - but it is a nice achievement to have gathered all the important notions in such a tight format. Michël SebaounLa Lettre du Musicien, n°454