Contributors wanted for public domain music theory textbook!
October 2, 2008
Musopen, a “library of copyright free music”, is soliciting for contributions to a public domain music theory textbook:
As any college student will tell you, textbooks are priced outrageously high. That’s not really news of course. Yet one of our volunteers was especially shocked recently to see how expensive a music theory textbook was for his class and suggested that Musopen find a way to print professionally bound theory books, equal or better to what exists, to solve this problem. We liked the idea so much we decided to do just that.
Today we are announcing the formation of the Musopen PD Music Theory text book project. I will be updating with more news and details as we get closer to a final product, but I can say we are already excited to have found several partners who will allow us to produce books equal to what exist currently as well as web integration better than any previous textbook has had in the past. All this for the cost of the ink and paper only.
If you or someone you know might be interested in writing, advising, or otherwise helping out, please sign up here!
Filed under: music, open textbooks
8 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Dr. Steven Thompson | January 19, 2009 at 12:29 am
Professor of Music at American River College in Sacramento, CA. Would be happy to help with this project.
2.
Karen Heath | January 30, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I would be interested in helping. I am a high school band director and a Kindergarten music teacher. I feel a bit like a fish out of water at the high school level and I wish there was a good book we could use to teach some concepts that they need to know. Anything I can do, I will.
3.
Sean - Hôtels Lyon | March 7, 2009 at 10:55 am
You are right textbooks are priced outrageously high! That’s why such sites as yours are very useful to us. Because here we can find the same information but absolutely free. Please continue your work. Thank you.
4.
David Brown | May 4, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Assistant Professor, Music Director for Theatre Arts, Central Washignton University, Elensburg, WA.
Would be happy to help.
5.
Morten Juhl-Johansen Zölde-Fejér | August 24, 2009 at 6:53 am
While I don’t want to volunteer him, your resources might want to point to Jon Kulp’s book on counterpoint, Gratis ad Parnassum.
6.
Shannon | August 29, 2009 at 3:26 pm
How is the music textbook project going? Has a lot been done on it?
7.
Jonathan Harnum | January 4, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Hi- I’m a 4th year PhD student of music ed. at Northwestern. I’ve got a music theory book that’s been out for nine years and it’s been available for free in its entirety online since publication (and still is). I am 100% behind open-source textbooks (another method on trumpet is also available), and have given away over 1 million PDFs since 2001 to music students worldwide. I
I’d be more than happy to help with this project. My theory book might is too simple for all but the most basic collegiate music theory courses, but it’s worked fantastically for middle and high school students and interested adults. You can find it all over the web, at my website (link above), and at scribd.com (http://www.scribd.com/doc/6528599/Basic-Music-Theory-How-to-Read-Write-and-Understand-Written-Music-2nd-edition)
Please e-mail me about progress thus far and what I might do to help. Thanks!
Jon
8.
Jonathan Harnum | January 4, 2010 at 6:20 pm
in addition: my books aren’t in the public domain. I retain all copyrights, and use Creative Commons licensing. You can learn more about Creative Commons at: http://creativecommons.org/
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