Customer Reviews
A Remarkable Tool for Musicians of All Levels 
2007-05-20
Many thanks to Ron Gorow for this book. Whether you're a beginning musician or a professional composer, there's a lifetime's worth of information and practical tips and exercises in this book. I'm a music teacher, musician and amateur composer. Studying this book has provided me with a wealth of compositional tools for my own musical pursuits, and has inspired me to give greater emphasis to transcription and composition in the curriculum I teach to K-3 elementary school children. In this book you'll find the practical and usable stuff the standard methodology books leave out. You'll learn about the harmonic series, tonality and building blocks for composition and improvisation. You'll learn how to develop your listening and transcription skills in ways that are useful in any context or setting. You'll learn things about notation that nobody before Ron Gorow has taken the time to distill into a concise, compact and usable format. You'll discover that you can trancribe what you hear and compose without a piano(Gustav Mahler composed symphonies in remote wilderness areas with just paper and pen. Duke Ellington wrote "Mood Indigo" on a paer bag sitting in a taxicab). Ron Gorow helps to bring a world of practical musical possibilities within our grasp. You'll find basic building blocks as well as ear training exercises that challenge even the most advanced ears. This book is written by someone who's actually been there and done it. If you take the time to study this book you will be rewarded.
You have got to be kidding...... 
2007-04-30
I shouldn't write this because I want to sell my copy. But I wish someone had warned me. This book is actually great for anyone who needs to be told to practice whatever it is they're trying to learn. If it hasn't occurred to you to practice listening for whatever it is you want to learn to hear in music, or whatever musical skill you want, then get this book because it will tell you to do that, and then you'll feel like it's OK to go ahead and do it. Once you percieve that you have permission, then begin to practice listening for the melodies and parts, and practice writing them down. You'll get better at it as you do this. There, I just saved you $20. AND alot of reading time you could have spent practicing hearing and writing. Oh and one other thing I learned from this book: ANYONE can write a book on how to do ANYTHING.
The Gold Standard 2007-04-08
There is simply no other book that has as much practical information and insight--presented with as much understanding, kindness, and compassion for the trials of the struggling musician/arranger/composer--as does Ron's.
In the music business, he really has "been there, done that," and the joy of it is that he is sharing it all via this amazingly thorough and lucid volume. His work is my personal "Gold Standard" and I can't recommend it enough.
From a budding film composer 2007-04-04
I am a physician/surgeon by current profession. But my hand to God, I have been preparing my whole adult life for my second career in music as a composer for film. The element that has always been most elusive to me has been the ability to manuscript straight from my head to the paper with a simple pencil. While I'm well adept at Finale, Digital Performer, and MIDI orchestral suites like East West Quantum Orchestral Library, etc. I have always been working at my ear to paper skills. Until I read Ron's book and "got it" I wasn't really quite sure what I was needing to accomplish. Now I know and I'm on my way more than ever to mastering the skill of going from imagination to the manuscript--skipping the usual play it at the piano first method. I'm excited. This isn't an easy venture...I know it wasn't for Ron Gorow either...he earned it when he was young and had the time to get really really good at it. He teaches this abstract skill with a method I've never had the priveledge to utilize. Now it is available to all musicians who understand that this skill will require practice practice practice. It may be innate for some, but for most it is not. Just read the book and do the exercises and you'll gain amazing skills without hardly any effort at all. I praise Ron for making this elusive ability to be a "Human Sequencer" a reality for all of us. Congratulations Ron.
just great 2007-03-28
hearing and writing music is simply the best resorse i have ever seen in aiding the aural development of musicians .. a must have!!
Hearing and Writing Music 2008-06-19
Excellent!!!! In 30 years studying music, I've never seen anything like it. Gorow has really found a brilliant and logical approach to training our ears. I recommend this book very highly.
Ron Gorow puts the cart where it belongs (after the horse) 2008-06-01
OK, so that's a cliché, and we should avoid clichés like the plague.
My limited imagination, though, couldn't come up with a better way to express the way that Gorow hits the nail on the head (oops, my bad) with his method for learning the art of music.
The thesis is that you must hear the music, then be able to recognize and communicate what you are hearing. His reasoning is tight, and the methods he suggests to improve your hearing and identifying musical elements work for me.
I can't speak to how one who reads this work without having any prior knowledge of the craft will respond, but for those who are conversant with the pedantic side of music, and who realize that there is more to it but can't really tell what that might be, this book tells you how to get your music away from your intellectual brain and get it flowing directly from your feeling brain.
The Most important book in your library 2008-03-27
This book will become the most important book in your music library!! They don't come around very often. The author amazingly manages to wrap up the "big picture" and lay it out at your feet.
Provides solid training in an easy format 2008-03-01
It took me a while to get used to the style of presentation and the style of writing, but very soon I found myself learning the material with ease. Everything is broken down into small teaching/learning units so the reader doesn't feel overwhelmed even by an unfamiliar topic. I am an amateur musician and the book appears quite suitable for my needs and very comprehensive in its coverage. I would recommend this for anyone wanting to pursue ear training.
Look no further - this is THE theory book! 2008-02-11
I don't normally review my Amazon purchases due to my busy schedule, but this book just really deserves one:
This book is a Narnia of information and Ron Gorow is an absolute fountain of musical knowledge. He has a real knack for getting straight to the point; explaining even the most complex theoretical concepts in an entirely non-frivolous and understandable manner - his average paragraph size is about 5 lines, but that's really all it needs to flick a light-switch on in your head! He's also taken the time to provide exercises to help 'drum in' the theory.
I don't recommend reading this from front to back; Dr. Gorow has provided a extensive index at the back which I use as a reference to tackle all the big problem areas, and it works! If you're problem's with rhythm, just look up Rhythm in the index and there you have it, about 20 different page numbers to help you out. A simple enough concept but SO many music books just don't have this. Granted, occasionally the pages might seem somewhat haphazardly placed, but then I guess it's primarily designed for the cover-to-cover reader and each detail is presented in order of importance. In any case, this is but a minor inconvenience considering just the amount of information you're gonna get from this. I can't have read even a quarter of this book yet and already I feel enlightened by its teachings every day!
With it's exhaustive wisdom and surprising clarity, I can tell this book is gonna be in my life for many years to come; even once completed, no doubt this will be an invaluable reference book for life. Could easily be the best $20 I ever spent.
Extensively detailed, yet to the point, I'm still struggling to put this one down! A MUST for anyone serious about studying music.
