{ "item_title" : "The Rhythms of Tonal Music", "item_author" : [" Joel Lester "], "item_description" : "A foundational work in Western tonal music scholarshipIn this influential work, Joel Lester examines the origins and meanings of rhythm, challenging musicians to move beyond their current frameworks and deepen their knowledge of the rhythms found in Western classical music. Within, he provides a beginner-friendly yet comprehensive background on the subject for musicians of all levels of expertise. Even when taking an accessible tone, Lester encourages readers to deepen their understanding of rhythm's role as a driving force in composition. He argues rhythm can be understood beyond merely pulse and meter to include other musical elements such as grouping, continuity, and changes in timbre and dynamics. In his examination of these concepts, a foundational understanding of rhythm is made manifest. The taxonomies introduced and expanded in this book apply across many different works of music in the Western classical canon, even as they vary in tonal repertoire, meter, and soundscape.Throughout The Rhythms of Tonal Music, Lester's innovative approach to note accentuation thoroughly examines the factors that create rhythmic accents. He analyzes these multifaceted processes, evaluates their relative importance, and develops a systematic taxonomy of rhythmic analysis. Harmonic changes serve as powerful accentual forces that influence metric groupings and larger musical structures. Meter and hypermeter organize regular pulses into measures and larger metric groupings. Phrase rhythm describes how measures combine to form musical phrases, shaping a piece's flow and momentum. Using these factors, Lester highlights how accents are perceived, how meter arises, and the limits of metric organization at higher levels of structure.Though he frequently cites and draws on the insights of other music theorists, Lester's individual contributions have significantly advanced the study of rhythm, cementing him as a critical voice in musical scholarship over the last four decades. This 1986 volume became widely used in later scholarly writing and dissertations. Both performers and music theorists have found Lester's frameworks useful in their practice, analysis, and scholarship. He connects analytical insights to timing and articulation decisions, explicitly addresses rhythm's role in performance, and comments on the relationship between rhythm and linear analysis and between rhythm and form. This specialized yet foundational book suits undergraduate and graduate music courses and has become a staple in music research.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/80/934/021/0809340216_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "60.00", "online_price" : "60.00", "our_price" : "60.00", "club_price" : "60.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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