What a music theory author says…

"Do you have trouble counting? That is, reading rhythmic notation? A nifty new book called You've Got Rhythm by Anna Dembska and Joan Harkness may be just what you need. This innovative book has you use your hands to keep the beat, while reading and reciting entertaining texts drawn from sources as varied as the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, Gray's Anatomy, and Alice in Wonderland. It's hard not to smile, at least inwardly, while working on a 9/8 exercise that begins, "To remove fruit stains, pour boiling water over stained surface, having it fall from a distance of three feet..." The book starts simply enough for kids (quarter-notes; days of the week), introducing the simplest concepts, and moves through everything you need to be reading changing compound meters and syncopation by the end.

"I can just see a classroom of people, any age, slapping their thighs, clapping their hands, and tapping their fingers while reciting together, 'We wish that Americans appreciated good radishes and used them as largely as do the French...'

"Finally: relief for the rhythmically challenged—and without that nasty medicinal taste!"

—Ed Roseman, author, Edly's Music Theory for Practical People