In writing German 101, I have combined over ten years’ worth of my own classroom activities and lecture notes to save students from high textbook costs. Traditional textbooks often have too few examples or little explanation and require the additional purchase of an expensive, online learning program. As time went on, I found myself using the textbook so little that it seemed silly to require students to purchase it.

New words are introduced gradually in colored text boxes next to each concept. Sections can be combined to make the desired chapter length. For example, if you wish to cover the alphabet on day one, simply do that section first. I’ve placed it in the middle of chapter one because I prefer to gradually introduce it along with pronunciation as I go so that students begin to speak quickly and don’t grow disinterested. Every effort has been made to compare similarities and differences between English and German. Students whose native language is English can use that as a helpful resource to make learning German easier. English speakers, especially, tend to have trouble with the concept of cases. Therefore, I’ve taken the approach of focusing on the nominative case and present tense verb conjugations in chapter 1 with the accusative case in chapter 2. Chapter 3 reviews both cases and reinforces the old verbs with the imperative. The dative case will not be presented until German 102, to help prevent the mixing of these cases.

A Practical Approach to Understanding Music Theory is a textbook designed for the non-music performance major or music business/audio engineer who needs to professionally interface with musicians without needing to write or compose music. The material is designed around a spiral learning model in which a very simple straightforward concept is introduced, defined and explained. From this point and forward the book adds one element of music theory after another until a broad base of musical understanding and application is achieved. Even though the spiral learning model has a linear approach, the book is also laid out in a manner that any music student or hobbyist may treat it as a research manual to search out specific explanations of musical situations they encounter. This text is meant to be an all-inclusive explanation of how music is created, graphically distributed and performed for those who are not majoring in music theory, performance or education. It is aimed at those who are seeking a career in audio engineering, music business, artist representation, minoring in music, teaching lessons in a local community or someone who just wants to learn to play and understand music on a deeper level.