"Rational Metric Notation" was written toward the end of Paul Creston's life. It is an eccentric book with distracting deliberate misspellings and not really representative of Paul Creston's thought--something of an embarrassment actually. On the other hand, "Principles of Rhythm" is a vital book no musician should overlook. Read Paul Creston's "Principles of Rhythm"; listen to his music whenever you get the chance; and forgive him "Rational Metric Notation."

This is a published master's degree (I think) thesis. Its prose is rather plodding, I'm sorry to say, but its subject is certainly worth treating. It's a very sad thing that the two Paul Creston books referred to above, "Principles of Rhythm" and "Rational Metric Notation" are now unavailable. I've never had a chance to look at "Rational Metric Notation", but in my opinion "Principles of Rhythm" is one the most important books about music ever published and the only logical exposition of rhythm ever published. (By the bye, I'm also rather fond of "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz-Rock Keyboardist" by Jeff Burns, very much still available.) To sum up, I give "Paul Creston" five stars just for existing.

"Rational Metric Notation" was written toward the end of Paul Creston's life. It is an eccentric book with distracting deliberate misspellings and not really representative of Paul Creston's thought--something of an embarrassment actually. On the other hand, "Principles of Rhythm" is a vital book no musician should overlook. Read Paul Creston's "Principles of Rhythm"; listen to his wonderful music whenever you get the chance; and forgive him "Rational Metric Notation."