# Most Practical & Accessible Treatises for Self Instruction



## Minona (Mar 25, 2013)

I'd like very much, with your help, to assemble a list books on counterpoint and harmony (including canons and fugues) which are the most accessible and practical (those which take you direct to the method, get you thinking in the right way from the start, make you learn through hearing, by actually creating music, etc).

What better way to learn classical style than immersion by analyzing and composing?

A list would be valuable because not all the most highly esteemed books are necessarily the best in this regard. For example, I know at a series of books that have not even been reviewed online (1a, 1b, & 1c below). Here, then, is my contribution:

1a. 'Sketching at the Keyboard' 
1b. 'Sketches for Improvisations' 
1c. 'Further Sketches for Improvisations'

...by Laura Campbell (who in 1983 won Music Teacher Award in Music Education for her unique approach.)

These books teach the student to create tasteful accompaniments to simple folk tunes and nursary rhymes, beginning with simple, yet tasteful, techniques like doubling in octaves, changing registers, emphasizing phrases with dynamics, etc. Then you add perfect 5ths, which teaches you how to create a rhythmic, medieval style accompaniment, whilst simultaneously learning to recognise the 'hollow' effect that will eventually be avoided. Then parallel 3rds and 6ths are introduced and so it progresses. 
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2a. 'Modal Counterpoint: Renaissance Style' by Peter Schubert

Description: 'The only species counterpoint text that draws directly on Renaissance treatises, it provides a conceptual framework to guide students through composition and analysis as it teaches them general structural principles.' It avoids obsolete cleffs and 'difficult' keys (which can be practiced separately).

2b. 'Baroque Counterpoint' by Peter Schubert and Christoph Neidhöfer

...in the same manner.
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3. 'Analysis Through Composition: Principles of the Classical Style' by Nicholas Cook

Description: The emphasis is on analysis and decision-making within a practical context, drawing on `real' musical examples ranging from J. C. Bach to early Beethoven. Students can use these examples as models to complete compositional assignments provided in a number of subject areas. The illustrative use of contemporary source materials such as sketches and pedagogical exercises (e.g. Thomas Attwood's studies with Mozart) provides a useful historical framework and draws together an appealing combination of musical disciplines.
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4. 'A Practical Approach to 16th Century Counterpoint' by Robert Gauldin

Practical work in writing counterpoint! Robert Gauldin emphasizes the acquisition of writing skills in the contrapuntal discipline and the simulation of sixteenth-century sacred polyphonic idioms. The author follows a didactic method of a non-species or direct approach. While no previous contrapuntal training is necessary to absorb this material, some acquaintance with Baroque polyphonic terminology proves helpful. It also substitutes obsolete cleffs for treble and bass.
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5. 'Layer analysis: a primer of elementary tonal structures' by Gerald Warfield An excellent introduction to the essential concepts behind Schenkerian analysis (see also 'Layer Dictation'.
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6. Basic Harmonic Progressions (Norton Programmed Texts in Music Theory)

Written with the student in mind this book provides a strong emphasis on practical application of the rules of voice leading in 7 parts

1. PreDominant Chords: IV, II, II6
2. Prolongation of I
3. Other 5/3 and 6/3 functions 1 (prolongation of predominant harmony)
4. Other 5/3 and 6/3 functions 2 (IV, IV6, III, VII)
5. 6/4 Chords
6. 7th Chords (Other than V7)
7. Diatonic Modulation 
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7. 'Technique of Canon' by Hugo Norden (Free at googlebooks) 
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## Minona (Mar 25, 2013)

Children's books offering new perspectives can also be useful to adults who have patchy knowledge or some wrinkles in their understanding. I remember a children's book that taught simple analysis with piano pieces that used a simplified Schenkerian approach, but I forget the name.

Please include any practical books about form and for jazz harmony.

'*A New guide to* Harmony with Lego Bricks' by Conrad Cork

This book (with the use of a CD collection) claims to teach you everything you'd need to know about jazz to become a teacher on jazz theory and/or guide your own musical practice. (Remember to get 'A New Guide', not the original version)

'One of the very few seminal contributions to jazz theory to emerge from the UK, this book with its clear, modular approach has opened musical doors and enhanced the understanding and development of thousands of musicians since the first edition was published in 1985. Even non-musicians can use it, all it takes is an interest in jazz, but there is plenty of material for the experienced player too.'


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

I have the third edition of "Harmony" by Walter Piston. It's a pretty well-known book, and there are updated editions of the book that are longer and include materials beyond common-practice harmony. Judging from the version I have (which is from 1969 I think), it's an extremely helpful book. It's concise and comprehensive (at least for common-practice). It also includes some useful exercises to do at the end of each chapter as well as supplementary exercises at the end of the book. Amazon's description says: "This book has long been known as an introductory textbook, but because of its comprehensive range, it also serves as an invaluable reference book."

If other members have the newer editions of the book, please add to this. 

I got it at a thrift shop for $2. Best $2 I've ever spent.


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## Minona (Mar 25, 2013)

*Look no further...*

Free online books by (working composer) Alan Belkin on practical composition, with audio demonstrations:

https://www.webdepot.umontreal.ca/Usagers/belkina/MonDepotPublic/bk/F-1.html

"This book arose in response to a specific, personal need. In many years of composing and teaching musical composition at various levels, I was repeatedly struck by the dearth of practical information about how music is constructed..."


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I agree with Feathers about the Piston _Harmony_ book; if you can find a used one, get it. It, with Schoenberg's _Harmonielehre_ are the only 2 places I've seen the resolution of dim vii treated as an incomplete dominant b9, an important concept.

As far as general theory, the best, clearest, and most succinct I've seen is _Tonal Harmony_ by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Paine. It clears up a lot of old alternate terms and gives you the real reasons behind the rules. If you can, get the older Third Edition; I don't like the layout and changes they made with later editions.

Schoenberg's _Harmonielehre _is the best "pondering" read, although it functions very well as an expository text. I say this because Schoenberg writes with conversational tone, sometimes injecting humor, and goes off on little side-roads of explanation on those points he feels need more attention. I love this book, and always will. It's available in soft-cover now; I picked a used one up as a reading copy, to save my hardback.

You need Gardner Read's _Music Notation_ as a reference.

I have a soft spot for Dave Stewart's 2 little softcover books from the UK, one on notation. He was the keyboard-playing "Bill Bruford solo album" guy, not the Eurhythmics Dave Stewart.

Practical?

Twentieth Century Music Idioms by G. Welton Marquis

Basic Atonal Theory by John Rahn

Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory by Joseph N. Straus

Harmonic Materials of Modern Music by Howard Hanson


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

*For counterpoint*: Although it has often been criticised, it has never been surpassed: _Gradus ad Parnassum_ by Fux remains the compositional textbook for counterpoint that has had the greatest effect - that is it is the one that the most famous composers have actually learned from, rather than one designed for composition students to pass exams. It is largely found translated in two volumes, _The study of Counterpoint_ and _The Study of Fugue_ by Alfred Mann. This latter has some other texts which are of some interest. These studies give an emphasis on extensive practice, something which more modern authors often shy away from demanding of their students, but which is essential if one actually wishes to get to grips with counterpoint in an intuitive way (the usage of it, at least). It does not tell you how to write renaissance counterpoint: it tells you how to write counterpoint, and the many great composers it has worked for prove its worth.

For an understanding of *Schoenberg's analytical ideas*, Caplin's _Classical Form_ is an extremely clear textbook written in a pedagogical style outlining 'a theory of formal functions'. While limited in certain ways, it accomplishes what it sets out to achieve. It's emphasis is phrase structure and the like. This of course is not how composers of the time thought, but nevertheless it helps one understand the music in a clearer fashion.

Charles Rosen's methods of analysis (a proponent of the *sonata principle*) seem to me to be largely the most perceptive concerning 18th century music, and his methods are the ones that I go to first when I analyse music. While it contains certain glaring gaps and limitations, _Sonata Forms_ is the most thorough, 'text-book' like, book on his thoughts on the subject of the title (although _The Classical Style_ in my opinion is the more perceptive book, containing more interesting analyses, being a more engaging read, and discussing a wider range of ideas). He is often more interested in analysing the forces beneath the music than in simply categorising the music itself, which is why I have found his ideas immensely useful for composition as well. Categorising the music is of interest to some, but I would rather come to a closer understanding of music itself.


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## Minona (Mar 25, 2013)

For ear-training, 'Ear Training One Note Complete' by Bruce E. Arnold looks pretty good. You learn everything in one-key, then apply it to all keys by extending it theoretically (with practice). The author has a website with extensive help and member's area.


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