 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2014-08-21 20:00
I am looking for suggestions for a college level music theory text. The top two recommended books seem to be the following, although I would welcome more:
Piston: "Harmony"
Kotska, Payne: "Tonal Harmony"
Requirements:
1. Needs to be something I can do on my own, without help.
2. Text should emphasize clarity and succinctness over encyclopedic scope.
3. Should focus on Classical period. (i.e. Mozart)
4. Should have exercises WITH AN ANSWER KEY, so that I can check myself.
5. Keyboard requirements should be modest: I will not always have access to a keyboard, and want to focus on theory, not my piano playing. I would love to be a concert pianist, but one can only do so much!
6. If it comes with a CD recording of examples from the texts, all the better. At the very least the examples should be from well known works, so that I can easily get a recording or look it up on Youtube. I really do need to hear the stuff though, not just look at it on paper.
Non-Requirements:
1. Does not have to be "up to date".
2. Does not need to cover 20th c.
FYI:
I went to music school for two years, but the combined sight singing / dictation / theory class I took (twice) didn't help much. There was no instruction of sight singing or dictation. All of the written part was analyzing Bach Chorales and realizing figured bass on paper, which I found very confusing. I'm not opposed to it, it's just that it didn't work for me at the time. The text was written by a member of the faculty. While i'm sure he knew his counterpoint and his Bach inside and out, I didn't learn much. ;^P
Thank you!
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2014-08-21 20:18)
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-08-22 00:46
Elie Siegmeister's Melody and Harmony 2 vols. are a 20th century composer's look at traditional harmony.
The two Paul Harder books recommended above are also very good.
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Author: wanabe
Date: 2014-08-22 02:04
Edly's Music Theory for Practical People by Ed Roseman
No, this is not a cartoon nor is it a farcical treatment of a serious subject. If you want to "do it yourself" and if you enjoy reading a text that is both informative and entertaining, then this is for you. It is inexpensive, easy to find, fun to read and has more information in it than you can possibly absorb in a single reading. It starts with an explanation of the chromatic scale goes through how major and minor scales are built upon the chromatic scales and continues through diatonic progressions, modal scales and many more topics that are all explained simply and clearly in language that even I can understand.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2014-08-22 04:20
While the Edly book may not have the "weight" of something like the Piston, it is a great book. Most theory texts are quite dry. It is really easy to understand and makes theory seem fun and can serve as a good foundation for basic theory. Depending on one's needs it is worth looking at.
http://www.edly.com/mtfpp.html
Post Edited (2014-08-23 01:48)
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2014-08-22 18:58
Thank you for the suggestions. The Harder / Steinke book might what I'm looking for.
Based on the excerpts and descriptions I saw I'm concerned that I already know most of the stuff in the Edly book. It seems very pop-jazz oriented, and I'd like to improve my knowledge of Classical. I do see that it has a lot of admirers.
Any further comments on any of the above mentioned books? Piston? Kotska? Harder? Hindemith? Siegmeister? (Or any late-coming advocates of Edly?)
It's hard to get a feel for the books without actually looking through them.
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2014-08-22 19:08)
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Author: brycon
Date: 2014-08-22 19:42
I think that the Aldwell/Schachter harmony book and Steve Laitz's Complete Musician are the two best theory books on the market (and the most popular with college theory courses). Carl Schachter's counterpoint book is also quite good and makes a good companion to the voice-leading and harmony one.
In general, I find the older theory books more useful as historical documents than textbooks. The Walter Piston, for example, doesn't incorporate any of the basic Schenkerian concepts that are now widely accepted in the theory world and taught in most undergraduate courses. His counterpoint book is even worse (Schoenberg's is quite bad too).
I would get an older edition of the Aldwell/Schachter book (I think the 3rd edition goes for under $30 on amazon) and the Schachter counterpoint book. If you're interested in the Classical era, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Hadyn, Mozart, and Beethoven by William Caplin is a wonderful book; it requires, however, a decent background with harmony and voice-leading.
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2014-08-22 21:52
Matt74,
If you are in Lakeville, MN, that's not far from Minneapolis, is it? Some of the college libraries there and in St. Paul will probably have copies of many of these recommeded theory books that you can read through before you decide to buy. I searched on worldcat.org to verify that the following colleges in MN have copies of at least the first volume of Siegmeister's text:
North Central U., T.J. Jones Library in Minneapolis
University of Minnesota in Minneapolis
University of St. Thomans, St. Paul
Hamline University, St. Paul
You can find more at http://www.worldcat.org.
I always call the library first to make sure before visiting that they really have the book (Worldcat is not always accurate), and that it is not checked out. Most university libraries let non-students look at books and spend some time reading them for free but of course require library membership to allow them to check out books.
Post Edited (2014-08-25 20:43)
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2014-08-25 04:54
Thank you, brycon.
Seabreeze, thank you for looking that up. Unfortunately I'm not able to get to the Twin Cities! I miss having a good library. The local one is nice but small.
- Matthew Simington
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2014-08-25 10:03
Your local library may be able to borrow some of the titles for you. Just ask about inter library loan. I believe MN is quite advanced in this area. Just allow for long lead times.
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