Help with learning harmony for compositions?

[deckard1]

Hi,

 

I want to diversify my musical compositions. I thought studying harmony would be a good idea, possibly. I just picked up the following book at the bookstore today. Any comments or other resources I could explore? I heard Tchaikovsky was pretty good at writing music.

 

Thanks.

[David Nahmani]

While I don't have any resources to recommend, I wanted to point out that the Tchaikovsky book is now public domain, you can download a free PDF at http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/c/c6/IMSLP27753-PMLP61198-Tchaikovsky_HarmonyTextbook_Eng.pdf - if anyone else wants to check it out!

[Eric Cardenas]

Thanks for the link David.

The amount of knowledge that is out there for free today is really impressive.

[deckard1]

While I don't have any resources to recommend, I wanted to point out that the Tchaikovsky book is now public domain, you can download a free PDF at http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/c/c6/IMSLP27753-PMLP61198-Tchaikovsky_HarmonyTextbook_Eng.pdf - if anyone else wants to check it out!

 

Thanks, David!

 

Just out of curiosity, how much of what Tchaikovsky wrote in the book is true today? I read through it and was amazed at how many rules there are in harmony...particularly, 'not-to-do' rules (e.g. parallel fifths, etc.). The book is an excellent read, btw. Very informative.

[C4L88]

I haven't read the Tchaikovsky one, but now that it is on public domain...

 

2 books that I have read that have helped immensely were Arnold Schoenberg's "Structural Functions of Harmony" and "The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony" by Barrie Nettles and Richard Graf

 

One more classical based, the other modern

 

As for relevance today, mainly in regards to the "not-to-do" rules, it isn't really relevant today as "rules"...music shouldn't have any "rules." I mean, any rock or metal song is for the most part full of parallel fifths

That said, practicing some of those "rules" can be very helpful and should be practiced because the different voice leadings, doublings, motions, etc. can create unique colors that are often overlooked today. Just don't feel you must be "bound" by them

 

In my current studies I have Jazz Harmony followed immediately by Tonal (classical) Harmony and the in the modern jazz harmony we've never once cared about parallel fifths or proper doublings. Inversions are very rare in that class as well meanwhile right after in classical harmony it's almost nothing BUT inversions, doublings, and spacing rules

 

The simple rule: If it sounds good to you, than it's good

[deckard1]

I haven't read the Tchaikovsky one, but now that it is on public domain...

 

2 books that I have read that have helped immensely were Arnold Schoenberg's "Structural Functions of Harmony" and "The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony" by Barrie Nettles and Richard Graf

 

One more classical based, the other modern

 

As for relevance today, mainly in regards to the "not-to-do" rules, it isn't really relevant today as "rules"...music shouldn't have any "rules." I mean, any rock or metal song is for the most part full of parallel fifths

That said, practicing some of those "rules" can be very helpful and should be practiced because the different voice leadings, doublings, motions, etc. can create unique colors that are often overlooked today. Just don't feel you must be "bound" by them

 

In my current studies I have Jazz Harmony followed immediately by Tonal (classical) Harmony and the in the modern jazz harmony we've never once cared about parallel fifths or proper doublings. Inversions are very rare in that class as well meanwhile right after in classical harmony it's almost nothing BUT inversions, doublings, and spacing rules

 

The simple rule: If it sounds good to you, than it's good

 

Thanks for the excellent advice! If a book is on public domain, is it just a matter of googling the book and then downloading the pdf? Or, is there a special place where the public domain books are kept on the Internet?

 

Thanks.

[C4L88]

Yeah, you go probably google "book name pdf"

 

I just use imslp.org because they have just a huge resource of scores and books that are public domain (Korsakov's Principles or Orchestration, Berlioz's Treatise on Instrumentation, Tchaikovsky's Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony, etc.) as well as discover some other books too

[deckard1]

Yeah, you go probably google "book name pdf"

 

I just use imslp.org because they have just a huge resource of scores and books that are public domain (Korsakov's Principles or Orchestration, Berlioz's Treatise on Instrumentation, Tchaikovsky's Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony, etc.) as well as discover some other books too

 

That's awesome. I just picked up a used copy (for $3.95) of the following harmony book, an older edition:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0078025141/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-2&pf_rd_r=0XPCAB041Z0KE4CF6RZ4&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2118400682&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

Has anyone here heard of this book?

 

Thanks.

[angelonyc]

I took a free course at Coursera.org.. Writing 4 part harmony like Mozart.. There is a lot of material to cover.. and it really should be a 6 month course.. but it's free.. I didn't do that well with it.. But later on, I started applying what I did remember, and while not all of it is strickly 18th century harmony, it did prove quite useful..

 

If you google, you will find a few free courses online. The Contemporary Arranger is good.. If you got the money Berklee music online courses are quite good, but expensive... I've taken severa; song writing courses, and arranging there.. You get a fair amount of feedback from the students plus peer reviews, which are more valuable that you would first assume.. The Coursera courses get no feedback from teacher.. One of the songwriting courses by Pat Patterson, (brilliant man) had 65,000 students, you only get review from fellow students, so you grade is also dependent on their knowledge of material.. But it's free.. and there is absolutely no consequence of getting an A or F from the course.. it's what you learn.. good luck..

[deckard1]

I took a free course at Coursera.org.. Writing 4 part harmony like Mozart.. There is a lot of material to cover.. and it really should be a 6 month course.. but it's free.. I didn't do that well with it.. But later on, I started applying what I did remember, and while not all of it is strickly 18th century harmony, it did prove quite useful..

 

If you google, you will find a few free courses online. The Contemporary Arranger is good.. If you got the money Berklee music online courses are quite good, but expensive... I've taken severa; song writing courses, and arranging there.. You get a fair amount of feedback from the students plus peer reviews, which are more valuable that you would first assume.. The Coursera courses get no feedback from teacher.. One of the songwriting courses by Pat Patterson, (brilliant man) had 65,000 students, you only get review from fellow students, so you grade is also dependent on their knowledge of material.. But it's free.. and there is absolutely no consequence of getting an A or F from the course.. it's what you learn.. good luck..

 

Thanks! Will check it out.

[C4L88]

That's awesome. I just picked up a used copy (for $3.95) of the following harmony book, an older edition:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0078025141/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-2&pf_rd_r=0XPCAB041Z0KE4CF6RZ4&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2118400682&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

Has anyone here heard of this book?

 

Thanks.

 

$3.95!?!?!

That's the book we use in my Tonal harmony class at Berklee and it can cost up to $150+ (for new, used around $40)

 

$3.95 is a hell of a deal!

[deckard1]

That's awesome. I just picked up a used copy (for $3.95) of the following harmony book, an older edition:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0078025141/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-2&pf_rd_r=0XPCAB041Z0KE4CF6RZ4&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2118400682&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

Has anyone here heard of this book?

 

Thanks.

 

$3.95!?!?!

That's the book we use in my Tonal harmony class at Berklee and it can cost up to $150+ (for new, used around $40)

 

$3.95 is a hell of a deal!

 

It's an older edition which is why it is cheaper. Still a great deal though. Man, this book sure is dry!

[aleos]

As a teacher of harmony, I believe that the most beneficial route to go is to approach harmony, as mentioned in earlier posts, from a modern perspective. While some of the old classics, from Schoenberg, Tchaikovsky and other great masters packed full of knowledge, they often are very stylistically constrained. Berklee and other institutions that have a strong connection to jazz, approach harmony/theory in a much more open and useful way. That is clearly a subjective opinion, but I've witnessed it, as I taught at a university that was strictly classical, and while the students knew what a french augmented 6th chord was, and had heard of the "tristan chord" an could analyze a Bach partita, they couldn't write a basic jazz standard in the style of the 40's. Jazz theory (which of course stems from classical theory), by definition, is a more 'players' oriented approach to learning about harmony. Where classical theory/harmony, has often represented itself as an academic pursuit on its own.

I would recommend the publisher Advance music and their collection of books. http://www.advancemusic.com/shop/php/Proxy.php?purl=/am_e/Noten/1062554/4877418/index.html

 

I find their books to be excellently written and applicable, and inspiring.

Of course the basic, and classic Berklee Harmony books will suffice as well.

 

Good luck!

[MikeRobinson]

There's a lot of discussion of harmony and chord-substitution in Tunesmith, by Jimmy Webb. The middle-eight of that book really is a textbook. I've read it through about five times so far ... slowly.

 

- - - - -

 

And, as one music teacher emphasized to me: "always listen to what you are doing, first." Her opinion was that there are no rules, just great ideas. You can read books to pick up other ideas (that you might not have thought of ...) to try, and/or you can listen to music (classical, Beatles, whatever) and seek-out explanations of "how'd they do that?!" Both strategies are valid.

 

But, as she put it, "in order to really learn how to swim, you must get in the water, and stay in the water, and never come out of the water. You'll never learn how to swim by just reading books on how to do it. Your first guide should be: your ear."

[angelonyc]

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/

 

free jazz course and orchestration by Rimsky korsakov

[Atlas007]

Rules are utmost important! Breaking them is even more...

As mentioned in previous posts, knowing the different music styles/genres/eras harmony rules open up proportionally the opportunities to go beyond them. I see rules as ladder's steps, setting steadily foot on them to push one self further up.

[MikeRobinson]

One commentator that I've read referred to harmony as "musical weaving."  I found the thought to be interesting.

 

The point was that: if you look at a piece of music vertically, let's say across the duration of a single measure, then you can see how the individual notes form chords.  You can "spell" those chords, describing them as major, minor, augmented, diminished, with added 9ths and so-forth.  You can come up with all sorts of dreadful things for music students to memorize. 

 

But what becomes interesting is time.  As time passes, the chords morph into other chords.  But also, different instruments are doing different things at different rates.  As the music passes by, certain distinct sounds and progressions appear ... first here, and then there ... so that there's always something happening that the listener has recently heard before as well as other things that are new (or that they haven't heard in a longer while).

 

"Quite routinely," and(!) "quite significantly," the 'expected' resolution is shifted ... by "'merely' plus-or-minus" one mere eighth of a bar ... Or two.  (To frustrate music students, we call these things "suspensions" and lots of other nasty things that are sure to appear on the next exam...)  Even when a few instruments are playing more-or-less the same boring sequence of chords, they can "swap notes among themselves" ("inversions ..."), and perhaps vary the exact moment in time at which each one of them arrives ... perhaps intentionally arriving at a note that is a half-step "off," just to soon thereafter "slide into" the "right" note. ("Whew!")  And, so on.

 

Simple, no?  But: taken together and regarded as a whole (and, spread across multiple instruments ...), it becomes a complex, fairly-unpredictable, and yet recognizable pattern, all of which is regarded by the (blissfully un-initiated ...) listener as: "a whole."

 

They never know how the trick was done.  And, they never ask.

 

And this commentator's perspective was: "don't entirely de-construct the piece of cloth back into its individual threads in your zeal to 'understand' the thing." Instead, look at the fabric.  And, "look at the fabric while it is sitting on the floor (or on the person) where it was designed to be."