Old-school Harmony Book

[daveze]

I don't normally frequent the General Instruction pages but I remember someone long ago mentioned a book that I interpreted as being the fundamental of harmony theory.

Problem is that I have no idea what it is and a search a great multitude of results.

I think a majority of the problem is that its title is in German (as is the original text) but there's english translations.

I'm aware of better/cheaper ways to learn theory/harmony but its for my Dad's birthday, so it'll double as sentimental value.

Any help would be super appreciated.

Josh D

[lemur821]

Piston is pretty canonical, but not German. Maybe you want Schenker.

[BassChuck]

Originally Posted by lemur821

Piston is pretty canonical, but not German. Maybe you want Schenker.

Piston is a great book for knowledge, but its pretty rough sleding for self instruction. Schenker is fantastic in his approach and understanding, but for basic 'old school' style of learning, its a little off the beaten path.

The German title you might be thinking of is Harmonileire (my
German spelling isn't the greatest) by Scoenberg, but again, that will be a fairly specialized look at music.

You might check out, if you can find it, theory books by Alan J. McHose... written in the 1920's and very heavily influenced by Bach's harmonies... which all old school books are. Also check out books by Ottman, and Kent Kennan.

If you're just looking for basic theory information however, there are lots of really good books out there. The "...for Dummies" and "... for Idiots" books might be all you need. Mel Bay has a lot of good information in print as does Jamie Aebersole.

[Stumpy]

Originally Posted by daveze

I don't normally frequent the General Instruction pages but I remember someone long ago mentioned a book that I interpreted as being the fundamental of harmony theory.

Problem is that I have no idea what it is and a search a great multitude of results.

I think a majority of the problem is that its title is in German (as is the original text) but there's english translations.

I'm aware of better/cheaper ways to learn theory/harmony but its for my Dad's birthday, so it'll double as sentimental value.

Any help would be super appreciated.

Josh D

I think that the Bruce Benward books are good for working by yourself. The Kostka series is great and comes with a CD so you can hear what the text is trying to help you with. On the Jazz side (wait until you get the basics down) the Mark Levine Jazz Theory book is great.

[daveze]

It was Harmonielehre that I was thinking of.

But I'm going to go with Stumpy's second recommendation and get him Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book, Harmonielehre might be a bit much for him.

Cheers.

[Correlli]

this book is about as old school you could possible get.

- Treatise on Harmony by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1722)

and there's the not so old school.

- Harmony and Voice Leading (3rd Edition) Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by daveze

It was Harmonielehre that I was thinking of.

But I'm going to go with Stumpy's second recommendation and get him Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book, Harmonielehre might be a bit much for him.

Cheers.

+1 The Jazz Theory book is great.

I recently bought a used copy of Piston (4th edition $3 in great shape) since I remember using it way back in my college days, but unless you really plan to write classical or orchestral music I would go with the Levine book. Studying Jazz Theory relates to modern music that our ears are more acustom to hearing.

Also Berklee Press has some books out on Reharmonization, Jazz Composition that are pretty good.