Re: Harmony Books - Wich one?

Berry Kercheval ( kerch@parc.xerox.com )
Mon, 7 Jul 1997 09:36:34 PDT

>>>muchan said:
> my teacher of music, who was
> actually the avangardest jazz musician, recomended me to read
> Arnold Shoenberg's book on harmonical theory.

If we can recommend "legit" harmony books (I actually dislike that
term; jazz is just as legitimate a musical genre as fugues and sonatas)
then I'll chime in with a recommendation for Walter Piston's "Harmony".
I used it in college and it was dense but thorough, and packed with
examples. It will certainly give a dedicated reader a good grounding in
harmony basics: tonal centers, dominants, modulation, extended chords
and the like.

I don't think my edition even mentions the word "jazz"
anywhere, so I had remained quiet, but it covers traditional Western
common-practice harmony from well before Bach to well after Stravinsky.
Berry-bob sez check it out.

--berry

Berry Kercheval :: kerch@parc.xerox.com :: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center