KVR Audio

hao nao · Post by **hao nao** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 3:36 pm

I'm looking for some pithy (or should I say succinct

) books on modern harmony

jazz plus satie, debussy, scriabin, Steely Dan, etc.

not too much white space or sheet music

I'm really looking for books with technical descriptions, e.g. the intervals used in their chords, scales used, their chord progressions or successions, etc.

so far I'm thinking of something like Norton's textbook on 20th Century Music plus Mark Levine's "Jazz Piano Book" (and maybe his "Jazz Book" if there is not too much overlap)

thanks for any suggestions

Kevin

Paul Gregor · Post by **Paul Gregor** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 3:39 pm

Dunno about books, but one thing I can tell ya:

ALWAYS bring that 9th !!

cobalt · Post by **cobalt** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:07 pm

I thought I had a book by composer Arnold Schoenberg about harmony, but I can't seem to find it (if I recall correctly, this was more of a textbook than about twelve tone composition or anything specific like that).

Also, composer Walter Piston wrote a number of textbooks: Counterpoint, Harmony, Principles of Harmonic Analysis, and Orchestration. In general, his books are highly praised but some find them too difficult. Of all his books I own only Counterpoint. It has a lot of musical examples excerpted from a variety of classical composers, but also a lot of explanatory text. They're also available used for pretty cheap. Piston was definitely a modern sounding composer, but I don't know how far historically the books go. The counterpoint book uses most examples from Bach, Mozart, and Haydn (makes sense for a text), so it's possible his harmony book is also "classical" and not particularly modern.

Given the time these books were written, I don't think they cover Scriabin or Steely Dan. You may have to write that one.

GrooveMonkee · Post by **GrooveMonkee** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:32 pm

hi,

You might want to check out 'Contemporary Music Theory' Level Two and Three by Mark Harrison (Hal Leonard)

www.harrisonmusic.com

Level II (ISBN 0-7935-9882-6)

Chpt 1 - Review of Level I
Chpt 2 - Five Part Chords and II-V-I in major keys
Chpt 3 - Plural substitute chords and harmonic analysis in major keys
Chpt 4 – Five part chords and II–V–I in minor keys
Chpt 5 – Plural subs in minor
Chpt 6 – Voiceleading of triads and four-part chords
Chpt 7 – Chords using triad ‘upper structures’
Chpt 8 - Chords using four-part ‘upper structures’
Chpt 9 – Pentatonic and blues scales and their applications

Level III (ISBN 0-634-03736-6)

Chpt 1 - Review of Level I
Chpt 2 - Review of Level II
Chpt 3 – The contemporary shape concept
Chpt 4 – Major Chords
Chpt 5 – Minor 7th Chords
Chpt 6 – Minor 7th with flatted 5ths
Chpt 7 – Minor 6th and minor major 7th chords
Chpt 8 - Unaltered Dominant 7th chords
Chpt 9 – Dominant 7ths (altered)
Chpt 10 – Dominant 7th (flatted/sharped 9ths)
Chpt 11 – Dominant 7th (w/ sharped 5th/flatted 13ths)
Chpt 12 – Diminished 7th

Overall, they are very well done and relatively easy to understand. Chpt 3 of level III is almost 40 pages and covers triads, block shapes, 4th cluster shapes, double 4th shapes, etc.

They also have a book called the ‘Pop Piano Book’

Lots to keep ya busy

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:13 pm

i built an ensemble in se that switches chords w/ buttons. handy way of flicking thru them and making your own discernments.

(don't have it anymore.. kept building

might take a break and do a midi plug - 2 octaves control root note, 1 octave to select chord type, 1 for inversions, 1 for gating.. but probably not.

got another one that generates random chords.. it's a helluva listen. leave it on for 2 weeks and see what it does to your compositional sensibilities (if you dare apply an evolutionary catalyst to your mentality, very risky and fringe concept, i realise

since civilised intellect is pristine and shouldn't undergo any redaction w/o proper clearance et al.)

lalo · Post by **lalo** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:23 pm

Hi!

"20th century harmony" by Vincent Persichetti

Very comprensive text on contemporary (well 20th century

) harmony techniques...it requires a good knowledge of the classical stuff..so if you are not ready..i suggest you before "Harmony" by Walter Piston

good studying..

lalo

PaintedBlue · Post by **PaintedBlue** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:31 pm

I second the Mark Harrison books. They should do the job for you.

hao nao · Post by **hao nao** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:39 am

thank you all for the tips!

books on modern harmony?