Recommendation Request

We would appreciate reader recommendations for a relatively complete text on standard (tonal) music theory (harmony and counterpoint) suitable for a college-age student whose total music-theory knowledge is how to read the F and G clefs (he took piano lessons as a kid). For this purpose, we’ll open the comments section of this post. Those who, for whatever reason, would rather not make their recommendation publicly are encouraged to forward it via eMail. All recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks.

Comments

[Miss Mussel]

I'd recommend the Royal Conservatory of Music Theory Series available here.

Rudiments is a good place to start/review and then he can move on to Harmony and Counterpoint. The advantage of going through the Conservatory is that he can take exams if he wishes to test how well he has learned the material. The RCM also offers a practical theory assessment that is a sort of exam lite, if I remember correctly.

But...all the is book advice aside...it's best to get a teacher who will help explain things in a way that makes sense to the person in question. Otherwise, he will more than likely get frustrated at the seemingly arcane rule of voice leading/counterpoint etc.

Hope that helps.

[Miss Mussel]

Oh...I see html isn't operational. The links I was referring to were http://www.frederickharrismusic.com/fhmcCN/Frederick.jsp for the rudiments book and http://www.rcmexaminations.org/ for the practice assignments.

[Gabor]

Generally speaking, counterpoint and harmony are treated as two subjects, with their own textbooks.

Leo Kraft's _Gradus_ is the only current book which tries to integrate both subjects. It's probably well-suited for self-instruction. Aldwell and Schachter's _Harmony and Voice Leading_ is the leading high-level harmony textbook. It has a heavily Schenkerian standpoint (Kraft has a rather more moderate Schekerian point of view) with knowledge of modal counterpoint assumed, and might be used in conjunction with Fux's classic _Gradus ad Parnassum_ (translated as The Study of Counterpoint), or the Jeppenson counterpoint book, or -- if you can read German -- de la Motte's _Kontrapunkte_, unorthodox but superb.

[Matthew]

A favorite of mine is Marjorie Merryman's "The Music Theory Handbook" (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1&ean=9780155026629), a succinct overview of the standard terminology and techniques one would encounter in most undergraduate theory sequences. Explains everything clearly and without fuss—notation, scales, triads, Roman numeral analysis, species counterpoint, fugal answers, etc.

I should add my own caveat to Gabor's recommendation of Aldwell and Schachter—I like the book for their promiscuous use of musical examples, but they're wedded to some unstandard terminology (particularly with second-inversion triads) that, however logical in their scheme, nonetheless requires translation into the possibly flawed but ubiquitous scheme everybody else uses. (One of the institutions I teach at abandoned it in favor of Kostka and Payne, in large part because of this.) A good supplemental resource, however. And I'll second the Jeppesen counterpoint book, still solid after all these years.

[A.C. Douglas]

Thank you all for your thoughts and recommendations. Much appreciated.

From what I can glean from the descriptions here and on Amazon, it looks like the best bet for this young student would be Leo Kraft's _Gradus_. From its Table of Contents is seems a good introductory survey of music theory from which platform, if he's interested enough, the student can dive into more in-depth works on the subject.

Thanks again for your thoughts and recommendations.

ACD

[Lisa Hirsch]

I learned species counterpoint a century or so back from Salzer & Schachter's book, but then I went to a school with a very traditional sequence. (I was acquainted with Marjorie Merryman there, and weirdly mentioned her last night to a fellow blogger because Marjorie was the first woman composer I ever met.)

I agree with the suggestion that a teacher or class makes it a whole lot easier to learn this stuff!

[Scott Spiegelberg]

The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis by Clendenning and Marvin is more contemporary than Gradus, includes counterpoint and harmony, and has accompanying CDs along with an anthology (Gradus also has an anthology, but no recordings). That said, Gradus was my favorite reviewed textbook when I took Theory Pedagogy in grad school.

[Sarah Cahill]

A friend who teaches music theory gave me Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne. I would highly recommend it: it's very clearly written, moves at a reasonable pace, has good exercises to check your progress, and goes as far as Messiaen, Steve Reich, and composers of our day. It's rare to find such a well-written textbook.