Introduction to the Book II
A Feeling for Harmony is a three volume work written to coincide with the three-semester music theory program at Earlham College. It covers Western music theory from the earliest beginnings in ancient Indo-European philosophy through the study of common practice tonality and into the major trends of the 20th and 21st centuries. While rooted in the so-called “Classical” tradition of Europe and America, it also embraces the world of jazz, blues and rock whenever possible.
Volume II: Common Practice Harmony and Contemporary Parallels covers all the essential materials that are covered in virtually all undergraduate college music courses. It seeks to enliven this knowledge by drawing parallels to contemporary practice—such as jazz writing, film music and modern harmonic thought—whenever possible,while also touching areas of philosophical and aestheric inquiry.
Table of Contents
**IN PROGRESS 5 January 2011**
Chapter 1 The Modal/Tonal Dichotomy
1A
Review of the principles of modal writing
1B Comparison with tonal thinking
1C Review of chords and chord progressions
Chapter 2 Basic Tonality: Stock Basses and Figured Bases
2A Composing over
a stock bass
2B Composing over a figured
bass
2C Comparing figured bass with
jazz charts
Chapter 3 Fundamentals of four-part tonal writing
I
3A Chord Voicing and
Doubling
3B Composing with common-tone
connections
3C Composing using
the lattice of tones
Chapter 4: Learning from the Master: The
Bach Chorales
4A Tonal Chorales
4B Modal Chorales
4C Melody Harmonization
4D The Sequence
Chapter 5: Fundamentals of four-part tonal writing II
5A Principles of Voice
Leading I — Dominant and Diminished Sevenths
5B Principles of Voice Leading II
5C Embellishing Tones
5D Composing for Choir
Chapter 6: Chromatic Harmony
6A Review of Polarity
Chord Relationships
6B The Neopolitan Sixth Chord ("The
Phrygian Sixth")
6C The Augmented Sixth chords
6D MixtureChords and Mediant Relationships
6E Harmonic Polarity in Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata
6F Chromaticism in Chopin's Preludes
Chapter 7: Modulation
7A Modulation 1
7B Modulation 2— basic formulae
7C Modulation 3— to more remote keys
Chapter 8: Inventions and Fugue
8A Essential information from Bach Inventions
8B The Bach Fugue: Form and
Analysis
8C Composing a Fugue Exposition
Chapter 9: Classical Phrase Structure and Form
9A Rounded Binary and Sonata Form
9B The Haydn Minuet
9C Composing in the style of a Haydn Minuet
Chapter 10: Large Scale Forms
11A Bach Cantata
11B Viennese Symphony and Sonata
11C Opera: The Marriage of Figaro
Chapter 11: Introduction to Romantic Harmony
12A Schubert Lieder
12B Romantic Harmony and Film Music
Chapter 12: The Language of Music
12A Deryk Cooke's "The Language of Music"
12B Composing according to a shared language
Chapter 13: Introduction to Musical Aesthetics
13A Historical Survey
13A Langer
13B Kivey