Customer Reviews

Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony (Dover Books on Music)

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I bought this book on the strength of the authors name. It's a shame that his writing is not as strong as his music. Even for the period in which it was written, it is hard to read and much concentration required to ingest the information. That said, the information is there and goes from the basic intervals to complex chord structures, but most experienced composers/musicians would start reading at about two third into the book.

This is an interesting book, more interesting for giving an insight into the great Mr Tchaikovsky than studying harmony and for that I would buy it again. In my opinion, there are far better books on the subject.

A W.Roberts. (Composer)

At 137 pages this is a very slim book, especially given the breadth and depth of topics covered.

Each section has a very brief introduction - typically just a few clear sentences, followed by brief musical examples - often just a handful of bars. The example are usually in the key of C, which makes it usable even by the beginning music reader.

The book starts at the beginning - intervals, chord construction as stacked thirds (making no mention of the overtone series or the ratios so prevalent in other musical treatise of the time - clearly this book is meant for use with a teacher, or sitting at piano, or with other supplemental works). It works its way through various concepts such as extended chords, tritones, modulation, and so forth - 34 sections in all, ending appropriately with cadences. Each section flows logically from the previous one & builds on it.

It's hard to find fault with this compact volume.

Its brevity makes it great as a reference - stuck on a particular point? just look it up in the table of contents (though it is difficult to track down some things like plagal cadences). There you'll find a brief summary & musical example. What more could you want in a reference?

It's clarity, I presume, would make it great as a teaching tool. A true beginner who used this book exclusively may not gain a real solid understanding of traditional harmony through a single go-through (which one could do fairly quickly with just a modicum of ability to read music) simply because it is so brief & so little time is spent on each topic. But if they stuck with it & worked through the book a few times, I think things would begin to gel in their mind. Certainly this is a much simpler & clearer introduction than Hindemith's deservedly revered volumes, or the tremendously heavy Piston tome.

I picked this book up a month ago & already it's the music volume I reference the most.

This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand harmony in theory or to just develop beter skills in composing harmonies. I also recommend The Study of Counterpoint by Alfred Mann for anyone who just want to understand how to write music in general, it's a big help. So both books should be used to improve writing skills and to just understand music.

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, wrote this book after his professorship at the Imperial Conservatory of Moscow in 1900. Tchaikovsky is one of the most influential composers and orchestrators of symphonic music ever. Here in his Guide To The Practical Study of Harmony" he gives us all a glimpse into his vast knowledge of harmony as a process. He has taken his watch apart for us all to see how it works. We all may not desire to see how a watch works. After reading this book you will at least know why a watch works as it does.

He understood the importance of translating emotion through intense musical performance. His "Tutti" sections for orchestra will always be the clarion call to our senses. My ear will never tire of anticipating what emotion will come next as each section of the orchestra is featured. Tchaikovsky understood the full potential of writing for the orchestra. His voicing techniques are deliberate. What you hear is what was intended.

As a composer it is clear Tchaikovsky wrote to arouse. Like all great artist in both art and music, his music was purposeful and provocative. This treatise is a wonderful look behind his scores. Not a look into why he wrote the right notes. But how he wrote the "right" notes. Tchaikovsky's orchestrations are true scoring genius. Brilliant instrumental combinations. Each featured and woven together into a colorful orchestral tapestry. Tchaikovsky saw the orchestra as a colorful garden of beauty and sound. This book gives insight into how he harvested his garden to create an everlasting orchestral bouquet. A bouquet we all get to enjoy. If you are studying composition and orchestration you must read this book.

This is not a book for learning harmony the first time, for the following reasons: 1) tonal harmony has evolved a lot since Tschaikowsky's time, let aside atonal harmony; 2) how to teach harmony too. When I purchased this book, I was conscious that that was for historical reasons only, and possibly to know some secrets Tschaikowsky would give us. But he doen't give nothing new, and writes a book far from being didactical. It's most like a technical manual than a didactical compendium. Very terse, very concise, for music majors, musicologists, or music historians.

Much better, in the same category, is "Practical Manual of Harmony", by another great Russian, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, available here at amazon.com.

A very good book.
I think it is one of the most important books to learn more about Harmony

so far i have been very pleased with the efficiency with which the product has arrived and the easiness with which i could buy these books.