Customer Reviews

The Practice of Harmony (4th Edition)

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I'm not as enthusiastic as the previous reviewer. I have taught music theory at all levels for 17 years, and while there is good material in Spencer's The Practice of Harmony, there is much that seems downright peculiar. If your theory professor assigns this book, of course you've got to use it; otherwise, much of the material is presented more clearly in other sources. The problems are twofold: reliance on standard theoretical concepts divorced from practice or context, and Spencer's attempt to either explain concepts in new ways or offer shortcuts in learning or remembering the concepts--it's a laudable effort, to be sure, but one which leads him astray.

Take, for example, this wonderfully abstruse line from his "Suggestions and Strategies" for learning triad quality: "If the root of a triad is natural and the fifth is flat, or if the root is sharp and the fifth is natural, or if the fifth is double-flat, the triad is diminished." (p. 69) All that may well be true, but if you've memorised that and still can't tell that the third of the chord is minor and the fifth is diminished, you have no recognition of what a diminished triad IS. There's quite a difference between naming and understanding, and Spencer ignores this.

Another and much more significant problem occurs with Spencer's explanation of the minor. Frankly, he doesn't seem to understand that there is not a "harmonic minor key" or a "natural minor key"--he does not use the terms, but in the section "Triads in Major and Minor Keys" (p. 68) he shows the triads first on C major, then on A minor (natural), a minor (harmonic), and a minor (melodic)--ascending only. Now, while there are SCALES in these various forms of the minor, they represent quite different things from the triads that are found in most common practice period music. Even triads built on the harmonic minor scale, with a triad of III+ (augmented) do not reflect the actual triads in most music--III is much more commonly found in the music as a major triad than as an augmented one, regardless of the theory. Minor is a complex situation, not easily explained; but a piece is in a minor mode which uses the various forms of minor--melodic for the melodies (mostly), harmonic for the harmonies (mostly, except III), and in Classical music, almost never natural--purely a theoretical construct because of the key signature linkage with the relative major. Natural minor in Classical music occurs as the descending form of the melodic minor. The real problem is that the minor scales are all theoretical constructs and not reflective of the music--the issue is how to handle scale degrees 6 and 7. To solve this, rather than address it directly, Spencer introduces yet another theoretical construct, the 'synthetic' minor scale, made up of a combination of all the other forms together. It's an appalling idea, one I've never seen elsewhere, and totally without context. Spencer would have been better served by introducing the minor mode in its own chapter, rather than trying to tack it on as an appendage to the major mode.

Lack of context lies at the heart of Spencer's approach, and to be fair this is true of far too many theory books. Instead of discussing the basis of functional harmony in the Classical Period, for example, we get the same tired "Primary Triads in Root Position". I'm of the firm belief that discussion function of chords--Dominant preparation for ii and IV, Dominant function for V and vii, Tonic for I and Tonic substitute for vi in major--is much more useful than listing all the "rules" of doublings, etc. Similarly, cadence types are named, but the functions of the various types are not described.

All in all, Spencer's approach in The Practice of Harmony is an odd combination of pretty standard pedantic theory and new, sometimes confusing approaches. Theory is really nothing by itself; without a musical context it is meaningless. Yet Spencer never attempts to provide such a context; indeed, he uses not a single example from actual music literature. You are better served elsewhere.

As a teacher, I prefer books that have a maximum number of exercises and a minimum number of examples and text. This book has as many exercises as humanly possible so students can have maximum reinforcement of concepts learned, and examples in this book are minimal, so it's perfect for me. I prefer to use my own examples and hate being forced to use whatever the favorite example is of the textbook author. Think of the book as a big workbook with explanations that are as brief as possible. Exactly the way I like it! My students all love the book. I suppose they'd hate it if the one teaching them didn't know what they were doing or had a hard time coming up with their own examples/explanations when questions come up.

I don't believe that it's possible to divorce "theory" from "real life music". If a student can recognize an augmented fourth in the context of a theory textbook, then they can recognize the same interval in the context of a piece of music. Our local music teachers association has a theory test each year, and every year my students and I laugh at the "analysis" section of the test: after the students get done answering 50 questions proving their knowledge of scales, chords, intervals, etc. removed from musical context, they have to do the same thing (another 10 questions) in the context of a piece of music (identify the circled interval in measure 6, identify the inversion of the chord in measure 7, etc.). Never is there a case when a student who understands concepts "divorced" of music cannot understand the same thing in the context of music.

Readers don't have to worry about reading 15 pages of text to understand one concept. The book always gets straight to the point. The pages in this book are well-spent focusing on pages and pages of exercises rather than examples.

I am a mathemaician!! and I am studying this book along with two other books ( the shaping of music by Russel and Elementary harmony by Ottman) to hopefully write music!!

This book as the other reviewer said doesn't have exmples from literature but at the end of each chapter as exercises it referes you to designated pages from three other books that contain examples in literature. Here I should say the book covers the material in a rather easy language much easier! somehow more clear than other two books that I am reading!

In the book (page 261) says that borrowed chords are nearly always appear in the major key! while obviosly, in minor keys the chords: I ( picardy third) and ii, IV ( in melodic minor when 6 is raised) are not unusual.

I guess we have still a long way to see a good book in harmony. something real practical. But for now, i guess if you want to learn harmony by yourself you should read maybe several books!!

This book was needed for my daughters college class it was sent to where she is going to college , when finally recieved she was so dissappointed because the first 10 pages where missing and her home work consisted of those pages. There were blood stains or someting that looked like blood stains, and the wrong answers were written on the pages . So she ordered the new book and we ended up paying for two books !!!

My son is a music major and this book has been helpful so many times. Great theory practice book.

It is an excellent book of harmony.It has a great number of exercices.The only thing that i got worried about was the very FEW examples concerning the contents of the book, but if you read carefully you will understand what the author wanted to say!But i still wish the author included more examples of the contents , mainly about the Four-part writing. Anyway, i really enjoyed the book and i am learning a lot from it!

I am disappointed with this product because the book is written in with half of the exercises already completed, the cover was dirty, and there are stains on pages through out the book. From the seller's description I was expecting a book in better condition.