Harmony and Voice Leading

I agree with the positive comments in the reviews but no one has mentioned the feature of the book that I like the best...the table of keyboard progressions in the back of the book. The progressions increase in difficulty and they illustrate perfectly the concepts presented in the text. I am finding the best way to proceed is to play them, and once you have started getting them into your ears and fingers, analyze the details of their voice leading and turn back to the text for a theoretical explanation.

I agree with the positive comments in the reviews but no one has mentioned the feature of the book that I like the best...the table of keyboard progressions in the appendix. The progressions increase in difficulty and they illustrate perfectly the concepts presented in the text. The first progression, as you might expect, is I-V-I (all progressions are to be transposed to all 24 major and minor keys). Next are I6, V6 and VII6,and inversions of V7. On the latter, you are encouraged to create your own soprano lines. They progress through such things as 6/3 chord techniques, diatonic modulation, and chromatic voice-leading. Altogether there are 32 four-part exercises to work with, keyed to the units in the text. I am finding the best way to proceed is first to play them and once you have started getting them into your ears and fingers, analyze the details of their voice leading and turn back to the text for a theoretical explanation. Some approaches are said to be deficient in that they teach you not harmony, but the rules of harmony, but with Aldwell/Schachter's hands-on approach you are presumably learning harmony. The authors have been influenced by the ideas of Heinrich Schenker and this is probably why they put so much stress on the dominant-tonic relationship as fundamental in Western music. The book has really brought this fact home to me. For something completely different, try A New Approach to Keyboard Harmony

When I was a student at the University of Michigan School of Music in the late seventies and early eighties, we used the then brand new first edition of this book. I thought it was quite good then, and I believe this third edition to be an even better book. It treats the subjects of tonal harmony and voice leading quite well. There have been some solid improvements in the way a few things are explained and some changes in the musical examples. However, it is still fundamentally the same sound course for undergraduate music theory it has been since 1978. However, it now comes in one volume instead of the two volumes of the first edition. The text begins with a quick review of the basics of musical grammar, a brief introduction of the rudiments of musical notation, intervals, rhythm (and meter), chords, and four-part harmony. Part II talks about the powerful relationship between the tonic and dominant chords, chord progressions elaborating that relationship, and even the dominant as a key area (whether you call it tonicization or modulation is up to you). Part III discusses the implications of root position, first inversion, and second inversion chords in elaborating harmonies and in sequences. Part IV is actually about contrapuntal issues, but is framed in a discussion of melodic figuration. Part V introduces chromaticism, modal mixture, and extends the discussion on uses of seventh chords. Part VI extends the discussion of chromaticism and includes ninth and eleventh chords, Phrygian II (Neapolitan chords), augmented sixths, and more types of mixture. There is also important discussion of the implications all this has for voice leading and modulation to other key areas. Some might wish that it contained some treatments of graphical (Schenkerian notation), and I am one of them, but that is a quibble compared to this book's many strengths. The counter argument is that until the students really have a handle on the basics of harmony and how voice leading is handled through the music of the early twentieth century, there really isn't a way for them to grasp the meaning of the larger structures Schenker's graphical notation was created to represent. I think that is a fair point, but still think there are some basics in notation that could be introduced early in the process when talking about the basic structure of melodies and supporting harmonies and candential formulas. The explanations are clear and the musical examples apt. In fact, someone could actually work through this book on his own and grasp what is being presented. Of course, an instructor is helpful to check work and explain things that remain unclear in the student's mind, but that is really true for any book on any subject. There are some wonderful materials to supplement this text. The most important are the two work books (WB I - ISBN 0-15-506226-3 / WB II - ISBN 0-15-506234-4. They are useful exercises that help the student learn the material by actively workin

This book is outstanding! I was a beginning student, and this book really really helped! I would recomend this to anyone who wants to study theory! The only catch is that this book explains things so completly, that if you are a total beginner, and have no instruction, it can be a bit confusing! But treat it like the bible or somthing else that you would read small portions at a time and re-read alot! I belive that once you understand the concepts, that this book explains things very well, in an extremly coherant manner...the only drawback being that if you are a bit confused, reading further doesnt end your confusion, just brings more stuff to the table! Buy this book and take a class or get an instructor or tutor!!!! THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE FOR ANYONE THAT IS SERIOUS ABOUT LEARNING BASIC THEORY!!!!!!