Music theory must-read books?

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DeathKnell

New member
Hi there, this seemed like the best forum to shove this in.

I'm looking for some suggestions for some must have books related to music theory.

I'm specifically looking for books that go above and beyond the same old major theory & cliche progressions, and delve into how resolutions and such actually work.. so it's not so much a game of memorization as much as it is developing a proper understanding.

Some stuff to really expand upon the theory websites i've stumbled accross on the internet. I feel as if i've hit a brick wall.. can't really find all that much on minor scale theory.

I don't mind if the books touch on diatonic theory and chord construction etc. I'm just wondering what essentials someone interested in theory should have on the shelf :)

thanks a bunch

edit: ok i've been reading wikipedia for the last 4 hours :D I think i'm battling with the concept of dissonance, as i don't believe anything is truly dissonant anyway. So i'm kind of throwing that stuff into the wind.

The real topics i'm now interested in are Harmonic Rhythm, Leading Tones, and Modulation between keys. Although I have a feeling Lead Tones might touch on the whole world of counterpoint/dissonance and that other stuff which i'm kind of skeptical about now :( I'm a schoenberg groupie..
 
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Thus far I think i'm gonna pick up some used copies of Elie Siegmeister's "Harmony and Melody Vol. 1 & 2" and Allen Forte's "Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice"
 
DeathKnell said:
Thus far I think i'm gonna pick up some used copies of Elie Siegmeister's "Harmony and Melody Vol. 1 & 2" and Allen Forte's "Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice"
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I think I used the Siegmeister books back in the mid 70's. I imagine they must still be relevant if they're still being published.

I don't think there's anything tricky about dissonance. If you like it, that shouldn't negate the fact that something is dissonant. But it does lead to, um, interesting discussion. For example, would an intelligent alien lifeform find the perfect 5th or major 3rd interval as pleasing as we humans do? Or would they deem them dissonant?
 
Well, the facts and information haven't changed, so anything that you read will differ only in presentation, which may make some books easier to digest.
Once you have a grasp of the fundemental principles, move on to "Jazz" theory, which will cover so-called "modern" harmony, tension, leading tones ,resolution , polychords etc. the next step, which you may be already at, since you dig Schoenberg, is to throw out everything you've learned and write whatever sounds good to you. Another good place to spend some time is to study the songs of guys like Cole Porter, Sammy Kahn, Rogers&Hammerstein and the like. There's no better source of good examples of how to spin a melody or lyric and to harmonize in such a way as to help set the scene, mood, whatever.

writeonnnnnn

chazba
 
EddieRay said:
I think I used the Siegmeister books back in the mid 70's. I imagine they must still be relevant if they're still being published.

I don't think there's anything tricky about dissonance. If you like it, that shouldn't negate the fact that something is dissonant. But it does lead to, um, interesting discussion. For example, would an intelligent alien lifeform find the perfect 5th or major 3rd interval as pleasing as we humans do? Or would they deem them dissonant?
Click to expand...

I think if they had any intelligence they'd know to avoid a good majority of human music :D

I guess it's ultimately upto the individual, but sometimes i find myself utterly sickened by the boring nature of these rules in place, which have slowly been shelved anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonance_and_dissonance

scroll down to "The objective basis of dissonance" with its audio samples. maybe i'm a weirdo, but that's the sort of thing i like to hear in a song.

I don't think Siegmeister is still being published, but by the looks of it, it seemed to aim at what i'm looking for.

I've been researching Harmonic Rhythm theory, and it seems to be a rather new field. Although i might add Harmonic Rhythm : Analysis and Interpretation by Joseph P. Swain to the shopping list, along with Emotion and Meaning in Music by Leonard Meyer.

I'm feeling a starvation for indepth music knowledge of late :( I might even get up the gusto to try fathom the 12 tone technique (it eludes me, everytime i read about)
 
chazba said:
Well, the facts and information haven't changed, so anything that you read will differ only in presentation, which may make some books easier to digest.
Once you have a grasp of the fundemental principles, move on to "Jazz" theory, which will cover so-called "modern" harmony, tension, leading tones ,resolution , polychords etc. the next step, which you may be already at, since you dig Schoenberg, is to throw out everything you've learned and write whatever sounds good to you. Another good place to spend some time is to study the songs of guys like Cole Porter, Sammy Kahn, Rogers&Hammerstein and the like. There's no better source of good examples of how to spin a melody or lyric and to harmonize in such a way as to help set the scene, mood, whatever.

writeonnnnnn

chazba
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice, Jazz always has interested me from afar. Miles Davis was a TRUE musician. You know i really bogged myself down a year or so ago with theory, then i went over all the bizarre electronic music i made when i couldn't even tell you where the C key was on a piano, and found some stuff that was just brilliantly alienesque and free from.. well everything (the tone clusters would probably make most people vomit :D ). It's kind of weird to want to have all this knowledge, yet at the same time disregard it totally. Still it'd be arrogant to just shit on several thousand years of other people's findings without giving it a good hard look.

I stood in the shower lastnight wondering too myself if Music Theory was just a pseudoscience..

I really need to get laid or have something better to do with my time :eek:
 
EddieRay said:
For example, would an intelligent alien lifeform find the perfect 5th or major 3rd interval as pleasing as we humans do? Or would they deem them dissonant?
Click to expand...

Good point. The tempered Western scale is a relatively recent development. I always wanted to make a guitar type instrument based on the Pythagorean scale - take the frequency of a note, halve it, place a fret there. Halve that, another fret there. Halve that, etc...

It's all based on proportion and ratios. But it would sound 'off' to us.

Another cool thing to do might be a micro-tonal (quarter tone?) guitar.

Sorry, just thinking out loud here.
 
Elementary Rudiments of Music is a good all around music theory book....
 

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you absolutly have to read "Contemporary Music Theory" level one by Mark Harrison. it goes into great depth about everything from triads and circle of fifths all the way to scales and key signatures. it is really easy to read and understand, but very detailed. i would say it is definitly a must read!!!
 
Musical theory is something i cannot take in, i've bought books, tried to learn listened to others. I just don't understand it. I've played songs to classically trained people nad they've commented that the vocal line is not following the music or this chord should go here and then go here. Others less theoretical have enjoyed what i write, (which is what i aim for) I'd love to be able to read music etc, i just can't remember it, i used a software program for a little less than a month which was used to try and learn the treble staff, i was still reciting "F-A-C-E" in the end. It was something that really annoyed me, and mabye stunted me. But now i know what is best for me is to recreate what i hear in my head instead of writing from theory. I probably would take less time in writing if i knew theory as it would help when changing music from the mental state to the physically recorded state. What i'm trying to say is that if you do have a lot of trouble understanding it, it's not necissary but don't give up easily. I'm quite willing to post a thread that may or may not make me out to be a complete idiot to some people. But it can be quite daunting and can be a misleading path to take.
 
G'day

This book is not just on music theory but as a practical book on songwriting, I found Jimmy Webb's "Tunesmith" really informative, the best I've come across.
 
i thought tunesmith was too difficult for a beginner.

My recommendation is borne in a specific genre but the lessons within have tought me much that I apply to all types of music.

Jazz Harmony by Andy Jaffe.
 
one month later

Siegmeister's Harmony & Melody in two vols finally turned up.

I'm only a chapter into it and very impressed. (as soon as the schoenberg namedropping began i was sold :( )

it's incredibly readible and the examples given aren't over-embellishing.. book isn't in too bad shape considering it's pushing 40 years either..

the focus on melodic theory is much more grassroot level and relevent than all the other theory i've read focussing only for brief segments on the nature of melody and intervals.

and it definitely doesn't read like a text book.. i'm pleased, it's probably just as relevant if not more compared to the modern books.
 
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