Grex Classicalmusic Conference

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Grex Classicalmusic Item 19: Lessons on harmony?
Entered by myla on Tue Dec 23 18:19:57 UTC 1997:

Hi all, I'm a new guy jhere(at m-net i mean) and i was thrilled to see this
conference. for a long time I have been looking for lessons on harmony. i'm
a totally self-taught musician and i think it's time i learnt something
formal. anyone know of any good sites on the net, where i can pick lessons
on harmony? Thanks a lot for all those who took time off to reply...

9 responses total.

#1 of 9 by srw on Wed Dec 24 08:10:33 1997:

Hmm, well this is Grex, not M-net. I did some advanced web-searching, and all
I could find was some book reviews. Apparently there are a lot of good books
on Music theory and harmony, but nothing evident on the web.

that's weird, because just about everything is somewhere on the web.

#2 of 9 by md on Wed Dec 24 15:24:25 1997:

Walter Piston's textbook on harmony is great.  The best thing you
can do to start is give yourself some ear training.  Get some
blank music paper, a pencil, and the key signature of a Bach
chorale; then have someone play the first stave of the chorale for 
you on the piano a couple of times, while you write the notes you
hear down on the music paper.  No fair peeking at the score until 
you're all done.  You and your friend can trade off.  As you start
getting it right, move on to more complex music.  There might be
software that includes ear training, but I've never seen it, and
I doubt if there's much useful on the web.

#3 of 9 by remmers on Thu Dec 25 02:10:50 1997:

Goodness, I haven't thought about Piston's harmony book in
years. It was the textbook when I took harmony back in college.
I might still have it somewhere...

#4 of 9 by md on Thu Dec 25 02:37:54 1997:

Was Piston teaching at Harvard when you were there, John?

#5 of 9 by md on Thu Dec 25 02:40:07 1997:

NO PARALLEL FIFTHS!!!

#6 of 9 by remmers on Thu Dec 25 11:04:52 1997:

I don't believe he was.

Parallel fourths were also a no-no, as were direct fifths.

#7 of 9 by davel on Sun Dec 28 01:07:53 1997:

I think I won't recount my experience with parallel fifths ...

#8 of 9 by faile on Wed Jan 7 00:52:06 1998:

<jessi raises an eyebrow at that last comment>
Piston just got his rules from Bach, but of course, Bach broke his own rules
shamelessly.  there is a decent first year theory book by Kostka and Payne.
It covers tonal harmony and has an intorduction ot 20th century stuff... more
from me later....

#9 of 9 by bunn on Thu May 7 14:31:33 1998:

still looking for some on-line music instruction? try:

http://orathost.cfa.ilstu.edu/~kwfansle/onlinemusicpage.htm

(out of Illinois State Univ.)

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