Tonal Harmony
Tonal Harmony, written by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne, is a key text in musical theory that clearly and structured the concepts of tonal harmony, from the basics to more complex ideas. It includes practical exercises, analysis of scores and a historical approach that enriches learning, making it a resource widely used in music and universities schools. In addition, it usually offers complementary material, such as study guides and online resources, which reinforce the concepts treated.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
2mentions
2people
2019–2024years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Anyone curious about the style of composition should read about Counterpoint[0].
If you want a decent, comprehensive dive into music theory and composition you can pick up any old edition of Tonal Harmony.
- I took a year-long course in music theory as an undergrad; I loved it, and learned a great deal!
I recommend sitting in on a university music theory course if it all possible. But, if not, I can at least recommend the textbook we used: Kostka and Payne's Tonal Harmony. If you want to learn slowly, from the beginning, it's a great resource.
Our instructor told us that, by the end of the first semester, we would be writing four-part chorales and that we'd sound like Bach. That sounded thoroughly ridiculous and I thought he was full of shit. But, no, he was right -- after a semester I was able to do precisely this.
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