Reddit reviews Tonal Harmony

Music Theory Remixed by Kevin Holm-Hudson, is a great book that covers all the typical concepts of a four semester university theory course (Theory I through IV) but supplements all the concert music examples with music from pop music. It's pretty fantastic. Sort of like a more relevant Tonal Harmony... I think it's fun to hear modern examples of cadences, modulation techniques, etc. along side examples from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc.


Tonal Harmony, by Kostka and Payne, is in my experience the most commonly assigned text for Theory I - IV courses. It's very good.


Straus' Introduction to Post-Tonal Harmony, is incredible. This book helped me fall in love with post-tonal music. If you need to study post tonal music, this is the book to get.

This book is short and to the point: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Sight-Singing-Robert-Ottman/dp/0205760082/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=sight+singing+ottman&qid=1573010981&sprefix=sight+singing+ott&sr=8-5

This is a standard College theory textbook.
https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Harmony-Stefan-Kostka/dp/125944709X

Keep in mind that learning theory should be paired with sight singing (vocalizing the rhythms and melodoes). I'd recommend learning basic piano as well.

Oh boy do I have a textbook for you. Tonal Harmony is the most widely used freshman theory book, as far as I know

This? https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Harmony-Stefan-Kostka/dp/125944709X

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuWMSMvvsa0

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Dude, your hooktheory book is a complete garbage, I'm not surprised that you learned everything wrong. I even told you the name of the youtube channel... how ignorant can a person be on reddit?

Check any real music theory books

https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Harmony-Stefan-Kostka/dp/125944709X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538029216&sr=1-1&keywords=tonal+harmony+kostka&dpID=41v9WBjdbJL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Musician-Integrated-Approach-Listening/dp/0199347093/ref=pd_sim_14_16?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0199347093&pd_rd_r=4a1cee19-c21d-11e8-bcaa-d5dbd61d2792&pd_rd_w=N7ADP&pd_rd_wg=8dbTF&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=56838e6b-66d4-41e0-a762-743f1a1a628a&pf_rd_r=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8

https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Guide-Theory-Analysis-Second/dp/0393930815/ref=pd_sim_14_32?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0393930815&pd_rd_r=4a1cee19-c21d-11e8-bcaa-d5dbd61d2792&pd_rd_w=N7ADP&pd_rd_wg=8dbTF&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=56838e6b-66d4-41e0-a762-743f1a1a628a&pf_rd_r=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8

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to see what people in England and USA use (Germany and North/East Europe use slightly different system).

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Also, there doesn't exist such thing as progression without a tonic, that's why your progression is wrong when you try to analyse the key. One of your chords is I or i (Im in another notation system). And progressions in minor use flexible scale degrees, that's why such tables can't be made or they will have to include several different chords.

Hmm... The only things that come to mind are textbooks that can be harmful to your wallet like Tonal Harmony. It has a workbook to go with it, which sounds like what you're looking for. That book will teach you just about everything you need to know about tonal music theory (If you want to learn more than that then I'm sure there are other books.).

Like I said though textbooks can be expensive. Hope this helps anyway!

> I'm especially hard on piano about this, but it's true for lots of instruments. Most wind instrument programs have a focus on orchestral auditions despite there being very few jobs there. This leads to a lot of neglect of skills in improvisation and playing in contemporary styles which are very important for serious wind players who are looking for freelance work or even full-time gigs.

...and when they do get an orchestra gig, they never leave (voluntarily). :) I hear you. Wife's friend is bass in a military orchestra and is hanging on for dear life. :)

> The goal is just to refine that ability you already have. And much like developing good proprioception for sightreading, a lot of it will just be slowing down and actively thinking before going full trial and error at the keyboard. Hear a thing (STOP) think about what you think it might be... then see if you were right. Over time and after making lots of mistakes... you'll eventually be right more often than not.

Wow, you've given this alot of thought. And obviously, you've the experience which a lot of pure academics might lack. Have you thought about writing your own book about this? You could probably touch on a lot of vital needs for contemporary musicians. Sort of an out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new, but not musical genre specific - just broader than classical music, or any other specific genre for that matter. Or do you think that this sort of thing does need to be musical genre specific?

Thanks for the theory book recommendation. I am finishing the Snell Piano Theory workbooks now, but those are really for kids. Lots of repetition over and over and over and... LOL. I've now read about baroque, classical, romantic, and 20th century musical history now 5 times. 6 more to go! haha. I'd say Snell believes in "spaced repetition" but actually it's not. Because repeating the same info with an incremental addition once per workbook is not "spaced" repetition!

I had planned to read Stefan Kostka's Tonal Harmony text w/ workbook afterwards because it came recommended by some classical pianists, but you've made a compelling case for the Mark Harrison series, so I will get that instead.

> The same author has A Contemporary Ear Training book that I think is pretty good and goes into detail about using the method of hearing tension I covered, but I think the book is lacking in a lot of ways compared to most of Mark Harrison's great books. It also doesn't come with the audio that's to be used with the book and I ultimately just have trouble recommending it for that reason.

So I did find the MP3 files for his book, but then saw the following Amazon customer review and decided this book is not for me:
"After purchasing many of Mark Harrison's excellent books I thought I'd found the perfect resource for walking me through the ear training process. I am a complete beginner when it comes to ear training, so I purchased both the book and the accompanying .mp3 files and waited anxiously for my order to arrive. When I opened the book, I immediately knew something was wrong. There is no explanatory text in this book! There is no narrative that describes what's going to be taught, or the process that will be used to train my ears. Instead, the book contains a series of exercises with very little explanation. In fact there isn't a word as to WHY you're performing these exercises or WHAT they intend to acheive [sic]. I contacted Mark Harrison via email and he informed me this book is meant to accompany a student being taught ear training by an instructor and was used as a textbook in the Grove School of Music. What a disappointment! If you're attending an ear training class or have an instructor this book will be of value to you as an exercise book, but there are no lessons or explanations to be found here. If you're a beginner like me and you're looking for a easy to follow text that will guide you through the ear training process... this is not the right book for you."

But I am on the look out for a new ear-training book which follows the system you outline and can work with the Mark Harrison books you just recommended which I will start on after I finish the (Snell's Piano Theory)^11 LOL. Let me know if you think of anything.