This is the first volume of Harmony, Counterpoint & Improvisation, a textbook which offers each of these three facets as one organic course of study. The harmony section covers the whole technique of common chords and their inversions. Counterpoint is initially discussed as a vocal art and the early exercises explore the art of Palestrina and the English Tudor composers. In the improvisation section many keyboard techniques are introduced, such as transposition, chord progression and simple harmonisation.

A new method of music theory education for undergraduate music students, Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento is grounded in schema theory and partimento, and takes an integrated, hands-on approach to the teaching of harmony and counterpoint in today's classrooms and studios. A textbook in three parts, the package includes: - the hardcopy text, providing essential stylistic and technical information and repertoire discussion; - an online workbook with a full range of exercises, including partimenti by Fenaroli, Sala, and others, along with arrangements of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century compositions; - an online instructor's manual providing additional information and realizations of all exercises. Linking theoretical knowledge with aural perception and aesthetic experience, the exercises encompass various activities, such as singing, playing, improvising, and notation, which challenge and develop the student's harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic imagination. Covering the common-practice period (Corelli to Brahms), Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento is a core component of practice-oriented training of musicianship skills, in conjunction with solfeggio, analysis, and modal or tonal counterpoint.

(Jazz Book). A study of three basic outlines used in jazz improv and composition, based on a study of hundreds of examples from great jazz artists.

Where did the major scale come from? Why does most traditional non-Western music not share Western principles of harmony? What does the inner structure of a canon have to do with religious belief? Why, in historical terms, is J.S. Bach’s music regarded as a perfect combination of melody and harmony? Why do clocks in church towers strike dominant-tonic-dominant-tonic? What do cathedrals have to do with monochords? How can the harmonic series be demonstrated with a rope tied to a doorknob, and how can it be heard by standing next to an electric fan? Why are the free ocean waves in Debussy’s La Mer, the turbulent river waves in Smetana’s Moldau, and the fountain ripples in Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau pushed at times into four-bar phrases? Why is the metric system inherently unsuitable for organizing music and poetry? In what way does Plato’s Timaeus resemble the prelude to Wagner’s Das Rheingold? Just how does Beethoven’s work perfectly illustrate fully functional tonality, and why were long-range works based on this type of tonality impossible before the introduction of equal temperament? In this new century, what promising materials are available to composers in the wake of harmonic experimentation and, some would argue, exhaustion? The answers to these seemingly complicated questions are not the sole province of music professors or orchestra conductors. In fact, as E. Eugene Helm demonstrates, they can just as easily be explained to amateurs, and their answers are important if we are to understand how Western music works. The full range of Western music is explored through 21 concise chapters on such topics as melody, harmony, counterpoint, texture, melody types, improvisation, music notation, free imitation, canon and fugue, vibration and its relation to harmony, tonality, and the place of music in architecture and astronomy. Intended for amateurs and professionals, concert-goers and conductors, Helm offers in down-to-earth language an explanation of the foundations of our Western music heritage, deepening our understanding and the listening experience of it for all.

This is the second volume of Harmony, Counterpoint & Improvisation, a textbook which offers each of these three facets as one organic course of study. The harmony section covers the whole technique of common chords and their inversions. Counterpoint is initially discussed as a vocal art and the early exercises explore the art of Palestrina and the English Tudor composers. In the improvisation section many keyboard techniques are introduced, such as transposition, chord progression and simple harmonisation.

Chord-Scale Theory and Linear Harmony for Guitar: Creative Tools for Improvisation and Composition in Contemporary Music is a guide to music theory as it relates to the guitar fretboard. It covers topics such as intervals, scales and modes, chords and voicings, progressions, and melodic devices and how they are commonly used in contemporary Western music. It thoroughly explains basic harmony as well as the complex harmonies used in jazz. It contains examples in standard notation, guitar TAB, fretboard diagrams, and charts. Great for intermediate and advanced guitarists looking to expand their horizons and musical creativity.

The first book to teach the necessary mechanisms in an organized format that will be used for improvising two lines at once on the guitar (bass lines and melody lines). The material covered in the method includes: All of the diatonic seventh arpeggios in both ascending and descending forms, organized by the root in the bass, third in the bass and the fifth in the bass. Scale fragments with both static and moving bass lines. Basic rhythms with moving lines and syncopation. Each of these sections is further broken down into individual chapters focusing on a specific aspect of the topic. The material is geared towards both the intermediate and advanced guitarist. Topics such as fingerings, finger stretches and finger independence are also discussed. Having taught professionally for 35+ years, the author has the experience and curriculum to help takes students to the next level. The book is suitable for guitarists interested in players such as Ted Greene, Chet Atkins, Howard Morgen, George Van Eps, Jimmy Wyble and Charlie Christian. Classical guitarists looking to build a foundation on learning how to improvise multiple lines, will find the material suitable for their technique. Although improvisation is the focus of the book, the material can also be used for composition and song writing.

The story of a fascinating, controversial man who influenced almost every sphere of musical life in Britain and helped to change the face of music performance and education in this country. George Dyson (1883-1964) was a highly influential composer, educator and administrator, whose work touched the lives of millions. Yet today, apart from his Canterbury Pilgrims and two sets of canticles for Choral Evensong, his music is little known. In this comprehensive and detailed study, based not only on Dyson's own writings but on unpublished papers, personal correspondence, and interviews with his family and friends, Paul Spicer brings this remarkable man and his lyrical, passionate and engaging music to life once more. Born into a working class family in Halifax, West Yorkshire, he rose from humble beginnings to become the voice of public school music in Britain and Director of the RCM. As a scholarship student, he met and studied with some of the leading musicians of the day, including Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry. He went on to work in some of the country's greatest schools, where he established his reputation as a composer, particularly of choral and orchestral works, of which Quo Vadis was his most ambitious. A member of the BBC Brains Trust panel, Dyson was also the 'voice of music' on the radio for a number of years and helped to educate the nation through his regular broadcasts. A fascinating, controversial man, George Dyson touched almost every sphere of musical life in Britain and helped to change the face of music performance and education in this country. This seminal book, examining every aspect of his long, colourful career, re-establishes him as the towering figure he undoubtedly was in his time. PAUL SPICER was a composition student of Herbert Howells, whose biography he wrote in 1998. He is well-known as a choral conductor especially of British Music of the twentieth century onwards, a writer, composer, teacher, and producer.