This course is intended for first-year university students enrolled in a Bachelor of music program, and for anyone with a basic knowledge of elementary music theory wishing to take the course on their own.
The course covers the essential principles of four-part tonal harmony in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorales using a progressive approach based on actual musical examples from Bach and other great composers, allowing students to gain sound knowledge of the basic harmonic principles of traditional tonal composition. The course contains many practical exercises in writing, all of which are for a cappella mixed choir in four voices, plus a wide variety of musical excerpts from many European composers to be analyzed. The answers for each exercise can be found at the end of each volume.
This traditional harmony course is intended to span two semesters. Of course, those wishing to follow the course on their own may do so at their own speed. The course is divided into two volumes, one volume for each semester, and each volume is divided into weekly lessons.
Volume I comprises a review of certain advanced elements of elementary theory: major and minor scales, intervals, and triads. This material offers the basic vocabulary necessary for the comprehension of writing principles, with attention to the esthetic importance of the musical phrase. This material should be mastered before continuing with the study of four-voice diatonic harmony limited to the use of triads where all the notes belong to a single scale. It also includes the study of the dominant seventh chord.
Volume II deals with other seventh chords and chromatic harmony covering chromatic chords and modulation.