Tonal Harmony, With an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music: Amazon.ca: Stefan Kostka: Books

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Book Description

Designed to meet the needs of the two-semester theory curriculum for music majors, Tonal Harmony is a straightforward book that emphasizes practicality and ease-of-use for both the student and the professor.

By focusing on the core elements of the theory curriculum in a single-volume format, the text is both a complete coursebook and a handy and cost-saving manual for students. On the professors side, the supplements package (with a collection of CD audio examples and an extensive Instructors Manual) makes the book easy to use and to teach.

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First Sentence
Pitch in music refers to the highness or lowness of a sound. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.1 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Book, Mar 27 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tonal Harmony, With an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music (Hardcover)

All in all this book wasn't that bad. It is used at my college for undergraduate theory. Fortunately I was lucky enough to have a good teacher for Theory 1-2 who was able to clear up all the typographical errors and an even better teacher for Theory 3-4 who studied with Dr. Payne and knew off the bat what changes needed to be made. The only problem with this book is the vast (and I mean VAST) amount of typographical errors that could have been cleared up with a good group of proof-readers. The book is set up in a sensical order and generally has adequate definitions to follow important terms. A primary concern, wordiness and typos aside, are the relevancies of the listening examples. In many cases, poors examples are selected for analysis which brings up MUCH debate during class because there really are more explanations (and better explanations) than those given. For example, pg 404 (Augmented 6th Chords part II) gives a Tchaikovsky example that has a Ger+6 in the 3rd to 4th measures. The chord does not really act as a Ger+6 chord, but more as a chromatic mediant (a topic that actually isn't discussed much in this book).

If there were to be another edition of this book that featured better examples, I would have given it a 4 star rating. If there were another edition of this book that fixed the MANY MANY typos along with better examples, I would definitely give it 5 stars.

Tip-For those of you using the workbook edition as well, just because the directions say that the example is in C major, it doesn't necesarrily mean that it is. Listen to the recordings and ask your professor.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and thorough guide to music theory., May 2 2004

By

Augustus Caesar, Ph.D. (Eugene, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tonal Harmony (Hardcover)

Music theory is kind of like math. Some people are good at theory, but hate studying it; some have a complete theory block and can't understand even the fundamentals. And some, like me, love it, are good at it, and enjoy it for its own sake.

For those who are interested in this vast and sometimes intimidating subject, Kostka's "Tonal Harmony" is a superb, well written, extremely thorough, and largely lucid guide. This is the text I used in both college theory classes and in the independent study I did with a University of Oregon doctoral student, and in both cases I found it very useful. To get much out of it, one really should have some background in theory, but with at least a modest understanding of the subject, this book is one that can be used alone by the self-motivated musician.

Everything from four-part writing and figured bass to secondary functions and French augmented sixth chords is covered here. In fact, unless you are getting a Ph.D. in music theory, there's a lot here you'd never need to know. Kostka and his co-writer include many exercises at the end of each chapter, and there are a couple of chapters on post-tonal theory at the end of the book.

There will never be a perfect guide to music theory, since it's such a complex subject. There will also never be a perfect guide to physics. That doesn't mean this book can't be of use to you. Highly recommended.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A great book., May 11 2002

By

MPR "MPR" (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tonal Harmony, with an Introduction to Twentieth-Century Music (Hardcover)

I've been studying music theory for (too) many years and out of all the books on this subject I would say that this is the most user friendly for the beginning student. It's easy to understand; it has a FABULOUS format and its cheaper then most textbooks out there. The authors defiantly understand that the reader will most likely be a BEGINNER and so it is written that way.
It starts with the basics of pitch (it even explains how the keyboard is sometimes used as a TOOL for those who don't study keyboard). It also clearly states how scales are used/studied, what scales are more popular then others and why, and what can be done with scales. How chords are constructed, where they come from, why they are the way they are, the different ways to make a chord. Trust me, it's all here.
I suppose I should just say that format is the key with this book. Pretty much the difference between a good textbook on theory and a bad one is just that: format. If things are in order and explained systematically, anything can be taught/learned.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, necessarily dry, and best, educational.
I am quite amused by the complaints I hear from students and professors about this text. Perhaps these folks who exude grunts and groans about this text have not had the grave... Read more

Published on Feb 22 2002 by Thomas J. Dempster

4.0 out of 5 stars Much improved but still has a ways to go
I've used this book for my first-year theory class for nine years, through three editions. I haven't found any better but that doesn't mean I think it's perfect. Read more

Published on Dec 9 2001 by klavierspiel