Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony (Dover Books on Music) Kindle Edition

Unlike the vast majority of other books on the subject, this book gets right to the point. No sentence is wasted. The Shoenberg book for example has so much fluff and nonsense I wanted to throw it across the room.However, sometimes ideas are presented so concisely that you have to view the sentences as riddles to be solved. "What does this really mean, exactly?" He presents concepts as if speaking to himself, without much thought for a reader who may be even slightly less informed. Be warned.On another note, for any other theorists out there - anyone want to explain to me why he compared the major scale to the harmonic minor and not the natural minor? He clearly wanted to make a point that "there's more dissonants with minor", which isn't true if you use natural minor... so it seems like he manipulated things to make his point.

EXCELLENT BOOK!!! Great for college level III+ review (which is why I bought it). Very detailed with SATB exercises that focus on material presented in that chapter. Very in depth, covers all the basics such as doubling, voice leading, inversions, to specifically dissonant harmony to extended harmonies and beyond.The wording can be a little difficult at times without an instructor to put it in plain English. The book briefly goes over the essentials, but most assumes prior knowledge.

For me, it is an uphill slog working through this book. Seems designed for the technocrat musicologist. Not the average beginning musician such as myself. Though, with sufficient focus, time, and patience, I can dredge some useful concepts here .

Great handbook for music lovers who want to learn or refresh their memory about voice leading and principles of harmony. It is simply a little rushed and there are more complete textbooks on harmony now.

There are a lot of better books on the practical studies of harmony, BUT this one is written by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, and that's a reason in it self, to buy the book. There isn't that many books written by great composers of the past. Rameau's Treatise on Harmony, and Berlioz Orchestration is perhaps the most heavy weight books on music written by famous composers. Later on Schönberg and Hindemith has given us some very good contributions.

print is far too small .

Always a worthwhile read..."dated" maybe, but very much needed for basic grounding.

Wow!

Older style of presentation that feels like it was written in 1812 ? Perhaps not for every student. However, it is fairly straight forward to read, especially if you can already read music notes. Most importantly this is music education from one of the world's greatest composers. Lessons from Tchakovsky...what is there to complain about?

I am finding this to be a helpful guide. I have read several harmony books, and I find that considering its date, and fact that it has been translated, it is easy to follow and still useful for traditional music theory. Compared to other treatises of its time (Prout for example) it is more practical and explains the reasons for most of the rules given. It is strange that Tchaikovsky's guide offers no hint of the exotic, folkoric harmonies found in his own works, probably because of restrictions on what was expected of academic practice

I found this an interesting book, although probably dated in his teaching of harmony now.The book does not give any insights in to how tchaikowsky harmonises any of his works.

Interesting book. Even though this is an English tranlation from the German translation of the original in Russian (!!) it is clear and useful as a guide

Me está gustando el libro, viene escrito en un inglés muy sencillo, y ya con las palabras del autor te puedes ir dando una idea de cuán apasionado era Tchaikovsky con su música. Prácticamente lo que me enseñaron en la Facultad de Música es lo que me está enseñando el libro, salvo que el autor utiliza un lenguaje muy ameno y muy amigable con el lector. Al leer sus comentarios y sus enseñanzas en el libro, se puede notar que era un maestro muy amable con sus alumnos, y les daba la libertad de romper la reglas una vez que las aprendieran.Pd. Maestros de música, aprendan de uno de los más grandes compositores del siglo XIX, se nota la humildad y sencillez del autor en cada una de sus palabras y enseñanzas; si antes admiraba a Tchaikovsky, ahora lo admiro más.Eso si, el libro hasta el momento me ha parecido muy ameno e interesante. Voy a actualizar más adelante conforme lo termine.