Books on Music Theory

Hey, can anyone recommend some good books on music theory? I'm composing by ear at the moment and although I know the basics (keys, time-signatures etc etc are all fine) but its not long before I get stuck. I'm looking for something that caters for someone just above "beginner" all the way through to some of the more advanced stuff.

Thanks for any help.

Music theory:
Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online Contents

If you're looking for a book, I think Elementary Rudiments of Music by Barbara Wharram is pretty much a standard theory book around here. (ISBN 1-55440-011-2)

Orchestration: Principles of Orchestration On-line - northernsounds.com

I still don't have any resources for harmony, counterpoint, etc. online; and frankly I've never looked into books...

We used "The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis" (published by Norton) in my undergrad theory class, but I recently picked up Kostka's "Tonal Harmony" (5th ed.) and it seems to be more in depth and useful as a reference.

Harmony by Walter Piston is very good.

Music Theory Multimedia

I second Walter Piston's Harmony, an excellent book

Originally Posted by Mark

I third Walter Piston's Harmony, an excellent book

...although I highly recommend you study scores post-Wagner also (Wagner, Liszt, Franck, Scriabin, Mahler etc.). I just feel that Piston applies his theories generally in cliche and purely cadential situations that misses the mark for that generation of composers

I really don't like books or any stuff that tries to "explain" techniques.

You could just grab whatever music you like as example and copy it note for note until you've learned how to reproduce the essence of the effect you liked, or indeed the entire style (when such exists!) if you do this enough.

Composing by ear is nothing to look down upon, and in fact it's sorta the whole point in the end. If something just doesn't sound like you want it to sound, then theory can just go out the window for all you care~

As for picking a good book on this if you NEED one, try to find one with emphasis on actual historical examples. As in, a book based on actual music from composers and examples from them rather than something strictly academic/theoretical. I'm no fan of books which talk about rules or "methods" for this or that.

And in general I recommend analyzing music. Lots of it. Doesn't matter if you can't put names and labels on the chords and things you're hearing, so long as you look at what it's doing and causing. I think the most important thing is trying to recognize what affects you in what way, and then writing down what caused it. Musical-wise of course!