Chrislw324

Are any books out there that contains entire classical pieces; be it piano works, choral, symphonies, pre-analyzed for study? Also, I'm wanting to get the Kent Kennan's counterpoint workbook. If anyone here has used this, would this be good for self-study, or is it meant to be used in the classroom with instructor to grade the exercises? -Thanks

I'm pretty sure you're not an asshole.

Still not understanding this 100% What I'm getting is that the tonic is prolonged, but other chords can be thrown in as neighboring and passing chords to give some variety during the prolongation? Also, the phrase as a whole should be considered tonic, not the individual chords within the phrase. and IV and V are considered neighboring chords to I because even though the roots are a 5th and 4th away, the notes within the chords neighbor notes within the tonic chord. (In IV, 4 neighbors 3, 6 neighbors 5) (In V, 7 neighbors 1, 2 neighbors 3) Is that correct?

Did you intend for this reply to help or make me feel like an idiot?

I'm trying to understand tonic prolongation. What is it and what is it used for? I've read that you can prolong the tonic with the submediant chord (are there other chords that can prolong the tonic?), but I don't know why. If you follow a tonic chord with a submediant then aren't you on the submediant chord now and no longer the tonic? I know that V and vii both have a dominant function that wan to resolve to tonic, and I know that IV and ii have a predominant function and want to move toward a dominant chord, so is it similar? Could I say that the I and VI chords have a tonic function? But yeah, what is it, what is it used for, and what other chords can prolong the tonic?

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I have Schoenberg's book and I have learned a lot from it. The problem is some of the examples I have no idea which ones he is referring to. For example, on page 120, in the middle of the page, he refers to Op. 2/2-IV (m. 1-16). What the hell page is that on? If he says Ex. 36 a, I can flip through and find it with no problem. Also, for another example, in Chapter three Ex. 21, he shows an example of how to reduce and omit features from a motive, but does not mention what the original motive was. He does that a lot in the first few chapters. If anyone has this book and knows what I'm talking about, I'd like some help.

"The pedal usually starts and ends with the regular chord that you would use to connect the chord previous to the pedal to the chord that comes next." Can you explain that? Let me see if I'm understanding correctly. The the only notes you can use as a pedal point are the tonic and dominant pitches of the key you are in. You can have a pedal point on a root position I chord, a second inversion I chord, or a Root position V chord. The pedal point doesn't have to be in the bass, but it must be the tonic or dominant pitch of the key you are in.

I know how a pedal six-four chord is used, but that's different from a pedal point right? My theory book left me a little confused about them. My theory book shows an example in G major. There is a I chord with G in the bass. The G is sustained on the bottom all the way through the measure but the chords above it change from I to IV to vii, and back to I. Can you do the same thing but invert the I chord and put B or D in the bass, sustaining it under a I-IV-vii-I progression? Does the pedal point have to occur on I? Would a pedal point on a root position ii chord work; sustaining it under some progression? Does the pedal point have to come back to the original chord it started on? The two examples in my book show it doing that. Are they most often used in specific places, or use them wherever you want?

I haven't checked this thread in a while. Thought everyone was done replying. I don't even know what a hemiola is off the top of my head. Still a beginner. I just thought there might be some general rules and guidelines to follow seeing how there are musical rules for everything else.

Any more opinions, or is that the grand daddy of them all?

What are some widely used and known books for teaching form and structure of various musical pieces?

Are there certain time signatures that seem to transition into certain others more easily, or can you go from one to any other, from simple to compound time, from 9/8 to 2/4... What are some techniques for transitioning smoothly from one time signature to another, or does it just depend on the effect you are going for as to whether it's smooth or abrupt?

Ok. I'm wondering if I should take private face-to-face in person lessons. Or start off with a qualified person here. I haven't decided yet, but I do have some questions for anyone that might be interested in teaching.... Who here can teach me composition? What are your qualifications? Who were your teachers? Can I hear some or your work? How will I pay you? How much will I pay you? What would the lesson consist of? How often will I get a lesson? How will I submit the compositions for you to look over? Would we use skype? Do we have PM's on this site? If so, you can PM me.

How would that work? Skype?

Do composers teach weekly private lessons just like a pianist would? I have no desire to major in composition, but I have been more interested in composing for a while now. I've been studying theory out of a well-known text for years now, but not so good at putting that theory to use and composing. If I were to call up a university around here and ask the professor or for a grad student for private composition lessons, would that sound strange? If they do and anyone here has had private lessons, what would a lesson typically consist of? Would it just be me bringing in a composition every week and him going over it, giving me tips? Or would I be assigned specific assignments?

So what's the best text for studying? I've looked through several and some tuturials on the internet and they all seem to have different rules for what is and is not allowed.

I have Kent Kennans 4th edition counterpoint and was reading the preface. He mentioned something free counterpoint and strict counterpoint. I can't find exactly where it is written, but I think he mentioned that he taught free counterpoint. Does anyone know? Also, what is better for learning counterpoint? Free or strict?

I’m behind in my aural skills abilities and I want to know what I should be doing to improve. My goals: I want to be able to transcribe any music I hear. I want to be able to listen to music and hear the underlying harmonies as I listen. I come up with music in my head and I want to be able to translate what I’m hearing in my head and notate it down. I want to be able to accompany other musicians and play by ear. Currently: If you played a simple chord progression for me, I probably couldn’t tell you what it was. I can only transcribe the most simple and basic of melodies. Identifying descending intervals are a problem for me. I know that sometimes I confuse the sound of an octave with the sound of a perfect fifth and minor chords with diminished chords. I can’t play by ear. Here’s what I’m working on now: I sing major and harmonic minor scales up and down. I sing them in 3rds. Do mi re fa……. Do la ti sol la fa…. I sing the major and minor arpeggios up and down. I sing a I-IV64-I-V6-I progression in major and minor Do mi sol mi do ----Do fa la fa do---do mi sol mi do---ti re sol re ti---do I sing Do-te-le-sol-la-ti-do (natural minor down to sol, melodic minor back up to do) I have the Ear Master software, and I try to identify intervals, chords, arpeggios, progressions, scales and so on. I do a little sight singing out of my sight singing book. When I sight sing, I like to linger on a piece and perfect it. I’m always worried about whether or not I sang it in tune or not. My thinking is that if I sang it out of tune and didn’t correct it, I might continue to do it that way and learn the wrong sound of an interval. When sight singing, do you linger on a piece, polish it up, and then move on to the next, or do you sight sing a piece and move on when you finish, correct or not, going through many different examples in a single sight-singing session? Should I sing my exercises slowly or speed up? I tend to sing them very slowly, playing each note on my piano after I sing it to make sure I was in tune. Should I stop that and start singing scales, arpeggios etc. all the way up and down without checking? (yeah I’m kind of obsessive compulsive about singing in tune and making sure I’m in tune) So what should I start doing to improve my ear? Are there any exercises that I should be doing? Any good books? Often aural skills gets cut short because I devote so much time to practicing and studying piano and theory. How much time should I devote to it a day? About how long until I can achieve my goals?