Basic Formal Structures In Music

"This text is intended primarily for students of college level who have had at least one year of theory: in most colleges and universities this means two semesters or the equivalent. A modest knowledge of harmony, extending to the more common altered chords such as augmented sixths and diminished sevenths, is assumed. Also, the student should understand the forms and functions of ordinary cadences. An attempt has been made here to bring some order to the study of subphrase units, especially motives. This and the subsequent study of phrases and phrase-groups are the two most important steps in any approach to musical form. They are fundamental to all styles and types of music. The story of the elementary forms and how they grew is a sort of capsule history of music. The subject is pursued in this book beyond the traditional classical forms in order to investigate certain adaptations of these old forms. Some of the miscellaneous studies in Chapter 12 are concerned with definite hybrid types. Great emphasis is placed on student participation. Modest opportunities for original composition (a most valuable instructional techniqe) are included as optional assignments in the early chapters. The instructor can, at his discretion, add to these or omit them. The making of graphs compels a student to analyze the formal details of a composition and reduce them to a visible form on paper in a manner permitting easy correction. Here, again, the instructor can determine subject matter for such analyses according to his own preferences and experience. The final chapter devoted to recent music touches on what appears to the author to be the more important advances or developments in compositional techniques affecting form in our time." --Preface.