Melody, Harmony, Tonality

A Book for Connoisseurs and Amateurs

E. Eugene Helm

Where did the major scale come from? Why does most traditional non-Western music not share Western principles of harmony? What does the inner structure of a canon have to do with religious belief? Why, in historical terms, is J.S. Bach’s music regarded as a perfect combination of melody and harmony? Why do clocks in church towers strike dominant-tonic-dominant-tonic? What do cathedrals have to do with monochords? How can the harmonic series be demonstrated with a rope tied to a doorknob, and how can it be heard by standing next to an electric fan? Why are the free ocean waves in Debussy’s La Mer, the turbulent river waves in Smetana’s Moldau, and the fountain ripples in Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau pushed at times into four-bar phrases? Why is the metric system inherently unsuitable for organizing music and poetry? In what way does Plato’s Timaeus resemble the prelude to Wagner’s Das Rheingold? Just how does Beethoven’s work perfectly illustrate fully functional tonality, and why were long-range works based on this type of tonality impossible before the introduction of equal temperament? In this new century, what promising materials are available to composers in the wake of harmonic experimentation and, some would argue, exhaustion?

The answers to these seemingly complicated questions are not the sole province of music professors or orchestra conductors. In fact, as E. Eugene Helm demonstrates, they can just as easily be explained to amateurs, and their answers are important if we are to understand how Western music works. The full range of Western music is explored through 21 concise chapters on such topics as melody, harmony, counterpoint, texture, melody types, improvisation, music notation, free imitation, canon and fugue, vibration and its relation to harmony, tonality, and the place of music in architecture and astronomy. Intended for amateurs and professionals, concert-goers and conductors, Helm offers in down-to-earth language an explanation of the foundations of our Western music heritage, deepening our understanding and the listening experience of it for all.

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 210 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-8108-8639-1 • Hardback • December 2012 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-0-8108-8640-7 • eBook • December 2012 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Music / Instruction & Study / Theory, Music / History & Criticism

Melody, Harmony, Tonality

A Book for Connoisseurs and Amateurs

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Where did the major scale come from? Why does most traditional non-Western music not share Western principles of harmony? What does the inner structure of a canon have to do with religious belief? Why, in historical terms, is J.S. Bach’s music regarded as a perfect combination of melody and harmony? Why do clocks in church towers strike dominant-tonic-dominant-tonic? What do cathedrals have to do with monochords? How can the harmonic series be demonstrated with a rope tied to a doorknob, and how can it be heard by standing next to an electric fan? Why are the free ocean waves in Debussy’s La Mer, the turbulent river waves in Smetana’s Moldau, and the fountain ripples in Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau pushed at times into four-bar phrases? Why is the metric system inherently unsuitable for organizing music and poetry? In what way does Plato’s Timaeus resemble the prelude to Wagner’s Das Rheingold? Just how does Beethoven’s work perfectly illustrate fully functional tonality, and why were long-range works based on this type of tonality impossible before the introduction of equal temperament? In this new century, what promising materials are available to composers in the wake of harmonic experimentation and, some would argue, exhaustion?

The answers to these seemingly complicated questions are not the sole province of music professors or orchestra conductors. In fact, as E. Eugene Helm demonstrates, they can just as easily be explained to amateurs, and their answers are important if we are to understand how Western music works. The full range of Western music is explored through 21 concise chapters on such topics as melody, harmony, counterpoint, texture, melody types, improvisation, music notation, free imitation, canon and fugue, vibration and its relation to harmony, tonality, and the place of music in architecture and astronomy. Intended for amateurs and professionals, concert-goers and conductors, Helm offers in down-to-earth language an explanation of the foundations of our Western music heritage, deepening our understanding and the listening experience of it for all.

Details

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 210 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-8108-8639-1 • Hardback • December 2012 • $121.00 • (£93.00)

978-0-8108-8640-7 • eBook • December 2012 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

Subjects: Music / Instruction & Study / Theory, Music / History & Criticism

Author

E. Eugene Helm is professor emeritus in the school of music, University of Maryland, College Park. He is founder of its ethnomusicology program and co-founder and coordinating editor of The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition (Oxford University Press, 1982-1990). He is author of various other works on C.P.E. Bach.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Melody is Pure but Not So Simple
Chapter 2: Harmony, Unlike Melody, is Pure Only in Theory
Chapter 3: Our Usual Musical Menu is Melody with Subsidiary Accompaniment
Chapter 4: Counterpoint is a Harmonious Marriage of Independent Melodies
Chapter 5: Texture
Chapter 6: Special Mixtures of Texture
Chapter 7: East is East is Melody; West is West is Harmony
Chapter 8: The Universal Patterns of Melody: Melody Types
Chapter 9: Of the Earth, Earthy: Folk Music and its Role in Composition
Chapter 10: Improvisation Forever
Chapter 11: The Big Difference: Music Notation
Chapter 12: Canon, Free Imitation, Fugue: A Path to Musical Meaning
Chapter 13: Free Imitation: Canon with a Grain of Salt
Chapter 14: Fugue: The Whole Contrapuntal Bag of Tricks
Chapter 15: Harmony, the Governing Principle
Chapter 16: Music in Architecture
Chapter 17: Music in Astronomy
Chapter 18: Vibration, the New Paradigm
Chapter 19: The Harmonic Series
Chapter 20: Mapping the New Tonal Territory
Chapter 21: Tonality is Still Here
Notes
Suggest Further Reading
About the Author

Melody, Harmony, Tonality

A Book for Connoisseurs and Amateurs

E. Eugene Helm

Melody, Harmony, Tonality

A Book for Connoisseurs and Amateurs

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