Contemporary Counterpoint

(Berklee Guide). Use counterpoint to make your music more engaging and creative. Counterpoint the relationship between musical voices is among the core principles for writing music, and it has been central to the study of composition for many centuries. Whether you are a composer, arranger, film composer, orchestrator, music director, bandleader, or improvising musician, this book will help hone your craft, gain control, and lead you to new creative possibilities. You will learn "tricks of the trade" from the masters and apply these skills to contemporary styles. Online audio examples illustrate the principles being discussed, and many recommended listening lists point you to additional examples of how these principles have been used in music over the past thousand years.

-- Stanley Persky, City University of New York

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this groundbreaking book, Tymoczko uses contemporary geometry to provide a new framework for thinking about music, one that emphasizes the commonalities among styles from Medieval polyphony to contemporary jazz.

Students today have grown up in the age of digital technology. As a result, they process information in radically different ways than preceding generations. They like their information fast and consider visual images as important as textual content. In Tonal Counterpoint for the 21st-Century Musician, Teresa Davidian finally provides students a textbook that is quick, direct, and visual—a direct reflection of the age in which they live. This book is easy to understand, comprehensive, and distinctly modern in its approach to the study of counterpoint. Written in a style that is clear, simple, and informal writing style, Davidian artfully mixes the history of counterpoint with an outline of its structure, placing musical examples from J. S. Bach side by side with those from The Beatles to illustrate the universality and currency of counterpoint in music analysis and composition. Designed as a single-semester introduction, Tonal Counterpoint brings the study of counterpoint into the present by: Making ample use of diagrams and flow charts Including helpful step-by-step prompt sheets for analyzing inventions and fugues Placing just as much emphasis on the composition as on the analysis of counterpoint Offering a broad array of musical examples, including the work of women composers, American songwriters, current students, and pop music composers Throughout, Davidian explains how the techniques of 18th-century contrapoint still readily apply to how music is composed today. Tonal Counterpoint for the 21st-Century Musician is ideal for students in the fields of music theory, composition, music history, and performance.

The essence of the most celebrated book on counterpoint, Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. The most celebrated book on counterpoint is Fux's great theoretical work Gradus ad Parnassum. Since its appearance in 1725, it has been used by and has directly influenced the work of many of the greatest composers. J.S. Bach held it in high esteem, Leopold Mozart trained his famous son from its pages, Haydn worked out every lesson with meticulous care, and Beethoven condensed it into an abstract for ready reference. An impressive list of nineteenth-century composers subscribed to its second edition, and in more recent times Paul Hindemith said, "Perhaps the craft of composition would really have fallen into decline if Fux's Gradus had not set up a standard." Originally written in Latin, Steps to Parnassus was translated into the principal European languages, but the only English version was a free paraphrase published in 1886. The present translation by Alfred Mann is therefore the first faithful rendering in English from the original Latin and presents the essence of Fux's teachings. For its distinction as a classic and its undiminished usefulness for the modern student it is a privilege to offer this fine translation in the Norton Library.

The Principles and Practice of Tonal Counterpoint is a comprehensive textbook that combines practical, "how-to" guidance in 18th-century techniques with extensive historical examination of contrapuntal works and genres. Beginning with an introductory grounding in species counterpoint, tonal harmony, and figured bass, students progress through the study of chorale preludes, invertible counterpoint, and canonic and fugal writing. This textbook thoroughly joins principle with practice, providing a truly immersive experience in the study of tonal counterpoint and familiarizing students with contrapuntal styles from the Baroque period to the 21st century. Also available is a companion volume, The Principles and Practice of Modal Counterpoint, which focuses on 16th-century techniques and covers modal music from Gregorian chant through the 17th century.

Covering modal music from Gregorian chant through the seventeenth-century, The Principles and Practice of Modal Counterpoint is a comprehensive textbook combining stylistic composition, theory and analysis, music history, and performance. By supplementing a modified species approach with a wealth of complete musical examples and historical information, this textbook thoroughly joins principle with practice, providing a truly immersive experience in the study of modal counterpoint and familiarizing students with modal repertoire.