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Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music (Two Volumes Bound As One) | 
 enlarge | Author: Felix Salzer
Publisher: Dover Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $12.90
You Save: $10.05 (44%)
New (10) Used (8) from $11.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 72997
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 667
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0486222756
Dewey Decimal Number: 780
EAN: 9780486222752
ASIN: 0486222756
Publication Date: June 1, 1962
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Extends the Schenker method to modern, medieval, renaissance music. Tonal organization, analyzes over 500 pieces, connects theory and composition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
necessary book April 23, 2006
7 out of 20 found this review helpful
i believe we are biological machines. We process stimuli from our environment in parallel processing neural nets called brains. this is done so that we have appropriate motor output for our environment.
concepts are essentially processing categories of our brains. the concepts we have reflect certain efficient ways of processing environmental stimuli, ways that WORK. the most successful concepts are the ones that work.
when it comes to music composition, the concepts in this book WORK.
though some criticize and say a host of difficulties and nuances are subsumed under some pretty broad strokes, that ultimately doesn't matter. because suspended maj 9th don't matter. music that moves matters. this book focuses on the motion in music.
the basic idea is that harmony indicates certain stopping points, like the hard bones of an organism. but the motion between these points, the flesh as it were, is counterpoint.
bones and flesh, structure and motion, crystallization and fluidity, harmony and counterpoint.
that's the idea. will change the way you hear music. very, very deep. very, very good.
these ideas are very close to an explication of how composers think.
A must have for serious musicians August 10, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Shenkerians principles in digestable form. A great approach to analysis(one that seems to be dominating todays music analysis). I was not really sold on Shenkerian analysis until I read this book. I still feel that sometimes the principles are "over-exhausted", but Shenkerian analysis is certainly better, and more meaningful than strict chordal grammar analysis. The only problem is that the examples are not placed within the text; so you constantly have to flip back and forth to look at the example that the text is referring too.
Quintessential Schenkerian Theory November 16, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
For anyone interested in Tonal Theory this work is absolutely necessary. Salzer's work is a continuation & extrapolation on Heinrich Schenker's work on music theory. The only drawback is it is not fully consistent when dealing with post-Romanticism (but then Schneker's theory is not always applicable in later musical contexts, & in some cases not completely internally-consistent). However, for the foundations of music from Bach to Beethoven (& the Romantic composers afterward as well as any modern composition even remotely tonal) it is a masterwork.
Excellent Book!, but try rebinding it. July 4, 2003
98 out of 98 found this review helpful
This is a great book for those interested in exploring the many and varied aspects and ramifications of Schenkerian theory. I first bought this book in its hardback-two-separate-volume edition in 1972 or 1973, when, as an undergraduate music student, I was looking for answers to how music "works." This was while studying at a university where the music theory department had been commandeered by a couple of "avant-gardiste" professors who, after eliminating all traditional harmony classes,further insisted that all students should compose, regardless of interest or ability, and that atonality, interminable dissonance, and "originality" for its own sake be the ideals which one should be forced to uphold. It was in this environment that I began my search for musical understanding, and started researching the theoretical, harmonic, contrapuntal, and formal aspects of music that were so sorely neglected in my university education. It was at this time that I became aware of the book "Structural Hearing." In fact, one friend of mine told me, that this was the best book on theory that he had ever read.
There are three things I would recommend to anyone interested in studying this book:
1. First, understand the basics of 4-part harmony, and become proficient at reading figured bass notation. This will help you understand the sections of the book that deal with what the author refers to as "chord grammar."
2. Second, get a copy of "The Study of Counterpoint," by J. J. Fux. This is the Norton edition of the translation of the famous "Gradus ad Parnassum." Work through the exercises in this book. In addition to being a lot of fun, these exercises will teach you a ton about the origins of harmony, voice leading, etc., and will provide some amazing practical solutions to problems you may encounter later, in composing original music, and/or arranging. I have always been happy for the work I did in this book. Trust me, you won't regret it!
3. Go to the nearest print shop that does book binding. They can split your book into two volumes, laminate the covers of them, and spiral bind each section. This will allow you to have the text and the examples side by side, and, as they are spiral bound, will allow you to lay them out flat. I do this with almost all of the scores, or music books with which I work. I recommend this to the reviewer above who expressed regret that the book was bound as a single volume, as well as all others who study this book.
I am delighted to get this book in the paperback edition, and I hope my recommendations are helpful.
GREAT book, but get an older copy May 4, 2001
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This comment has more to do with the format of the Dover reprint than it does with the actual text. In the older edition of "Structural Hearing" the text was in volume one and the examples were in volume two. This allowed the reader to have the examples in front of them to refer to while they read the text. The Dover reprint is essentially both volumes bound into one book. This causes the book to be very cumbersome, although it probably significantly lowers the production cost. When I read "Structural Hearing" I finally had to check out volume two from the university library. I sincerely hope that the new Longman edition of "Der Frei Satz" maintains the original format.
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