Customer Reviews (19)

Very clear explanations and examples, the best of its kind...
This is volume is basically a text on traditional harmony that is riddled with examples taken from classic music.It is well-organized, very readable and in my opinion the best of its kind.

While this book is indeed a textbook, it is a very readable one and engages the reader while systematically presenting important concepts.I looked at many books before buying this one and I have been using it for years.

If you are not looking for this much depth and instead are focused on practical concepts for modern music, I recommend Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians (Essential Concepts (Musicians Institute).).This is a very concise and well-written book that covers a lot of territory in a small space.

Good But..........
This is a solid text for learning the basics of functional harmony. However, it really needs to be updated. For example most all of the modern music world uses I ii iii IV V vi Viio in Major but Piston just uses I II II IV V VI VII which makes absolutely no since at all!

Do you know a better one? Tell us !
For so many people music is pure magick. Here is a book that uplifts beginner- and intermediate-knowledge to higher knowledge. After each of the 32 chapters there are exercises to measure your understanding of the things teached. Dont steal my copy !

Great introduction to Harmony
When I first learned Harmony in the ninth grade, I was taught on an aged and practically antique fourth edition of Piston's Harmony. The first thing I noticed is that the fifth reworked some of the chapters and the order they are in. For example Chapter 10 in the 4th edition was Cadences, but the 5th it is the six-four chord.

After many years away from practice and learning harmony, I came across it again and was tempted. Should I buy it? Would it be changed after all those years?

I am glad to say that it's like an old friend came by. Despite some of the chapters are different in order, the structure remains the same. Piston uses a lot of musical examples to show what he is trying to teach. He starts out with very easy concepts (positions of notes in a chord and intervals). It is assumed that the reader can read music and knows the difference between a whole note and a quarter note, etc.)

The concept of inversions is covered quite thoroughly, giving the reader time to ingest and start to feel comfortable with first inversion, he gets into the second. Finally, in the section on dominants, he gets into third. In between there are chapters on harmonization of a melody, cadences (the old ii-V-I, etc.), triads, modulation, seventh chords, textures, Neapolitan sixths, etc.

One of the greatest strengths of this book is the musical examples that it is drawn from. Once you start getting into triads, etc. you start seeing output from actual composers (usually keyboard reductions) for teaching the works with a piano or keyboard.

If you are a reader interested in learning the craft and the technique of composition, Piston's book will not steer you wrong. It is good to welcome back an old friend.

Still a gem!I think. Part I of Review
I received the book today and decided that I would go through the reviews again. I was always taught that if you read the Preface of a book, you get a general idea of the book's purpose. Obviously, your reviewers giving low ratings, never read the preface or introduction to the book.This is especially directed to those who are professionals. Listen to what the 14 year-old wrote. Perhaps this textbook is not intended for students requiring a lot of tutoring, or individuals not wanting a scholarly approach to musical theory.I will finish reading the book and follow-up with Part II of this review.At this time, it is still the bible of musical theory -- bar none!It is a scholarly and historical approach to the history of music theory.Please keep this in mind before writing a bad review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good
Not as good as Kennan's. Also the edition and style are really old. Doesn't have the same stature as Piston's Harmony.

The Broader View
Probably the most inspirational and thought-provoking counterpoint textbook. Walter Piston notes that all music is contrapuntal to some degree. He admonishes students not to make a 'fetish' of counterpoint, anddiscusses appositely (if tersely) the problem of twentieth-centurycounterpoint. I recommend this book to all musicians, but I would probablyprefer to teach counterpoint with Kent Kennan's textbook.

Alsorecommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

good for extra excercises
Very good for extra practice.But sometimes the workbook starts to go over stuff you haven't yet learned about in the book and that can be quite annoying. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great!
Mr Piston is one of the few authors I have come across who has a thorrough understanding of the limitations of the instruments he chose to write about. One can see this especially through hid portrayals of reach, uses, effects, etc.

However, it is worth noting that he could have used a bigger variety of examples from different composers. He also abides to the most common and stereotypical manners of combinations, etc.

Second best orchestration book available
The best book on this subject, the one that I actually sometimes refer to when composing, is Kennan's.Piston's book, however, should definitely be carefully studied by anyone wanting to master the art of classical orchestration.Piston goes deeper into each instrument than Kennan does, establishing a root level of knowledge on top of which Kennan can then serve as a handy daily reference.Piston relies heavily on examples from the core classical repertoire (well into the early 20th century but not beyond), so access to a good CD library will go a long way in bringing this book to life.

THE best
This is by far the best orchestration book ever published. I am particularly appreciative just now considering that I have in my hands the third edition of Samual Adler's clumsily composed "The Study of Orchestration", which has several errors on almost every page. Unlike Adler and Blattner, Piston knew precisely what he was talking about and put it succinctly and appositely. Note to the silly "reviewers" who call this "dated": the orchestra HAS NOT CHANGED.

must-read for musicians & composers
Composer Ignacio Calvo suggested to me that I read this book, and I'm glad I did. Even though it's dated, and written in an academic style that is somewhat difficult to read, and doesn't cover newer instruments, innovations or styles in the field of orchastration, this is a must-read for new and aspiring composers who want to know what instruments to use and mix for the sound they're going for. This book tells you which instruments sound right together, also covering things like tone, pitch, tempo, etc. Musicians too will get good ideas and learn things about playing their instruments. It covers everything--keyboard, woodwind, strings, etc etc. You have to really concentrate to comprehend some of it, but this is nevertheless an essential and comprehensive teaching tool.

(...)

One of the best general resources for orchestration
This book, though not the easiest text on the subject to read, is as detailed as any resource on the subject of orchestration can be.It offers the average musician that knows the basics of his own instrument to learn about the details of the other parts of the orchestra, and offers a basic outline of the typical uses of each section.This is a great text for the beginner composer and arranger who wants to learn one of the proper ways to utilize an orchestra.The only recommendation I can make is that the reader not use this books as law, but rather as principle.The ideas and definitions of this book are not completely concrete, and greatness often comes from innovation.This book, though, offers a great path towards a basic understanding of the workings of a live ensemble and it's effect on the nuances of a composition. ... Read more

Book Description
Reprinted in 2000. Set of parts available: 50488651. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 1994. The length of the article is 1319 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Harvard Composers: Walter Piston and His Students, from Elliott Carter to Frederic Rzewski.
Author: Bill F. Faucett
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1994
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: v50Issue: n3Page: p988(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Walter Piston (1894-1976) taught for over thirty years (1926-1960) at Harvard, where he taught such well-known composers as Harold Shapiro and Leonard Bernstein. The biographies, major accomplishments, stylistic developments, and technical resources of 33 of his students are described. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Full of musical examples showing how Piston approached harmony
Although the kind of harmonic analysis (i.e. labeling chords with Roman numerals) has become rather passé, it is still more useful than its detractors will readily admit.It is easier to learn than Schenkerian and contrapuntal approaches (however powerful they may be) and many people hear and follow the chord changes more easily than they hear the counterpoint.

The purpose of this book isn't to teach the application of Roman numerals.Rather, it is to provide a background of harmonic treatment during what used to be called the "common practice period" in order to prepare the 1930s music student for handling the music of his own time.It is primarily a selection of musical examples of the treatment of different types of chords and later how harmony is used in types of counterpoint.Modulation techniques are shown in a separate chapter.The short chapter on the 20th century is only text.The appendix is a series of examples of complete short pieces with the kinds of analysis demonstrated in the chapters.

It is an interesting book and I can't imagine a student not wanting to read through it.However, I can imagine some devotees of certain theoretical approaches rejecting it because it isn't a part of their orthodoxy.However, Piston was a solid composer and an important 20th century pedagogue and writer on music.Learning what he thought has to be worth more than the petty pronouncements of so many whose primary musical accomplishment was acquiring tenure somewhere. ... Read more

Book Description
Written in 1953, this viola and cello duet bears the identical title of another Piston piece written in 1972 for cello and piano. Born in 1894, Piston was influenced by Ravel and Stravinsky, taught at Harvard and his students included Bernstein and Carter. He was awarded the Pulitzer twice. ... Read more