Download or read book Harmonic Part-Writing written by William Alfred White and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Harmonic Part-Writing The single aim of this text is to give a mastery of the foundation of all composition - four-part writing. It does not assume to offer a theory of music, nor does it present an exposition of scales, intervals and chord material. Composition for four parts, vocal or instrumental, is its theme. The consideration of preliminary work is found in the author's "Harmony and Ear-Training," the first six chapters of which should be mastered by the student. After a half years' work on these chapters, "Harmonic Part-Writing" may be taken up and the two books then used simultaneously. A complete substitute for the figured bass is here given. It is the outgrowth of a series of experiments extending over many years. The results secured with various classes in different sections of the country have given convincing evidence of its value. In the system of "thorough bass," a 6th-chord may mean the first inversion of a major, a minor, a diminished or an augmented triad, or even an augmented 6th-chord, there being no means of discriminating between them. The same objection holds for all other figurings; thus a 3-4-chord might mean the second inversion of a dominant 7th-chord, or of a diminished 7th-chord, or various kinds of secondary 7th-chords. Another fault of the older system is that it tends to decidedly unmusical thinking. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.