Tonal music book review

Are you a music lover? I don’t mean to ask if you like music, most do and most have specific tastes, but there is so much more to music than just listening. Perhaps you would like to learn more about its structure and how to analyze it? If so, let me recommend a very good book:

“Shape in Tonal Music” by Douglas M. Green; Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Publishing Company Incorporated; New York, NY; 1965; ISBN: 0-03-46015-7.

This book takes the confusion out of the typical study of music analysis by simplifying the disciplines of harmony and counterpoint, allowing the student to understand how to build without being overloaded with historical musical tunes and famous names. Getting to know music without confusion first is the objective of this book, and for this reason, it may be a good first reading, prior to musical analysis from a historical perspective. I think I would recommend it to any serious music student.

The book has chapters on the basics of phrase form, form, gender, and harmonic structure, along with phrase development and combination. The book, which is written much like a textbook, then discusses the various analytical methodologies. The student will learn variations, ternary forms, rondo, sonata (very complete) and binary forms.

The concerto movement, fugue and similar genres are discussed and then there is a final chapter, which is very fascinating, even showing that Green really knows his stuff as it delves into the unique shapes of the structure. He will be fascinated by the amount of information and the ways he can apply this knowledge when he is done.