(Note that this module is core, i.e. compulsory, for BMus students. MU1125 Elements of Tonal Music I is a pre-requisite for this module. Note also that this module is a prerequisite for MU2114 Harmonic Practice and MU2224 Contrapuntal Practice; it (or MU1107) is also a prerequisite for MU3164 20th Century Contrapuntal Practice)

This module aims

• to familiarize students with standard harmonic and contrapuntal practices of the tonal common practice period (c1700–1830);
• to enable students to relate theory to practice through analytical annotation of and prose commentary on specific analytical examples;
• to foster a practical understanding of harmony and counterpoint through structured  exercises and elementary pastiche composition;
• to develop the ability to recognize and reproduce melodic and harmonic examples through aural and keyboard skills.

• understand the working principles of tonal syntax and harmonic progression in the common practice period, showing an awareness of relevant categories and theoretical distinctions
• demonstrate a practical understanding of chorale harmonization in the style of J. S. Bach and Lied harmonization and accompaniment in the style of Schubert
• show an understanding of chromatic harmonies and their effective use (e.g. resolution)
• transcribe simple musical extracts aurally from dictation
• give a fluent performance of a prepared short chorale extract on the piano, and undertake other keyboard exercises (with one week’s preparation)

The module is delivered by means of ten weekly 50-minute lectures in addition to weekly 50-minute workshops/seminars, which generally follow within an hour of the lecture class. Lectures are used to present key theoretical concepts, often incorporating brief individual and group tasks, while workshops aim to reinforce and consolidate this knowledge and understanding through the practical exercise of analytical, written musicianship and general musicianship skills.  An additional ‘keyboard surgery’ is available to all students who wish to attend on one afternoon a week.

Students receive a module pack and spend additional time in private reading, listening and score study.

Discipline-specific skills

The ability to

• harmonize a modulating chorale melody for voices in the style of J.S. Bach;
• show an understanding of early 19th-century piano texture;
• realise diatonic and chromatic harmonies and analyse them using standard analytical notation (e.g. Roman numerals);
• articulate coherently the ways in which musical parameters interact in a complex musical texture (e.g. distinguishing ‘harmonic’ from ‘non-harmonic’ notes);
• demonstrate the ability to analyse appropriate examples and evaluate their application in given exercises.

Generic skills

The ability to

• utilize confidently and independently analytical skill and interpretative judgment;
• discuss and justify their findings with accuracy and clarity, whether orally or in writing;
• demonstrate the ability to extract issues of practice from principle and principle from practice;
• plan, evaluate and reflect critically on work in progress.

The potential for reassessment in this module

Summative assessments can be retaken in the resit period subject to the approval of the Undergraduate Examination Board.

The syllabus covers melody and harmony of the tonal common practice period across a range of music of the 18th and early 19th centuries, with a particular emphasis on strategies of modulation and tonicization, the use of chromatic chords, textural figuration (e.g. keyboard styles) and variation.  This knowledge is consolidated through a mixture of analytic and synthetic, notated and practical exercises.

Aldwell, Edward, and Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice-Leading, 4th edn (Boston: Thomson/Schirmer, 2011)

Bach, J.S., 371 Harmonized Chorales, ed. Albert Riemenschneider (New York: Schirmer, 1941/1980)

Boyd, Malcolm, Bach: Chorale Harmonization and Instrumental Counterpoint (London: Kahn and Averill, 1999)

Butterworth, Anna, Stylistic Harmony (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994)

Clendinning, Jane Piper, and Elizabeth West Marvin, The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis (New York: Norton, 2005)

Salzer, Felix and Carl Schachter, Counterpoint in Composition: the Study of Voice Leading (New York: McGraw Hill/Columbia University Press, 1969; 2nd edn, 1989)

None