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Harmony Simplified
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The syntactic norms of common practice harmony are well known, but we lack good explanations for them. A theory of convergence is offered to explain how dominant and predominant harmonic functions work in tonal music. A geometric Tonnetz and concepts of triadic orbits and simple triadic voice leading are then developed to distinguish different types of harmonic progression, neighbouring, sequential, and cadential, with distinct formal functions. The concepts of triadic convergence and triadic cycles are then generalized to the diatonic dimension of the Tonnetz, leading to analogous concepts of enharmonic convergence and enharmonic tour useful for understanding nineteenth-century harmonic techniques.
Title: Harmony Simplified
Description:
The syntactic norms of common practice harmony are well known, but we lack good explanations for them.
A theory of convergence is offered to explain how dominant and predominant harmonic functions work in tonal music.
A geometric Tonnetz and concepts of triadic orbits and simple triadic voice leading are then developed to distinguish different types of harmonic progression, neighbouring, sequential, and cadential, with distinct formal functions.
The concepts of triadic convergence and triadic cycles are then generalized to the diatonic dimension of the Tonnetz, leading to analogous concepts of enharmonic convergence and enharmonic tour useful for understanding nineteenth-century harmonic techniques.
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