Saturday, January 21, 2006

Getting nowhere

This morning I tried reading up on the chapter of First Inversions of Triads for my music theory classes next week. Folks out there, how do you try to remember all the rules of harmony?

I prefer to learn by understanding the rationale behind the rules, and not memorising and then following the rules. But I wonder whether it is realistic at Grade 6 Music Theory level for me to fully comprehend the rationale behind the rules.

Some of the rules for this topic include:
- Avoid VIIb-V, VIIb-IVa, VIIb-IVb; the effect is ungainly.
- In IIb-Va, it is always effective to double the bass of the former
- VIIb-Ia is a possible substitute for the perfect cadence, but it need not be used unless V-I is not possible on acccount of another note in a given bass.

It seems like all these came from experience of harmonising parts?

I don't feel quite well today. I realised that I could not read beyond the second half of the chapter. How demoralising things could feel at times.

Maybe I am just not feeling well. I need a break.

2 comments:

Emy said...

hey!

i dont think u should memorise so much.

ultimately, voice leading is more impt. i dont know if ur learning voice leading, because in voice leading, some rules can be broken if it goes with better voice leading. in that way, the rules are no longer rules i guess...

see ya on wed!!

oceanskies79 said...

Emily: Voice leading??? This sounds new to me.

Simple American: A walk will do.