Review of L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus, Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony (W. W. Norton, 2016)
[1] The past ten years have seen a proliferation of undergraduate music theory textbooks most of which are revisions of earlier editions that fall into two categories: those that integrate written work, listening, and ear training, such as The Complete Musician by Steven Laitz or The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Clendinning and Elizabeth Marvin, and those devoted solely to tonal harmony such as Revisiting Music Theory by Alfred Blatter, Harmony in Context by Miguel Roig Francoli, or Harmony and Voice Leading by Edward Aldwell, Carl Schachter, and Allen Cadwallader.[2] The newest music theory textbook devoted exclusively to tonal harmony is Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony (hereafter CITH) by L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus. The authors' purpose is made clear in the Preface: "no frills and no nonsense just the essentials. This is a text that students will be able to read and comprehend" (xiii) Within the 370 pages, the authors succeed in focusing on general underlying principles in a way that is both precise and concise yet without diluting the material or seeming to condescend.[3] I do not mean to imply that this book is flawless; I do not agree with all the musical and pedagogical choices. The big picture is good, however. For the remainder of this review, I will write more specifically about the book's content.Example 1. Contents of Chapter 15[4] CITH is divided into five parts: Fundamentals (4 chapters) Overview of Harmony and Voice Leading (5 chapters) Diatonic Harmony (16 chapters) Chromatic Harmony (10 chapters) and Form (5 chapters) Each chapter (Example 1) is divided into between two and five sections, some with subheads; each closes with "Points for Review" (a concise chapter summary in list form) and a "Test Yourself" activity. The answers for the "Test Yourself" activity are provided in the back of the textbook, followed by a glossary and an index of musical examples.[5] CITH is in an attractive format with the main topics in the chapter captioned in orange type; the subheads are in bold face, as are the key terms. Boxed annotations above and below the musical examples draw attention to key features in each example.[6] For models of correct harmonic usage, the authors have assembled examples from a cross section of musical styles and genres and from numerous composers not normally included in theory textbooks. Examples by Anna Bon, Fernando Sor, Louis Claude Daquin, Sophia Dussek, Mauro Giuliani, Stephen Foster, Jean Joseph Mouret, Louise Reichardt, Etienne Mehul, and Scott Joplin are intermingled with the more widely known composers. The authors' examples show the students common part writing mistakes, with the mistakes highlighted in a colored box and clearly annotated.[7] The ebook, included with the textbook, contains links to recordings of all of the examples in the textbook. The student can also click on the bold faced key terms to reveal definitions. Beginning in Chapter 15, twelve chapters in the ebook have "A Closer Look" link that gives more information on selected topics, e.g. Cadential Moving to V, Implied Resolution of Dissonant Fourth, Embellishing Tonic with IV6, viio, Tonicizing II, etc. The "Know It? Show It" feature in the ebook is an online pedagogical resource for the students that is divided into three sections: video tutorials, online quizzes, and homework assignments.[8] The video tutorials elucidate key learning objectives and show the students how to work through the problems in the workbook. The adaptive online quizzes challenge the students to demonstrate the skills they will need to complete the assignments. To complete the online quizzes, the student must answer a specific number of questions to reach a target score. Up to 100 points can be gained or lost on each question, depending on the selected level of confidence, which the student can adjust between questions; bonus points can be earned by answering consecutive questions correctly.