Music Theory Seminar

A study of classical harmonic practice, where harmonic vocabulary and techniques are examined within their historical and musical contexts, provides one with a better understanding of the role harmony played in Western music in the 18th and early-19th centuries (the common-practice era). This seminar series examines the fundamental concepts of classical harmony and voice leading as exemplified in works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. The analytical and compositional uses of these concepts will be demonstrated through close study of Bach’s chorale harmonizations, Mozart’s piano sonatas and Schubert’s song cycles.

The aim of the seminars is to provide attendees with an opportunity to review harmonic vocabulary and build a better understanding of harmonic practices within the context of music from the common-practice era. On completion of the seminars attendees should be able to: describe fundamental harmonic concepts of classical harmony; identify principles of harmony and voice leading in the common-practice era to an advanced level; recognize stylistic differences in the harmonic vocabulary of composers from the late-Baroque, Classical and early-Romantic periods.

The seminars are aimed at music professionals and graduate students who possess a solid understanding of the most common intervals, chords (triads and seventh chords), scales, keys and key signatures (up to four sharps and flats).