Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is a readable and imaginative book presenting, with infectious enthusiasm, a sensible simplification of the main processes of classical harmony in the Bach-Schubert period. Pratt's explanations of concepts such as "real" and "substitute" chords, of false distinctions between "major" and "minor" and of the simple basis of seemingly complex chromatic harmony enables readers to grasp the principles of harmonic progression, and to see most progressions as a form of "dominant-powered" movement. He focuses his study on Bach chorales, Mozart piano sonatas, and a Schubert song cycle, thereby providing depth, variety, and a realistic sense of a context of "real music" to his explanations and to the exercises. But he also offers the reader an immediate invitation to apply the same principles to an immense range of musical literature from Monteverdi to Scott Joplin.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. iv)
• Author's Note (p. iv)
• Author's Note (p. v)
• Introduction (p. vi)
• Chapter 1 Static Harmony, Consonance and Dissonance (p. 2)
• Chapter 2 Dominant to Tonic (p. 9)
• Chapter 3 Interlude I: the Major-Minor Misapprehension (p. 24)
• Chapter 4 Second Level Dominants (p. 30)
• Chapter 5 Third-Level Dominants-- and Beyond (p. 37)
• Chapter 6 Interlude Ii: a Note on Inversions (p. 46)
• Chapter 7 Closing the Circle (p. 51)
• Chapter 8 Segments of the Circle and Excursions on the Way Round (p. 60)
• Chapter 9 Interlude Iii: the Linear Flow of Parts in Chorales, and Elsewhere (p. 72)
• Chapter 10 Substitutes, Thirds and Steps (p. 87)
• Chapter 11 More Colourful Dominants: Diminished Sevenths (p. 98)
• Chapter 12 More Colourful Dominants: Augmented and Neapolitan Sixths (p. 107)
• Chapter 13 Interlude Iv: More on Piano Textures (p. 116)
• Chapter 14 Irresolute Progressions, Episodic Six-Threes, Reverse Thrust and Pedals (p. 122)
• Chapter 15 Harmonic Puns and Further Modulations (p. 133)
• Chapter 16 Further Exploration (p. 146)
• Selected Index (p. 149)