First published 2017 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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© ISTE Ltd 2017
The rights of Dominique Paret and Serge Sibony to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016960997
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-058-4
You hold in your hands a book which has been a very long time in coming, which begun and then languished in a drawer for nearly fifteen years, owing to the flood of professional responsibilities which took priority! Having met Serge Sibony as an adolescent a few years ago, and then later discovered his books in “harmonics” aimed at professional musicians, this inspired me to return to my true passions, and finish this book, whose express purpose is to bridge the divide, starting with aspects which even neophyte musicians could understand, and ultimately reaching the supreme level represented by harmonic research and the meticulous constructions of harmony grids presented by Serge and other well-known authors!
As this book is written by an academic and an accomplished musician, readers will not be surprised by the theoretical and Cartesian aspect of certain parts of it, but rest assured, harmony – true harmony; that which brings pleasure to the ears – always lies just below the surface.
As per usual, there are many people deserving of thanks, for their goodwill, their listening, their remarks and constructive comments. Thus, to all those people, who know perfectly well who they are: a huge and heartfelt thanks!
Now, though, I address a few acknowledgements and more specific thoughts to some long-standing friends:
Many thanks to those who, in their own way, have given me wonderful musical experiences, in terms of melodies, harmonies, technical advice and happiness shared.
DOMINIQUE PARET
For many years now, having been in search of a simple treatment, of high level and easily accessible regarding harmony, its musical-, physiological- and social roots and the way it works, we have bewailed the lack of one. We have found either highly simplistic books, or treatises on harmony that only a post-doctoral student could begin to understand. With the exception of a few books cited in the bibliography, the field is a huge desert! Not satisfied by this intellectual state of affairs, we screwed our courage to the sticking-place to research and write this book: Musical Techniques: Frequencies and Harmony, as a sort of “passport to/for harmony”, in the hope that it will go some way towards filling that void.
The construction of this book is extremely simple! Musical Techniques: Frequencies and Harmony is intended to be a pleasant and instructive springboard for readers to be able, one day, to cope with true “treatises on harmony”. With this goal in mind, it is divided into three main sections:
This book is intended for curious people, for music lovers (graded musicians or complete beginners, or simple amateurs) wishing to understand the human, physiological and physical roots and underpinnings of musical harmony, and how to achieve it fairly quickly.
There is no specific entry level for readers of this book. All are welcome, but – and there is indeed a but – throughout the book, we attempt to sate readers’ curiosity and increase the level of the text reasonably quickly.
The language and tone of this book are intended to be resolutely current and pleasant, but very precise. There is also a constant aim to be instructional throughout this book because, to our minds, there is no rhyme or reason to writing a book just for oneself. In addition, for the curious and/or bold, we have included a great many summary tables and little secrets in the text and appendices. Quite simply, this book is for you, for the pleasure of understanding, learning and enjoying music.
This first part examines the fundamental and classic concepts of music theory, which, in many places, are supplemented by physical-, physiological-, societal- and technical aspects, so we can begin to look at the idea of harmony within a clearly-defined context (notably western structures).
This part is divided into five chapters, always related directly or indirectly to harmony: