Book Review: Debating Dogma with Hindemith, and Mastering Harmony
As composers, our journey of learning is a continuous process of absorbing knowledge, experimenting with ideas, and critically engaging with the masters who came before us. My own Kindle app is packed with countless scores and theoretical texts, each offering a unique lens through which to view the art of music. Today, I want to talk about two books that have been particularly impactful, albeit in different ways: Paul Hindemith's profound, yet sometimes provocative, The Craft of Musical Composition (Books 1 and 2), and the incredibly practical Traditional Harmony - Advanced Exercises.
These books represent two distinct approaches to musical education – one a revolutionary philosophical system, the other a meticulous drilling of established techniques. Both offer immense value, but also invite us to question, adapt, and ultimately forge our own compositional paths.
Paul Hindemith's The Craft of Musical Composition (Books 1 & 2 - Theory)
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) was a towering figure in 20th-century music – a prolific composer, conductor, violist, and most notably for our discussion, a formidable theorist and pedagogue. His two-volume Craft of Musical Composition is not a conventional harmony textbook; it's a deep, systematic treatise on a new approach to harmony, melody, and form, based on acoustic principles.
The Good Parts: A Fresh Look at Sound
What truly sets Hindemith's Craft apart is his attempt to build a coherent system of harmony and melody from the ground up, starting with the natural overtone series.
Intervallic Foundation: Instead of relying solely on Roman numerals or chord classifications, Hindemith prioritizes the individual intervals and their inherent "tension" and "relaxation" values. He categorizes intervals from most consonant (perfect octave/unison) to most dissonant (tritone), providing a fascinating framework for understanding harmonic movement. This emphasis on intervallic quality can be incredibly liberating, shifting focus from abstract labels to the actual sonic relationships.
Harmonic Fluctuation: He introduces the concept of "harmonic fluctuation," a measurable ebb and flow of tension and relaxation created by the progression of intervals. This gives composers a tool to consciously control the dramatic arc of their harmony, making informed decisions about when to build intensity and when to provide repose. It moves beyond rote chord progressions into a more intuitive understanding of vertical sonority.
Melodic Design and Curve: Hindemith applies similar principles to melody, advocating for well-balanced melodic curves that incorporate varied intervallic tension. He encourages composers to think about the "weight" of melodic notes and the overall gravitational pull within a line. This provides a rigorous, yet insightful, way to assess melodic strength and direction.
Unique Approach to Dissonance: His system offers a refreshing perspective on dissonance, not just as something to be "resolved," but as an active element in creating specific levels of tension. This can be particularly useful for composers looking to move beyond traditional common-practice period harmony.
For those willing to invest the time in truly grasping Hindemith's somewhat idiosyncratic terminology and theoretical framework, The Craft of Musical Composition offers a profound alternative to conventional theory. It challenges you to hear music in a new way, focusing on the fundamental acoustic properties of sound.
Traditional Harmony - Advanced Exercises
While Hindemith provides a new theoretical lens, books like Traditional Harmony - Advanced Exercises (a title that might refer to various excellent textbooks such as those by Walter Piston, William Lovelock, or even Persichetti's Twentieth-Century Harmony for more advanced traditional concepts) typically focus on drilling the conventions of common-practice period harmony (roughly 1600-1900).
The Good Parts: Building a Solid Foundation
These types of books are invaluable for composers who want to speak the established "language" of music, even if they intend to break its rules later.
Mastery of Voice Leading: Advanced harmony exercises typically push students to perfect their voice leading – ensuring smooth, logical, and independent movement of each melodic line within a chord progression. This is a fundamental skill for any composer, regardless of genre or style.
Deep Understanding of Functional Harmony: Through rigorous exercises, you internalize the functions of chords (tonic, dominant, subdominant, etc.), how they relate to each other, and how they create powerful harmonic narratives (e.g., how a dominant chord creates tension that strongly resolves to the tonic).
Command of Counterpoint and Form: While focused on harmony, these books often incorporate practical exercises in two-part and three-part counterpoint, and their advanced sections delve into the harmonic structures of larger forms like binary, ternary, and even sonata form.
Problem-Solving Skills: Harmony exercises are essentially musical puzzles. They train your ear and mind to identify issues (e.g., parallel octaves, hidden parallels, unresolved dissonances) and find elegant, musically satisfying solutions.
For a composer, a solid grounding in traditional harmony is like learning classical drawing before experimenting with abstract art. It provides the discipline, the vocabulary, and the understanding of established principles that allow for truly informed creativity.
The Great Debate: Repeated Unison Notes and Musical Profundity
Now, let's turn to a specific point of contention, and one where my own compositional experience directly challenges a particular stance often found in more traditional or academically rigid theoretical approaches, including, from my perception, Hindemith's. The user refers to a point in Hindemith's Craft where he discusses how making repeated unison notes in a composition can make musical phrases "less profound" and that he is generally "against using repeated notes in phrases."
I would argue that this is a fascinating example of how theoretical principles, when taken as absolute rules, can sometimes limit expressive potential. While I can appreciate the underlying concern (perhaps an aversion to musical stagnation or a perceived lack of melodic development), my own experience, and indeed the history of music, strongly suggests that repeated notes, even in unison, can be incredibly beautiful and profound if used effectively.
Consider my own piano composition, "Heartbreak." The central motif of this piece relies heavily on a repeated note figure in the melody. It's not a mere technical device; it's designed to convey a sense of insistent, lingering pain, a single thought or feeling that returns again and again, refusing to dissipate. The repetition is not bland; it's a psychological tool, creating:
Emotional Intensity: Think of a rapid, repeated note like a pounding heart, or a slow, sustained one as a deep, resonant ache. Repetition can build incredible tension and urgency, or convey deep contemplation.
Rhythmic Drive: In many genres, from classical minimalism to rock music, repeated rhythmic figures on a single note can create an unstoppable momentum and propulsive energy. Think of the motoric rhythms of some Baroque or minimalist pieces.
Psychological Obsession: Repetition can represent obsession, anxiety, or a thought that cannot be shaken. This is precisely the feeling I aimed for in "Heartbreak" – the persistent, unavoidable return to a core feeling.
Perceptual Clarity: Sometimes, repeating a note simply clarifies its presence, allowing other harmonic or rhythmic elements to shift around it. It can act as an anchor.
Textural Effect: In orchestral music, repeated notes can create shimmering effects (e.g., tremolo in strings), rhythmic accompaniment patterns, or a solid, unwavering core around which other melodic lines weave.
Hypnosis or Trance: Minimalist composers like Philip Glass or Steve Reich often use repeated melodic and rhythmic cells to create a trance-like, evolving sonic landscape. This is undeniably profound and deeply moving.
The key is not whether a note is repeated, but how it's repeated. Is it dull and uninspired, or is it infused with purpose through:
Rhythmic Variation: Changing the duration or accent of the repeated note.
Dynamic Shaping: Crescendos or decrescendos on repeated notes can transform their impact.
Articulation: Staccato, legato, or accented repetitions convey entirely different meanings.
Contextual Harmony: The changing chords underneath a repeated melodic note can imbue it with new meaning and tension each time it sounds.
Orchestration: Assigning repeated notes to different instruments or sections can alter their timbre and prominence.
Hindemith's perspective, while rooted in a desire for melodic forward motion and organic growth, might overlook the unique expressive power that stillness, insistence, or a percussive quality inherent in repetition can bring. My "Heartbreak" piece demonstrates that a repeated note, far from being "less profound," can be the very essence of a composition's emotional core, resonating with a deep, universal truth.
Conclusion
Both Paul Hindemith's The Craft of Musical Composition and practical harmony exercise books are indispensable tools for any serious composer. Hindemith pushes you to think about music in terms of its fundamental acoustic properties and the ebb and flow of tension, while traditional harmony books provide the bedrock of voice leading, functional harmony, and formal understanding.
However, the debate around repeated notes highlights a crucial lesson: theory is a guide, not a rigid rulebook. Every principle, every guideline, should be weighed against your own artistic intuition and the expressive needs of your music. Sometimes, the most profound statements are made by deliberately challenging conventional wisdom. Explore these texts, absorb their wisdom, but always keep your own ears and your unique creative voice at the forefront. That’s where the true craft of musical composition truly comes alive.
