Reccomendations of Music Theory Books?

Hey all,

I am studying at the Australian Institute of Music in Australia and am trying to decide on a good theory book for self learning outside of my course. I am basically just looking to further my understanding of music theory in all it's aspects however particularly those which will help develop my composing ability, such as counterpoint writing and understanding harmony and the way it moves (its tendancies).

The books i was thinking about getting were one of these books.

Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music 2nd edition by Gauldin

http://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Practice-Tonal-Music-2/dp/0393976661/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

or

The Musicians Guide to Theory and Analysis by Clenndinning and Marvin

http://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Guide-Theory-Analysis/dp/0393976521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277605556&sr=1-1-spell

and for counterpoint this book looks good

Counterpoint 4th edition by Kennan

http://www.amazon.com/Counterpoint-4th-Kent-Kennan/dp/013080746X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277605663&sr=1-2

I might also get Fux's Book on Species counterpoint

http://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277605663&sr=1-1

Does anyone know of these books, perhaps you may have had good or bad experiences with them? Or perhaps you could reccomend some others books?

Thanks in advance for any help!

For counter point I suggest Knud Jeppeson's book on 16th century counterpoint. The Kennan is good for canon and fugue - get the workbook though as the text is sparse on examples.

http://www.amazon.com/Counterpoint-Polyphonic-Vocal-Sixteenth-Century/dp/048627036X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277608690&sr=1-1-spell

For Harmony - I have heard great things about this series

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Music-Concepts-Applications-Vol/dp/0070654743/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277608739&sr=1-3

Due to the expense, see if you can find this in the library

Score Study -

Morris and Ferguson offer Preparatory studies in Score Study - gets you practiced in reading up to 4 voices in different clefs and reading transposition instruments (eg you have to transpose the notes on the page down or up)

http://www.amazon.com/Preparatory-Exercises-Reading-Vorbereitende-Partiturlesen/dp/019321475X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277608874&sr=1-1

Another Theory book which is a tough read honestly due to the density of the text and the florid language and sentence structure but still a good read over time is Walter Berry's text;

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486253848/sr=1-1-fkmr1/qid=1277608946/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1277608946&sr=1-1-fkmr1&seller=

The Berry is an advanced text but something to explore after you covered your basis (and can get over the overly complicated sentence structures)

"The Structural Function of Harmony" by schoenberg is pretty stellar. It is incredibly dense, but it covers just about everything harmony related (it is NOT about serialism)

"20th century harmony" by vincent persichetti is good for modern harmony, including polytonal/polymodal, mirror writing, clusters, etc, in addition to basic modern chord stuff (extended tertain, quartal/quintal etc)

the aldwell-schacter "Harmony and voice leading" is the textbook we use, and it's easy enough to read and very comprehensive, but it won't satisfy what you're looking for I bet. It's good for curriculum, but it doesn't go through everything you'll probably want. It stops somewhere after uber-basic form info.

also, tchaikovsky's got a book on harmony that's pretty good. It uses strange language sometimes, but once you get used to that it's got some good info, and it's pretty cheap.

all of these books probably go for somewhere around $20 now, except the aldwell-schacter, that one is pricey.

My two cents on the topic:

Harmony

I find that Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony together with Structural Functions of Harmony (in this order) tend to be among the best harmony books, especially for those who are oriented toward composing. Just as Schoenberg, I don't favor very much the traditional exercises on harmonizing a given melody and realizing figured basses. However, a beginner might feel a bit frustrated. So maybe one could start by reading another book before them, such as Walter Piston's Harmony and/or Harmony and Voice Leading by Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter. I am not a big fan of the latter, but it is a very good book nevertheless. I have never seen Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne, but I think Harmony & Voice Leading is superior to it. I don't find Tchaikovsky's book very good - it's rather quick and short. It is an important historical work, though.

Counterpoint

When it comes to Renaissance counterpoint, Jeppesen is perhaps the best choice. I haven't read it, though. Fux is still good. On Baroque counterpoint - Kent Kennan. There is a nice book by Schoenberg - Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint. Also, check out Felix Salzer's Counterpoint in Composition.

20th century music

Vincent Persichetti's text is more a kind of reference guide. I think that a better and more useful book is Contemporary Harmony by Ludmila Ulehla.

KM7 - Thanks for the h20th century harmony text you recommended. I have perused Persichetti's and found it a bit too topical for my tastes. Great as you said for a reference but not if you want something that guides you and offers practice with the material. This book will be my bday gift coming up

As I've said before: Get Counterpointer by Ars-nova.com instead of counterpoint books. It's a great application that gives you feedback on your exercises, and it gives all the instructions you need.

Thanks so much everyone for your replies!