The Basis of Harmony: Book

Horwood cuts through theory abstractions by insisting students actually hear what they write. Rather than presenting harmony as isolated chord progressions, this book builds genuine listening skills alongside written work, which means your students develop intuition they can apply beyond the textbook.

Music theory students, advanced high school musicians preparing for college-level studies, and teachers seeking a rigorous yet ear-centered approach to harmony instruction. Anyone working toward a more sophisticated understanding of how voice leading, inversions, and functional harmony create musical coherence will find this systematic treatment invaluable.

This works as the core text for a dedicated theory curriculum or as a supplementary resource for students in your advanced ensembles who need deeper harmonic grounding. The progression through cadences and inversions pairs naturally with score study in rehearsal, allowing you to point to specific examples students are actively learning.

• Voice leading in four-part writing
• Recognizing and writing cadences (authentic, plagal, deceptive)
• Understanding triadic inversions and their voice-leading implications
• Identifying and resolving dominant seventh chords and secondary dominants
• Hearing harmonic function and chord relationships
• Writing complete harmonic progressions with intentional voice leading