Schenker's special theories were still largely undeveloped when he wrote this. Begin with INTRODUCTION TO SCHENKERIAN ANALYSIS by Allen Forte. Or if you just want to learn basic music theory use Robert Ottman's ELEMENTARY HARMONY and ADVANCED HARMONY or an early edition (unmangled by Mark Devoto) of Walter Piston's HARMONY. Readers interested in music theory will probably also want to look at PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.

For the studied musician or composer, this book offers a new approach to the way we veiw both music theory and composition. Schenker begins with a detailed description of how we perceive music based on the natural laws of overtones. He then demonstrates how the "old systems", i.e. the church modes no longer, or ever really could be consisdered as independant systems of tonality. The only valid systems are the major and the minor. The first half encompasses his broad yet clarifying theories and the second half demonstrates these theories in practical applications. The concepts of "compositional unfolding" and many others have increased my understanding and comprehension of theory as it should be.....the way Bach, Beethoven, and many of the greats perceived it before Ramaeu. This is definetly worth the time!

A readable book although containing several suppositions which can startle a scientifically educated reader. Some examples of these are: On page 116 the paragraph about formation of oil deposits is grossly oversimplified almost to the point of error (produced a "Whaaat!" from a geology student who graduated with honors). Page 141 contains an apparent confusion between temperature and Difference of temperature (conversion from °C to °F); a Difference of 15-25°C should be a Difference of 27-45°F. Page 150 says about the manganese nodule miners: "The nodule miners are mutants. From land people they are turning into ocean people." Although the rest of the paragraph shows that its beginning in meant as a figure of speech, the terms are startling. On page 156, I doubt that "shoal waters that exist on over 10 percent of the surface of the ocean" - unless perhaps you count the ocean over the continental shelves as shoal, which I doubt fits the definition (I also doubt that the area of the continental shelves could constitute 10% of the ocean surface). On page 177, in the part about signalling: "Then a system was adopted that, employing combinations of three or at most four flags, enabled commanders to communicate 9,999 different items of information." I leave this to the reader to figure. Page 212 includes this interesting supposition: "Construction of huge dams to utilize the ocean's tidal power might seriously alter the tides by slowing down the rotation of the earth. This would make our days and our nights longer - we might find ourselves with a 25- or 26-hour solar day,..." (I think this is an exaggeration). These are the most startling statements. This book is very readable and interesting in many parts, and also interesting in its wake-up call to the serious environmental effects that mankind has caused in the oceans - although some of the suggested solutions are utopic, requiring governments and society radically different (and greatly advanced) from the present ones. But due to its several suspected inaccuracies (which could have been inserted by an editor after the author finished the manuscript, as I do not believe the author could be responsible for all of these, and I have known of editorial inaccuracies), I could not recommend this as a school text, although it does have value, being of a very interesting and readable style (I wish I could write as smoothly), including some history, science, and drama. If you are a stick-in-the-mud scientific perfectionist like me, a few of the statements might be quite startling. However, if you like to read about the ocean for fun, it may be quite enjoyable.