Schoenberg's Models for Beginners in Composition

by Gordon Root (Editor)

Overview

Models for Beginners in Composition was one of Arnold Schoenberg's earliest attempts to reach a broad American audience through his pedagogical ideas. The novelty of MModels for Beginners in Composition lay in its streamlined approach-one basing all aspects of composition including motivic design, harmony, and the construction of themes on the two-measure phrase.

In its practical function as a syllabus for the American classroom, Models for Beginners in Composition stands alone. One of its most significant contributions to American music education was its use of the two-measure phrase as the building block for an entire compositional method. This revised edition of Models for Beginners in Composition by Gordon Root incorporates Schoenberg's corrections to the original manuscript and a commentary tracing the evolution of Schoenberg's unique pedagogical approach. These features allow readers to utilize and explore the text in greater depth. Students of composition, Schoenberg scholars, music theorists, and historians of music theory alike will no doubt welcome this new edition of Schoenberg's classic composition syllabus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195382211
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/21/2016
Series:	Schoenberg in Words
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Gordon Root is an Associate Professor at the State University of New York in Fredonia, where he has taught since 2006. He earned a Ph.D. in Music Theory with a focus on Schoenberg's music from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Gordon Root's essays have been featured in Indiana Theory Review and Current Musicology. He has presented many papers on a range of topics including text and music, Schoenberg's pedagogy and harmonic theories, and programmatic aspects of Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone works. In 2009 he was awarded an Avenir Grant through the Arnold Schönberg Center and The Avenir Foundation of Wheat Ridge Colorado.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Abbreviations of Texts
Preface: On the History of Models for Beginners in Composition
Editorial Notes
Commentary
Models for Beginners in Composition
Editor's Preface to the 1972 Edition
Schoenberg's Preface to the 1943 Edition
Syllabus
Musical Examples:
I. Coordination of Melody and Harmony
II. Motive and Motival Features in Two-Measure Phrases
III. Sentences
IV. Periods
V. Contrasting Middle Section
VI. Recapitulation (a')
VII. Minuet
VIII. Scherzo
IX. Phrases, Half Sentences, Antecedents, and "a"
Sections of Ternary Forms
Glossary

Appendices
Appendix 1: Manuscript Sources for Models for Beginners in Composition
Appendix 2: Schoenberg's Teaching Schedule at UCLA
Appendix 3: Assignments from Schoenberg's Beginning Composition Class
Appendix 4: Key to Schoenberg's Symbols and Abbreviations
Appendix 5: Primer in Regions
Appendix 6: Primer in Transformations
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"The present volume is part of the ambitious 'Schoenberg in Words' series, which aims to reissue some of Schoenberg's published works on music theory and also his correspondence. If this updated edition of Models for Beginners in Composition (which Schoenberg published in 1943) is representative, the series sets a very high standard for bibliographic history in music theory. The volume includes the text of the original work, along with prefaces to the original edition (by Schoenberg) and the 1972 edition (by editor Leonard Stein). But a large part of the book is taken up with exhaustive commentary by Root (SUNY, Fredonia) and appendixes with welcome supplementary documents. This edition of Schoenberg's classic work will interest novice and expert alike."—Choice

"Meticulously edited, generously illustrated, and with useful supplemental materials including information on the historical context, explanations of Schoenberg's central theoretical concepts, and a companion webpage with recorded performances of the examples, Gordon Root's splendid new edition will make this important but sometimes overlooked book newly accessible to anyone interested in composition, theory, and the creative process. With its fascinating documentation of how his students actually used and learned from the exercises, this edition opens up new windows into why Schoenberg was such an effective teacher, while providing vivid insights into his personality, his commitment to coming to terms with his new life in America, and the development and influence of his theoretical ideas."—Joseph Auner, Tufts University

"Gordon Root's new translation of Schoenberg's Models is an invaluable resource: not only for scholars and teachers who seek familiarity with the methods of one of the twentieth century's great composition pedagogues, but for those of us interested in exploring how Schoenberg's understanding of the tonal tradition impacted his own music."—Jack Boss, Professor of Music Theory and Composition, University of Oregon

"An excellent bibliography and handy index add usefulness. The generous amount of illustrations, tables, diagrams, musical examples and facsimiles (of Schoenberg's own handwritten notes, comments and musical models) inform the mind, while also pleasing the eye." —Rhinegold Publishing

From the Publisher