Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento A New Method Inspired by Old Masters

Although this is not officially an improvisation manual, as Isaac Alonso (and I myself) have experienced, it is very easy to use the (many!) exercises in improvisation instead of writing them down. A great advantage of this method is that it starts of with very simple ideas, even though it's supposed to be a course for first year conservatory students, an amateur could manage the beginning to.

Another great thing is that it has plenty of examples from beautiful music as to how the basic ideas were applied by real composers.

There is also a companion website.

---- OUP text:

A new method of music theory education for undergraduate music students, Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento is grounded in schema theory and partimento, and takes an integrated, hands-on approach to the teaching of harmony and counterpoint in today's classrooms and studios. A textbook in three parts, the package includes:

· the hardcopy text, providing essential stylistic and technical information and repertoire discussion;
· an online workbook with a full range of exercises, including partimenti by Fenaroli, Sala, and others, along with arrangements of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century compositions;
· an online instructor's manual providing additional information and realizations of all exercises.

Linking theoretical knowledge with aural perception and aesthetic experience, the exercises encompass various activities, such as singing, playing, improvising, and notation, which challenge and develop the student's harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic imagination. Covering the common-practice period (Corelli to Brahms), Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento is a core component of practice-oriented training of musicianship skills, in conjunction with solfeggio, analysis, and modal or tonal counterpoint.