Can Perceptual Theory Inform Undergraduate Harmony?
An undergraduate harmony course is presented that is grounded in recent research on the perception of harmony and tonality, and makes relevant aspects of that research accessible to music students. Perceptual theory can shed light on such general basic issues as intonation and the role of acoustics in harmonic theory, principles of chord construction, voicing and voice-leading in diatonic and chromatic progressions, stability and tension of harmonies in tonal contexts, modulation and tonicization, and the degree of finality of cadential progressions in different voicings. The proposed course is intended to complement and enrich more familiar historical and notational approaches. At various stages of the course, all possible chords, functions, or harmonic sequences conforming to clearly defined perceptual constraints are systematically enumerated using pitch-class set theory. Relevant perceptual properties (consonance, interrelationships) of the elements, calculated according to availab
