From 8449414ac0bb0d053ffd203367708ddd4aed352c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Gilles Chehade Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2026 13:00:29 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] say what the music theory book is about The page only had the cover and a publication date. It now explains the approach, what each part covers, and who the book is for, drawing on the preface and the note about the book. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 --- .../_index.md | 55 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 55 insertions(+) diff --git a/content/books/the-algorithmic-foundations-of-music-theory/_index.md b/content/books/the-algorithmic-foundations-of-music-theory/_index.md index 2e932203..c061fe66 100644 --- a/content/books/the-algorithmic-foundations-of-music-theory/_index.md +++ b/content/books/the-algorithmic-foundations-of-music-theory/_index.md @@ -16,3 +16,58 @@ Published December 2026. + +## About the book + +Music theory is full of names, patterns and conventions, and most of us learn +them as rules to memorize. This book works out where they come from. + +Take a simple example. In C major, the chord built on D is minor. You can +memorize that, or you can take every other note of the scale starting from D, +which gives D, F, A, and look at the intervals between them. Once you know how +that construction works, you can repeat it on any degree, in any key. One +procedure explains a whole family of results. + +That is the algorithmic view: state the starting material, state each operation +applied to it, and follow the steps. Writing them down exposes the assumptions +a familiar name can hide, and gives you something to test. Change the input, +run the procedure, and compare the result with what you hear. + +Not everything reduces to a construction. A chord's notes don't tell you what +it is doing in a phrase, and deciding where a melody should go involves style, +context and taste. When the book models that kind of behavior, it says which +relationships it keeps and which it leaves out. + +The book grew out of years of music notebooks and a software project, +[go-harmony](https://github.com/poolpOrg/go-harmony), a music-theory engine +that builds intervals, scales, chords and progressions. Writing that engine +meant spelling out everything I "just knew", and those explanations became +this book. + +## What's inside + +The book concentrates on Western tonal theory and jazz, starting from sound and +time and building up to the relationships that organize notes into music. + +- *Foundations*: sound, time, rhythm and perception; notes, intervals, tuning + and temperament; scales, modes and chords; staff notation, analysis systems + and MIDI. +- *Building harmony and melody*: harmony and secondary chords, texture, voice + leading, cadences and phrase structure, melodic development, common + progressions. +- *Advanced harmony*: extended chords, substitutions and reharmonization, + Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords, modulation, pitch-class sets. +- *Rhythm and groove*: rhythmic placement, polyrhythm and cross-rhythm. +- *Form and application*: form and structure, a worked analysis, + improvisation, composition and ear training. + +Chapters come with exercises and worked solutions. A glossary and appendices +of Python listings at the back turn the procedures into code you can run. + +## Who it's for + +You can come to it from music, from programming, or from curiosity about how +the two meet. No prior music theory is assumed. The math is introduced where it +is used: ratios, logarithms and a little modular arithmetic. The Python +listings make the procedures concrete, but you can follow the main text without +running them.