About Percy Goetshcius

Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers & Hammerstein) said that Percy Goetschius was to harmony what Gray was to anatomy. Rodgers should know as Dr. Goetschius was Richard Rodgers' teacher at the school that later became Juilliard.

Dr. Goetschius' list of students was a true Who's Who of composers and composers whose lives spanned into the early 21st Century. Outside of Nadia Boulanger, it's doubtful that any other single music teacher has had such a profound impact on his students as Percy Goetschius did.

What we know of Dr. Goetschius we found on line through the Passaic County Historical Society, Lambert Castle, in Paterson, NJ.

Percy Goetschius is a native Patersonian who has won international fame in the teaching of the theory of composition. Born in this city in 1853, he was piano pupil of Robert E. H. Gehring, a prominent teacher of that era. Mr. Goetschius was the organist of the Second Presbyterian Church 1868-1870 and of the First Presbyterian 1870-73, and pianist of Mr. Benson’s Paterson Choral Society. He went to Stuttgart, Wurtenberg, in 1873 to study in the conservatory, and soon advanced to the teaching ranks. The King conferred upon him the title of royal professor. He composed much, and reviewed performances for the press. In 1892 he took a like position in the New England Conservatory, Boston, and four years later opened a studio in that city. In 1905 he went to the staff of the New York Institute of Music and Art, headed by Dr. Frank Damrosch. Prof. Goetschius has published nine textbooks on theory, which are accepted as standards in the musical world.

We've re-published and re-edited for easier reading four of Dr. Goetschius' major works. His recommended order of study is as follows:

1. Elementary 18th-19th Century Counterpoint

2. The Homophonic Forms of Musical Composition

3. Counterpoint Applied

4. The Larger Forms of Musical Composition

To help you Learn It Right the First Time, we're locating for each volume, a majority of the works Dr. Goetschius wants you to study.

Contents

Exercises in Elementary Counterpoint - Introduction
Chapter 1 - The Single Melodic Line
Chapter 2 - Wider Leaps
Chapter 3 - Exceptional Progressions - Minor Mode
Chapter 4 - The Combination of Two Melodic Lines
Chapter 5 - The Minor Mode
Chapter 6 - Exceptional Intervals: Major & Minor
Chapter 7 - Rhythmic Diversity - Two Notes to a Given Beat
Chapter 8 - Modulations
Chapter 9 - Three Notes To A Beat
Chapter 10 - Syncopation, Or Shifted Rhythm
Chapter 11 - The Tie, Continued, Rests
Chapter 12 - Four Notes To A Beat
Chapter 13 - Four Notes To A Beat, As Amplified Forms
Chapter 14 – Rhythmic Movement in Different Parts
Chapter 15 - Motive Development Imitation
Chapter 16 - Three-Part Harmony & As Melodic Harmonization
Chapter 17 - Secondary Chords & Sequences
Chapter 18 - With Modulations & Altered Steps
Chapter 19 - Contrapuntal Harmony
Chapter 20 - Three-Part Counterpoint
Chapter 21 - Motive Development With Three Contrapuntal Parts
Chapter 22 - Four-Part Harmony
Chapter 23 - Modulations
Chapter 24 - Contrapuntal Four-Part Harmony
Chapter 25 - Four-Part Counterpoint
Chapter 26 - Motive Development