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Title: Composing Music: A New Approach by William Russo, Jeffrey Ainis, David Stevenson, Jeffrey Aines ISBN: 0-226-73216-9 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: March, 1988 Format: Plastic Comb Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (9 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: fails to teach application of theoretical principles well
Comment: I see that most people have high ratings for this book, but I cannot give it more than 2 stars for several reasons. First of all, the book does give a ton of exercises, but I didn't find these very useful--most of them were very simple exercises that had restrictions on how you could write the piece. This book does give much information about music theory, and the author does allow you to use this theory to write small (usually 10-15 bar) monophonic melodies, but by the end of the book this was all that I had learned to do. Yes, I did learn a lot of theory but I did not learn how to use the theoretical concept to its fullest potential when I composed a piece. At the end of the book, I found that, since the book gave me no practice at writing for more than one instrument at a time, I was not any better of a composer than I was at the start of the book.
In my opinion, the author should add a CD to the book to illustrate how each concept he teaches is used to its fullest potential in a musical example. A major part of learning to compose is to listen and imitate--without listening, how are you supposed to know how to use this new music theory that you have just learned?
Overall, the book is just a music theory book with a bunch of useless (to me, anyway) compositional exercises. Perhaps this book is for people who already have experience composing for a while. Personally, I am an ameateur and have piano skills and I wanted a book to teach me to compose, but I am afraid it did not help me very much, and I don't think it will help other ameateurs either.
Rating: 5
Summary: Clear, logical, complete.
Comment: The book's author is clearly influenced by minimalism not only in his approach to music, but also to writing and music instruction. His clearly modal approach to both melody and harmony is presented in superbly logical and fluff-free sequence of explanations and exercises. Some of advanced chapters on topics such as mating lyrics with music or writing picture music are brilliant as well.
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspirational
Comment: This is one of the best "How to" books I have ever read on any subject.
It works on several levels. Even though it takes a "beginners" approach to introducing many topics, it doesn't shy away from "real" music. For example, even the first simple exercise contains something different - 5/4 time. A beginner will simultaneously learn the basics of chord progressions and melody writing, stripped down to the bare essentials, while delving into modern techniques like 12-tone rows and picture music.
The key to the book is the concept of restricting the musical palette by some simple rules, to prevent the budding composer being overwhelmed by the possibilities. Right from the first page, you are working on real composition examples.
Even though the book is not particularly aimed at computer music or sequencing, electronic music enthusiasts should find it useful. A lot of the minimalist techniques are ideal for sequencing. Plus, if your musical background is pretty basic, and you are looking to broaden it with a mix of traditional and contemporary techniques, this book should take you a long way.
By its very nature, a book like this can only touch on some areas. So you will probably want to supplement it with some other material if, for example, you want a bit more detail on counterpoint. Still, it manages to cover a huge amount of ground, with the most detail where it counts most - developing and harmonising melodies, and a very good section on writing music to lyrics (ie songwriting).
One last point - a lot of theory and composition books miss the mark with contemporary musicians because they approach the subject from the purely "classical" angle of cadence and resolution. This book is soundly classical in its approach to harmonisation and melodic development, but uses the comfortable pop/jazz approach to chord progressions, so it shouldn't lose any reader.
Highly recommended!
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Title: All About Chords: A Comprehensive Approach to Understanding Contemporary Chordal Structures and Progressions Through Solid Drills in Suggested Study by Elvo S. D'Amante ISBN: 0962094102 Publisher: Encore Music Pub Co Pub. Date: September, 1988 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Hearing and Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician (2nd Edition) by Ron Gorow ISBN: 0962949671 Publisher: September Publishing Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Melody in Songwriting : Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs by Jack Perricone ISBN: 063400638X Publisher: Hal Leonard Pub. Date: 01 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Study of Counterpoint by Johann Joseph Fux, Alfred Mann ISBN: 0393002772 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: June, 1965 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory by Michael Miller ISBN: 0028643771 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 11 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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