Hi,
I have been playing the trombone for 14 years, but I have never been specially good with the theory behind the notes.
(Only what positions each note translates into).
Thanks!
Fred
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Books on orchestration
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there´s also a book by rimsky-korsakov on orchestration, which is really very good.
concerning books on music-theory:
that is a very difficult issue. most books (even the good ones) just touch the surface of the subject. it really depends a lot on the style you want to write in. If you want to learn about Debussy´s style for example, it is of no use to get a book about how to write a fugue in the style of bach.
it´s important at first to sort of find out what music you are interested in and then get a book that deals with the theory behind that specific style. if you get a book that tries to give an "overview", you will sort of get an overview, but also learn many things that are false, because such books are generalizing quite a lot.
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Fred,
The Rimsky-Korsakov book is available free on-line at the IMSLP web site:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Principles_of_Orchestration_%28Rimsky-Korsakov,_Nikolai%29
Alse Berlioz' "Treatise on Instrumentation" is there:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Instrumentation_%28Berlioz,_Hector%29
The books are older but stll good.
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A competitor of VSL (and if I'm out of line here, please let me know, VSL folks) has the Rimsky-Korsakov book up on-line with audio examples, using their product, I think:
http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=77
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I hope this helps. I found the Adler book to be very good; I just wish I had the audio CDs to go with it, to listen to the examples.
Larry Samuels
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@Maya said:
This one is also recommendable:
"The guide to MIDI orchestration" by Paul Gilreath -> http://www.amazon.com/Guide-MIDI-Orchestration-Paul-Gilreath/dp/0964670534
/Regards,
Regarding the book "The Guide to MIDI Orchestration" I would advice to wait, that edition is more than five years old and It seems that the author, Paul Gilreath, is already working on a new edition (4th) to be published around March 2010 by Focal Press:
http://www.focalpress.com/Book.aspx?id=18294&cat=166&sub=172
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For the theory part I'll recommend the route I took and give what I hope are useful comments. .....................
1. Rudiments of Music (3rd Edition) (Paperback) by Robert W. Ottman - - - - available for fairly low price in good used condition http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0137067402/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=used
What I like about this book is the way it brings you face to face with the busy work of calculating intervals, the manifold nature of the circle of keys and all the pedagogical delights that make you aware of how much you don't know about reading music. This is a necessary first stop before moving on to bigger and better stuff. Word of caution about this particular book and all such books; take from them what you can and don't allow yourself to be bogged in their endless detail. Again, this is book (or at least the materials in it ) are an absolute requirement to being able to move on to learning good reading skills; there's another assumption in all of this study that is not clearly stated-you really have to practice this stuff at a keyboard-Western music is keyboard centric and this underlying assumption is almost tyrannical in how the teaching of theory is carried out.
2. Elementary Harmony: Theory and Practice by Robert W. Ottman http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0132574365/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all
You will want to avoid the early editions of this book, the link is to the third edition and that's pretty good. Again, do not ( I can't emphasize this enough) let yourself get bogged in all of the details, try to pick out the main points. That is the key to any learning material but especially here.
3. Advanced Harmony, Theory and Practice (Paperback) ~ Robert W. Ottman_http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/013006016X/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
Keep plugging away and this book will be your reward-some really fun stuff about music emerges at this point such as diatonic sequences.
The Ottman theory books are limited in their discussion on defining voice leading and counterpoint. . To get some all around discussion that encompasses theory in light of voice leading and counterpoint you could try these
4. Harmony and Voice Leading (2nd Edition) (Hardcover) ~ Edward Aldwell (Author), Carl Schachter (Author) http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0155315196/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all
Beware-this book moves fast and deep, again Ottman's Rudiments may bring you up to speed for this but at least get your feet wet first with Ottman's elementary harmony and then try Aldwell's book to move on to a higher level.
5 .The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening ISBN-10: 0195095677_ http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Musician-Integrated-Approach-Listening/dp/0195095677/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261761483&sr=1-
Includes some of the best features of Ottman's style with Aldwell's- digs deep but worth the effort
All of this is about 4 part writing-ironically there are ton's of examples in any church hymnal of the major Protestant denominations- Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian are the ones I know about. Then there's the proverbial Bach (JS) Chorales -here's a CD with the sheet musice- PDF format- to print off of your home computer http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Works-For-Keyboard-And-Four-Part-Chorales/2401979
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I would like to add the suggestion: just copy scores by hand - or with your notation software. I started copying i.e. Wagner or Mendelssohn when I was a teenager and it taught me how to handle orchestral colours. My first "handwritten" score was the prelude to Lohengrin by Wagner and I learned from it how to handle three-part woodwinds or divisi string parts.@lenersen said:
Books will teach you the basics of instruments and combinations. Here are two practical exercises after that:
1. Read full orchestral scores as much as you can. With and without audio.
2. Take a score that you like and reverse-orchestrate it, ie. turn it into a piano score
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These are good ideas here. I agree on copying scores. Also, going beyond copying and trying as uncompromisingly as possible to do a completely realistic performance with samples on an instrument-by-instrument basis. It is perhaps the best score study you could do, as you are absolutely forced to delve into each part separately, and then in combination with the others, in the smallest detail. When I did the "Mars" demo it was somewhat nightmarish, the amount of detail involved. But it was worth it to be forced into such close study of great music. I shudder to think of the amount of work Jay Bacal had doing Rite of Spring, but he has learned firsthand an enormous amount about Stravinsky's scoring, and what could be better than that? Well, maybe sitting on a beach with a Mai-tai.
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And may I add: Playing in an orchestra or singing in a good concert choir would help very much. I used to play trombone in younger years and later singing tenor in some Early Music Ensembles and also big choirs. Both did serve me well as I could watch other instruments and their players and how it all works together. I can remember playing 2nd trombone in Elgar's Cello Concerto at the age of 17 and how I was impressed by all the sounds (i.e. how perfectly horns and clarinets would blend in the first movement or how stressful it would be for the viola section to get the main theme right). Same goes for singing: I do remember singing "Gurrelieder" in Munich or "Mahler 2nd" in Bamberg, having the actual score with me and being placed right behind the brass section. Wow - that really taught me how to use an orchestra in a clever way. And: what to steal. ;-) For german-speaking users I'd like to recommend a book on orchestration that has become some sort of standard on the issue: "Handbuch der Instrumentationspraxis" by Ertugrul Sevsay. Just read the reviews on amazon.com - I don't know, if it has been translated into english?
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The Professional Orchestration Series. Consider the Home Study Bundles.
http://alexanderpublishing.com/Departments/Professional-Orchestration.aspx
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P Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on
