Reddit reviews Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics: Second, Revised Edition (Dover Books on Music)

Without question, the best way to learn how to arrange is to put in the work transcribing some of your favorite arrangers and dissecting the way they approach things.

Study the chord progressions they use and analyze their voicing. Break down how they use counterpoint vs. countermelody. Pay attention to how they use every single voice, common articulations, and where in the range do they have each part "live" (1st vs. 2nd vs 3rd).

Write down what you observe about how they do things, try to put it into words. Compare/contrast between arrangers. This will help you better internalize what they are doing and help you to find your own style.

But...

Before doing any of this, however, I suggest to read, read, read. Here are a few books to get your started:

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The Study of Counterpoint - Johann Joseph Fux

https://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/

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Contemporary Counterpoint: Theory & Application - Beth Denisch

https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Counterpoint-Theory-Application-Music/dp/0876391838

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Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony - Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Practical-Study-Harmony-Dover-ebook/dp/B00DGBMH06

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Principles of Orchestration - Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Orchestration-Dover-Books-Music-ebook/dp/B00DGBMDNM

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Essential Dictionary of Orchestration - Dave Black & Tom Gerou

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Dictionary-Orchestration-Comprehensive-Orchestrators-ebook/dp/B00EUMY7LC

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Treatise on Instrumentation - Hector Berlioz & Richard Strauss

https://www.amazon.com/Treatise-Instrumentation-Dover-Books-Music-ebook/dp/B00DGBMN8C

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Arranging for Horns - Jerry Gates

https://www.amazon.com/Arranging-Horns-Jerry-Gates/dp/0876391455/

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Another excellent resource is Bandestration - https://bandestration.com/

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BONUS:

Another great read that is HIGHLY applicable to writing for marching music is:

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Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Acoustics-Second-Revised/dp/048626484X

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If you are interested to explore interplay between wind/percussion arranging and electronics:

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Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer - Andrea Pejrolo

https://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-MIDI-Orchestration-Contemporary-Composer/dp/113880150X/

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[This] (https://www.amazon.com/Sensations-Tone-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486607534/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505665842&sr=1-1&keywords=acoustics+helmholtz) is the classic work; but I imagine [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Acoustics-Second-Revised/dp/048626484X/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=048626484X&pd_rd_r=572ASRV7AB4RKDNCA9JK&pd_rd_w=kfjB1&pd_rd_wg=ERTx2&psc=1&refRID=572ASRV7AB4RKDNCA9JK) may be an easier read. (I presume it's the musical angle you want.)

There's also [this] (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Acoustics/Fundamentals_of_Acoustics) for free.

The Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics by Arthur Benade

On The Sensations of Tone by Helmholtz

How did you get through that without saying "Chladni plates"? Such a great word, Chladni, and the patterns are cool to watch.

Also, Arthur Benade wrote a pretty good book about this stuff, and all the other instruments.


It hits the sweet spot between tech folk who want to learn about musical instruments, and tech-leaning music folk who want to know the whys and wherefores.

OP, I'd be curious to know if that book is still a go-to for your age group.

THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD!
http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Acoustics-Revised-Edition/dp/048626484X

This one is great. Very deep.

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics

You mean the harmonics? They have different amplitudes because there is less energy available to higher harmonics.

Finding the amplitude of a periodic function (which is what acoustic waves are) is a matter of studying the wave equation and how infinite series can be used to describe complex waveforms. If you really want to understand this, you're going to have to study the physics of wave phenomena. I don't think Reddit is the place to do this, and even if it was I just don't have the time to explain it to you. Sorry.

That being said, I can recommend books to you. The standard text for many physics departments (MIT still uses it) is Vibrations and Waves by A.P. French. A more general book about musical acoustics is Benade's Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics.

You should probably start with the latter and not the former.