Reddit reviews Fundamentals of Musical Composition

Here's a couple that I've found useful:

• Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition by Michael Miller - http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Music-Composition/dp/1592574033/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418209745&sr=1-3&keywords=music+composition+for+dummies&pebp=1418209748985 – this is the first book I read on composing and I found it was a great introductory text. Not too heavy, entertaining but still informative. Will provide you with a basic foundation to build upon.
  
  
• Fundamentals of Music Composition by Arnold Schoenberg - http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Composition-Arnold-Schoenberg/dp/0571196586 – this one is more theoretical but packed full of good information. A classic.
  
  
• Composing Music, A New Approach by William Russo - http://www.amazon.com/Composing-Music-A-New-Approach/dp/0226732169/ref=pd_sim_b_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZNR3GJFDSRX6Z2PGS4R – this one's a bit more modern and full of practical exercises, will get you composing straight away.
  
  And the one I'm reading at the moment, Jazz Composition and Arranging in the Digital Age by Richard Sussman and Michael Abene - http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Composition-Arranging-Digital-Age/dp/0195381009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418209939&sr=1-1&keywords=jazz+composition+and+arranging
  
  Hope that helps!

For anything that involves advanced music theory, or more technical elements of music, your best bet (IMHO) is to stay clear from jazz/rock books or anything "popular" and read from traditional academic/classical composers. That is, if you're looking to understand music from a more historic point of view of how is was used, and how it worked for hundreds of years and how it still works today.

There are tons of good books out there, but off the top of my head I reccomend:

Regarding the art of counterpoint:


Preliminary exercises in Counterpoint - Schoenberg

Also, you could check out the traditional Fux's Study of Counterpoint, but I think Schoenberg's book is far more complete and incentive.

Regarding the art of Harmony:


For a long time I've always thought that books could educate you in any way, until I met my harmony teacher. After studying with her for a couple years I find it hard to believe how much information, technique, and art is missing from almost every book on the subject, some are exceptions, obviously, but my recommendation is that there is no better way of learning this but with personal intruction. Also, the teacher needs to be someone who has had a strong education in music from well-known masters of the past, as was my teacher.

Anyways, regarding harmony in the more poetical and theoretical sense I reccomend :

Rameau's Treatise on Harmony

and of course, Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony

For a more technical approach to harmony I haven't found any books I'm really fond of, but I do think that Paul Hindemith's book is a very good option.

For something in the middle I recommend this

Regarding form and structure in music:


Once again, I have never seen information and instruction similar to that which I received with my professors, however here are a few good picks...

Schoenberg's Fundamentals of musical composition

and 2 books that I found very useful were...
(these I didn't find on amazon.com)

from German composer Clemens Kuhn: "Formenlehre der Musik" (this is only in German)

and from Spanish composer Joaquin Zamacois: "Curso de Formas Musicales" (this is only in Spanish I believe)

Well, surely there are more books, but I think these are good options for you to start. However, always with a grain of salt

I'm a theory n00b of the highest order; this is way beyond anything i could handle, but anyway…

Schoenberg wrote books on composition and harmony.

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Composition-Arnold-Schoenberg/dp/0571196586

Hey man! Most musicians have the same problem that you do, and it usually comes down to a misunderstanding of compositional theory, harmonic theory, and a misunderstanding of appropriate ways to develop motives into fluent phrases. Simply having a circle of fifths chart open, while it can be very useful, ignores the primary tenant of harmony, which is why you would use certain chords in a particular context.



Diatonic Chords and Their Substitutions

In tonal music, we have 7 diatonic chords to choose from in a major key. I - ii - iii - IV - V - vi - vii (diminished). Each of these chords can be broken down into 3 different categories, each serving a specific function, and each function having its "primary" chord (not a technical term) as well as some "substitutions" (technical term).

• The - I - Chord being the "primary chord" of the Tonic function
  
  
  
• The - IV - Chord being the "primary chord" of the Sub Dominant function
  
  
  
• The - V - chord being the "primary chord" of the Dominant function
  
  
  The Tonic function serves as home base. This is (one of) the most important chords because it establishes a sense of tonality to your piece/record/composition/etc.
  
  
  The Sub Dominant function serves as a preparation chord for the introduction of the Dominant.
  
  
  The Dominant function serves to pull the ear, towards the Tonic. This function is equally as important as the tonic, because it creates a sense of tension that is resolved by moving back to the tonic. Without this function, there would be no real sense of tonality to the piece.
  
  
  Now, each of these functions primary chords also have substitutions. Meaning, you can substitute any of the primary chords for one of these, and it will serve the same chordal function.
  
  
  
• Tonic function - I - substitutions: vi - iii
  
  
  
• Subdominant function - IV - substitutions: ii - vi
  
  
  
• Dominant function - V - substitutions: iii - vii (diminished)
  
  
  Now, while these substitutions can be used 1 of 2 ways:
  
  
  

1. Extend the current function
   
   
2. Replace the functions "primary" chord
   
   
   Extending a chords function is very simple, let's say your chord progression goes a little bit like this:
   
   
   > I - IV - I - ii - V - I
   
   
   Now let's say you want to extend the Subdominant function represented in the second chord - IV -. You now have 2 options to use, the - ii - or the - vi - (let's use the ii) Now your progression looks like this:
   
   
   > I - IV - ii - I - ii - V - I
   
   
   Using this same progression, let's replace the now 5th chord in the progression - ii - with something else, because we don't like having 2 - ii - chords in our progression. Well, based on the previous chord to the chord we want to change - I - and the chord that comes after it - V - , we can deduce that the - ii - is actually serving as a subdominant function chord. So what are our options? We can replace it with the "primary" chord - IV - or we can use the - vi - (let's use the IV). Now our progression looks like this:
   
   
   > I - IV - ii - I - IV - V - I
   
   
   
   Secondary Dominant Chords
   These bad boys are SUPER important, and can add much needed "color" and "adventure" to any piece. Secondary Dominants work the same way that the Dominant function works, it creates tension that is resolved by reaching a destination chord. However, secondary dominants do not pull your ear towards the Tonic (like the dominant function does), they pull your ear to another chord.
   
   
   To create a secondary Dominant, you simply turn the chord from minor to major, and/or add a dominant extension (we won't be talking about this). let's start off with this thought experiment:
   
   
   We will begin our chord progression on the - I -, and we want to get to the - V - by means of a Secondary Dominant. How do we know what the secondary Dominant of - V - is? Well it's easy, we simply count down 4 scale degrees from the V (we include the "V" when counting):
   
   
   > V -> IV -> iii -> ii
   
   
   Now that we've identified which chord we can use to create the secondary Dominant, we simply transform the - ii - into a II. Our progression will look like this:
   
   
   > I - II - V
   
   
   Secondary Dominants can be applied to any chord, let's say we want to go from our starting - I - chord to the - vi - via Secondary Dominant. Here's the process again:
   
   
   
3. Count down 4 scale degrees from the destination chord: vi -> V -> IV -> iii
   
   
   
4. Turn our soon-to-be secondary Dominant chord into a major chord/add a dominant function: iii -> III
   
   
   
5. Apply: I - III - vi
   
   
   Now, secondary Dominants are usually notated this way: "V/vi" (pronounced "[the] Five of Six") . This is because we are essentially creating a dominant function for our destination chord. A good example of a Secondary Dominant in action would be Chanson Triste by Tchaikovsky, the secondary Dominant (V/VI) occurs in the 3rd measure of the piece.
   
   
   Putting this into practice
   
   
   All of this theory is great and all, but how does one put this into practice?Well, it all comes down to how you think about music while you're creating it. For every harmonic decision you make, run through this thought process:
   
   
   
   
6. What function am I currently on? (Tonic, Sub Dominant, or Dominant)
   
   
   
7. Do I want to leave the current function or do I want to extend it? (Identify a destination chord which would be either a replacement or primary)
   
   
   And that's it! Now, all you have to do is experiment (and study).
   
   
   I hope this helped a little bit, below I'm going to put some more resources on the topics I discussed just in case you didn't like the way I presented things. Best of luck
   
   
   
   Secondary Dominants
   
   
   Chordal Substitutions
   
   
   Edit: I'm gonna address some of the things you mentioned in your post, because a few things bothered me.
   
   
   >Is this normal for theory-challenged folks? Despite reading/watching hours of tutorials and knowing the terminology..."
   
   
   Terminology isnt the end goal of understanding music theory. Terminology is simply a way that we express phenomena in music, nothing more. For comparison, simply knowing what the word "atom" means, and being able to identify one isn't the end goal of physics, understanding how the atom works, and most importantly, how we as a species can use the atom to either create something or understand other phenomena is the goal. Music theory isn't just a list of definitions, is the language by which we, as musicians, understand how to create music.
   
   
   > ... I still can't sit down and just write something that flows naturally unless I'm completely ignoring theory.
   
   
   That's probably because you don't understand theory very well! You mentioned earlier that you tend to "noodle" until something sounds good, which I would say is very typical of most hobby musicians. However, understanding why certain things sounds good while others don't, and being able to adjust quickly and correctly is absolutely within your reach. If I could suggest one book to any hobby musician, I'd suggest Fundamentals of Composition by Arnold Schoenberg this book helps people understand why they make certain structural decisions and how to construct logical, meaningful melodies, phrases and song structures.

I do NOT want to discourage you - but I don't think there is a quick way to learn music thory. It takes time and practice and experience. But it is definitely possible! Just think of it as a language : the written dot on the staff corresponds to a pitch - just like an a corresponds to the sound a. It must become natural. So I guess my advice is to read a LOT of music. Every day, if possible, and of different styles (classical, modern etc.) If you want your pieces to really sound original, you have to know what others have written before you - and learn from their craft.
That being said, I think there is a good deal of great books about harmony that you can read to guide your development, I will list a few here :

• Arnold Schoenberg : Theory of Harmony (A bit tedious to read, but with great many examples)
  
• Arnold Schoenberg : Fundamentals of Musical Composition This one is great but a bit advanced; I suggest you read it when you master the harmony basics.
  
• Carl Schroeder & Keith Wyatt : Harmony and Theory: A Comprehensive Source for All Musicians This one is recommended, but I didn't read it myself.
  
• Barbara Wharram : Elementary Rudiments of Music. This one I grew up with. Very straightforward and clear.
  
  Might I suggest that you play all the examples and excercies at the piano so that you train your ear to hear what you see.
  
  Also, you might want to contact a piano teacher and take lessons for a year... or two. Technique is a great part of playing, and is very difficult to learn on his own.
  
  Sorry for the long post, but I love music and want to help a fellow player. Also, sorry for potentialy awkward sentences, english is not my first language.
  
  Hope this helps!

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony

Arnold Schoenberg, Fundamentals of Musical Composition

Music Composition For Dummies

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition

Music Composition 1: Learn how to compose well-written rhythms and melodies (Volume 1)

More at Amazon.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/Composition/

I found this book to be extremely useful when I first started. It walks you through the four bar phrase and up to writing themes. It also covers form as well. Its very tonally based, despite the author, and very easy to read. Well worth the twenty bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Musical-Composition-Arnold-Schoenberg/dp/0571196586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518150927&sr=8-1&keywords=composing+schoenberg

It's not sonata form. That's an issue for a piano sonata unless you're Domenico Scarlatti.

Apart from that, the part writing goes sideways a few times. Have you studied four-part harmony? I believe it's essential regardless of your personal harmonic language. Look at Schoenberg, for example. He's famous for writing extremely dissonant music, but he was perhaps the most capable tonalist in the world while he was alive. His books on tonality and composition are works of genius, and I recommend you read them and internalize them (Theory of Harmony and Fundamentals of Musical Composition, in case you're curious).

You seem like you have the potential to write in a style similar to Andrew Violette, but to get there will require great discipline and study. Redouble your efforts and buckle down.

Go for old editions. Clendinning/Marvin's The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis is respected and tackles a large number of concepts in reasonable depth. Somebody else mentioned the Schoenberg books. Schoenberg was an excellent composer, thinker, and pedagogue. You may find his works to be in a completely different vein from modern harmony textbooks, but they can be incredibly rewarding to a composer.

Structural Functions of Harmony

Fundamentals of Musical Composition

Harmonielehre

Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint

I would start with Arnold Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition and Theory of Harmony by the same author. The former is more of a slow-reading reference with examples for study and replication. The latter is a dense and thought-provoking page turner.

None of my works have been recorded. The best I could do is to post a PDF of some of them if you're interested in having a look at them.

Depending on exactly what style you're looking for: Fundamentals of Musical Composition - Arnold Schoenberg

There are a couple I know of, none of which I would wholeheartedly recommend. Teaching someone composition is a tricky task as it can never truly be taught. There are two that were relatively interesting, most likely due to their author:

-Fundamentals of Musical Composition - A. Schoenberg

Written along with the below book for his composition students at university when he noticed a substantial lack of the basics.


-Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint - A. Schoenberg

Forwarded and edited by his pupil Leonard Stein, who did the same for "Structural Functions of Harmony" and whose brother did "Arnold Schoenberg Letters"

[The Study of Orchestration by Sam Alder] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Study-Orchestration-Third-Edition/dp/039397572X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1396568479&sr=8-5&keywords=orchestration) is a good one, although a bit expensive.

Fundamentals of Composition by Arnold Schoenberg is one I really enjoyed, and goes from simpler forms and melodies to much more advanced areas.