Best music reference books according to redditors

We found 369 Reddit comments discussing the best music reference books. We ranked the 103 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top Reddit comments about Music Reference:

u/TheBishopsBane · 39 pointsr/Music

Everyone has perfect pitch. Our brains have receptors that match the frequency of what we're hearing. If you hear an A at 440Hz, your brain fires a receptor at 440Hz. There's a great book called This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel J Levitin that explains it much better than I could.
Still cool, though.

u/Yeargdribble · 15 pointsr/piano

You owe it to yourself to buy this book ASAP. It'll end up answering so many questions for you, and if you really enjoy writing by hand, you'll probably just love flipping through and reading the little entries and learning a ton about all of the little notation rules we all take for granted in our reading.

It's amazing when you actually put pen(cil) to paper how much you start to realize little things like... "Wait... when do I change stem directions? How long should stems be? How do I space this thing?" etc.

Also, I would highly recommend doing this with pencil (I vastly prefer a nice 0.5 mechanical for consistency and precision). And if you're going to copy someone else's work, try to find something from a decent publisher/editor rather than learn from some of the highly questionable stuff you might find on musescore where people make all sorts of egregious errors with beaming and just general beat obfuscating note grouping stuff.

u/xuol · 14 pointsr/musictheory

Octave equivalence is universal among humans, barring neural damage or problems. However, there are no universal preferences for any other intervals. For example, some scales in the folk music of places such as Java don't have a fifth in them... although they do have an interval that is (I believe) 17 cents sharper than a sharp. I'm not 100% sure if that's the exact value, but it's between a fifth and a quarter tone above a fifth.

The smallest interval that can be discriminated by the ear when the two pitches are not played at the same time is about 50 cents (a quarter tone). Because of this, the upward limit for number of scale tones per octave is 24.

If you want to read a good book that gives a lot more information than I can on the subject than I can, I highly recommend The Social Psychology of Music by Paul R. Farnsworth. Daniel Levitin's book This Is Your Brain on Music also discusses pitch, and I believe that's where I read that the limit is 24 tones.

And, more bonus information just because I feel like you might appreciate it. When we listen to two intervals at the same time, we can discern differences much smaller. Starting with two tones that are at the same pitch, if one of the tone rises, different things happen as the interval gets wider and wider.

While the tones are the same pitch, the sounds' amplitudes are added, which (in most situations) just makes it twice as loud. As the second tone rises to 15 Hz above the first tone, the average of the two tones is heard with a beating noise with a frequency of the difference in tone. Thus if one tone is at 440 and the other is at 450, the ear will hear 445 with a "beating" sound that happens 10 times per second. Above 15Hz, there is an unpleasant sound until the difference between the tones' pitches reaches a point called the Limit of Discrimination. This point is arbitrary and depends on things like the absolute values of the two pitches (for example, lower pitches are harder to discriminate between) and the listener theirself. Above the Limit of Discrimination, though, there is a sensation of hearing two pitches instead of just one. From there upwards, it reaches what's called the critical band, which is a continuum of decreasing dissonance. Above that point, most of the effects have more to do with culture than how the ear works.

Also, about scales. Traditionally, pentatonic scales come from Europe and West Asia, but heptatonic (7-note) scales were used primarily in the Middle East and India. You might also check out Temperament: How Music Became a Great Battlefield for the Great Minds of Western Civilization, because it points out how arbitrary our decisions of pitch in Western music are.

TL;DR: The octave is the only interval that's universal

u/blckravn01 · 12 pointsr/classicalmusic

I would gladly offer my life to Maurice Ravel to finish his book on Orchestration. He said he didn't like Rimsky-Korsakov's book because he only gave the best selections from his own works as examples. Ravel said his book would be like Rimsky-Korsakov's but he would give his worst selections as examples of why the ideas/techniques didn't work.

That, and Ravel said he would re-orchestrate Debussy's La Mer.

u/jdwmusic · 11 pointsr/musictheory

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

u/alanklinke · 11 pointsr/musictheory

As Elaine Gould establishes in her book:

>Notes are easiest to read and to pitch when they are spelled according to the following conventions, whether or not the music has a tonal context:

>
>i. Use the most familiar intervals — perfect, minor and major — rather than augmented and diminished intervals
>
>ii. Chromatic-scale figures use sharps to ascend, flats to descend
>
>iii. Spell stepwise figures as a scale, i.e. as adjacent pitch letters: F# G Ab or D Eb Fb, not Gb G G# or Eb E Eb.

u/thelowdown · 11 pointsr/Bass

Music Theory is one part of what you're talking about, but you're also talking about ear training.

Knowing your scales, and chords, is one thing, but knowing what they sound like when you hear other people playing them is another. Ideally you would want to get to a place in your playing where you can hear the notes, or lines before you play them, and then just play them. That's a very high level of musicianship that comes after lots of dedication.

One of the best things you can do for a "shortcut" is learn to hear certain chord changes. Once you can hear how the roots of the chords are moving around, (eg: I-IV-V, or iii - vi - ii - V) then you can work on hearing what tonality they are. (eg: Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented)

For theory books I really enjoy this one: http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Theory-Comprehensive-Musicians-Essential/dp/0793579910

For Ear Training I enjoy: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Ear-Training-Guitar-Bass/dp/0793581567

u/polymonic · 11 pointsr/Songwriting

Some suggestions:

  • Spend some time working on instrumentals
  • Try writing a piece where it's okay to have 2 lines
  • Give Object Writing a try
  • Check out Writing Better Lyrics
  • Work through The Artist's Way
  • Continually make shitty writing every day. Occasionally something amazing will happen.
u/evilpinkfreud · 10 pointsr/Guitar

This was the first introduction that made things start clicking for me http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Theory-Comprehensive-Musicians-Essential/dp/0793579910

u/breaks365 · 8 pointsr/askscience

If you want to learn more about this, I would recommend a book called This Is Your Brain On Music. It's an amazing breakdown of the brain's ability to process music by a neuro scientist who had been previously been employed as a sound engineer for many prominent bands during the 70's.

http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0525949690

u/FaerieStories · 8 pointsr/lotr

It's pricey, and probably aimed at people with a certain level of understanding of music theory, but if you're interested in how Shore uses leitmotifs, there is no more in-depth analysis out there than this book.

I went to a book signing when it was released and met Mr Shore.

u/Jongtr · 8 pointsr/musictheory

A great theory book for guitarists (starting from the basics) is this. Definitely nothing in there about "polytonal rhythms" (whatever they might be, they certainly ain't "fundamental")!

You'll see it goes as far as "chord substution and reharmonization", but by that point I would be starting to take it a little less seriously, and maybe moving on to something more in depth. (Those "jazz theories" can get controversial.)

Of similar level - less guitar-based - is this. This is more like an exercise book, with the information in each chapter followed by test questions, with answers in the back. (Just one of the answers is wrong in my very old edition... hopefully fixed now.)

I really recommend at least two sources when reading music theory. Every author has their own angle, and their own readership in mind. It may be that one book (or website) clicks with you, but the others will always fill in gaps here and there, and what's not clear in one may be clear in another. When all sources agree, you can be sure you've got good info. When they don't ... more research needed!

Best general theory website is probably https://www.musictheory.net/lessons - very well organised, right from the basics. It will "walk you through" if you resist skipping pages and take it steadily, step by step, in order. You may need the first book above (or something similar) to help translate notation to the guitar.

Don't forget to always play the stuff on the guitar as you're reading. If you don't know how to play it, don't try learning it. musictheory.net provides sounds, so you can at least hear the stuff, but best if you can play it yourself.

u/jseego · 8 pointsr/Songwriting
  1. Highly recommend this book.

  2. Go for specific imagery and storytelling. "Still looking at this gift you gave me" is better than "Girl I'm sad you left me".

  3. Find a theme for the song that is not just the emotion you're trying to work with. For example, "sad because of a breakup" is a subject matter, not a theme. A theme would be "life is strange" or "you can never keep something for long". Then, don't necessarily make the theme a lyric in your song, but try to draw out images and ideas from the theme. If you do that and the song still really needs you to actually state the theme, you'll know. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a cliche.

  4. Don't rhyme emotional words. Don't rhyme "mad" with "bad" or "sad" or "glad", for example.

  5. One effective technique that's used a LOT is to make the verses specific and the choruses general, or vice versa.

  6. Use the rhythm of the lyrics to emphasize emotional parts

  7. Try to have some emotional development within the song. Not just a reflection of emotion, but some kind of journey or realization. I mean, a song about depression might work well as just a static droning sadness, but for most songs, this can be really powerful.

    Example, from an 80s hair metal ballad that was a big hit:


    VERSE

    We both lie silently still in the dead of the night (specific situation)

    Although we both lie close together

    We feel miles apart, inside (storytelling, relatable situation, specific scene)

    Was it somethin' I said or something I did

    Did my words not come out right (storytelling - you know exactly the emotion but all he's said so far is "feel miles apart inside")

    Tho' I tried not to hurt you

    Tho' I tried (storytelling)

    But I guess that's why they say (note how he interrupts the verse cadence leading into the chorus - adds emotional weight)

    CHORUS

    Every rose has its thorn (specific metaphorical imagery, asserts a theme (good things are always difficult))

    Just like every night has its dawn (familiar metaphor, also turns around the metaphor from the previous line)

    Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song (wtf? do they? I dunno. This line is just weird but for some reason it works for a hair metal ballad. but notice they don't go with "I feel like a sad cowboy" - they just show you the image)

    Every rose has its thorn

    Yea it does

    VERSE

    I listen to our favorite song playin' on the radio (storytelling, specificity)

    Hear the dj say love's a game of

    Easy come and easy go (listen to the song and notice how they use the rhythm to reinforce the emotional weight of this line, which also relates to the theme)

    But I wonder does he know (reinforces and relates to the story and a theme of distance - in the first verse, he's lying next to someone close to him and feeling far away - in this verse, he's listening to someone far away and wondering how they're feeling)

    Has he ever felt like this

    And I know that you'd be here right now

    If I could have let you know somehow I guess (notice how at the end of the first verse, they are wondering if they are at fault, and at the end of the second verse, they are admitting it)

    CHORUS

    etc

    In the rest of the song, they start leaning on more direct stuff "I feel so much pain" and "cuts life a knife...but the scar remains" and it gets kind of cliche. The last verse returns to the story, so the bridge being more direct kinda works in that way, but for me the success of this song is the first two verses and choruses. Seems like they got a little lazy about the middle of the song. Still a very successful song about a breakup, full of relatable storytelling, specific imagery, decent rhymes, good emotional use of lyrical rhythm, and a catchy chorus that sets off against the verses really well.

    EDIT: Also, check out the work that "Just like" is doing in the chorus. "Every rose has its thorn" is pretty much the opposite idea of "every night has its dawn" - but, by relating them with "just like", the song is creating this kind of philosophical malaise - all good things are kind of bad, all bad things are kind of good, the good is like the bad and the bad is like the good, and it's hard to even tell what's bad or good, just like people feel when they suffer a painful breakup. Checkout how much weaker it would be if it was: "Every rose has its thorn / But every night has its dawn". Totally different meaning, totally different song. That would be a song about how everything is going to be alright in the end. Relating contrasting ideas like that to get at an underlying feeling can work really well.


u/TroyLucas · 8 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

In the book "Writing Better Lyrics" (link below) it addresses how fundamental it is for a pleasant scheme. Overtly over-using "hard rhymes" is annoying to our ears and akin to listening to Dr. Seuss.

Soft rhymes (mouse/ground, note/hose, life/dice etc.) are much less obtrusive to the flow.

That said, a hard rhyme is sometimes necessary.

All goes back to preferences. I knew a drummer who felt that the end of every line should rhyme. And I know a bassist who (for a period) felt that any rhyme of any shape or form was detrimental, and that other literary devices like alliteration would be preferable. Ultimately, neither of them sang their words. The bassist has since begun singing, and thus rewriting on the spot.

http://www.amazon.ca/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779

u/Gwohl · 7 pointsr/edmproduction

Buy a copy of this book immediately. If you want to know how to synthesize a sound, this book will be your best and most complete resource.

u/WorkedInTheory · 7 pointsr/drumcorps

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:

​

The Study of Counterpoint - Johann Joseph Fux

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

​

Contemporary Counterpoint: Theory & Application - Beth Denisch

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

​

Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony - Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

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

​

Principles of Orchestration - Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

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

​

Essential Dictionary of Orchestration - Dave Black & Tom Gerou

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

​

Treatise on Instrumentation - Hector Berlioz & Richard Strauss

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

​

Arranging for Horns - Jerry Gates

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

​

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

​

BONUS:

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

​

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics

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

​

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

​

Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer - Andrea Pejrolo

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

​

u/Shawn_of_the_Redd · 7 pointsr/technology

That's fascinating; is your hearing impairment neurological in nature, or due to mechanical impairment of something in your ears?

I'm curious to know, because I read a really awesome book from which I learned that for most people, there is an area in the brain associated with sound processing where the neurons fire with literally the same exact frequency as the sound in the environment. E.g. a 440Hz perfect A note will produce a 440Hz firing of the neurons. Sound is thus a kind of direct perceptual access to the environment in a way that sight isn't, because sight involves a number of higher-order functions.

u/Xenoceratops · 7 pointsr/musictheory

Why would handwriting make it any different? Elaine Gould's Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation is spot on.

u/mladjiraf · 7 pointsr/edmproduction

Music theory:

Start from the basic videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w

Rick Beato's channel is also decent.



Cheap and everything explained clearly.

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-3E-Idiots-Guides/dp/1465451676/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1465451676&pd_rd_r=GF5SHDNNXVSHYD85SBMA&pd_rd_w=N6uHQ&pd_rd_wg=baHRW&psc=1&refRID=GF5SHDNNXVSHYD85SBMA

Or print the lessons of this site:

http://openmusictheory.com/contents.html



Mixing: MixbusTV ; recordingrevolution

https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Presents/dp/0240815807/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0240815807&pd_rd_r=71AA09DB5BSM6697CVWQ&pd_rd_w=fruKp&pd_rd_wg=JTmnE&psc=1&refRID=71AA09DB5BSM6697CVWQ&dpID=51eoJadnMbL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail


Edm production tips: type "Lessons of KSHMR" - it's uploaded by a used named Splice (which is an audio samples related site)

Future music magazine: in the studio / Steinberg sessions


Tons of free vsts: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-vst-plugins/

http://vst4free.com/

Recommended DAW is Reaper (60 USD), because it's the most stable, the cheapest and has the most options and custom skins, so you can replicate any other DAW's key commands/mouse modifiers and skins, while having cheaper and more stable DAW - the only negative is that it doesn't include synths and samples, only fx plugins.

Reaper tutorials (around 340 videos )
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq297H7Ca98HlB5mVFHGSsQ

Free samples:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/free-music-samples-download-loops-hits-and-multis-627820

Paid samples:

https://www.loopmasters.com/

https://splice.com/

Recommended payed synths:

Serum (CPU killer, so don't buy it, if you don't have a good computer) or Massive for dubstep. These 2 are easy to learn and there are tons of presets for them - free and paid.

For non-dubstep anything goes as long you know what you do. You may like Syntmaster - tons of presets, cheap (100 usd) and many synthesis modes (but is very ugly and cluttered GUI). But whatever, the sounds are great (there are also cutdown versions of it, so care). The synths with that many different synthesis modes are usually way more expensive (200-500 or more USD)- but like I said, Synthmaster has pretty bad UI; still, it's a steal for that price.

At some point you will probably want NI Kontakt, because of 3rd party soundbanks, but better buy it in a Komplete bundle - it's cheaper.

Nexus is OK, if you are after some of the latest soundbanks (and they are super expensive). Factory sounds are overused and somewhat dated, so it's not worth it, if you don't get any of the latest expansions.

u/angrypooper · 6 pointsr/musictheory

According to Curtis Roads' black bible of computer audio page 985:

> "The usual MIDI pich range begins in the infrasonic octave with key numbers 0 to 12. This octave spans MIDI C0 or 8.17 Hz up to MIDI C1 or 16.35 Hz. Key 60 represents MIDI C5 or 261.63 Hz (MIDI middle C). In many music theory texts, middle C (261.63 HZ) is usually considered to be C4; thus the MIDI name for octaves is nonstandard. In any case, not all manufacturers confirm to the pitch-naming scheme of MIDI. Some companies call key 60 C3, C4, or C5."

tl;dr - Note zero is C zero. Addition means note sixty is middle C.

u/ILikeasianpeople · 6 pointsr/musictheory

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.
u/Messiah-Handel · 6 pointsr/musictheory

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

u/allemande · 6 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

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

u/igotitcoach · 5 pointsr/composer

Hey there, masters student in music composition here. Many, many kudos to you for throwing your stuff out there for all to see; I wish I could say I did the same at your stage in the game.

My undergraduate teacher would always harp on being absolutely meticulous with notation in our lessons. It is the first thing a conductor sees before a note is even played, and may mean the difference between your piece and another's getting performed. Plus, your music is your art and your craft, it should look as great as it sounds.

I would highly recommend you get your hands on Elaine Gould's Behind Bars, or maybe Heussenstamm's less intimidating Norton Manual of Music Notation to start with. These are just a few of the resources I've used thus far for everything relating to notation in music.

A few things I noticed are below, and I apologize if any of this is beyond MuseScore's capabilities:

  1. Always start with some kind of tempo indication and dynamic level; this instantly gives the casual peruser something to latch on to, and sets the mood for the piece.
  2. Make sure the division and grouping of beats is always clear. This is probably the most complicated to describe, but examples include beat 4 of m.5, RH, or beats 2/3 of m.14, LH. These could easily be misread by performers. I reference you to the above manuals or another musician who can explain it in person.

  3. Accidentals, both "actual" and cautionary, as well as notation of pitches using the same written pitch class. Check out m.27, LH. It might be clearer to notate as "G-Bb-Cb-Bb-Cb", to avoid the confusion of the repeated "B". Avoid weird intervals like augmented seconds, diminished fourths, etc. A same-but-different scenario occurs between m.25-26, LH, where a G# and a G are written close to each other, but over the bar. The bar line cancels all accidentals, but the performer may not always realize it until it's too late.

  4. Above all else, consider performance practice. For those that don't play the instruments they're writing for, this can be difficult. I recently wrote for guitar for the first time, and I spent hours trying to figure out if sonorities I wanted were congenial or even possible. For example, m.37, RH is impossible for any piano player, but can easily be restructured to have the lowest C in the left hand. A good player will do this naturally, but it's best to write it as exact as possible.

    I apologize that this is long-winded, music notation is complicated. But hopefully these tips get you started! Always think what you would want to see if given a completely new score to read, and write that.
u/madskillzelite · 5 pointsr/piano

It's the same reason we have double sharps and flats in music, instead of just writing the next note. Music notation should be easy to understand and be able to preserve the structural integrity of the harmonies.

Trust me, I know it looks funny, but sometimes music must be notated in such a fashion. If you're interested in music notation, I recommend you take a look at this book. I have it open in front of me right now.

u/DarrenTPatrick · 5 pointsr/musictheory

Justin's Practical Music Theory PDF is an excellent resource.

If you'd like to take things further, and as Justin recommend on the site, I'd also highly recommend MI's Harmony and Theory:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793579910/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486590104&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=harmony+and+theory&dpPl=1&dpID=617snwalTUL&ref=plSrch

u/Auntie_Beeb · 5 pointsr/Guitar

I've been reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory. Very easy read, and covers lots of topics in an understandable style.
However, flattering to deceive, the publishers have now dropped the name "complete idiots" in favor of plain vanilla "idiots".

u/reneeyoxon · 5 pointsr/Songwriters

Check out this book: http://www.amazon.ca/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

There are tons of writing exercises to get your sharpen your creative writing skills. I just started reading it and it's already helped a ton. There are a lot of exercises that need to be done in groups or with partners. If there's interest I could start a subreddit for these kinds of exercises.

u/smokefillstheroom · 4 pointsr/piano

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!
u/inkoDe · 3 pointsr/audioengineering

If you want a general, but very broad (it's a huge fucking book ~1200pgs) overview check out The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads. If you have a strong math background and really want to get into the nuts and bolts of digital sound check out The Audio Programming Book by Richard Boulange. For something sort of in the middle Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance by Charles Dodge. I took a two years of sound design / engineering at a UC campus. These were the three books we referenced most.

u/CumulativeDrek2 · 3 pointsr/audioengineering

Its pretty much one of the standard texts for students of orchestration. Adler is a very well respected composer and orchestrator. If you can find a second hand copy, even an earlier edition with the CD/DVD included its well worth it.

Rimsky Korsakov Principles of Orchestration is another good one.

u/astrobeen · 3 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

I can't emphasize the score-reading enough. Learn how music is built by analyzing scores. And read Principles of Orchestration by Rimsky Korsakov. And the Treatise by Berlioz. Both of these books changed my life.

Oh yeah - and write. Always write. Write a LOT of crap that is utter garbage. That's where the gems hide. Just write down everything.

u/PierreLunaire · 3 pointsr/sound
u/jkb83 · 3 pointsr/askscience

Dan Levitin, a psych prof in my department, has a pretty good book on music and the brain, and he discusses this issue a little bit.

I'd recommend you check it out if you are generally interested in music - why it is important to us, how it is processed in the brain, etc.

u/nuzzle · 3 pointsr/Music

That is because you acquire your primary musical taste usually before you finish with puberty. This acquisition is apparently also dependent on social factors, such as peer group. There is a book that discusses this and similar things in a non-eggheaded way, namely this

u/JeremyEye · 3 pointsr/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

It's not just where you live, but just because someone doesn't have much technical knowledge doesn't mean they're not good musicians.

Now, I'm not trying to be a douche, but just try to look beyond that, it might help you enjoy music a little bit more - I used to have a similar mentality but when I stopped that I enjoyed listening so much more.

But since you're a musician and into the technical side, check out This book =) Currently reading it, it's outstanding.

u/i_love_younicorns · 3 pointsr/askscience

This book also explains this phenomenon in great detail.

u/cameronm · 3 pointsr/Music

I'm really enjoying This Is Your Brain On Music at the moment. Really easy to read for non-sciency and non-musiciany but goes in to a lot of depth too!

u/manaiish · 3 pointsr/neuroscience

Yeah, there aren't too many of us. Hell, this is the direction I'm going now, who knows what I'll end up being.
I ordered Your Brain on Music the other day after hearing a lot of reccomendations. I'll let you know how it is when I get it

u/themusicgod1 · 3 pointsr/science

Firstly, this isn't the start, nor the end of this debate. Depending what you call a 'computer' and what point you draw the line towards something being a 'brain' will determine how you answer the question of whether a computer is a brain, or how similar they are. In general there is a spectrum of ways to look at it; of four positions I'm somewhat familiar with include Mindhacks, Andy Clark which would tend to come to conclusions close to the headline, and Levitin and Hofstadter might come to different ones. And their different conclusions, and the conclusions of the author really don't contradict eachother; they merely depend on the initial construction of the problem; what is a brain? What is a computer?

Secondly, computers do change what they are connected to quite often. Actually the computers themselves don't tend to make the change...but I have yet to see a reason to believe that neurons change themselves in this way, too. Since the 2000s it is quite normal for computers to be connected to various different networks(ie, other computers) within their lifetime. So in this sense a computer isn't the same thing as a brain...but might be closer in character to a collection of neurons. A small, somewhat discrete unit of mind could occur at both low, but not neuron levels of the brain and computers, properly programmed.

> To put this in perspective, the entire archived contents of the Internet fill just three petabytes.

Citation needed. Google alone must have more than that, and it's on the internet. Also, these numbers might seem impressive but keep in mind; back in the 80's, a 100mb hard drive was a Big Deal; a large, energy intensive, slow thing that cost a lot of money. Nowadays, a fairly highspeed 1gb device can fit into the size of a dime, for basically free, and we're starting to see >1TB drives; that's 4 orders of magnitude. If the rate of technological development continues at this pace, we will hit singularity level tech at some point.

> This projection overlooks the dark, hot underbelly of Moore’s law: power consumption per chip

If you actually read kurzweil, he doesn't overlook this. He provides plausible technological ways around it, and also predicts that when the heat/power becomes a problem we will start using some other way of getting the exponential increase, by dna computing or whatever---but some other paradigm will take over. I think we're starting to see this with parallel architectures, imho.

I'm reminded of something I read earlier (from the 70's? 60's?) who suggested that by now, computers would be so hot that they'd boil the oceans instantly, and there'd be only a few dozen of them. Technology has gotten more heat-efficient, computers have gotten smaller, and in general, we don't have that problem. Sure heat is a problem, but we're dealing with it, just as we're dealing with the problems inherent in any large, complex, parallel system.

> which often requires fast responses to complex situations.

Which if you're not adapted for, you aren't going to be able to act meaningful towards. That's the thing; biological systems fail ALL THE TIME. Only sometimes do they succeed---on evolutionary timescales, we have done miracles with computers. Given another billion years? We'll have fast responses to complex situations, too.

u/cymbalrush · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

This is Your Brain on Music has a chapter on this. Essentially, its learned.

u/THE_PUN_STOPS_HERE · 3 pointsr/AskReddit
u/krypton86 · 3 pointsr/composer

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.

u/jta314 · 3 pointsr/classicalmusic

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

u/alcaballeromusic · 3 pointsr/composer

All good! As a composer myself, I ALWAYS send my works to performers and ask, could you understand how to play exactly this with simpler notation? The answer is usually yes!

This book is AMAZING. My friend got it, and we have been pouring over it ever since, absorbing as much as we can and rehashing our scores to make as much sense to performers as possible.

u/engartst · 3 pointsr/Handwriting

I'm guessing that copy is for your performances but not for others? If you give it to someone else, do it in pen. Check out some of Crumb's scores for some hand-drawn inspiration.

When you hand-draw scores you should use a ruler on all lines.

In the last measure of the excerpt you should use ledger lines instead of staff crossing in the LH, it makes it easier to read.

You should pick up Behind Bars to address several other issues with spacing, size of noteheads, etc.

From a composition standpoint, switch it up from using so many 3rds/6ths. Maybe check out some of Ligeti as well.

Keep it up!

u/mmmguitar · 3 pointsr/Guitar

I found developing a stronger connection with what I was playing helped and using that connection to really put everything you have into what you are playing.

That way in those situations you can concentrate more on connecting with that music rather than having your attention diverted.

I think there are some mind games that can help as well.

The two books I would recommend reading are:

  • The art of Practicing
  • Inner game of music

    The art of practicing is more of an all round book about approach to practicing, approach to live, connecting with the instrument and some of the physiological things that go on.

    The inner game is based off of pioneering sprots psychology and takes those mental aspects alot further.

    One part simply put is this equation:

    Performance = Potential - Interference

    So here you have the potential side / your skill, when you play with other people your interferance in your mind is low, so you achieve good performance representative of how good your potential performance could be.

    However, when you play with people there, there your mental interference goes way up which subtracts greatly from your potential and leaves you with a poor performance.

    Most sports people and musicians / anybody doing something with skill has this issue. The usual thing when trying to learn something / get better is always to concentrate on learning how to play more / beter, i.e. learn this technique, this scale etc.

    Doing that is all about increasing potential, however, you can get equal benefit by reducing interference. I.e, you can perform better sorting your mind out. And its what alot of professional sports players (musicians etc) have done / concentrated on since the 70's

    So that inner game is all about trying to define + understand these things and then some exercises and things to try and help reduce interferance.

    Also, I'd always recommed Victor Wootens book The music lesson. Its all about connecting to music in general.
u/do_not_engage · 3 pointsr/gamemusic

If I can be honest without hurting your feelings, the mistakes keep it from being enjoyable. The tempo is not anywhere near as important as the accuracy. However! You definitely demonstrate a skill and love for the instrument, and I am absolutely impressed with your stamina. Now that you've developed stamina and speed, you really need to focus on accuracy. By that I mean, play for 2 1/2 hours every day without making any mistakes, even if it means slowing yourself to half speed. If you do this, you will be back up to this speed, but without mistakes, before you know it.

Not to bang a dead steed, but playing that fast and making that many mistakes - ESPECIALLY if you do it every day - is just going to make you keep making those mistakes. You are spending two and a half hours a day making your hands stronger and enjoying yourself, but you would improve so much faster if you practiced efficiently, by lowering your speed and focusing on accuracy. Playing fast poorly will never lead to playing fast better. You have to play well, slowly, and then the speed comes. Every music teacher and instrumentalist I have ever met has drilled this point in to me.

I wasted years playing the bass and piano fast and sloppy thinking the accuracy would come if I just kept playing. It didn't come until I slowed down and developed it. I wasn't teaching myself to play well, I was teaching myself to do exactly what I was doing - play poorly and quickly.

You have the stamina, the passion, and the skills. Forget about speed, your tempo doesn't need practice. Accuracy takes practice. So if you aren't practicing your accuracy... you're just making yourself better at making mistakes.

I would highly recommend The Art of Practicing if you would like to learn how to get the most out of your practice time.

Uploading something like this takes a lot of courage, so I hope you take these words as the support they are meant to be. I promise if you slow down to whatever speed allows you to play 100% perfectly, you will see drastic improvement in a short amount of time and be back up to this speed, with full accuracy, before you know it. Like, literally just a few weeks. It was the greatest lesson I ever learned about practicing.

Practice doesn't make perfect... perfect practice makes perfect.

u/Gardenfarm · 3 pointsr/Guitar

I read this book 'The Art of Practicing' and I'd guess it teaches a similar meditative and mental-state approach to practicing. It was very helpful.

u/mfranko88 · 3 pointsr/lotr

For ensemble musicians, your best bet will be to find a roster list of the London Symphony Orchestra for the year in which they were recorded.

For specialist soloists, there is an appendix in Doug Adam's The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films which lists all of the major soloists for all of the specialist instruments. I have the book right next to me!

I'm assuming you're talking about the whistle, in which case the soloist is Mike Taylor.

u/King-fannypack · 3 pointsr/megalinks

(MUSIC)
A while ago, I uploaded a link of what I thought to be the complete released music for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. (Released OSTs, Released Complete Score, Offical Concert album).
It has come to my attention that there is one more LOTR album out there. There is an official LOTR soundtrack book, which comes with a CD, an album called the LOTR Rarities Archive. It has early demos and themes on it.

I would like to complete my collection, and the collection of others. While I have been able to hunt down elusive rare soundtrack albums, this one continues to evade me.
Here is the link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Lord-Rings-Films-Comprehensive/dp/0739071572/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1506027062&sr=8-4&keywords=lord+of+the+rings++soundtrack+book
If anybody out there has it, I would appreciate it if it was shared. Thanks!

u/gtani · 3 pointsr/violinist

Start with pentatonic and blues scales, learn about chord subs, the basic 7th chords (dominant, diminshed, maj, min etc), minor scales and modes on them etc. Here's some string-specific books in my local library that i thougth good:

u/Calymos · 3 pointsr/Guitar

I've got this one- http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-Theory-Comprehensive-Musicians-Essential/dp/0793579910

and it's pretty good.

Also, check out http://www.musictheory.net and http://www.teoria.com , they're both fantastic resources.

Have fun and good luck!

u/DrTribs · 3 pointsr/musictheory

No one has mentioned Slonimsky's thesaurus of scales and melodic patterns yet. Despite the title, Slonimsky includes "master chords" that harmonize the scale patterns. Just about any library with a music literature section will stock this book. Or you could pick it up here.

u/GuitarIsImpossible · 3 pointsr/Guitar

I used an android app called note reacher and these books

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0882847309

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0800854535

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1554400112


I see no advantage at this point to reading music after working on it for 5 months and becoming fairly competent. I'm glad I learned but it has not added to my ability to make music. Maybe in the future it will pay off.

u/touchmybutt420 · 3 pointsr/ableton

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-3E-Idiots-Guides/dp/1465451676/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

My suggestion is to try not to drown yourself in information. Pick out areas that you think you are weak and just start learning.

I like that you already know that you want to improve your chords and melody writing. Pick one of those things and just dig in.

u/elemeno90 · 3 pointsr/Poetry

Get this book: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779

Pat Pattinson is a professor of songwriting at Berklee College of Music. My friend studied with him and turned me on to the book. It includes a lot of exercises on how to get yourself thinking in terms of imagery/metaphors as you write, but it's specifically geared toward songwriting. The exercise my buddy often does as a warm up is a free-write. Pick an object like "Apple" and start writing a stream of consciousness about apples. Let your mind wander and just WRITE, it doesn't have to make sense. I'm typing this on a phone, but when I think of apples:

"old scraggly woman, arm outstretched offering tastes of her madness to beautiful girls; a snake winding up a tree, it's cold stomach scraping against bark as it sweetly whispers knowing hisses. Red but not round, paragon of fruits, mottled red and breaking like the earth cracks on a fault as the white teeth sink".

Lyrics and poetry are similar, but there are some nuances to lyrics. The number one I can think of is that people often write lyrics that are impractical to sing. The lines are too long (aside from meter, you'll run out of breath before you can finish the line), or include excessively complicated words (difficult to enunciate and control pitch at the same time). Think of a word like "splendiferous". Maybe you could write it in a poem, but you probably wouldn't want to sing it.

u/UrinalPooper · 3 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

I know a few folks who swear by this particular book by Pattison: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779

u/tossertom · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

If you want something really intense and comprehensive you must look at The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads.

u/redditshouldbefun · 2 pointsr/musictheory

It's been mentioned but Rimsky-Korsakov's Orchestration book must make it to your bookself asap. For $15, you really can't get a better deal.

There is also an online interactive version of this book here.

u/Scott-B · 2 pointsr/GameAudio

Ahh. You're probably gonna get more out of orchestration tutorials for protools. I don't really care for the way that it implements midi but I would suggest starting there. That's really going to get you going in the right direction.
also for orchestration check out .

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Orchestration-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486212661/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377044899&sr=1-1&keywords=rimsky+korsakov+principles+of+orchestration

u/robotnewyork · 2 pointsr/musictheory

Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration is very good, although possibly not exactly what you're looking for.

u/carbonpath · 2 pointsr/musicians

Not beginner at all, but even dumb laypeople like me can get something out of this. Like the human voice is a double reed instrument.

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Physics-Engineering-Dover-Books/dp/0486217698

u/MAG7C · 2 pointsr/audioengineering

This is a great book, you can probably find it in the library. A lot of it relates to resonances in open or closed air columns (like a pipe organ).

u/HYP3RSL33P · 2 pointsr/musictheory

This one is great. Very deep.

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics

u/japaneseknotweed · 2 pointsr/DIY

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.

u/CallerNumber4 · 2 pointsr/IAmA

How large is your music library? (In songs and GBs)

What traits or habits of songs, that come up often, do you like the least that the less trained ear might not notice?

Have you ever read this book? (I personally really enjoyed it, it's a great introduction to the terms of music for the beginner, and very indepth and interesting observations of other aspects of how it reacts with your brain. Like if a piece of music is memorized bit by bit in your brain like a recording, or if it has ways that it fills in the gaps. Or how modern society doesn't associate singing and listening to music as akin as highly undeveloped ones do.)

Do you believe that over time the overall quality of music has increased/decreased/stayed roughly the same. (the size on which you are basing this is up to you, early chamber orchestral pieces of the middle ages, or within the last century/decade).

u/sandhouse · 2 pointsr/askscience

I read a book that had some science of music in it. "This is Your Brain on Music". I don't remember the specifics of it so I won't try to repeat it here because I'll probably say something inaccurate. That book isn't the only one of it's kind (good book by the way). If you are really interested in the subject I'm sure you can find some interesting information.

http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0525949690

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400033535/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0525949690&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02HTPTSMBADCZZE5BDMV

u/clockradio · 2 pointsr/bestof

This idea is certainly not new. Though OP concentrates more on predictability and short-changes its tension with novelty.

Dan Levitin goes into considerable detail about it in his book from a decade ago, This Is Your Brain on Music, particularly interesting to me was the portion where he discusses why only some people like Jazz.

u/kilowatt · 2 pointsr/reddit.com

+1 on the DNA through the eyes of a code article, that was the shit.

Semi related, I just bought a book for a class called This Is Your Brain on Music that (I think) is going to try to explain the neuroscience behind why people have loved music for as long as there have been people. Music theory grounded in biology—it looks fun.

u/toastspork · 2 pointsr/science

The best book I've read recently on understanding music is This Is Your Brain on Music, by Dan Levitin. It is a fairly comprehensive look at how we perceive music, both physically and psychologically, and how our tastes form. And it's got references to lots of great examples that let you hear what he's describing.

He gets a bit into Western vs. non-Western perceptions, but mostly he admits to writing from what he know, which is Western.

u/agency_panic · 2 pointsr/Music

Read this and this

Edit: Additionally, everyone has a natural frequency they resonate at. When you wake up in the morning, hum a note. What comes naturally is usually your natural resonance. Due to sympathetic vibrations in the harmonic series, certain harmonies and sympathetic tones can physically interact with your "personal frequency"

In other words, music fucking rules

u/Jose_Monteverde · 2 pointsr/CollaborativePsych

This is your brain on music

or this

Musician here, I hear music all the time. Post your thoughts when you're done reading the book

u/Huge_Metal_Fan · 2 pointsr/mentalhealth

Disclaimer: This post is in reference to thatCrazyGuitarGuy's post, but not a direct response


Metal is not solely about the music. Theres a part in A Headbanger's Journey where the guy interviews a adolescent bass player that explains his reasons for listening to metal (not-so-nice home life, sense of belonging, etc) and it was something that resonated with me to this day.

Yes, i love metal music, but i also love the metal community. Its a place where its alright to run around screaming at the top of your lungs and letting everyone know
exactly* how much you feel. Where you can hop into a mosh pit, into the maw of hell (at the good shows at least), get thrown flat on your back, and be helped up immediately. Its a place where respect is paramount and necessary, but is defined by every negative emotion that the majority of society tells us to ignore.

Well, i dont want to fucking ignore it. I want to scream it to the world from an inch in front of your face. And its perfectly alright, even encouraged, in that kind of atmosphere. Its exhilarating and is, in my opinion, a major source of the psychological comfort that extreme music povides.

I whole-heartedly recommend Sam Dunn's documentary, but also if you haven't read it check out Your Brain On Music

u/angelenoatheart · 2 pointsr/composer

I learned from Gardner Read. The Norton Manual of Music Notation is handy. It's old enough (30 years) that it has some material on manuscript preparation, but you can just skip that. What I currently have is Elaine Gould's Behind Bars, which I like but is probably overkill.

I'm not sure quite what you mean by "the emotional connotation side of music theory." If you're looking for e.g. what 17-18C musicians thought and wrote about the "doctrine of the affections", there are historical texts out there. But books that try to go deeper, i.e. to help you understand why a certain piece makes you feel a certain way, are doubtful, and I haven't found any of use in my own work.

u/GermanSeabass · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers
u/CrownStarr · 2 pointsr/musictheory

I don't know what you mean by the "science" of it, but Gardner Read's Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice is a great reference (and covers microtones). Someone also recently recommended Elaine Gould's Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation to me, which is much more recent, but I don't know anything else about it.

u/Broomoid · 2 pointsr/composer

Your notation is fine, no problem there at all. If you want, you could put a indication above the staff when it first appears showing the grouping, e.g. half, half, dotted half | dotted half, half, half (sort of like you would with a metric modulation), but it's certainly not essential, since your notation is clear.

Whole rests are the norm for empty bars in any meter, as are multi rests, so you're fine there too.

It's worth picking up the Elaine Gould book Behind Bars for issues like this and many more. It's an excellent resource that will serve you well in all compositional endeavours.

u/m2thek · 2 pointsr/moviemusic

I wish there was a book. An in-depth thematic analysis of the SW music like Doug Adam's book on LotR would be amazing.


This blog post looks like a good place to start.

u/MattLikesMusic · 2 pointsr/lotr

It was on thinkgeek but it looks like they aren't selling it anymore for some reason (I used an old link because they don't display it on the site anymore). BUT I just found it on amazon, and for $20 off! Happy Holidays!

u/TeamocilAddict · 2 pointsr/movies

Yes - this guy was there for that performance signing his book -- interesting read plus you listen to the tracks as you read about them.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Lord-Rings-Films-Comprehensive/dp/0739071572/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341848292&sr=8-1&keywords=doug+adams++lord+of+the+rings

u/manofthewild07 · 2 pointsr/metalguitar

Well many people bash others who tout their knowledge of theory. But that really is the next step. Either find a good book or better yet a good instructor.

u/fourlights · 2 pointsr/classicalmusic

Brilliant piece, like a contemporary Bolero, but interesting. Hard as hell, too.

(Adams got all of those scale patterns from this book, hence the title.)

u/buttmunchies · 2 pointsr/Woodshed

First of all it's regimen, second of all what instrument do you play?

Also, that sounds like a good routine, to do something different I would suggest playing with a friend, trade fours, walk bass lines, pick each others' heads for licks and approaches to changes.

It sounds like you're pretty far advanced, have you ever checked out Nicolas Slonimsky's book? It's got a lot of great stuff in it. You didn't mention any books or classical pieces, etudes and such in your post, do you do any of that?

u/rides_bikes · 2 pointsr/Guitar

I would second this, I also read the books the guy who teaches that course wrote, it's a worthwhile perspective on the topic, this book in particular http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406294784&sr=8-1&keywords=writing+better+lyrics

u/timtampimpam · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Dude check out the free courses on coursera:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/songwriting-lyrics
https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=music

The guy who teaches the songwriting course has a few books with lots of good exercises in. I'm currently reading https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/ and doing the daily "object writing" exercise. It's opening a lot of stuff up for me.

u/BenSasso · 2 pointsr/Songwriting

This book was pretty helpful for me in creating more descriptive, tangible strings of words, along with a ton of other wildly helpful ways to create more meaningful lyrics:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779


This one, which I've only read a few chapters of, has been pretty helpful in getting me out of my own way. If we just tell the truth about our experience as a person (the real truth, the one we usually just think), we'll be saying things that mean more, and are more universal than any surface level or constructed truth:
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Poetry-Save-Your-Life/dp/1550717472

u/Isthiscreativeenough · 2 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Buy the book Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison off Amazon. Do everything he says. I just finished it, and I found it thoroughly insightful.

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779

u/righteouscool · 2 pointsr/IWantToLearn

I've been writing songs as a hobby for years now. Music comes pretty easy to me so I can just sort of hum or write melodies with ease, but I could never get lyrics + melodies to fit and create a great song. Then I read "Writing better lyrics" by Pat Pattison and have very little issues now. His methods are genius and honestly made lyric writing MUCH easier for me. I have read countless songwriting books and that is the single greatest one I've ever come across. If you want to write great lyrics, learn how to structure them melodically, and learn the intricacies of songwriting please read that book. He's also got a songwriting class on coursera.


http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779

u/juniejuniejune · 2 pointsr/NaSoAlMo

Lyric writing, like any type of writing, has to go through rewrites and rewrites and rewrites... and even then it might not be good. But it's the practice that counts!

This is what song #2's lyrics look like for me: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2DzuQtCAAAiaV2.jpg

If you want to read about lyric writing, I actually took an online course for it... not that I ever finished it, but the book that the course recommended (and that was written by the teacher), is Writing Better Lyrics. And if you're a poor, underemployed sap like me, there are other ways of acquiring that book, hint hint. I thought it was a great breakdown of song structure, how to tell a story within the short span of a song, etc... Worth a look, if you continue to have trouble.

u/cyancynic · 2 pointsr/musicians

You might try reading Writing Better Lyrics. John Mayer said it helped him. It definitely helped me.

u/iamkyledean · 2 pointsr/Songwriting

On songwriting specifically, Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison

On harmony and melody, Writing Hit Songs by Jai Josefs
You may need to know basic theory for that one though

u/thebusuttil · 2 pointsr/suggestmeabook

Not necessarily confined to the travel writing genre, but this book really helped me become a much better writer in general. It's basically an exercise book with writing prompts that force you to hone your use of metaphor and simile—brilliant stuff. Apart from doing the exercises and building that creative muscle though, the real benefit of this was writing lots of cool stuff that I could then incorporate into my actual writing. Cannot recommend it enough!

u/IAmError · 2 pointsr/gratefuldead

I don't have DBX, but it's only $410 Amazon.

DBXI is only $441.


Archive.org is great, but in terms of statistics and interesting facts, it pales in comparison to Deadbase. You could geat a break down of each song, first time it was played, last time it was played, how often it appeared in the first set/second set, how many times it was played per year, etc. Iphone / Android would be the perfect platform for that kind of info.

u/K_Rayfish · 2 pointsr/musictheory

It's true that there's a ton of great information online, but books present the info in an organized, trustworthy fashion. Online learning should be fine for more introductory music theory and common practice period harmony, but once you're looking into more advanced stuff, check out these books:

-20th Century Harmony by Vincent Persichetti

-Contemporary Harmony by Ludmila Ulehla

u/bigshum · 1 pointr/edmproduction

These are a good start;

  • The Computer Music Tutorial. This is essentially a bible of all things digital. Read it, cover to cover, even if you don't understand everything. Then read it again.

  • The SuperCollider Book. SuperCollider specific but a great read and has some interesting techniques in it.

  • The Music Machine. Not just this, but specifically anything from the Computer Music Journal. Your uni should have a subscription through JSTOR.

  • Understanding Sound Organization. A bit arty but still interesting.

  • The Art Of Noises. A great bit of old material, challenging traditional perceptions about noise.

    I'll look on my bookcase and post more good reads when I get the chance.
u/wildeye · 1 pointr/musicdiy

It seems like you want an intro that is intermediate in level rather than for absolute beginners, one that focuses on audio rather than general theory, and one that isn't primarily focused on projects.

I don't happen to know of a book that is an exact fit, but you might be interested in "The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 80 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects"

http://www.amazon.com/Audiophiles-Project-Sourcebook-High-Performance-Electronics/dp/0071379290

But usually in order to really understand electronics, you have to deviate from your immediate goal, so a general electronics text might turn out to be the best of what's available out there.

One truly classic famous book is The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads: http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Tutorial-Curtis-Roads/dp/0262680823

I consider this a must-read despite the fact that it is aging, and regardless of the fact that it is not purely schematic diagrams. The conceptual understanding of the general topic is more important than the medium that implements something.

u/protobin · 1 pointr/audioengineering


Yes, a random signal contains all possible frequencies (at all possible phases). When you use a noise generator, all it is is a random number algorithm scaled to the range of your audio output's bit depth. So at the simplest level in 16 bit audio you would have a random generator spitting out numbers between 0 and 65536 44,100 times a second. That's what white noise is, and it is easy to create this way.

You are trying to simulate noise using additive synthesis, which is helpful in that you might start to understand the transition from a discernible tone into noise. It is ultimately impossible to get real noise this way because you can't create an infinite number of oscillators.


>However the moment I tried it with aligned phases (as much as possible in max due to serial nature of messages) it wasnt noise anymore... because it started to "cycle". How come noise never starts to cycle? Adding a random phase disturbance completely changes the sound picture.


Noise doesn't cycle because it is completely random - all frequencies, all phases. What you're hearing in max is the artifacts of the process of max looking up the sine wave tables and sending all those signals to the DAC. This can only happen at a certain speed limited by your hardware. Like you said - the serial nature of messages. If we had a perfect machine that we could tell to generate oscillators for all audible frequencies at all phases, the sum of all of those signals would be a completely random signal. The limitations of your hardware are creating the artifacts in this case, not your brain.

>Adding 400 and 400.01 hertz yields a 0.01Hz beat tone, or, a slowly changing amplitude of the original wave. We perceive that as 400hz that shifts in volume, in reality is exchanging between 400 and 400.01 hertz frequency right?

When waves of any kind add together they create constructive or destructive interference. In that case we hear a pulsing sine wave. As the two get farther apart in frequency the pulsing will get faster and faster until you start to hear what's called a difference tone (which is a psychoacoustic phenomenon). Eventually, you'll start to hear them as an interval between two distinct tones. The pulsing, however, is not in your head - its those two waves interfering with eachother.

I can't really describe anything better than this, but there is a TON of work that's been done on these topics. Since I can't find my computer music bible, here's a bunch of wikipedia links:

White Noise
Difference Tone
Psychoacoustics
Masking

Computer Music Bible - This book is so worth the money. It was written for musicians by a musician and touches on every subject as well as pointing in the right direction for further reading on the subjects in it. Everything I learned came out of here. I wish I could teleport a copy to you because it is much better at explaining this than I am.

u/Verdris · 1 pointr/drums

Well, the math involved is fairly high-level, we're talking at least a few semesters of calculus, differential equations and partial differential equations, as well as the physics courses that teach you how to apply them. But from a layman's perspective, maybe someone can recommend a good book on home recording? Any good text should at least explain why you should do things the way you're doing them to achieve the best sound.

There was a book on Amazon that I was going to buy for my ex when we were still dating (she's a professional orchestra musician) but she turned out to be an awful person. I'll try and remember what it was called.

EDIT: this isn't it, but it looks good: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Physics-Engineering-Dover-Books/dp/0486217698

EDIT: found it: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2691469134443?r=1&cm_mmca2=pla&cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-TextBook_NotInStock_75Up-_-Q000000633-_-2691469134443

u/marbles24 · 1 pointr/AskReddit

This may be a lot more complicated of an answer than you are looking for, but there is a whole book about it. It goes into why and how the human brain is affected by music, and it's a really really interesting read, if you are interested enough to read an entire (fairly technical) book about it.

u/Fearan · 1 pointr/philosophy

You may be interested in the book This is your Brain on Music

It discusses in depth the implications of music on the brain and its link to language. I loved reading it.

u/dragonbuttons · 1 pointr/books

If you're a musician or like music and science a lot, I'd recommend this book, which I read this summer. Levitin is a decent author and he's changed the way I understand music. I might not know what a perfect fifth is but I do know why I enjoy certain songs more than others now.

u/pjgeorgejr · 1 pointr/Music

As a guitarist and parent of three musicians (piano, piano and guitar) I really feel for you!! I almost cried watching you sit there and take that crap from your mother. Hey mom! Did you know that studies have shown music improves mathematical abilities? It improves creativity and cognitive development across the board!

http://www.vh1savethemusic.com/benefits
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1869

Get this book!
http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0525949690

u/acScience · 1 pointr/cogsci

For anyone interested in this subject, I suggest reading This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin.

u/bluecalx2 · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I had to look up the title again because I loaned the book to someone a while ago. It's called This Is Your Brain On Music and it's pretty easy to find actually. I felt like there was no real central point other than "Here are some interesting facts about music" but it was still an entertaining read.

u/Goat_man436 · 1 pointr/Music

I love how you used the word, "brain hack". I think that sums it up perfectly. Your brain interprets different changes in pitch and rhythm as emotional cues, and music is an exploit of that.

There's a book called This is Your Brain on Music that delves into the neuroscience and psychological explanations for music. Very interesting stuff.

u/john_rage · 1 pointr/composer

[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.

u/malxmusician212 · 1 pointr/composer

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

u/raoulduke25 · 1 pointr/christianmetal

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.

u/_chebastian · 1 pointr/musictheory

Thanks that was exactly what i was looking for and also explains the length of the exceptions! Perfect!

Gould, is that in reference of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Bars-Definitive-Guide-Notation/dp/0571514561

u/Zalladi · 1 pointr/NintendoSwitch

Hey there - it depends on what sort of you music you want to write and how much you already know!

A good place to start is ... reading! :O

But seriously, books like Samuel Adler's ["Study of Orchestration"] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Study-Orchestration-Samuel-Adler/dp/0393283739/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=study+of+orchestration&qid=1557587743&s=gateway&sr=8-1) is perfect for learning about the common orchestral instruments, and other books like Elaine Gould's ["Behind Bars"] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Bars-Definitive-Guide-Notation/dp/0571514561/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=behind+bars&qid=1557587760&s=gateway&sr=8-2) is an excellent guide for creating professional scores.

Outside of reading, listening to orchestral music of the 20th century is also a great learning tool, particularly composers like Stravinsky, Holst, Britten, Tippett, etc.

And if you can read music, following the scores/sheet music as you listen is even more useful (you can find a lot of free scores on [IMSLP] (https://imslp.org/)). If you have time, follow one instrument at a time, see how the instrument is being used, what it typically plays ("idiomatic" writing), the general ranges and techniques, etc.

And then just have a go at it - it can't be learnt overnight (heck, I've been doing it for nearly 9 years now!), but if you keep chipping away at it every now and then, progress will start to show!

^^^/WallOfText

u/TheNossinator · 1 pointr/musictheory

> "Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice"

While we're talking about notation books, I can't not mention 'Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation' by Elaine Gould. It has 46% more pages than the Read and was published in 2011, so when it comes to books about music notation, it's about as relevant as you're going to get!

u/itgoeshereduo · 1 pointr/musictheory

The workbook I'm linking to - I can't say enough good things. I did roughly a page or two a day and got through it in about two months. I went slow though and tried to absorb the information as best as I could. The lessons build on each other, so it keeps previous lessons fresh, and if you run into any trouble you can Google those specific things. The book gave my self study structure, which was nice as I didn't haphazardly just research terms randomly without any basics.

I find workbooks very useful as having to write things down cements it better in my mind. You'll definitely want to continue your studies after this, but you can deep dive into anything you feel you need extra help on or just find interesting. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to get their feet wet in music theory.

Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739036351/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OdoxDbHBQK7G5

u/bbzzdd · 1 pointr/Guitar

I learned a lot from Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory. It's a lot of exercises and not guitar-focused at all but now I can read music, know time signatures, harmonizing scales, etc.

u/Baron310 · 1 pointr/composer

Hmm... Maybe I'm confused by what it is I should learn next. I know basic theory, I've done a crappy web course, and read this 3 part book that really gave me a lot of good info... But I still have no idea how to break a score down. Is there maybe some sort of analysis thing I should be learning?

u/Zemata · 1 pointr/edmproduction

www.musictheory.net is an amazing and simple resource
and
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0739036351/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
is one of the best books I've read about theory. It covers just about everything, comes with ear training CDs and an answer key for the chapter reviews

u/PoliticalBonobo · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Whenever I feel like I'm lacking in an area, I make a plan to learn it and get better. Music theory is actually a simple one to start with. Here's an excellent book that I used (it's geared for younger ages): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0739036351/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Decide to do 1 lesson a day or 10 minutes a day, etc. In my case, I like spending 1hr on education 3 evenings a week (kind of like college class schedule). You will be able to work through many books this way and learn a lot.

u/alanbright · 1 pointr/movies

One of my most cherished posessions is this book https://www.amazon.com/Music-Lord-Rings-Films-Comprehensive/dp/0739071572

u/SocialIssuesAhoy · 1 pointr/musictheory

I'm going to second the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, for several reasons:

  1. It's the basis for the entire score for the trilogy, and done VERY masterfully.

  2. You can watch the appendices on the DVDs and dig deeper into the music process (and everything else about the films).

  3. There is an INCREDIBLE book which not enough musicians know about. I say musicians because it is an in-depth analysis/exploration of the LotR score which covers all the juicy musical details (including of course studying the motifs) that only a musician would truly appreciate. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Lord-Rings-Films-Comprehensive/dp/0739071572

    Seriously, for everyone reading this, I can't recommend this book enough. It's amazing, and comes with a couple discs which include I think about 20 minutes of audio interview with Howard Shore, and a whole bunch of bits of the score: pieces which didn't make the cut, alternate versions, early MIDI mockups. But for OP in particular, I don't think you could ask for a better non-John-Williams study of lietmotifs.
u/mr_bellamy · 1 pointr/StarWars

As the others have said, it's a very rare practice and actually Howard Shore was not hired for LOTR until production had already begun. In fact it was a trip to New Zealand to visit the set which convinced him to accept the offer, according to Doug Adams' The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films

Ennio Morricone did do it for Once Upon a Time in the West, that's a very famous example and Sergio Leone would play those pieces while filming. Not an example of composed scores, but Quentin Tarantino has played live music on set too when he knows for sure what the song will be.

Believe it or not, John Williams himself has only done this a very rare number of times and never on Star Wars. For the film JFK, I believe he did write that score entirely based on the script and a visit to Washington DC with Oliver Stone. That's the only one that comes to mind. Obviously for some things he's had to write songs, like "Double Trouble" for Prisoner of Azkaban which of course became a main theme of the score. Close Encounters, he and Spielberg certainly had to decide on what those five notes would be before filming. Hook was originally going to be a musical in its very early stages and he wrote songs for that (like "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" which was used for the kids' play at the beginning, and I think it's rumored though unconfirmed that some of the main themes were based on the songs.) But the actual full score writing all came later.

For the most part, it's really up to the composers to write such great music that it has that flow and create the illusion that the film conceivably could have been crafted around the music. Very hard to do, and depends a lot on the directors and editors as well. There's a pretty famous story about the finale of ET where it became so complicated that Spielberg just told Williams to conduct the music and he would fix it all in the editing later to fit the music. That's uncommon, mostly it's the music that gets cut up more and more with digital editing and you can hear it all the time in modern movies if you listen carefully, including all three prequels and Force Awakens.

u/idirvivor · 1 pointr/CinemaScores

There is also this book available for purchase. I am very much interested in buying this and am also saving money to do so. My only doubt is if it is worth it. What do you guys think?

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Lord-Rings-Films-Comprehensive/dp/0739071572

u/TheFunkyProfessor · 1 pointr/Bass
u/sck_2008 · 1 pointr/musictheory

check out the table of contents of this book using amazon's "look inside feature"

i'd have them do a chapter or so of this book every week:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793579910/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/NeverxSummer · 1 pointr/TwoXChromosomes

Do it!! And dude, high five for being a jazzer.

Composition resources... I have a few things that I enjoy using: The Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (sidenote: the best shed dictionary ever), an orchestration book or wikipedia the instrument you're looking for a range on, IMSLP also known as "so that's how that works", and jazz theory/harmony... though I don't have a book to recommend on that one, as I learned it in a trial by fire sort of way. As far as notation software goes, I'm a big Finale junkie, though there's little advantage to Finale over Sibelius until you get to doing weird things with the software. I've heard some really good things about Reason, though haven't tried it personally because my computer doesn't spec for it. Since you're probably more theory minded, I'd suggest starting with jazz and reverse engineering yourself a tune/chart from a progression you like. It's sorta like writing a solo, but with an eraser. //rambling...


Theremin?! That's so awesome.


Yeah. I totally hear you on that one. I have like nothing to add to a discussion about some fancy new microphone or being in a cover band.

u/MaiLaoshi · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn
u/HashPram · 1 pointr/musictheory

The way I learned to write songs was literally "learn to play what you hear on the radio, then try and do it for yourself" and that's still largely what I'll do if I find there's something interesting about a track I've heard.

However, I did buy some books to give myself a bit more focus. Those books were:

"6 Steps to Songwriting Success"
"The Craft and Business of Songwriting"
"Writing Better Lyrics"

In the first two books I found some sections helpful, some sections blindingly obvious and some of no value. So, y'know, caveat emptor.
The last book is just excellent and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to be any kind of songwriter.

If you're after a quick leg-up, what I'd suggest is:

Pick one song.
Work out the chords.
Work out the structure (e.g. verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus), noting how many bars for each section.
Throw the chords away.
Write your own chord progressions for the sections you noted above.
Write melody.
Iterate over the last two steps until you have something you're happy with.

Last point. It's hard to write something original, but if you start by writing unoriginal trash then (a) you're not worried about being original so you can work faster and (b) you get to grips with "what does writing a song involve". The more practice you have of writing songs the easier it will get and the more you'll feel able to experiment with playing around with form/progressions/melodies and so on.

u/dpholmes · 1 pointr/Songwriters

I have typically gone for #2 (at least those are the lyrics that have aged best for me).

I found the book "Writing Better Lyrics " by Pat Pattison to be immensly helpful when I set out to rethink my approach to lyrics.

u/drewthomas · 1 pointr/Music

this is really good man! if you would like this link is to a book that i used to help me write better. it really works
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331524881&sr=8-1

good luck!

u/samuraiguitarist · 1 pointr/Songwriters

My pleasure! Ralph Murphy is a boss, met him for the first time my last trip down to Nashville. I would highly recommend a few cheap/free resources. Ralph Murphy's Laws Of Songwriting, Writing Better Lyrics - Pat Pattison (You can't really tell but both of these are hyperlinks, so go feel free to click on them), and www.coursera.com offers a free online lyric class. SAC memberships are like $35 for students, and then you can attend workshops free.

I think you can totally write downer characters, but again, give him a redeeming quality. Give us a reason to root for him.

As far as playing. You don't need to be a John Mayer or Elton John. A lot of the most successful writers I know are mediocre at best guitar players. If you can play acoustic guitar in time you have all you need as far as guitar skills. I mean the more you know the better, but you can get by with the basics. A bigger factor for the artist thing is having the "it" factor. It's impossible for me to tell from a recording if you have it or not. I know I don't have the frontman "it" factor. But when you see it you know. It's the confidence, the charisma, the ability to connect with an audience whether it be 3 drunk dudes in a bar or thousands at the ACC. I wouldn't concern yourself with the guitar stuff.

All the best!

u/cr38ed4dis · 1 pointr/Songwriters

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541606392&sr=8-1&keywords=write+better+lyrics


This is one of the best things I've done to enhance my lyric writing. If you follow the exercises in this book, you will surely see quick improvement. It will not be all you need, however. You still need to put in hard work before you will be able to write songs you really feel proud of. Good luck mate.

u/4-string · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

There can be A LOT of thought behind the inner structures. Pat Pattison's book may give you a lot of insight:

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison/dp/1582975779/

There's a free online course with him somewhere, too.

u/levirphillips · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Two things I'm finding extremely useful:

LinkedIn Learning course with Julian Vengard: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/music-theory-for-songwriters-the-fundamentals


Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattinson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1582975779


Some people will say "write from your heart" but I'm learning that great songs have SO much more technique and theoretical wizardry applied throughout the process.

These two resources are just excellent. I've been a musician for 20 years and I forced myself to watch all the videos on the LinkedIn course - I learned useful things I wish I'd known years ago.

u/Kobi1311 · 1 pointr/writing

Your Writing;

Some good writing in your details and solid word images. You have a good sense of humor, I would have enjoyed more of your dry timing. The story and characters, that was very difficult for me to follow. The paragraphs seemed to dance, move to one thing or another, almost like it didn't need to connect. They did connect but It felt to me I had to work hard to get it.

I stopped when Owen got to Lake Tahoe.

I found it hard to understand when it's the Mc thinking, or a dream, or something else. It didn't feel very real to me. I didn't get a any sense of a 'when', no sense of time passing, nor a viewpoint that let me understand what I was reading.

I thought Owen was a type of kid I wouldn't much like to hang out with. The red haired girl, not sure. Good world building, a firm start.

Other ways to get better feedback;


If you want to avoid bad habits before starting, be clear about how much help you can get here. Ask specific questions about areas you think don't work. Post a small intro, maybe just a scene or two from a chapter. Start a bit smaller. Build up from there.

The best help I see comes from very specific questions about your work.

More detailed critiques can be found at the link shown below. There they will read all of it and give very detailed responses, however there is a catch. You have to do a 1:1 ratio of other works in order to receive the same. So you'd have to complete a high level critique of a 2,500 plus story, then you would get the same.

If you don’t follow this rule, your post will be marked as a leech post. And if your leech post has been up for 24 hours without any new critiques from you, it will be removed.

[Destructive Readers](https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/ "The goal: to improve writing and maintain the highest standard of critique excellence anywhere on Reddit. DestructiveReaders isn't about writers being nice to writers; it's about readers being honest with writers. We deconstruct writing to construct better writers." )

Sharing the writing process;


A lot of us here are working and struggling with becoming better writers. So you are not alone in this painful process.

I myself find the task of becoming a good writer very daunting. I only keep going because I create a belief in myself. After that I go through the slow hard swim in the deep dark oceans of the unknown. I have no directions, no compass, only fear which if allowed becomes an anchor.

It would be good to know something about your skill level, things you've already read to improve crafting stories, classes you've taken, daily exercises or how much you write each day.

Myself; I do a daily poem, then write from 5/6 am to 9 am, that will be either my current novel or on a short I plan to submit to a magazine. I listen to Podcasts and do exercises from Writing Excuses

Books I use as my reference on writing;

u/yesandor · 1 pointr/Songwriters

Agree about the Pattison book. He has another book called Songwriting Without Boundaries which is great too. He provides so many tools and different strategies to approach your lyrics.

u/NotRightMusic · 1 pointr/Guitar

Contemporary Harmony: Romanticism Through the Twelve-Tone Row
by Ludmila Ulehla

https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Harmony-Romanticism-Through-Twelve-Tone/dp/3892210616

u/Scoobyben · 1 pointr/songaweek

Haha I would, but it's on kindle. This is the one : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008Y0XH1C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I was browsing some old posts from here and someone had posted about a coursera lyric writing course about a year ago - it's by the same guy, and the first lesson mentioned it pretty much follows this book. So I thought it'd be a good way to pass time on a long haul flight!

u/reo_snoowagon · 1 pointr/Songwriting

Many musicians and singers work with specialist lyricists. Try /r/BedroomBands/

I like this: https://www.amazon.com.au/Writing-Better-Lyrics-Pat-Pattison-ebook/dp/B008Y0XH1C

Also these guys have some videos on writing lyrics to melodies https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDKiHSPstsj0silp519gt6w

u/Tripline · 1 pointr/makinghiphop

Everyone is ignoring your question except for kingskrp.... check out "the listening book", it takes a lateral approach to making music that will get your gears turning.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBXJGX2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

u/remembertosmilebot · 1 pointr/makinghiphop

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00BBXJGX2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect

---

Never forget to smile again | ^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

u/Pianodeath42 · 0 pointsr/piano

Check out The Art of Practice by Madeleine Bruser https://www.amazon.com/Art-Practicing-Guide-Making-Music/dp/0609801775/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+art+of+practicing&qid=1570647913&sr=8-1 But yeah take care of yourself and just take it slow.

u/riverstyxxx · 0 pointsr/ThriftStoreHauls

This is yet another case of people who do not look at lowest price & sold/completed listings for the real value and instead base the "value" on the asking price for items that nobody is buying The baseball card industry collapsed 20 years ago for this very reason when asking prices were not being met, regardless of how saturated the market was. Another example is putting Item "X" online that nobody else is selling for $300 and assuming the true value for Item "X" really is $300.

One sold for $75, another for $130, and Amazon has used ones starting at $75.

Minus fees, shipping, the $4 you paid, the time and opportunity cost you spent: You would be fortunate to make $50 from it when all is said and done. If you can sell it. Adding insult to injury: There's about 6 different versions of this book online, including the current Deadbase 11. Please do not make claims that your item is worth what it is not before you do your research: An item is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. You paid $4 and thus, the book is worth $4 to you.

u/famousfornow · -3 pointsr/trumpet

The Art of Practicing is a favorite of mine. The Art of Tennis is good too.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Practicing-Guide-Making/dp/0609801775