(Part 3) Best music theory & composition books according to redditors
We found 1,421 Reddit comments discussing the best music theory & composition books. We ranked the 455 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
One objection: Although turks were considered as the barbaric force that inhibited development of islamic world, things are much more complicated than that.
First of all Turks quickly adopted religion and culture and created their unique brand of islam, settled down quickly.
Also they created most prosperous empires in the region and Europe for centuries! Ottoman Empire was the superpower of 16 and even 17th century that dealt with many European powers at once and Persian empire! Istanbul was the biggest metropol of Europe for centuries supporting levels of populations that was not seen since Roman Empire and became only possible towards the end of 18the century for European countries. People have that archaic view of Ottomans sitting on their butt and rotting away but that is not the truth. THat book alone proves a very different point of view: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Ottoman_Age_of_Exploration.html?id=Xf3h3Z1YQtIC
That shows how Ottomans were struggling with Portugese in Indian Ocean. That shows how up to date they were all the times.
When it comes to halting of "scientific development" answer is really much more complicated. Mokyr has a nice look at this problem and does not reach a clear cut answer:
http://www.amazon.com/Lever-Riches-Technological-Creativity-Economic/dp/0195074777/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373650861&sr=1-1
I would go into more detail some other time, now I don't have much time. But Islamic civilization did not come to a halt with the arrival of turks. But what we see really contradict that idea. Region prospered for a long time (for centuries!!!). How come that civilization came to a halt, but then after centuries, up until 1683 still having the most powerful land empire in west? THere is too much generalization and simplification here. Of course I get your point, it was not as much dynamic as it used to be, but it prospered thanks to stability of big empires, their extensive trade networks and connectedness of cities. Mokyr shows exhaustively how technological and scientific development in Roman Empire was slower compared to Greek and even Medieval times, but it was a more industrial empire and most people would easily think that people were better off during its time compared to what came before and after it (according to many calculations, people reach similar levels of welfare and development as Roman Empire only in 18th century England in christian world!). Similar things can be said about what happened after Monghol invasion. Cities and people prospered, industrialized (not in modern sense of course).
Now there's a surprise (not).
I.e., this is hardly news, although it's always interesting to read more research of this kind. Philip Ball's book The Music Instinct (2010) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Instinct-Works-Cant-Without/dp/0099535440 - is a good survey of music's role in human societies, with plenty of evidence of what different cultures don't have in common. E.g., almost all cultures recognise octave equivalence, and most recognise the perfect 5th. Beyond that it's all up for grabs. It's not just that other cultures don't recognise "dissonance", it's that the notion of dissonance is itself cultural. Obviously we all hear the same mix of frequencies, but we don't all feel the need to distinguish aesthetically between smooth or clashing ones, let alone have a natural preference for the former.
Essentially, our tastes are formed soon after birth (maybe even in the womb) by what we hear, largely by what we hear repeated. The repetition of any stimulus lends it significance to an infant, because the human brain is a pattern-seeking organ. At a very young age, we quickly get used to familiar patterns in music, which become the "right" sounds we enjoy later.
See this is a myth though. Economic productivity growth throughout Europe during the middle ages was steady and substantial. Check out this book if you want to know more.
There are a lot of courses. Any specific topics you're interested in?
Edit: I'll just list a few anyway that I've used in classes (this may not reflect all professors' choices for the same subjects).
Tonal Harmony: Kostka-Payne - Tonal Harmony
Counterpoint 1: A Berklee book by the late professor Rick Applin. Some also use this Fux translation/adaptation
Counterpoint 2: Bach Inventions & Sinfonias (any edition, really)
"Advanced" Counterpoint: The Well-Tempered Clavier (again, any edition)
Early Twentieth-Century Harmony: Persichetti - Twentieth-Century Harmony
Post-Tonal Theory/Analysis: Straus - Intro to Post-Tonal Theory
Instrumentation/Orchestration: Adler - The Study of Orchestration &
Casella/Mortari - The Technique of Contemporary Orchestration
Western Music History - Burkholder/Paiisca - A History of Western Music (8th or 9th edition)
Conducting 1 - Notion Conducting
Conducting 2 Notion + Stravinsky's Petrushka
Berklee's own (jazz-based) core harmony and ear-training curricula use Berklee textbooks written by professors which, as someone else mentioned, come unbound and shrink-wrapped at the bookstore. You can find older (PDF) versions of the Berklee harmony textbooks here. Of course this list only represents explicit book choices - there are a lot of excerpt-readings, and there's a lot of instruction that isn't found in these books even in the associated courses.
By "understand music" I'm assuming you mean like music theory?
www.musictheory.net is a wonderful resource to start you off, some of it may seem too easy at first but stick to it and it'll get challenging. Past that, I would honestly recommend picking up a textbook. Music in Theory and Practice is the best damn textbook you can get that takes you from "what are notes" to late romantic era macro analysis of chord relationships. It's pricey but it's good. Tonal Harmony is another good one, and is a much better deal I linked to one on Amazon for $50. I know spending a lot of money on a textbook seems like a waste when we have the Internet, but they are both textbooks that you will keep and continue to use and reference for years. I own both of those because I needed them for music theory classes at different universities, but even without a professor to lecture, the material in there is pretty self explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions / want a better explanation, I hope I understood your question correctly!
Edit: I forgot to add /r/musictheory is available too, but a lot of posts there assume the reader already knows quite a bit about theory, it isn't exactly a resource for someone wanting to begin learning. The sidebar there might have some useful stuff though.
Look into transformational/Neo-Riemannian theory and musical set theory.
David Lewin - Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations (GMIT)
Richard Cohn - Audacious Euphony
Guerino Mazzola - The Topos of Music
Guerino Mazzola - Cool Math for Hot Music
David Lewin - Klumpenhouwer Networks and Some Isographies that Involve Them (journal article)
Joseph Straus - Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory
Tymoczko is already spoken for.
> It is cumbersome to setup an interac or paypal when you want to help.
Those are your words. The words that I am replying to. Paypal is not irrelevant, which you very well know, because it is the competition to changetip.
> Says you.
No, says the entire field of economic history, not to mention lean startup methodology and user experience design.
Innovation (defined as the wide-scale adoption of new technologies) is not an easy or simple process. The "if you build it, they will come" mantra almost always works out poorly for the builders.
Invention is, by comparison, rather easy. Large businesses project manage invention all the time. We know about when and how well new inventions will be established if we just crank away at them.
Driving user adoption, on the other hand, is a very difficult process. You have to not just build an invention that solves problems for individuals and opens up new avenues of economic efficiency for society, but you also have to convince individuals en masse to change their behavior.
This takes marketing, politics, sales, and more. It takes understanding the human factors that go into technological adoption. At the end of the day, no technology succeeds without humans. These are creative fields which see some degree of process but which are ever-changing. Solutions have to fit the specific technology, consumer market, legal framework, etc..
A good example of innovation vs. invention is Edison vs. Tesla. We all know the popular geek narrative, that Tesla was a lone genius whose work was suppressed by the evil, profit-hungry Edison. But really, the difference was one of innovation. Both men were greatly inventive, but only one of them cared to focus on marketing, user adoption, working with governments, and building a business. It's telling that the one major "success" that Tesla did have was the one where he engaged with Edison on his own turf, taking the AC/DC battle to local governments and the courts.
But at the end of the day, Tesla the inventors legacy is a yet-to-be-built museum crowdfunded by a webcomic author, while Edison's legacy is one of the oldest, largest, and most inventive consumer companies in the US.
If you'd like to learn more, I'd highly recommend The Lever of Riches by Joel Mokyr. He uses historical examples from Europe, the Americas, and China to develop a historical narrative and theory of technological and economic progress (aka, innovation) that helps explain why certain technologies see adoption, as well as why certain societies see more technological innovation than others. And if you're interested in the latter question, Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson is a very enjoyable read.
Probably the most accessible mathematical approach to the basics of music theory that is still really solid scholarship would be Dimitri Tymoczko's A Geometry of Music. About the only downside is that Tymoczko has several bones to pick and he makes sure to pick them! http://www.amazon.com/Geometry-Music-Counterpoint-Extended-Practice/dp/0195336674
Another classic is David Lewin's Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. http://www.amazon.com/Generalized-Musical-Intervals-Transformations-David/dp/0199759944
If I were you, I'd start with Tymoczko and then move to Lewin after.
Best $20 you'll ever spend.
And here's a one page "cheat sheet" I made for practice. Prints out nicely on standard 8.5 x 11.
The most basic explanation of chords is that they're made up of a root (1st), a 3rd and a 5th. Minor chords have a flatted (half step down) 3rd.
A good exercise is to harmonize a scale. That means you play the scale, not one note at a time, but by playing chords (constructed by using a note from the scale as the root). So, instead of simply playing the individual notes of the scale C,D,E,F,G,A,B, you play the chords C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. Note the 7 chord is diminished (flat 3rd and flat 5th).
That's also what is meant by "singing in harmony". The melody line is triple voiced, with a 3rd and a 5th, accompanying the root. To start, for purposes of exercise, your melody will be simply an ascending/descending scale.
Follow the major/minor pattern for chord progressions (see "cheat sheet", where lower case = minor, upper = major). Note that arpeggios are just the roots, 3rds and 5ths of the scale. So, if you know your arpeggios, creating chords from any root is super simple.
Nail + Head = Hit
OP: The best way to learn is by a combination of listening, reading, writing and (I think) most importantly, playing.
Some places you could start are, of course the master BACH. For something more contemporary, the band Cake actually used some quite sophisticated counterpoint.
Some reading can be done with schoenberg HERE (sorry, I couldn't find a PDF, but if there is a university library nearby, they should have a copy.)
The book simply called "Counterpoint" By Walter Piston is a good alternative.
What else? I read a really good Schenckerian analysis of Dark Side Of The Moon, once, but now I can't find it. It's a pity, because I remember thinking it would be a good way to get into it.
If you want to save your money and learn a ton, wikipedia is actually an excellent resource for basic orchestration. IMSLP has loads of free scores... youtube and spotify loads of videos and recordings of performances. Listen to/watch a piece along with its score. If you're still looking for a book, Samuel Adler's The Study of Orchestration is a great (but expensive) place to start. Cheers.
www.amazon.com/Babbling-Corpse-Vaporwave-Commodification-Ghosts/dp/1782797599
www.amazon.com/Vaporwave-Dystopian-Musical-Ekko-Iruka/dp/1329386264
I'm not the most qualified person to answer because I'm still learning the ropes myself, but I can tell you the path I took. This is just one approach:
I would say the first step is to learn a DAW (digital audio workstation). I'd recommend Ableton just because it is very popular so you will find loads of resources and online tutorials. Reaper is also a good option if you don't want to spend a lot of money.
Then you may want to learn synthesis. Start with subtractive synthesis and in the future you can learn about FM, additive, and granular synthesis. You could try Syntorial (highly recommended) or a book like Refining Sound but I'm sure there are some good free tutorials out there if you look. Pick one synth plugin you can mess around with. There are loads of free plugins but you can also try Massive, Serum, Ableton's Analog, etc. For something a lot more complex but great for ambient, you may want to learn Reaktor (I think Tim Hecker uses Reaktor in some of his music). Here's a free online course that will teach you synthesis and Reaktor.
Finally learn about effects. Check out VahallaDSP, Audio Damage, FabFilter. Ableton Suite's built-in plugins are all really great too. You'd be amazed how a good reverb can totally transform your sound. Again, there are lots of free effects plugins you can download as well.
If you want to go the hardware route (which is much more expensive but can be rewarding), I'd suggest getting a polyphonic synthesizer. The Korg Minilogue, Roland System-1, or Novation Mininova could be good places to start. Pair that with a good effects pedal (the Zoom MS-70CDR is a great and affordable multi-effects pedal) and you can start making ambient music right away.
My last and most important piece of advice is to use the internet. There is just a plethora of resources online. Just google what you want to do (e.g. "how to make drone music on ableton") and you'll find tons of youtube tutorials, walkthroughs, forum topics, etc. It may spark more creative ideas and lead you down a new rabbit hole.
EDIT: One more thing, be sure to check out /r/edmproduction. Despite the name, it's a great place to learn about electronic music production in general.
I recommend reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Theory-Desi-Serna-ebook/dp/B004ASNACS
The way I look at it is that there are a lot of musicians who don't bother learning music theory and seem to do just fine. In the same way, there's a lot of people with a pretty good grasp of music theory who don't understand the math and physics of music at all, and it doesn't stop them from making good music. Even so, understanding music theory will usually be helpful to someone who wants to be a good musician, and math and physics can be helpful to someone who wants to compose good music.
Unfortunately, the knowledge about how math and physics applies to music is kind of hard to find, beyond relatively superficial explanations of how musical intervals and chords are constructed from whole number ratios (or approximations thereof).
A pretty good introductory book is "The Science of Musical Sound by John R Pierce" [1]. A lot of the modern understanding of the connection between math and physics and music comes from the research of Herman Helmholtz. You might want to check out "On the Sensations of Tone" [2]. The writings of Harry Partch and Ben Johnston might also be interesting to you if you want to know more about just intonation in particular.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Science-Musical-Sound-Robinson-Pierce/dp/0716760053
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Sensations-Tone-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486607534
STL Ocarina has a good selection of method books
Different articulations for ocarina
This one is in Italian for 10 hole ocarina. It has music excerpts in standard music notation.
Scales and arpeggios for ocarina
New Ocarina Method from Gruppo Ocarinistico Budrio
Cris Gale's Ocarina Method
So this might only be partially related to your question but thought I'd share anyway if you are interested in a little read.
Firstly, I think tabs are great and reading music takes much more practice.
Play some tabs of the music you love and get hooked. Then gradually learn to read music if you can.
That aside, wish I had the answer for you on the site.
Maybe a couple of these will help:
http://web.archive.org/web/20170802200045/http://tabs-ocarina.com:80/ocarina-tab-list
http://web.archive.org/web/20181127043926/https://ocarina-tabs.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20180530023007/http://www.ocarinaforum.com/index.php?board=11.0
​
However, if you can afford a few bucks, try getting a book. songbirdocarina.com has some books with tabs and lots of great songs.
I know it sounds silly, like "Why pay for it if I can get it for free?" but after getting a music book, I found, helps me focus to play. Also nice to put my electronics aside and go somewhere with a book and be just myself an my ocarina.
Also, I highly recommend Hal Leonard Ocarina Method by Cris Gale. Teaches you a lot of good techniques and also how to read music gradually with lots of pretty easy songs.
​
Sorry that this didn't answer your question though. Would be nice to have a good site with all of that and maybe a place for people to collaborate on that again if anyone knows/has one.
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
Hey, I’m kind of a book junkie when it comes to common practice stuff, so I’m gonna throw a bunch of em at ya. The common practice era of composition can be broken down into 3 major fields of study: Form/Composition, Harmony and Orchestration. Form/composition is about how music develops over time harmonically and melodically. Harmony is about how vertical sonorities interact with one another, this is one of the most fleshed out aspects of music theory. Orchestration, usually the capstone discipline, dives into how groups of instruments interact with one another on a harmonic level and a melodic one. Harmony+composition can be studied simultaneously considering there is so much overlap, orchestration usually comes after you have a middling understanding of the other two subjects.
There are a bunch of free online materials on these subjects, but here is my personal favorite:
http://openmusictheory.com/contents.html
There are also a few free books on harmony, orchestration and composition, but most of them were published a very long time ago. As a consequence, you may run into outdated or poorly explained concepts.
Harmony:
Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony
Orchestration:
Principles of Orchestration
Composition:
Fundamentals of music Composition
Exercises in Melody Writing
Most of the stuff with comprehensive+up to date information on these subjects is going to be something you pay for. Here are my favorite textbooks. One thing I value in a textbook is an accompanying workbook and/or some sort of exercise based learning, so I’ll be listing the workbooks (if applicable) as well.
Melody in Songwriting
Craft of Musical Composition Parts One and Two
Models For Beginners in Composition
Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music
Workbook for Harm Practice
The Study of Orchestration
Workbook for The Study of Orchestration
This isn’t an exhaustive list but it’s pretty solid.
Recording orchestras is out of reach for most, so you’ll probably need some good VSTs to use and some knowledge of how to make them sound ‘real’. Building an orchestra template is key to making music quickly and efficiently. It’s a massive headache to have to wait for Kontakt to load and instrument every time you want to add a flute or violin to your score. Here are the basics of what you’ll need:
Woodwinds:
Flutes
Clarinets
Saxophones
Oboes
Bassoons
Brass:
French horns
Trumpets
Trombones
Tubas
“Low brass”
Strings:
1st Violins
2nd Violins
Violas
Cellos
Bass
First chairs of each
Others:
PIANOS
Harps
Choirs
Guitars
Vibraphones
Glockenspiels
Etc
Orchestral percussion
Concert Toms
Taikos
Snares
Concert bass drums
Here are some places to get all of that:
Audio Bro (the ARC system is awesome)
Spitfire
8Dio
Orchestral Tools (my favorite)
CineSamples
EastWest Sounds
Heres a resource to make all of that stuff sound ‘real’. It’s a lot more difficult then you may think.
The Guide to MIDI Orchestration 4e
My orchestration class in college used this book: The Study of Orchestration (Fourth Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393920658/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_K8qNBb192BT2P
>It's perhaps the least romantic gift ever
Hahahahaha! I would definitely agree, though—I think the CHWMT would be an excellent book. If she goes through any sort of History of Theory course (which most PhD programs do), I can't imagine she wouldn't use this book. Even if she didn't have such a course, this book is a collection of (with perhaps one exception) excellent essays written by top scholars on almost every major theoretical approach or issue in the history of Western music.
I won't speak for other sub-disciplines—vornska's suggestions are definitely some of the central books in present theoretical studies—but let me make some suggestions for books more oriented towards Schenkerian analysis.
Schenker's Free Composition — this is Schenker's magnum opus in which he lays out his mature theory. For any Schenkerian, this is definitely a Bible of sorts, and a must-have. Just be sure, if you end up purchasing this, to get both volumes; one volume is the text and the second is the examples. You can also find the hardcover first English edition, sometimes even for less than the price of the two paperbacks.
Cadwallader and Gagné's Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach — this has become the standard textbook for teaching Schenkerian analysis, and I still find myself referring to it after years of Schenkerian studies. A somewhat dry but very clear and beneficial book.
Schachter's Unfoldings: Essays in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis — Carl Schachter is one of the greatest Schenkerians; nearly everybody who's anybody in the world of Schenkerian analysis studied with him. This book is a wonderful collection of some of his greatest essays. His writing style is exceptional and his analysis are some of the best I've seen.
It is probably true that everyone who has aspirations to become a composer should read Fux at some point, but there are other books on the subject that might be more accessible to someone who's just starting out. Schoenberg's book is excellent. There's also Harold Owen, for a less rigorous, more inclusive approach.
In my opinion we are doing our students a disservice in not teaching them that clefs are movable objects. With three clefs and five lines, one can represent every pitch on every line or space in several different ways, which is more important than it seems. If you can imagine a change of clef (and key signature, if necessary) at the far left side of the page, you can transpose anything to any key at sight.
Oh. I have never used it, but there are some general tips for notating non-standard or extended techniques:
For your example, I would just give the note a marcato accent and write "Scratch-tone" above it. Just try to be as clear as possible. Down the road, if a string player or someone knows of a better way for the notation, be receptive of their advice and change it.
Music instinct is also a good one.
Edit: I mean this book, for the record.
Cadwallader/Gagne is the standard text to use. There's also the Forte book which I haven't personally used but my friends that have used it don't like it.
You could also try the Salzer/Schachter book on counterpoint: it's heavily Schenkerian and just a great read. But its goal is to instruct you in counterpoint, not in Schenkerian analysis per se...that said, counterpoint is obviously very influential on Schenker's theories and it's important to understand counterpoint to succeed at Schenkerian analysis.
It's like he skimmed David Lewin's book on group theory for musical analysis and misunderstood large chunks of it. Which, to be fair, is relatively easy to do given how Lewin writes out some of his mathematical statements...
That's not to say that Lewin's ideas aren't good or interesting, but his writing style seemed to me to be too 'unclear' for mathematicians and too confusing for musicians (unclear referring to how I recall him notating some mathematical concepts). And I certainly don't remember him drawing such a hamfisted connection between group and music theories.
It's trivial to mix multiple audio streams in real-time with Max. You can just feed all your outputs into a single input of a DAC with inline *~ objects whose right input accepts a multiplier to control gain. There are lots of more sophisticated way to do it.
These books have a lot of info on this topic as you get more advanced.
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Music-Sound-Design-Practice/dp/8890548452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422140884&sr=8-1&keywords=electronic+music+max+msp
In the mid 20^th century, a fellow named Allen Forte successfully applied notions from mathematical set theory to "atonal" music and subsequently wrote an entire book on it: The Structure of Atonal Music.
This is a good introduction to a set theoretical approach to music theory, but it has been somewhat superseded by David Lewin's Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations, an altogether more rigorous and detailed exposition of similar ideas, generalized to explain a wider variety of musical thought.
You also may enjoy exploring the writings and music of Iannis Xenakis. He applied ideas from probability and statistics to music theory and came up with several stochastic compositional methods. You can read more about these in his book Formalized Music.
There are probably a dozen other books that have come out in recent years applying all manner of advanced mathematics to music, from algebraic topology to group theory, but I haven't read any of them so I can't tell you if they're bullshit or not. Sometimes contemporary music theory comes off as literary criticism mixed with psychology, and I find it suspect, frankly.
maybe look at books:
http://www.pdfhacks.com/eno/BE.pdf (PhD dissert on Eno's works
http://www.amazon.com/Refining-Sound-Practical-Synthesis-Synthesizers/dp/0199922969
http://www.synthesizer-cookbook.com/
(The Shepherd book is really good, i haven't read the cookbook but it's mentioned here regularly. the Eno book doesn't talk synthesis per se, but very interesting
I'm starting with a double and just learning--the fingering on the large chamber is the same as most 12 hole ocarina tutorials. So you can just buy a double, treat it as 12 hole until you master the first chamber, then add the second chamber. Since I knew I wanted a double's range for most of the songs I want to eventually learn, it was cheaper to just get a double to start.
I bought the STL Plastic Double for $40 initially, since I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy playing the ocarina. It's good enough to learn on and get familiar with the fingerings. The plastic causes it to go out of tune as your breath condenses inside it while you play, though. A clay ocarina will end up sounding better and be playable for longer in a session. (And cost more, if you're not sure about the instrument long term.)
I just ordered the highly rated Focalink Double for $118 (you just missed their Memorial Day sale) after a lot of research. If you want clay, I'd probably recommend that. Any of the STL doubles would probably also work for you, they are $100 normally. And depending on your budget, you might think about their MaxRange Doubles ($140ish). They're supposed to have a pretty awkward fingering in exchange for the extra range, but they're one note shy of a triple and cost much less. YMMV, do your research before buying one.
Finally, I also got /u/ocarinadiva 's Hal Leonard Method book, and as a noob to music I really like it. There's quite a lot of information on basic music theory and ocarina specific techniques in the book and the included video lessons really help. There's free resources out there, but having everything in one place was more than worth the price to me.
If you get more serious -
Kent Kennan's The Technique of Orchestration was the de-facto standard on orchestration when I was in school. Not sure if a newer one has claimed the throne.
You might want to check out Babbling Corpse. although it takes itself a bit too seriously at times, it presents a good comparison of vaporwave against modern culture and digs into the history and philosophy of where the culture of vaporwave exists.
check out refining sound: a practical guide to synthesis and synthesizers. i read this book when i first started.
also, apple has some good explanations in their logic documentation.
Its a big subject. A lot of it is harmony and counterpoint and traditional theory. Also learning about orchestral instruments, their strengths and limitations and how they are approached by players. How the various sections work etc. Listen to a lot of orchestral music and follow scores where you can. Pick out sections that are interesting to you and analyse them. Maybe try and imitate them and try your own variations on them.
A great reference book is Adler's The Study Of Orchestration The AV content for this is really useful too.
Good luck.
Can't speak on the exercises you seek, but best composition book I've ever come across is David Cope's Techniques of the Contemporary Composer.
Might have to dig around the web for an affordable copy, though.
The Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics by Arthur Benade
On The Sensations of Tone by Helmholtz
There's also a free, Berklee Intro to Music Theory course on edX. It says enrollment is closed, but I'm still able to view the lessons once I log in.
I'm new to learning about music as well, and this book has been very helpful: How Music Works. It's written very conversationally, not too technical, with great explanations of core concepts.
Also picked up The Complete Musician, which is very technical.
For writing software, Muse Score is free.
I'd also recommend getting a midi keyboard as well, if you don't already have one.
meh, not really. please read this book for more details.
> isnt japan fairly homogeneous and this wouldnt really apply to them? they have plenty of common myths and folktales, they have plenty of common legends, they tend to respect their environment a fair bit as well. theres plenty of coherence there. but the coherence has become a weight pressing on the necks of the youth and average citizen to become more valuable for the companies.
Even if you find strong disagreement with Marx' economic analysis, his philosophical work is becoming more and more insightful to today's world in particular his theory of alienation. There are so many comments in this thread that have probably never read about it yet describe exactly alienation from Gattungswessen(species essence), the product, from other workers. Humans are more commodified than ever, and we are discovering that commodification was never the same as a meaningfully productive role in society. Look at the emergence of "the gig economy", how there is no more future even within companies(which were already a terrible substitute for a tribal unit), wherein you must leave for greater pay.
When he described his Theory of Alienation, I think he underestimated the amount of sheer wealth that would be produced in globalization, but as always, the margins get tighter and tighter and the fever dream of globalized wealth for a middle class was never sustainable with a never ending greed of the elite.
The youth of today, despite all the conservative and neoliberal propaganda thrown at them, know deep inside that something is wrong, even if they can't articulate it. They know there is something wrong with entering adulthood with a lifetime of debt, into a disappearing job market. There is a nostalgia for a past that never existed, even their parents who grew up in the economic booms did not know the dreams they handed to their children would become dust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_theory_of_alienation
https://www.amazon.com/Babbling-Corpse-Vaporwave-Commodification-Ghosts/dp/1782797599
or Babbling Corpse, also from zero books.
If you would like to end with Chopin, you only need to study tonal theory. So twelve tone topics are not of any use since that topic is 20th century, after tonality.
If you didn't do voice leading (SATB harmony): Are you interested in voice leading? If you want to get to the more advanced topics of tonal theory, you'll need to cover that. If so I would suggest this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Guide-Theory-Analysis-Third/dp/0393600491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535936804&sr=1-1&keywords=clendinning+theory
Have you done species counterpoint? Species counterpoint will be very helpful in dealing with just about all music. I would recommend Fux's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535936929&sr=1-1&keywords=fux+counterpoint
If you've already done species counterpoint: For more advanced counterpoint (not useful for Chopin, but necessary for anything with fugues in it, obviously) I would suggest Mann's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Study-Fugue-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486254399
For a complete discussion of forms I would suggest Berry's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Form-Music-2nd-Wallace-Berry/dp/0133292851
For an in depth and modern discussion of sonata theory (remember that symphonies are also often times in sonata form), I would suggest Hepokoski's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Sonata-Theory-Deformations-Late-Eighteenth-Century/dp/0199773912/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937360&sr=1-1&keywords=hepokoski+sonata
If you already know species counterpoint and voice leading you can study Schenkarian Analysis. For this there's two books I would suggest:
https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Tonal-Music-Schenkerian-Approach/dp/0199732477/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937496&sr=1-1&keywords=schenkerian+analysis
https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Analysis-Schenkerian-David-Damschroder/dp/0393283798/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937488&sr=1-2&keywords=schenkerian+analysis
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If you're interested in composition, that's the other side of the coin and so all the above are of limited use. Let me know if you want books for composition.
One of the most comprehensive free resources is Julius O. Smith's website on mathematics of the Discrete Fourier Transform, synthesis and DSP, physical acoustic modeling, geez you name it.
A less mathematical but still good recent book on synthesis is Refining Sound by Brian K. Shepard.
Ahh, that makes sense, sorry \^\^;
There are books on a huge variety of subjects in music, so it does depend a little bit on what you are interested in specifically. For a broad overview, I liked A History of Western Music - the current edition is the 8th, but much of the materials from the 7th edition are available online. Another book I recommend is Harold C. Schonberg's The Lives of the Great Composers. It is less in-depth, but is written in a more narrative style while still hitting on a lot of the "who's who" in classical music from the Baroque to the 20th century (although it's maybe a tad outdated in the later 20th and 21st century).
Besides those two, I actually don't have any others on the top of my head that are good overviews. /u/m3g0wnz does have a guide to music theory textbooks on the sidebar that details out some of the main texts in that area. And, of course, there are books that specialize on a variety of subjects within music theory and history - Ebenezer Prout's book on fugues is one such example that I've looked at, as well as both the Kennan and Adler on the subject of orchestration. (Actually, Kennan also wrote a book on Counterpoint.)
On the subject of sight-singing, I've used both Rhythm and Pitch and A New Approach to Sight Singing in my aural skills classes - I like the Berkowitz a little better in the way it's organized, but both offer plenty of examples for practice. Alternatively, picking up a hymnal is possibly an easier alternative to sightsinging that gives you lots of tonal material for practice.
With most of my other suggestions, though, you don't really need a book. Print out some scores on IMSLP or pick up a cheap study edition (like this one of Mozart piano sonatas) and work through a harmonic/formal analysis.
With transposition, I think probably just working through some scores on IMSLP would be a good start, as well - I can't think of any other better way to get exercises for that. It's one of those topics that's pretty easy to quiz yourself with as long as you keep yourself honest. :)
Edit to add: As far as specifics of literature, that is obviously pretty instrument-dependent. I am a vocalist, and I usually choose language first and then begin exploring pieces that might work with my current technical goals. I know a lot of instrumentalists treat genre/time period the same way. So depending on your instrument, you may have a different approach, but it helps to narrow things down to a few composers you might like to explore for your instrument, and then seeing if anything works for you. Although be wary - for me I end up getting so involved in lit studies that I have a list a mile long of pieces I want to study in the future. It's a double-edged sword for sure.
Just 2 main comments:
That all being said, the themes are very intriguing and I would love to hear them expanded and varied a bit. You plant many seeds for a large scale work, but it ultimately ends before it come to fruition. Of course, you can disagree and disregard any or all of these comments if you want, that's your right as the composer. However, I do think you should take my first comment to heart. I reiterate this mainly because you are using this as an audition piece, and the very first thing they will do is read through the score without the music (so you want your first impression to be a good one). People really do appreciate a clean score, though it is the most tedious and time consuming part of the compositional process (and the part I personally hate the most). Good luck in your endeavors and never stop composing.
Here's some other stuff for people interested:
Joe Straus' Introduction to Post Tonal Theory
Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music by Barry Schrader
Samuel Solomon's How to Write for Percussion
Rothenberg and Ulvaeus' Book of Music and Nature
Cope's Techniques of the Contemporary Composer is okay.
My favorite orchestration book is actually the Blatter
Composing Electronic Music by Curtis Roads is a very good new electronic book
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
On Sonic Art by Trevor Wishart
If you have questions about anything, let me know.
Also, look into some theory texts to expand your horizons.
This book written by Bruce Benward is a good place to start. It covers basic things like notation and properly writing music on paper, and then goes into scales, modes, intervals and chords, and all the way up to leading tones and song structure.
But the best thing it does is train you on how to analyze music and do what I did in the above comment. It also starts you on the path to counterpoint, which is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle method of writing short (like five measures) pieces.
Mokyr's The lever of riches link
Kurt Stone's Music Notation in the Twentieth Century is still pretty reliable.
This was a great read
http://www.amazon.com/Addiction-Formula-Captivating-Commercial-Songwriting/dp/9082391309/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1464899118&sr=8-2&keywords=addiction+formula
Hermann Helmholtz: On the Sensations of Tone is a classic.
Books that delve into the physics of acoustics require the language of diff-q and fluid dynamics, and so may not be useful to you.
The Zelda replicas from OcarinaWind have a pretty bad reputation and the owner carries multiple models, which makes it even more difficult. STL, Songbird, and Rotter all have affordable Zelda replicas that are pretty good quality.
That is the Night by Noble, so you're good there. As far as learning materials, it really depends on you. A lot of people like having a structured curriculum and it helps save time. You can find tutorials and such online, but you have to consider what your time is worth and if it is worth having a centralized resource to get you up and running. My wife wrote the Hal Leonard Ocarina Method and I think for $/£10 or so, it's worth not having to look for resources and having videos that basically show you every lesson. It's also available in book form as well as iOS and Andriod/Google.
I highly recommend this book "The Addiction Formula" for song progression (arrangement).
https://www.amazon.com/Addiction-Formula-Captivating-Commercial-Songwriting/dp/9082391309
The author also has a Youtube channel called Holistic songwriting that I'd suggest you subscribe to! He's very articulate in the way he explains his concepts and he's got a bunch of videos on different artists' styles regarding composition and melody writing, and just overall arrangement, chord progressions, etc. In the book he conceptualizes song "progression" as the combination of hype (intensity) and flow between sections ( i cant remember the exact word he called it now but essentially the type of transition between 2 sections). I've found this approach to be really intuitive and easy to understand.
As far as layering theres definitely some things to take into consideration to strategically layer sounds. First off, why are you layering? Is it to beef up a sound, add a new texture to it, emphasize a part of the ADSR, etc. For example, if I'm "layering" two sounds that sound really similar, it might be better to hard pan them so you get a really wide sound. If I'm using a really soft lead sound and it's lacking some intensity I might look for a layer thats grittier, or maybe a pluckier kind of layer to bring out the attack more, etc. Maybe I've already established my main sound but in a different section of the song I want to give it more depth so I'll find 2 sounds to tuck back into the mix and hard pan them so the main sound gets just a lil "pick me up" later on. Maybe the same line played in multiple octaves so I'll use a sound that sounds good an octave down and one an octave up and have them compliment my main lead. The possibilities are really endless.
It's hard to articulate exactly how to layer, and I'm sure someone could explain it better than me but my advice is to think about what you're trying to achieve with the layering and then flip through lots of different patches and find which compliment each other best for your intended purpose. Layering is a great way to progress your song and keep an idea fresh throughout.
Underbelly runs an awesome and very entertaining channel which I'd recommend checking out as well. Check out his video on layering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgXB2t0tNHU
Hope that helps!
I like Cope's - Techniques of the Contemporary Composer.
Some of it is a little outdated. I think score study of works you really like is what will be the most fruitful.
There are entire degree programs in it, lol. You can get a PhD in music theory if you want.
For a classical approach, Kostka & Payne's "Tonal Harmony" is the textbook used by many high school music theory teachers.
If you go to Berklee College of Music and take Music Theory 101, this is the textbook you'll be using:
http://www.amazon.com/Berklee-Music-Theory-Book-Edition/dp/0876391102
There's also a Book 2.
For a bit of an easier approach, here's Music Theory for Dummies:
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-For-Dummies-Audio/dp/1118095502
Get yourself a copy of Fretboard Theory and blast through it, not worrying too much about absorbing everything. On the first pass you just want to acquaint yourself with the concepts. Because everything is so interconnected it's helpful to have even a fuzzy snapshot of the big picture before really diving in. Then re-read it a second time, taking care to fully absorb everything.
Once you know your scales, how chords are constructed, what progressions work for what situations, etc. revisit some of those songs you already know how to play and deconstruct them. What key is the song in? What progression is being used? Which scales?
It's bad advice to tell you to practice X first, then Y second. You should be practicing everything consistently and focusing on improvement in areas where you're struggling. Only you will know what that is, once you get going. But as far as where to start, page one of whatever theory book you choose.
Many ITT are recommending private instruction, which is fine, but I'd suggest getting what you can out of a book that costs less than a half hour lesson before you start working with a teacher. Any teacher will only be taking you through the exact same material for the first six months, anyway, and for a lot more money.
There is no significant advantage to using a dedicated hardware synthesizer over a computer. To the contrary, a computer gives you far more flexibility, and it takes up a lot less space.
Don't get me wrong, though -- I absolutely love both hardware and software. I just think you can learn a lot more about synthesis and music production with cheap or free software than you can with a single dedicated synth in the introductory price range. I would recommend buying a midi keyboard and a copy of this book. It gives recommendations of free software you can use while working through the book, and it will teach you the fundamentals (and then some) of all the major forms of synthesis.
Plus, if you buy a midi controller, you can use it to control hardware synths later on, if you choose to purchase any.
This book and the second volume are pretty great: https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Music-Sound-Design-Practice/dp/8890548452/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483643697&sr=8-3&keywords=Electronic+Music+And+Sound+Design
They flip flop back and forth between a chapter explaining the theory behind a particular aspect of synthesis or music production and then a chapter explaining how to apply that knowledge using Max/MSP. Max isn't for everyone, but the theory bits alone in here are great, and IMO max is a good environment to learn this stuff at a lower level.
This book is what I used for Theory I and II in college. You can probably find older editions too. They never change too much. It covers a lot and you can also learn how to write. Almost all of the examples are from classical music though. Try and get the CD that comes with it for the examples. Also, /r/musictheory might be a good resource for advice along the way. Also also, free printable sheet music is available here.
This is also the name of a book I've recently read from 2011;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Instinct-Works-Cant-Without/dp/0099535440
If you find it hard or impossible to listen to certain genres of music then you should change the way that you listen to music. To help you do that i would recommend reading The Music Instinct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuWMSMvvsa0
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Dude, your hooktheory book is a complete garbage, I'm not surprised that you learned everything wrong. I even told you the name of the youtube channel... how ignorant can a person be on reddit?
Check any real music theory books
https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Harmony-Stefan-Kostka/dp/125944709X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538029216&sr=1-1&keywords=tonal+harmony+kostka&dpID=41v9WBjdbJL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Musician-Integrated-Approach-Listening/dp/0199347093/ref=pd_sim_14_16?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0199347093&pd_rd_r=4a1cee19-c21d-11e8-bcaa-d5dbd61d2792&pd_rd_w=N7ADP&pd_rd_wg=8dbTF&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=56838e6b-66d4-41e0-a762-743f1a1a628a&pf_rd_r=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8
https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Guide-Theory-Analysis-Second/dp/0393930815/ref=pd_sim_14_32?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0393930815&pd_rd_r=4a1cee19-c21d-11e8-bcaa-d5dbd61d2792&pd_rd_w=N7ADP&pd_rd_wg=8dbTF&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=56838e6b-66d4-41e0-a762-743f1a1a628a&pf_rd_r=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=3YXER0X7XFGE6FM96NJ8
​
to see what people in England and USA use (Germany and North/East Europe use slightly different system).
​
Also, there doesn't exist such thing as progression without a tonic, that's why your progression is wrong when you try to analyse the key. One of your chords is I or i (Im in another notation system). And progressions in minor use flexible scale degrees, that's why such tables can't be made or they will have to include several different chords.
If you are interested in Max/MSP, this book is pretty good for hands on learning using Max's synth tools.
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Music-Sound-Design-Practice/dp/8890548452#
I know Max is more expensive than what you said you were looking for originally, but with Max you can make your own instruments and plugins.
Composing the writing new lines or melodies. Think of it as writing something from scratch. Just like drawing
Orchestration is a form of arranging: for example you take a piano piece and arrange it for orchestra that's basically orchestration.
This video explains it (good channel for Orchestration):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=119&v=3BfD50eERmo&feature=emb_title
Also, get the bible of orchestration (it is expensive so I advise you to get the 3rd edition instead as it's way cheaper):
https://www.amazon.com/Study-Orchestration-Fourth-Samuel-Adler/dp/0393600521
Piston is also a good book for orchestration
I'm in the same position as you. I've pretty much only played acoustic rhythm because I just wanted to hear myself play songs that I know. 90% of my playing has just been looking up the chords to songs I know and playing the crap out of them, which is fun, but eventually you want to move on.
I got an electric not even a week ago and figured now was a good time to actually learn about what I'm doing as opposed to just playing it blindly. I bought this book last night and went through the first couple chapters this morning. All I can say is WOW. Whenever I tried to learn scales and shit my eyes glazed over 5 minutes into it, but something about the way this book presents it just clicks with me.
Like I said I'm still pretty much at the very beginning of the book but it seems like a winner. I think it has like 150+ reviews on amazon so check those out if you want.
This is a good, basic book, which covers just about everything. Techniques of the Contemporary Composer-
http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Contemporary-Composer-David-Cope/dp/0028647378
This is the book we used for Theory I when I was getting my B.M.
When I was in school, we were required to use Kurt Stone's notation guide as a source of first resort for non-standard notation. It's a bit dated by now, but it is very thorough. I recommend it. If you or your library has a copy, take a look. There may some pertinent examples that you can adapt to your purposes.
I'm thinking that you don't need an ossia staff since you are not offering concurrent optional lines. You can just change the staff style for the moments of extended technique. I'd be especially precise about the effect you're looking for. If you care about pitch, even if approximate, you'll need some way to convey that. If you want indiscriminate slapping at whatever string happens to get in the way, you can probably just use an 'x' notehead and treat it more or less like a percussion element.
Lots of things to think about!
None that I've personally used enough to recommend. I think I used the "music theory for dummies" or equivalent when I learned the basics.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Dummies-Audio-CD/dp/1118095502
Thanks man !. not being tone deaf is a start :) . Unfortunately with no theoretical nor practical knowledge of music i wouldn't know where to start with matching pitch/key etc. But this has given me something to think about. I think I should learn basics of music. D'ya think that book "Music for dummies" is a good place to start ?.
Thanks for the reply- Those were super helpful answers already, though they were only illustrative examples of many more questions I have.
The best resource like this I've found so far is in the book "The Addiction Formula" https://www.amazon.com/Addiction-Formula-Captivating-Commercial-Songwriting/dp/9082391309/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1525713259&sr=8-1
It has one section on rhythm which touches on the "why" of drums. Though the basic concept of the book is kind of cringey with the whole "get rich writing pop songs" vibe, it actually does have practical information in it- Just curious what other similar resources people are aware of that get deeper into drumming.
I realize simply listening to a lot of good drumming and focusing on the drum work is probably the best way to figure this out, but since I'm an American I was hoping there would be some kind of easy shortcut :)
I think most of the Norris plugins are in audio unit format, he also has a bunch of interesting looking max devices which I still have to dive into :)
>Yes, I remember reading the same thing. Perhaps what he meant was just to turn off the grid in ableton?
Thats probably how he did it, I doubt he writes the entire track with the grid off - probably either sketches it out with it on, and then adds elements with it off, or keeps a few audio tracks on grid throughout and writes the rest around it. But then again Burial supposedly didn't use a grid at all for a lot of Untrue.
The most helpful thing I've come across for learning max (after doing the built in tutorials to learn the basics), is this book by Alessandro Cipriani Electronic Music and Sound Design. I bought the max 7 version on iBooks, its about the same price and has video examples built into it. Also the dude837 tutorials are fantastic, but he often doesn't explain what he's doing properly which is a bit annoying if you're starting out. John Jannone's tutorials are also pretty great.