Ive been searching for a good 'free' music composition book forever and cant find anything
I have "Music Composition for Dummies" but it really sucks;
Im trying to find something like the book "Composition for Computer Musicians"
http://www.amazon.com/Composition-Compu ... pd_sim_b_1
composition as in orchestrating of instruments; song arrangement/structure; and composing songs;
Do you guys know of any good sites, or free books that i could download?
for some reason Composition ebooks seem to be rare on the internet
Music Composition books or tutorials needed
-
djsharperimage djsharperimage https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=200060
- KVRist
- 61 posts since 4 Feb, 2009
-
- KVRist
- 212 posts since 5 Jun, 2006
Hi djsharperimage, I have this book, it says a lot of good things but it doesn't delivere them as I wanted to.
Is not bad, but the earlier from the same author have way more info about music theory.
As a matter of fact the author Michael Hewitt even says that on this book.
If you need more info about this topic go see my earlier book.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Comp ... t_ep_dpt_2
I'd rather the idiots' guide better than the dummies, for music compostion, theory.
I follow Gary Ewer's blog and he has written some good e-books about songwritting and music theory.
http://garyewer.wordpress.com/
In his blog he gives several tips about songwritting, chord progression, why this or that works and my favorite, music analysis.
Why this music works or became a hit , what you could learn from it, stuff like that.
It's pretty good.
An example of one of his analysis:
http://garyewer.wordpress.com/2009/02/0 ... -it-works/
I hope that helps.
Is not bad, but the earlier from the same author have way more info about music theory.
As a matter of fact the author Michael Hewitt even says that on this book.
If you need more info about this topic go see my earlier book.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Comp ... t_ep_dpt_2
I'd rather the idiots' guide better than the dummies, for music compostion, theory.
I follow Gary Ewer's blog and he has written some good e-books about songwritting and music theory.
http://garyewer.wordpress.com/
In his blog he gives several tips about songwritting, chord progression, why this or that works and my favorite, music analysis.
Why this music works or became a hit , what you could learn from it, stuff like that.
It's pretty good.
An example of one of his analysis:
http://garyewer.wordpress.com/2009/02/0 ... -it-works/
I hope that helps.
-
- KVRist
- 133 posts since 23 May, 2006
The problem is most music composition books out there are catered to pop/rock or even jazz (and some classical). Not saying they aren't useful, but probably not the best if you're looking to produce electronic music.
They all seem to start off on the most rudimentary exercises and break down the basic song structures (pop, 12-bar blues), which quite frankly aren't used much in electronic music. There isn't much discussion on topics like breakdowns or buildups. And I've yet to see any of these "highly rated" books mention something like "drop the kick for 2 beats before introducing a HH line"— a very common and effective composition technique in house, techno, hip-hop, trance, etc.
Of course, I'm not sure what you're looking for (I'm assuming the DJ in your name refers to electronic music). The Idiot's Guide to Music Composition is much better than the Dummies one. The Ricky Roosby books are highly rated—I bought two of them but stopped reading after a few days, wasn't very helpful for my style. Pop Piano by Mark Harrison wasn't very useful either. Out of all the names I've seen thrown around, "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow was actually a little helpful, but it's almost like a college textbook. I spent a few weeks on it, and will probably go back to it soon.
Dance Music Manual by Rick Snoman was very good for my style of music. Also some of the online courses and videos you can find on YouTube (project files, tutorials, etc.) are helpful.
Just a last thought, a lot of modern music doesn't rely so much on structure and tone as it does other elements like energy, timbre, and automation.
They all seem to start off on the most rudimentary exercises and break down the basic song structures (pop, 12-bar blues), which quite frankly aren't used much in electronic music. There isn't much discussion on topics like breakdowns or buildups. And I've yet to see any of these "highly rated" books mention something like "drop the kick for 2 beats before introducing a HH line"— a very common and effective composition technique in house, techno, hip-hop, trance, etc.
Of course, I'm not sure what you're looking for (I'm assuming the DJ in your name refers to electronic music). The Idiot's Guide to Music Composition is much better than the Dummies one. The Ricky Roosby books are highly rated—I bought two of them but stopped reading after a few days, wasn't very helpful for my style. Pop Piano by Mark Harrison wasn't very useful either. Out of all the names I've seen thrown around, "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow was actually a little helpful, but it's almost like a college textbook. I spent a few weeks on it, and will probably go back to it soon.
Dance Music Manual by Rick Snoman was very good for my style of music. Also some of the online courses and videos you can find on YouTube (project files, tutorials, etc.) are helpful.
Just a last thought, a lot of modern music doesn't rely so much on structure and tone as it does other elements like energy, timbre, and automation.