Book Description
An essential resource for both students and professionals, offering shrewd insight into the business, process, and art of writing music for film and TV. Interviews with top film scoring professionals add the priceless insight of the wisdom that comes with experience.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic insight.......2007-07-13
This book arrived at my house yesterday, and I have since nearly completed it. I really can't put it down. This book is a real gem, with interviews of the real pros whose work you have certainly already heard. This book really gives you an extensive background of music in movies and a formidable description of what kind of work it REALLY takes to take on such a monumental task. For someone who is interested in film scoring, it shows you just about everything and everyone you will encounter. The interviews towards the back of the book are total gems. This book was a shot-in-the-dark buy, but a real gem. If you write music and you don't own this... you get the idea.
Beginner or Pro this will work for you.......2007-07-03
It`s all Berklee here !!!
Written by the great Richard Davis it`s an invaluable book that reveals the film scoring process.
It's just perfect for people who wants to begin a composer career. Very practical to read.
And if you're pro this will ilustrate you how to do it better, and have some important considerations
WARNING!!! This book will make you WANT to become a Film Compoer!.......2007-06-28
WARNING: this book will make you want to become a film composer! The quick, easy-to-read form of COMPLETE GUIDE TO FILM SCORING is nearly flawless because the more you read, the more you'll want pursue film scoring as a career.
The first part on the History of Film Music I was actually planning on skipping but I'm glad I didn't because it was super interesting! This section contains just enough information to make the reading effortless; not too many details to bog down the opening chapters.
Production is the title of the next section, which explores how a movie gets made and, more importantly, how music is incorporated into the film. Section two explains the composer's time frame, the spotting session and how every member of the music department contributes to the score. Now this is when the book begins to get dangerous because, as you read it, you think, "So these are the people that will work for me when I'm the film composer".
The guide gets more dangerous in Part 3, the Music because this section talks about composition, styles, songs, soundtracks, animation, and ethnic music but presents no written music. Part 3's chapters only offer examples of movie soundtracks; therefore you could only understand the particular idea of the example by actively listening to the soundtrack of the movie. This fact has forced me to give this book four stars instead of five. (If more musical examples of great film music are what you are looking for, buy The Art of Film Music which is full of them!)
The next section deals with the business side of music. This section is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and is the reason I gave this book a warning. The first chapter in the section talks about attorneys and agents. The way the author talks of about them, it gives the impression that the composer composes and everyone ELSE does the rest. Then, he explains copyrights and other aspects of publishing which was very informative. At the end of this section it explains royalties and throws huge dollar amounts at you. By the end of this chapter you can't wait to become a composer!
The last section has some fascinating interviews. 19 to be exact, and because there are so many, they kind of blend together.
Now let me explain the warning.
If you are good at interpreting scenes and are able to write music to match, then this book will only add to your knowledge and when you read it, you should be saying to yourself, "I can do all of this!" If you cannot interpret scenes and write music, you'd better plan on learning to do so because if you want to be a film composer, this book's added knowledge will NEVER make up for your lack of musical comprehension.
Not a bad book, but not what I expected.......2007-01-12
When I bought "The Complete Guide to Film Scoring", i wasn't expecting it to be so... complete.
Actually, being a music major i was expecting a much more musical approach to this subject. I was interested in examples and more detailed information about how to write music for a film. The book includes this subject in a chapter, but it is treated pretty generaly.
What I found, and in really detailed way, were the means of making money with your score, full of examples, different approaches and all the necessary data to take full advantage of your score. However, it didn't satisfy me too much.
This Book Is The Best.......2006-11-10
I am a film music composition student and this is the most detailed book that I have read on the subject. The interviews with well-known film composers are really good. I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
KEY BENEFIT: This book provides the most comprehensive analytical approach to 20th-Century Music available from Impressionism to recent trends.
It covers music from the early 1900s through such movements as Minimalism and the Neoromanticism of the 1990's, and includes chapters on rhythm, form, electronic and computer music, and the roles of chance and choice in Twentieth-Century music.
For individuals interested in music theory and harmony; and an analysis and history of 20th-century music.
Average customer rating:
- A true classic
- Strauss's additions are worth the price alone
- The Book. By the man who "wrote the book."
- Quite possibly the best book on music ever written!
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Treatise on Instrumentation
Hector Berlioz , and
Richard Strauss
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
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ASIN: 0486269035 |
Book Description
The most influential work of its kind ever written, appraising the musical qualities and potential of over 60 commonly used stringed, wind and percussion instruments. Includes 150 full-score musical examples from works by Berlioz, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and others. Complete with Berlioz' chapters on the orchestra and on conducting. Foreword by Richard Strauss. Glossary.
Customer Reviews:
A true classic.......2007-05-17
The revision by R. Strauss added a lot of technical in-depth, that today remains current.
Strauss's additions are worth the price alone.......2004-06-21
Two of the best orchestrators of all time contributed to this book regarding orchestration and the mechanics of various instruments. With examples from many scores included in alsmost every section (especially Wagner, who Strauss admired highly), this tome is invaluable. Throughout the book limitations, advantages, and effects achievable by a broad range of instruments are discussed in detail with good examples included for each section.
I highly recommend the Treatise on Instrumentation. It is worth the price just to get to hear the personal opinions and thoughts of two master composers.
The Book. By the man who "wrote the book.".......2003-12-17
Two hundred years ago this week, Louis-Hector Berlioz was born. This, then, is a time for me to comment on a few of his works, some of them "favorites by acclamation" and others simply those in which I find special merit.
When Berlioz died, in April, 1869, an obituary in the Musical Times read, in part, "...there can be little doubt that he will be remembered by his able and acute contributions to musical criticism than by any of the compositions with which he hoped to revolutionize the world."
These words by the Musical Times were addressed to Berlioz's feuilletons (musical criticisms in a largely satirical style). Berlioz captured many of his best feuilletons in his anthology Soirées de l'Orchestre ("Evenings in the Orchestra"), and his trenchant wit is also evident in his Memoirs.
But Berlioz did leave behind one work for which musical education for generations of composers to come had been the purpose: his "Treatise on Instrumentation," or, if one likes, "the art of writing for musical instruments of the orchestra to achieve maximum effect." The Treatise was the very first serious effort to fully describe these matters of instrumentation and orchestration, instrument-by-instrument and orchestral-choir-by-orchestral-choir. Paraphrasing a portion of a recent Berlioz Bicentennial article by none less than Norman Lebrecht, the Treatise was closely studied by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss (who themselves were masterly orchestrators), Modest Mussorgsky had died with a copy of the Treatise on his bed, and, as a result of wildly successful concerts led by Berlioz in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was motivated to write his own equivalent, "Principles of Orchestration," which would serve as a model for his Russian school of composers.
In point of fact, the revolutionary uses to which Berlioz put orchestral instruments in his compositions cannot be gainsayed, and his compositions, as well has the Treatise, served to redefine orchestral possibilities - and serve as a learning tool for subsequent composers - for the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. He was an inveterate "tinkerer," in terms of constantly assessing and writing for newly-invented instruments of his era, and, as well, he "borrowed" instruments freely from military bands of his time, to create orchestral "sound worlds" that were new and novel.
As the Treatise demonstrates, Berlioz was no mere dilletante, experimenting in willy-nilly ways, but was in fact thoroughly "grounded" in his understanding of such basic principles as acoustics and the creation of sound. In its original French form (virtually all of which, in translation, survives in this revised edition), the Treatise clearly set out all of these principles, applied to the instruments of his time by means of examples drawn from a wide range of musical compositions, and the French-language original seemed not to have been a problem for all the German, Russian, Italian, English and what-have-you composers who learned from it.
A half-century later, in 1904, Richard Strauss was requested to review and "revise and update" the Treatise by the publisher. It is in this form, with emendations by Strauss and translated ably into English, that the Treatise currently exists. Needless to say, familiarity with musical notation is important if one is to fully appreciate the value of the Treatise. But the narrative, including descriptions-in-words of musical examples of individual instruments and instruments used in various combinations, is clear enough that even those not knowledgeable in musical notation can bypass the notated examples and simply read the narrative with benefit. Berlioz was an exceedingly gifted writer, blessed with clarity in all that he wrote.
Strauss's emendations are rather clearly set out separately from Berlioz's original effort, so that the two do not get confused. By and large, Strauss doesn't trample too much on Berlioz's efforts, but deals with instruments not available to Berlioz, with many of his own examples drawn from the works of Richard Wagner. But Strauss's comparative measures of - and prejudices regarding - Berlioz and Wagner as composers are quite well established in his own separate Foreword.
The most recent instrument invention included in Strauss's emendations is the heckelphone (baritone oboe), which invention Strauss commissioned Wilhelm Heckel for Strauss's use in his "Symphonia Domestica." Obviously, then, the Treatise is not the reference to which to turn for descriptions and applications of instruments that are of 20th century invention, nor, for that matter, instruments in use elsewhere than in Europe that subsequently found application in 20th century "Western" music (such as the Indonesian gamelan).
A side benefit of the Treatise is in its historical value as a repository of capabilities, sonorities, techniques and usages of instruments long deemed obsolete, but in current use during Berlioz's careers as composer and conductor. Where else can one find such a wealth of detail on instrumental esoterica and arcana like the ophicleide, bombardon and serpent (all forerunners of the tuba), as well as various instruments invented by the highly-creative Adophe Sax, inventor of the saxophone but also the various saxhorns, saxtrombas and saxtubas now obsolete? In fact, I could find only one oversight on Berlioz's part, that of the sarrusophone, invented by Auguste Sarrus, a contemporary "competitor" to Adophe Sax.
It's a small oversight. Unless, of course, one takes a personal interest in the sarrusophone and its musical possibilities. I happen to, but that's just me.
Anyone interested in the course of musical instrument usage and history should have this inexpensive Treatise in his or her library. If you can't read the musical notation and examples, you'll nonetheless come away with an excellent understanding of Berlioz's contributions to the field.
Bon anniversaire, M. Berlioz!
Bob Zeidler
Quite possibly the best book on music ever written!.......2000-04-02
Every time I open up this book I find something completly new and exciting. I have never seen an author(s) so enthusiastic about every instrument. Every instrument of the day (keep in mind that it was written in the 1840's and later revised in c. 1900) gets special attention with music examples from great composers like the authors and Wagner. Each musical selection is shown in its full score so that the reader/listener can get a better image of what their reading about or hearing (the only way one can understand some of these examples is to go out and listen to these examples otherwise their just notes on a page). Quite possibly my favorite section is the one where Berlioz describes his "perfect" orchestra. It is one so massive that it sends chills down my spine! A must have for any music library.
Book Description
Mozart's unfinished Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Mozart undertook the commission for an Austrian nobleman, little knowing that he was to write a requiem for himself. Inevitably, the secrecy surrounding the anonymous commission, the circumstances of Mozart's death, the unfinished state of the work, and its completion under the direction of Mozart's widow, Constanze, have precipitated two centuries of romantic speculation and scholarly controversy.
Christoph Wolff provides a critical introduction to the Requiem in its many facets. Part I of his study focuses on the tangled genesis and completion of the work and its fascinating early reception history until Constanze's death. Wolff summarizes the current state of research on the subject, provides new perspectives on Mozart's conception of the whole work, and surveys his contributions to the movements composed posthumously by his assistant, Süssmayr. Part II provides a musical analysis of Mozart's composition, including contextual, structural, and interpretive aspects. Part III consists of an annotated collection of the principal literary documents (1791-1839) that illuminate the fascinating early history of the Requiem.
The book concludes with a complete edition of the work that is at the center of Wolff's study, the authentic score of the Requiem--Mozart's fragment--supplemented by crucial excerpts from Süssmayr's 1792 Requiem completion.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough and Complete.......1998-08-19
Nothing is left for one to imagine after this reading. The mystery and circumstances of Mozart's great work is described in incredible detail in this book. It is really not an attempt by the author to prove or disprove theory and speculation about the compostion, but rather, to offer the reader the combined evidence accumulated throughout the years. These facts are then substaniated by quoting the source documents from books and essays that were written about the Requiem after Mozart's death. The author also includes letters as written by the key players as the Requiem controversy unfolded. I also very much appreciate the pictures of the original Mozart score and the printed score made available at the end of the book.
I must say that I am not learned in music, and I often found the book to be of difficult reading when musical terminology is used--and it is used quite often. Besides discussing the controversy, the author attempts to define Mozart's purpose and eventual composition of each movement. While fascinating to say the least, the use of musical terms can be overwhelming at times.
In all, I found this to be an exceptional book and I recommend it to anyone who loves the work of Mozart and especially that of his "Requiem."
David Pecnik
Amazon.com
Veteran music critic and program-notes writer Michael Steinberg offers up a sequel to his well-received collection of articles, The Symphony: a Reader's Guide. Over the years, Steinberg has written program notes for the likes of the San Francisco Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, so this new book might be subtitled, "Pieces of Music Orchestras Paid Me to Write About." Even though the selection of pieces is far from all-inclusive, the approach to the reader is friendly and non-snobby, and very little of the book is off-putting for those who have no musical training. Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart are plentifully described and with a certain feeling for how to mix biographical incidents with musical matters to heighten a reader's interest. However, a lot of rarer composers are absent, as are some works by familiar composers, so readers might want to complement this book with another Oxford Press title, A Guide to the Concerto edited by Robert Layton, which, instead of focusing on individual works, contains essay-length overviews by such expert critics as David Brown and Michael Kennedy--whetting the appetite for hearing rarities as well as informing the reader about familiar works. Reading Steinberg, one would never agree with Glenn Gould (among other musicians), who dismissed the concerto form as artistically unsatisfying. Instead, one feels a sense of gratitude for so many good works written in the medium. --Benjamin Ivry
Book Description
Michael Steinberg's 1996 volume The Symphony: A Reader's Guide received glowing reviews across America. It was hailed as "wonderfully clear...recommended warmly to music lovers on all levels" (Washington Post), "informed and thoughtful" (Chicago Tribune), and "composed by a master stylist" (San Francisco Chronicle). Seiji Ozawa wrote that "his beautiful and effortless prose speaks from the heart." Michael Tilson Thomas called The Symphony "an essential book for any concertgoer." Now comes the companion volume--The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. In this marvelous book, Steinberg discusses over 120 works, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1720s to John Adams in 1994. Readers will find here the heart of the standard repertory, among them Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, eighteen of Mozart's piano concertos, all the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, and major works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Bruch, Dvora'k, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Elgar, Sibelius, Strauss, and Rachmaninoff. The book also provides luminous introductions to the achievement of twentieth-century masters such as Arnold Schoenberg, Be'la Barto'k, Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Sergei Prokofiev, Aaron Copland, and Elliott Carter. Steinberg examines the work of these musical giants with unflagging enthusiasm and bright style. He is a master of capturing the expressive, dramatic, and emotional values of the music and of conveying the historical and personal context in which these wondrous works were composed. His writing blends impeccable scholarship, deeply felt love of music, and entertaining whimsy. Here then is a superb journey through one of music's richest and most diverse forms, with Michael Steinberg along as host, guide, and the best of companions.
Customer Reviews:
Pretty Much Perfect, still..........2007-03-02
This is the only one of Steinberg's releases where I have very little to suggest in terms of improvement. Though I will agree with other reviewers that the exclusion of Vivaldi, Telemann and, I think, Bach's Double Concerto for Violin and Bassoon -was unwise.
I'm not here to claim that all of Dvorak's concertos should have been included, seeing as how his Piano Concerto could have used revision. But Dvorak's Violin Concerto is definitely worthy enough to include.
The inclusion of Zimmermann was strange...
Passionate Background to Concertos.......2002-03-16
As with Steinberg's "The Symphony," this work on "The Concerto" is a fine piece of writing passionately about the subject matter: in this case, the blessed concerto.
As a child of the Baroque, their slighting (no Telemann, Vivaldi and limited Bach --- what about his woodwind Concertos?)doesn't detract from this fine rendering of String and Keyboard Concertos. His notes on the play between soloist and orchestra through each piece is aptly traced through their development. Steinberg is a gifted "wordsmith" of painting the emotions and expression thereof through pace and rythm and instrumental layering.
Whether using for one's concert attendance or listening to broadcast or own library performance accompaniment, this is a thorough and historical accurate guide and companion.
Indispensable.......2001-09-17
A wonderful book. Michael Steinberg is probably the premier writer of program notes for symphony orchestra concerts in the English-speaking world, and his two books, The Symphony: A Listener's Guide (Oxford University Press, 1995, 678 pages), and its companion volume The Concerto: A Listener's Guide (Oxford UP, 1998, 506 pages), are probably the two best collections of program notes on the symphony and the concerto that have ever been published in English. Steinberg formerly wrote the program notes for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and currently writes them for the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He was music critic of the Boston Globe for twelve years. These two books come with glowing recommendations from such distinguished musical figures as Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Andre Previn, Herbert Blomstedt, Roger Norrington, and John Adams. Speaking as one who has attended countless symphony orchestra concerts on the East Coast, West Coast, and in Dallas for more than forty years, and has always read the program notes, I can say that I've never read any as good as these. They are readable, learned, witty, accessible, and delightful, full of important biographical and historical information, and of course musical description, evaluation, and analysis that is genuinely illuminating and enlightening, without being so technical you need to be a musicologist or seated at a piano to understand it. (Inevitably, there are some musical examples, but these are relatively few, usually fairly simple, and you don't have to understand them to grasp the meaning of the text.) I would recommend these two books strongly to any lover of classical music, anyone who attends symphony orchestra concerts.
Having said this, I can't help noting a few unfortunate omissions. No Haydn trumpet concerto, no Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez (indeed, no trumpet or guitar concerti at all). No Handel Concerti Grossi, Opus 6, and, a truly surprising omission, no Vivaldi Four Seasons. Vivaldi and Telemann, the two most prolific composers of concerti, are not to be found in Steinberg's book; indeed, the entire Baroque period, during which the concerto form flowered and proliferated, is ignored with the sole exception of J. S. Bach. Otherwise, I'd say that all the concertos you would reasonably expect to find in such a book are included here.
Despite these omissions, I recommend this book and its companion volume warmly and wouldn't be without them. Now I wish Mr. Steinberg and Oxford University Press would give us a third volume, covering the large body of orchestral music that is neither symphony nor concerto (such as tone poems and symphonic suites and dances, ballets and ballet suites, incidental music to plays and pageants, major overtures and preludes, et al.).
somewhat tedious and overly labored prose.......2001-07-17
Writing about music today and from now on is an art all to itself, and I would think since it's an art, it should approach the realm of the multi-dimensional,utilizing all the disciplines we have garnered for ourselves, politics, social, aesthetic,how can ones views have any strength if you run under the petty coats of academia,which we often get with the Schenkerian universe. It(talking about music) should inform you on the work's profound dimension,why it's unique, why it breaks the rules or doesn't, why its interesting above all,or more honest I love critics who are honest, admitting a certain part of the work is not fully understood, Only Stalin was infallible I beleive.If the earth doesn't yield to the work of Soviet construction then the earth is counter revolutionary.Talking about music describing such profundities it contains should be framed in interesting language,that;s not asking much,not Joyce,Kafka,Frost,Kingslover,Camus,Grass, Walcott,but at least something beyond what I find in Steinberg's overly labored tedious, and provincial descriptions. Like the Ligeti Cello Concerto where we get an inch by inch,step by step, foot by foot description this in place of what makes the work tick, its musical functions, does it have counterpoint, and if not, Why Not ?, orchestrations are always given in the beginning of each entry here, but comment on how a unique orchestration may work, its balance, what sticks out, and why,or if not, tell us why not?,Steinberg proceeds something like this: the concerto begins barely audible then when you think you hear a sound the Concerto begins, the work slowly ascends until we reach an E note, but that's not the highest note of the work, On and On, how interesting would you find a similar description, someone driving a car if you had described it to someone, in this way, "I got into the car, I opened the door first, then I found my keys, then I placed my hands on the steering wheel, then I fumbled for my keys, then I put the keys into the ignition,but it didn't torun over right away then I saw someone pass on the street that looked like my old girlfriend, Isn't this pure torture???!!, well Music I feel is a much more interesting subject than a Lexus, there are more aesthetic features to describe as texture, or shape,rhythmic architecture, or melodic design, or timbre, especially in Ligeti where timbre is a controlling component, and where all these traditional categories get redefined. His book on the Symphonies I found Steinberg seemed to have more to talk about,and that was a necessary book, in that the important question "Is the Symphony Dead"? and if it is alive How is it doing? but still his writing style loads the back porch with two truck loads of bricks, not one. Steinberg gives you everything, all the details, and we should (sometimes) be thankful for that. He is a bit away out of his mileau when speaking on modernity, the vigours of modern music doesn't seem natural for Steinberg, well we all need to self-educate ourselves. When he speaks on Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, he has few equals, And I loved the fact that Phil Glass wasn't included here. No great loss.
Another splendid book for music lovers from M. Steinberg.......2001-03-20
Some time ago I re-read the review I wrote for the companion book "The symphony" and I think I somewhat overstated the faults and underlined the virtues. Now that I have more experience with music books I can say that quite nobody in the business writes with Steinberg's appealing mix of musical authority, wit and passion, all wrapped in highly-readable but nonetheless refined literary style. His are books that you can really read or consult over and over. Maybe sometimes he's too opinionated, and his books are ultimately limited by the concert-notes he wrote (thankfully American Orchestras' programming is FAR more adventurous than what get in Europe), but all of this is a price I pay gladly for such a wealth of instructive and entertaining info. I mean, when Steinberg likes a piece ( I'm thinking about the Schuman Violin Con., for example), you really would run out of the house to buy the cd ! Also, I believe this second book is slightly different in technique: while "The Symphony" was essentially centred on the discussion/description of the pieces, in "The Concerto" the various articles are sort of mini-essays on the composer, with more extensive biographical notes and brief descriptions of other significant works beyond those discussed. Of course a symphony is generally longer (and more elaborate in form) than a concerto, so maybe this was also an adjustment to a different subject. This approach works especially well in some cases. For example, the article about the Adams Violin concerto is, in addition, an essay that also speaks about this composer's career and key-works. Probably Adams could not be included in the first book because he hasn't written a symphony (yet) but, knowing that Steinberg was the SFS program annotator during Adams composer-in -residence years, it was really a loss, as the wealth of first-hand insights that I found in "The concerto" confirms. Also, I greatly appreciated the inclusion of Saint-Saens Piano Concertos n.2&4 . I harshly criticized the French composer's exclusion from the first book, and here Steinberg even talks briefly about the Organ Symphony. Thank you very much. In some mini-essays Steinberg does an outstanding job inre-assessing some unjustly underrated composers: in this respect the Walton and Barber sections are excellent. Then there are those "special" composers for whose music the author shows great affection besides his deepest musical understanding: good examples are the Brahms and Stravinsky sections, which are a joy to read(and re-read, and not only while you're listening to the music). Even a piece I personally dislike, the Lutoslawski cello con., makes for compelling reading! About the (unavoidable, I'm afraid) "omission game", this time I don't have a lot to point out: the Nielsen Violin Concerto is deliberately left out (agreeing or not with the reasons, I think it should be included anyway), and it's too bad that Steinberg doesn't include the Glass Violin Con. , which I think is the "other" major contemporary concerto with the Adams, but there's not much else to complain about (why nothing about Penderecki, though, in neither of the 2 books?) Now, what about a book about the great pieces written in other forms, like Ballets ( the Rite of Spring or Romeo and Juliet), Serenades (Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak) and Symphonic Poems (Strauss, Respighi) ? I want more!
Customer Reviews:
not for the faint hearted.......2007-01-22
WEll well well----I bought this book on the advice from my little brother........he just left to play with jim black in brooklyn...nuff said......The first chapter on organ improv wouldn't end....i read it anyways-----do people improvise in white churches anymore in america anyways----a 25 minute sonata---where i live they would say "no ne here does drufs , so play amazing grace" been there-----
steve howe -- why?? did yes jam? i guess phish does too right??? this is why i bought the book----tired of listening to people praise hippie bands {although the jerry garcia interview in the book may have been the "deepest" as far as answering derek's questions was concerned.........he talks about "training " your audience-----
thankfully gavin byars talks about his approach, which led to giving up improvising {after seeing a bass player "jam" in england somewhere and receive praise........derek goes into solo improv and language-----re read i did----over and over--------this book is for people who want to explore themselves as players and learn about the great improvisers---------louis armstrong to derek bailey to tim berne {who was NOT mentioned} to coltrane to cage-----you name--they are discussed-----
buy this and give it time to sink in thank you for LISTENING
thank you derek!.......2006-03-16
well, the fact that he has just passed away makes me even more thankful for this great study of improvisation. very complete and fascinating; this quite dark and unpopular, and yet universal and eternal path...
Seminal Text for Anyone Interested in Improvised Music.......2002-10-24
Let's get the caveat out of the way first. This is NOT a How to book on Improvising! In fact...I'm not sure there can be a How To book on improvising...there are no tricks and written examples really defeat the purpose. The only way to learn to improvise, at least in a contemporary setting, or a free setting, is to do it and do it and do it. At first it won't sound good...that's where so many people get lost. They think that if their improvisation isn't brilliant off the bat, then somehow they haven't got the "trick" yet. But perserverence is what leads to mastery. (For example, when I was 16, I got sick of my jazz harmony in my piano's left hand. I spent an entire weekend at the piano, practicing chords that I'd discovered on Bill Evans albums. Changed my jazz playing forever!) So if you are looking for a How To book...give it up. Reading won't help, only playing will. (Like the Nike commercial says, just do it!)
Now on to the book at hand...Derek Bailey's book on Improvisation is really a classic. Bailey's interest here is wide ranging. Using a combination of interviews and essay, he looks at improvisation, or the lack of it, in Indian, Flamenco, Baroque, contemporary concert, rock, jazz and freely improvised music with the purpose of exploring improvisation in all it's forms from the inside. The act of improvisation is basically conceptual. How you think about your material has a deep effect on the material itself. So the book examines mostly the attitudes of improvising musicians toward improvisational issues: structure, composition/improvisation, rules and stylistic issues, recording, the relationship to the audience, and even the attitude toward innovation. It is interesting that there is such diversity, even in the improvising community, in outlook. Indian music is based on rather limiting sets of rules, and innovation doesn't even come into play. It's how you express the raga, not how innovative you are that determines your artistry...at the other end of the spectrum, in freely improvised music, the players are at great pains to always remain sponteneous...not to reuse tricks over and over again. In both cases, I think the stated positions are ideals...invariably there is innovation in Indian music and there are "licks" in free improvisation, but the differences in basic stance are fascinating.
On the whole, I think Bailey does an admirable job of discussing improv in the various fields. The one exception that I would make is in the classical field. Bailey is correct, classical instrumental education has totally banished improvisation, with the exception of liturgical organ music. It has created a dicotomy in which composers (usually dead) create music which performers lovingly try to recreate. However, this is a modern development. Improvisation was alive and well, deep into the 19th century. Most instrumentalists looked on pieces of music as a fairly detailed blueprint which they added to in the form of improvisation. And most composers were also instrumental soloists of note and improvisation was a key part of their repertoire. Chopin was notable for improvising the virtuoso figures of his piano pieces in the salons of Paris, and actually resisted writing down pieces, partly because he didn't want to commit any one version to paper. Beethoven and Mozart were of course known for their improvisation...Beethoven actually made his greatest showing as a young pianist in the improvisations he played. Many of Brahms late piano works started as improvisations, and some of the Intermezzi were carried around by Brahms in his head for 2 years before he finally wrote them down. Of course, cadenzas in concerti were supposed to be improvised by the performer, though, as the art was lost, more and more performers relied on prewritten cadenzas, either by the composer of the piece or by famous 19th century virtuosi. And there is a charming reocrding from an original Edison cylinder of Camille Saint-Saens improvising on the piano. (At the end of the disc you can hear Saint-Saens say in French, "are we done yet?") Bailey doesn't address any of this, and tends to make the classical tradition sound like the enemy of improvisation...seems actually to be a bit hostile to the entire notion of classical music. I find this a blemish on an otherwise excellent account of improvisation.
If you are an improvising musician in any discipline, you should read this book. If you want to understand the thought processes of improvising musicians, read this book. If you want to expand your understanding of the creative possibilities in music, read this book.
If you want a How to book, go somewhere else.
You don't need to be a musician.......2002-03-13
I'm a great lover of outside music, but
not a musician, and I found this book
very accessible and sharply written.
Helps one find things to say about
music that so often 'scares' people
you know!
A Seminal Work, not a Howto - Previous reviewer misguided.......2001-01-10
The low ranking of the previous reviewer, who was apparently expecting this to be a introductory how-to manual, should be disregarded, as he's missed the point and direction of this classic work. Rather than being a instructional primer, it is instead a larger examination and explanation of improvisational music from the unique perspective of an extremely talented and thoughtful insider. The topics covered are diverse and wide-ranging, touching on the myriad of styles and genres listed above. Bailey addresses issues of composition, "anti-instrument" approaches, recording issues and more in the form of essays and excerpts of conversations with Steve Lacy, Earl Brown, Viram Jasani, John Zorn and many others.
I'd like to give this item 4.5 stars, as it's not perfectly written - the flow from topic to topic is abrupt at times, and I think it could have been a stronger work had Bailey explored some of the tangents touched upon in greater depth. I'll err on the positive side, however, and go with 5 stars.. It's just that important of a work for anyone interested in listening to or making improvised music. I'm not even much of a fan of Bailey's recorded work (though I wouldn't argue about his role historically), but will recommend this book without hesitation.
Book Description
Scoring for film has changed dramatically over the past twenty years. With the advent of MIDI, sequencers and low-cost recording gear, just about any composer anywhere can score a film. Well-known composer Sonny Kompanek teaches this new film scoring process at prestigious New York University and now he shares his secrets within the pages of From Score to Screen. Learn about the cast of professionals you'll work with as a film composer. Find out how to meet people in the business, network, and create a promotional demo. Learn how to compose themes and battle writers' block. Understand how to preview a score with the director and manage requested changes. And know how to make a director happy with your work. With this book, you'll gain practical knowledge that you can put into action immediately. SELLING POINTS: This is the only book that discusses the new film scoring process which utilizes the latest technology. Written by revered film composer, Sonny Kompanek. Ideal for any composer interested in film music, from beginner to advanced.
Customer Reviews:
Overall: good.......2007-01-04
This is a good overview book of film music. I own and have read a variety of these types of books, and this holds pretty well. However, i would suggest the Berklee Press book by Richard Davis as well.
Rock-solid advice from someone whose been there.......2006-06-27
An excellent book that takes it's title quite literally - From Score to Screen. This book DOES NOT teach you how to write a score, rather it assumes that you have a computer-sequenced score written and are now converting that midi mockup into a full orchestral recording in a professional recording studio with a large orchestra and several helper professionals to assist you. As such, this book does a wonderful job in covering, very specifically, the nuts and bolts of part extraction, conducting ,and just what all those helper professionals at the session (copyist, orchestrator, mixer) do. Although, obviously, I have never gone through this process, this certainly seems like rock-solid advice from someone whose been there (repeatedly).
EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE & A CONFIDENCE BUILDER.......2006-04-01
This book offers a great start to anyone who has questions about film scoring - whether you're just curious or taking things quite seriously this book provides some very good insight. I currently don;t have the luxury of taking classes for Film Scoring and it is clear that Sonny Kompanek is a great teacher. Realistic, straightforward yet positive & hopeful - he provides some words of encouragement to those aspiring to break into this field as well as "cold hard facts."
Great Book!
Informative, practical, and thoughtful........2005-04-28
Having just started in the business of writing music for film and television, I needed a new book to walk me through the practical aspects of film scoring. This book accomplishes that, and more. It goes through the step by step process by which a contemporary film composer can get work, interact with a director, creatively write a score, edit and tweak it, and record it in a studio environment. It's well written, very communicative, and has already helped me figure out where to go to drum up business, and how to write music for film quickly and confidently. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to write music for film and T.V.
Extremely useful real world advice........2004-10-29
This is a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in the art of film scoring. "From Score to Screen" contains an abundance of great advice for beginning film scorers as well as composers who are more established. Topics include: score preparation and how to make the live orchestra session run smoothly, as well as advice and tips on converting a midi mockup to a full orchestra recording. Great insight from an expert.
Book Description
Below the level of the musical note lies the realm of microsound, of sound particles lasting less than one-tenth of a second. Recent technological advances allow us to probe and manipulate these pinpoints of sound, dissolving the traditional building blocks of music -- notes and their intervals -- into a more fluid and supple medium. The sensations of point, pulse (series of points), line (tone), and surface (texture) emerge as particle density increases. Sounds coalesce, evaporate, and mutate into other sounds.
Composers have used theories of microsound in computer music since the 1950s. Distinguished practitioners include Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis. Today, with the increased interest in computer and electronic music, many young composers and software synthesis developers are exploring its advantages. Covering all aspects of composition with sound particles, Microsound offers composition theory, historical accounts, technical overviews, acoustical experiments, descriptions of musical works, and aesthetic reflections. The book is accompanied by an audio CD of examples.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect.......2007-02-18
Read this book - comes with an enveloped-cd inside. It approaches to the sound from the scientific and really interesting angles.
Definitive guide to granular synthesis.......2006-03-24
Many people today seem to be obsessed with recreating 'classic' sounds, whether it's Minimoogs, TB303s or even traditional orchestral instruments. So it's refreshing to find that there are still people out there intent on pushing the boundaries of synthesis further and creating new sounds. Curtis Roads has done more than most in this field, and this book on granular synthesis that he has authored is a fairly comprehensive guide to the subject.
Roads' involvement with granular synthesis began in 1972, and his research in the field has resulted in him eventually developing his own software. Granular synthesis deals with sound at a 'quantum' level: the sonic atom being the individual sample (any one of the 44100 taken in a second at the standard sampling rate). To be audible as anything other than a click, samples need to be grouped together to form grains of sound. These grains are typically anywhere between three and one hundred milliseconds in length. Granular synthesis is concerned with the organization and processing of both samples and grains to create sounds that are often far beyond the range of more traditional methods of synthesis.
The technology and software required to manipulate sound at this level is now commonly available. Popular programs like Chaosynth and Max/MSP offer in-depth granular facilities, and Roads' own programs, Pulsar Generator and Cloud Generator, are, as you might expect, specifically designed for this sort of application. Although this technology has made it possible, granular synthesis remains a complex process. Microsound is perhaps the best theoretical and practical guide to date, its 409 pages concisely and fluently written throughout. The first chapters outline basic time scales in musical structure and the history and theory of microsound. Chapters three to six deal with the theory and practice of granular synthesis, examining everything from the organisation and processing of grains to the implementation of micro-scale transformations. The later chapters explore the implications and aesthetics of composing with microsound. The book concludes with a brief chapter about the future of granular synthesis. If there is any fault with this book, it is that it may be rather academic in tone for some readers - it is not a 'how to' book. However, if you are seriously interested in exploring granular synthesis, and understanding the principles behind it, then this book is ideal.
For those readers who would like to get their hands dirty themselves and try programming granular synthesis compositions, you might want to look up Jass and jMusic on the web. Jass is a unit generator based audio synthesis programming environment written in pure Java. Jass requires Java 1.5. jMusic is a freeware API that supports both real-time and non-real-time granular synthesis. jMusic has extensive tutorials and example programs available online.
I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents for this book, so I do that here:
Introduction **
Acknowledgments ix
Overview **
1. Time Scales of Music **
2. The History of Microsound from Antiquity to the Analog Era 43
3. Granular Synthesis 85
4. Varieties of Particle Synthesis 119
5. Transformation of Microsound 179
6. Windowed Analysis and Transformation 235
7. Microsound in Composition 301
8. Aesthetics of Composing with Microsound 325
9. Conclusion 349
References 353
Appendix A: The Cloud Generator Program 383
Appendix B: Sound Examples on the CD 389
NOTE: Sections marked by "**" have sample chapters available at the book's website at MIT Press.
droppin' science.......2006-02-21
This book will change how you make music and listen to music. There is no turning back.
Microsound.......2005-09-09
A really excellent book. It is highly scholarly, yet easy to understand. He articulates concepts I have thought about for years, but was never able to express adequately. Roads has a talent for organizing very complex material within a perspective-oriented framework making the macro concept very easy to grasp.
It would be extremely helpful to all serious composers of electronic/computer music.
Not as good as Computer Music Tutorial.......2005-02-25
Firstly I would like to disagree with the reviewer who said granular synthesis was not musical. I use it a musical way quite often. It can make very interesting sounds if you give it a go. I was hoping for a guide to granular syntheis, its implementation in some kind of program like Max or SynthEdit or Reaktor but this is not the book for that. Basically it covers a wide range of slightly different types of Granular Synthesis. Approx 2-5 pages are spent on each type. But as the tpyes are so similar bar the size of the windows or perhaps how the windows are selected it makes the book feel very same throughout. The intro chapter covers the history which is informative and interesting. Although the book covers a lot of ground nothing is covered in terms of practical application. No real reference to use is covered, no real description of how to create granular synth modules and no real description of musically useful approaches. He does let you hear some of his composition that he used for public performances but he doesn't really explain why he thought that particular type f synthesis worked well for that performance. I learned a little more about GS from Microsound but to be honest his Computer Music Tutorial is much better and the description of GS in the CMT is almost a good. Save your sheckles and buy the big brother Computer Music Tutorial.
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Coherence, Counterpoint, Instrumentation, Instruction in Form (Zusammenhang, Kontrapunkt, Instrumentation, Formenlehre)
Arnold Schoenberg
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0803242301 |
Book Description
Only Stravinsky can claim as much credit as Schoenberg for the most dramatic innovations in twentieth-century music. Inventor of the twelve-tone row, explorer of atonality and the hexachord, composer of tone poems, songs, and chamber music, and chief spokesman for the Vienna Circle, Schoenberg has become ever more influential as his successors have come to understand him.
Fuller understanding has been delayed because many of his writings have not yet been edited or published. This volume collects four short works, each concentrated on a key issue in composition. Written in 1917, but altered and augmented many times in later years, the manuscripts edited and translated in this volume have never been published before.
Their importance can permit no further delay since they present Schoenberg's thinking well after the publication in 1911 of Harmonielehre, his revolutionary theoretical book. The later texts provide numerous prospects for enhancing the study and appreciation of Schoenberg's compositions and theories.
Also a painter, Schoenberg enjoyed the friendship of Kandinsky and the Berlin expressionists. This volume includes a frontispiece reproducing one of Schoenberg's paintings.
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Debussy's Iberia (Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure)
Matthew Brown
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Debussy, Claude
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ASIN: 0198161999 |
Book Description
For well over a century musicologists have been fascinated by composers' manuscripts and by the insights they might reveal about the nature of musical composition. This book suggests ways in which Debussy's sketches and drafts may be used to explain how he composed one of his last great symphonic scores: Iberia (from Images for orchestra, 1903-10). Part 1 shows how we might understand the process of musical composition as a form of expert problem solving; it describes the compositional history of the work, the various intentional goals and historical constraints that guided Debussy's thinking, and some of the technical problems Debussy faced while composing this remarkable score. Part 2 reconstructs the genesis of each of the three movements in turn.
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From Score To Screen: Sequencers, Scores And Second ThoughtsThe New Film Scoring Process
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