Here are some book recommendations I have personally used in my studies as a composer. These books are geared those interested in learning more about music theory, score study, instruments, 20th century music, microtonality, and Arab music. 🔗 LINKS to books mentioned: Kostka, Tonal Harmony: shorturl.at/aIJP6 Starer, Rhythmic Training: shorturl.at/kuQTW Dandelot, MANUEL PRATIQUE POUR L'ETUDE DES CLES - NOUVELLE VERSION (BLEUE): shorturl.at/lnpM5 Bach, Chorales 1-91: rb.gy/n4a6qz Bach, 371 Harmonized Chorales and 69 Chorale Melodies with Figured Bass: rb.gy/emfvdu Adler, The Study of Orchestration: rb.gy/ifrtk2 Hill, Extended Techniques for the Horn: rb.gy/lkgmzq Dick, The Other Flute: rb.gy/wz2f9p Stone, Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook: t.ly/YJd2ec Kostka, Material And Techniques Of 20th Century Music: shorturl.at/csuw3 Barbour, Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey: t.ly/cJoP9 Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony: t.ly/r0xVK Baklouk, Classical Riqq Technique: t.ly/jJ9b9
I’m curious if you have explored partimento or schematic theory made popular by Gjerdigen? I tend to apply those principles in my work, but their topic coverage tends to be lacking in 20th century textbooks.
@@saadhaddadmusic I saw one other commenter on this video mention them: partimenti by Sanguietti and music in the galant style by Robert Gjerdigen. I feel sometimes that many view developments in music theory as a linear progression from older traditions, perhaps similarly to how the sciences build upon knowledge. In music, this would assume that theoretical developments from historic practice (serialism, for example) are progressively part of a directional flow of knowledge towards a more ideal state of development. Rather, I’m simply inclined to view artistic movements in art (whether romanticism, serialism or baroque) as expressions of culture that can not easily be compared against each other, unless the two have an expressed overlap (ie late baroque to early classical). I’m curious, Saad, what you think about this. Clearly you are a proponent of more modern schools of practice, whereas I tend to delve into dusty ideas from three centuries ago!
All great recommendations. Another great book is "Techniques of the Contemporary Composer" by David Cope. It's great in that there are a ton of assignments at the end of each chapter with enough limitations so that you don't feel overwhelmed by the immensity of potential decisions otherwise. Also, "Composing with Constraints" by Jorge Variego is quite good when dealing with lack of motivation or "writer's block."
I started studying music pretty seriously only about one year ago. I engaged in Schoenberg's Harmonielehre and it's been a fantastic journey. Schoenberg takes us through a journey of his insights into how the music "rules" developed throughout the centuries into the common practice of harmony, which gave me a strong feeling of knowing what I was doing while writing chord progressions. I studied it to exhaustion through almost half the book and decided to give a pause before diving into modulation. The reason for that is because I felt I knew a lot already (really knowing how to write 4-part harmony on major and minor modes is something that most in the music industry out there probably have no clue at all - which is fine accordingly to what each one wants with music), but somethings were missing (maybe they'll be addressed later in the book, but I had to connect some dots). For instance: OK, I can write smooth and compelling chord progressions, but what are the implications of writing a specific chord (according to its function) on a specific beat of a specific meter? At the same time I was studying Schoenberg's Harmonielehre, I also started to study his book on counterpoint. I also checked Alan Belkin's and Jacob Gran's RUclips channels (which I recommend) to have more info on the subject. I did a lot of exercises on the 2-part first species counterpoint and really felt I was grasping it, but I decided to pause before moving to the second species. Why? While studying counterpoint I got a lot of insights on melody writing (there's much more science there than first meets the eye), and I felt a need to go further on the subject. Until now I've found immensely valuable information about it in Walter Piston's Counterpoint, and Alan Belkin's Music Composition: Art and Craft, but the book that I'm digging into now on that matter is Nicholas Baragwanath's The Solfeggio Tradition. But, as I always loved Renaissance music I turned my attention to modal counterpoint, which I'm learning from two books at the same time: Thomas Benjamin's The Craft of Modal Counterpoint, and Peter Schubert's Modal Counterpoint. The reason why is that the authors address how it's a perfect start for learning the overall counterpoint since Baroque's polyphony will build itself upon the tradition. (I'm very interested in having good control over every aspect of a musical piece, then I'm giving special attention to pitch hierarchy and how pitches of a melody behave differently depending on where it's placed on music's pulse). A book that has been great in putting together all the pieces is William Caplin's Analyzing Classical Form. The book deals with all those mentioned aspects regarding melody, harmony, and meter. So right at the start of the book, the author categorizes harmonic progressions into three different types - prolongational, sequential, and cadential. So, one thing is knowing how to voice lead a harmonic progression in four-part writing, another thing is knowing where to place each harmony depending on what you want. He goes into deep detail on melody as well, relating melodic phrases to harmony and rhythm. But I think the great value of this book is that gives the tools for the composer to write big lengthy forms, which can be daunting with no prior study. I'm also studying Job Izjerman's Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento: A New Method Inspired By Old Masters. The XXI century has witnessed the revival of partimento through the works of Guido Sanguinetti, Rosa Cafiero, Robert Gjerdingen, Peter van Tour, and Job Izjerman. I've found Partimento very fun to study, and its knowledge builds upon harmony and counterpoint hand-in-hand, so we don't need to learn harmony in one place, counterpoint in another, and then try to figure out how to mix things and see what happens. I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver Richard Cohn's Audacious Euphony, and Grosvenor Cooper & Leonard B. Meyer's The Rythmic Structure Of Music. As soon as I have them in hand I will look for an opportunity to share my impressions. One subject that I'm really interested in is chromatism, but all those works will properly deal with them. There is a list of books I believe are worth a look at: Arnold Schoenberg - Harmoniehlere (Theory of Harmony) Alan Belkin - Music Composition: Art and Craft Nicholas Baragwanath - The Solfeggio Tradition Thomas Benjamin - The Craft of Modal Counterpoint Peter Schubert - Modal Counterpoint William Caplin - Analyzing Classical Form Job Izjerman - Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento: A New Method Inspired By Old Masters W.A. Mathieu - Harmonic Experience David Huron - Sweet Expectation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation David Berkman - The Jazz Harmony Book Mark Levine - The Jazz Piano Book
@@saadhaddadmusic Don't mention it! We are even! I got to know you through Carlos Lalond's channel, and I'm grateful for that! I look forward for the "music of the future" and I instantly felt that you are giving us your share on this always evolving and never ending path! You are not only exploring music boundaries, but achieving results that are beautiful through your creativity! Huge respect! Thank you for sharing such great knowledge with who also aspire to make their living from their passion for music!
That Douglas Hill book on the French horn is fantastic. I found Vincent Persichetti's "Twentieth-Century Harmony" very eye-opening, and crucial to my developing my own approach to harmony. Would highly recommend it.
A good resource for music engraving is Elaine Gould's "Behind Bars", published by Faber Music, for which she works. Came out 10 years ago and is probably due for a second edition. Much more comprehensive than prior music notation books. Expensive at about $100 but worth it if you want to learn proper notation.
That's true, but it can be a bit limited to the Faber house style. I think best is a good combination: Gould and Stone, but also Music Notation: a Manual of Modern Practice by Gardner Read. That Stone and Read are out of print breaks my heart, but they should bat most uni libraries, one hopes. I do love that Read includes a section on Manuscript Techniques. The art of handwriting music hasn't gone away, but its education is hard to come by these days. EDIT: Orginally wrote Read Gardner instead of Gardner Read, oops.
@@matthewburns4947 I agree with 99.9% of "Behind Bars" because that's what I see in Henle, Barenreiters, Peters, etc. But I disagree with 0.1% (or perhaps more like 0.5%) because Behind Bars is Faber house style, for sure.
I disagree, it's a lot broader than just faber house style. Since publication, it's become an instant classic, and a "must have" for anyone engraving their own or other people's music.
A fantastic little resource is Nicolas Slonimsky Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Sometimes you just need a *thing* and this has helped me loads
I only have a masters in music comp but I dig the Bach chorales. Many years ago I played them on the piano while preparing for my piano proficiency exam and then later just for enjoyment. Andras Schiff has some entertaining and informative RUclips videos on Bach, especially the Goldbergs.
Very useful! Thanks. And it broke back some memories--when I saw the cover of Rhythmic Training! I remember using that book as an undergrad in the mid 1970s!
honestly, you might just to do an analysis of Schumann's "Carnaval" for solo piano. That thing is insane with the number of moods it highlights across its 21 short character pieces. Have fun!
I am inquiring because 21st music theory book talk about harmony from 2024 looking backwards to hundred of years ago and I as a learner don’t really get to know what’s special about the harmonic invention of each period as I perceived them as nothing that special. But it is so important to know the harmonic inventions in that period as that’s what make that music of that period standout from predecessors.
Thanks for this great video..I’m wanting to start composing but I’m unsure what my influences are at the moment and what skills to develop to create a relevant piece of music. Something that I really liked in your video is using instrument manuals as reference - the idea that you don’t actually have to have a detailed knowledge beforehand..I’ve been reading Stravinsky’s Poetics of Music.. he says his starting point for writing a new piece is always to be very clear what he doesn’t want in the music and not to worry so much about what he’s actually going to write (I guess a specific commission helps)..he also talks about the importance of dogma - having something you really believe in..I find this interesting as he’s a composer whose music changed quite radically throughout his life..I personally found reading books by John Cage fascinating when I was younger…he opens you up to thinking about sound/no sound in a really fresh way..being empty of the past and allowing the create process to come out of life..at the moment that doesn’t help me thinking about “what is the actual material I want to use to create a piece of music I havn’t heard yet?”
No one is really sure what their influences are until they write a bunch of pieces. It took me years and years to finally figure out what I wanted to do with my “voice”. You just gotta start! :) thanks for your kind words. Glad it’s useful.
That book with the Arabic rhythms looks fascinating. I was surprised Iannis Xenakis' Formalised Music didn't get a mention in regard to 20th century treatises, it is a treasure for the composer (provided that they are familiar with the mathematics, that is!).
I have the Tonal Harmony at a local library. It's worth the money. Shout out to The Asia Foundation for providing an expensive and exceptionally great book to a poor area where music composition has almost no attention
I think they have their place in combination with other texts but my mantra is to “not go crazy” trying to learn it all at once. Stick to one text, try out some things on your own, and if your questions don’t get answered from that text, then go to another text. The symphony orchestra has been around for a long time so the information presented across various texts will be similar. Hope that helps. The main thing is that you apply the knowledge you learn. (I just answered your question about orchestration, but the same applies to the harmony and counterpoint related books).
I haven't read Tonal Harmony in over 10 years, and I'm not really aware of the discourse around it, but I hold a grudge against it because it misled me to thinking that certain chords are supposed to go to certain other chords through their chord flow chart. I haven't yet found a book that I would recommend to every beginner though, and it does handle a lot of basics very well. Out of the books I know, I'd probably suggest Roig-Francoli's Harmony in Context as an alternative.
I’ve never read a book on this myself. My go-to is to study a s***load of scores and make my own inferences. Others might have other recs though that have helped them! I would be curious if there are more contemporary examples.
I have read Schoenberg's book and it can be quite dry and it puts the musical examples at the end of the chapter so you're constantly flipping back and forth between the text and the examples that he is referring too. I recommend Alan Belkin's composition book over the Schoenberg book. However, Kevin Ure's book "The Elements of Music Composition" is really good in that it explains how you can break up musical ideas into their constituent parts, modify them, reassemble them etc to give a sort of gestalt unity to your work while also providing variety and contrast.
Saad is there a particular book or treatise that you recommend about polytonality???...perhaps a few instructive scores to check out?, or is it covered well in one of the other books you mentioned?
for stuff like this I always go straight to the sources: Concord Sonata by Ives, and I would even go to a certain extent to Ligeti's Piano Etudes which also has polyrhythms... (!)
Yes, Tonal Harmony is indeed controversial. Seems people either love it or hate it. As my very first theory textbook, I'm in the camp that hates it haha. My main issue with it is how dry and dense the writing is. I found I constantly had to google to figure out what they meant, it has a "software manual written by the engineers" kind of vibe for me. Shortly after I found a book called Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice by Allen Forte and while reviewing the contents they cover basically all the same topics, for whatever reason Forte's book was like a veil had been lifted for me - the writing is more terse and approachable yet clear, and he includes tons of exercises at the keyboard + sight-singing along the way. Sadly no longer in print but it's a great book!
Interestingly, it was the book my Theory I and Theory II professor used (he made one change to the chord progression chart, allowing vi to V as an acceptable progression). Personally, I found it useful.
@@saadhaddadmusic The Contemporary Violin by Patricia and Allen Strange. Also, a good one for percussion, is the Samuel Z Solomon - How to Write for Percussion. This is another one that looks small, but is packed with info.
Yes, Persichetti’s book it’s simple but it’s full of gold inside. Its a book that you ether like it or hate it; why I don’t know! I personally like it a lot.
Yes the Persichetti book is rather thorough and helpful...at least to me anyway! The exercises and suggested listening at the end of each chapter was extremely helpful and enlightening to me
Hello, need some advice if possible. Is it possible to teach oneself using the Tonal Harmony book, and for that is the accompanying CD and Workbook necessary. In your opinion that is of course. I bought the book and only found out later that the CD is not easily available. Plus there were a lot of negative reviews for the book on forums. So I found another book called The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning & Elizabeth West Marvin. It is also a college level book. Any views on that particular text. Any advice would be appreciated. Very helpful video btw, thanks.
I don’t have views on the second text, but generally speaking any music theory textbook if studied in a rigorous way over time should do the trick. It’s always helpful to have the recordings as well but if you have a keyboard it should be fairly straightforward to play through the examples they present (even as a beginner/intermediate level pianist). Just my 2 cents.
Hi Saad, I really like your channel. Please keep it up! Now, I would like to ask you about Jazz harmony. It is perfectly fine if you say it is not your thing, but still, I would love to hear your take on it. Especially if you have any recommendations for jazz harmony books. It seems to me that jazz harmony is considered a parallel world by classically trained composers and teachers. Even the vocabulary seems to be different. I would understand that historically the jazz genre has a distinct roots but going forward there will be more and more musicians and composers that do not want to live in parallel worlds. Is this something you are thinking about? Is a jazz harmony something you study and want to take inspiration from as well?
Oh just in general the idea of learning 4-harmony and rules of that nature… you can go down Reddit holes if you’d like I’m not gonna explain that here 🤣
Other than reading these texts, are there any exercises you would recommend doing to get better at applying the theory and write more creative/colourful harmonies and melodies in composition? I find I gravitate too much towards very conventional chords. Thank you for all these resources!
Try copying out as many aesthetically diverse scores as you can by hand and playing them back on the keyboard - that is a crazy fun way to get in a composer’s head
@@unclouding This is where BACH earns his place. Memorize his 371 (one of my mentor could do that, and encourage me to do so too..... i only memorize about 50 of them)
Dear Sir, would you address in a youtube video a scenario where a composer abandons real world representation and reluctantly embraces synthetics due to the lack of audience, musicians, interest… Which digital programs would one be directed toward if the composer does embrace microtones and extended techniques when one only has Finale and a Mac Air? Respectfully, Guerino
Thanks Saad! I'm not sure how relevant the book, Contemporary Harmony - Romanticism through the Twelve-Tone Row, by Ludmilia Ulehla, still is, to readers today, but it really helped broaden my horizons as a young music student in the 1990's. It helped me fill a gap between what I had learned in music theory and what I was hearing in Jazz and other styles of music at the time.
It's important to know all the quirks, weirdness and idiosyncrasies introduced or rediscovered during the 20th Century (like micro-tuning, quarter-tone tuning, non-tonality, aberrant/abhorrent tonalities, "chance" pieces, etc.) simply because *it's extremely important to understand how it was that last century's composers managed so successfully to clear the audiences out of the concert halls* and into the arms of "popular" music, which has remained securely wedded to Common Practice Period tonality, methods and modalities. *No one needs sit for noise, and no one needs pay for orchestrated noise, since they can get that, **_gratis,_** from any garbage truck chancing down the alley, with freaky glissandos provided by the squeal of its brakes.*
I respect your point of view but everyone has their peculiar tastes in music. Sure, not everyone likes the aesthetics you mention, but I know a ton of people that absolutely love it and have a fulfilling life in music doing those things, myself included (although many of my colleagues would be quick to actually say I’m quite a traditional composer!) Certain institutions gravitate towards one aesthetic or another, it’s natural to lean one way or another. We’re all just humans trying to grow in the end in our own ways. Always best to approach things in a positive light and find out if one is curious why someone is writing in a way one might not like. We might learn something in the process. Just my 2 cents. This is less a comment directed at you specifically Eduard, but more in general to members of our community that may feel the same way.
@@saadhaddadmusic Ha! Seriously: I ask because your story about being required to sight-sing may seem unexpected for people who would think such an ability would be a REQUIREMENT to enter Juilliard.
@@spb7883 it’s not a requirement at all - composition majors at Juilliard don’t need to play anything - although we did have to test out of keyboard skills class if we wanted to get out of taking that class (which I did, but my level of piano is very intermediate level, no where near the conservatory student level)
@@saadhaddadmusic This is useful information because I think there are a lot of misconceptions about musicians’ abilities, especially relative to their education level/where they studied. When I entered my first master’s program (jazz history, but you needed to be able to read music), I thought most musicians with a bachelor’s from a prominent music school would be excellent sight-readers. How wrong I was!
I have the first edition of Adlers book. It's crap. I bought and studied it thoroughly and wrote in the margins all the sloppy mistakes and downright incorrect information. Then when I took a course in orchestration, the instructor assigned this book for us. I took my copy to him and showed him that it was an inept work. The following week he told me that I was exactly right: the book was crap. I don't know if Adler improved it, but you'll be better off using the old standby Orchestration texts. I like the Kent Kennan and Donald Granham book a lot. I also got all the U of California Press's contemporary instrument series.
@@saadhaddadmusic I ordered the first edition before it was published because Adler told me to when he turned me down to study at Eastman. It was unbelievable that he had created such a faulty product. He told me on the phone that it was the best orchestration text ever written! Hahahaha. Thank you for spotlighting all the awesome books. These kind of technical books, with their musical examples, are so exciting to read and study.
Can anyone comment on _Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide To Music Notation_ by Elaine Gould (ISBN-10: 0571514561; ISBN-13: 9780571514564)? Who or what level is it aimed at?
Interesting the fact that these books are NOT Composition methods in terms of “How to” they are actually just Books of theory,or works from others composers. Makes me think that at the end of the they the best way to learn composition is just paraphrase in the sheet the work or musical concept of others🤔
@@saadhaddadmusic Excuse me sir, but it's not "also" but only read aloud, to learn how to read fast, not to sing or play, with the practice of reading on the instrument to follow. This manual was designed exclusively for this purpose and has been used for dozens of years in french conservatories (developing reflexes for reading notes aloud). This is not a singing solfeggio manual
I love the iconic Aldwell & Schachter's Harmony and Voice Leading (5th edition). It can be quite technical sometimes but it's incredibly complete. One can extract from it very interesting ideas that transcend mere practical difficulties. I only miss one thing: a book that focuses on the "why" that lies behind every concept of music theory. The Aldwell & Schachter talks about it from time to time and when it does it's very brief. It's not the purpose of the book, it's not a complaint about the book. But I really miss that aspect. I think it's the elephant in the room. It's the most important thing and hardly nobody talks about it. Edit: If anyone has any book recommendations, it will be greatly appreciated!
"Tonal harmony" ---- yes, very contraversial. Why not Schoenberg's Theory on Harmony, or Hindemith's Traditional Harmony (book 1) and Advance Harmony (book 2). I also recommend Arensky's book too. Those familiar with Russian school will use (quite conventionally) Sporvov.... (something like that, i cannot recall those cyric language)
While I like Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony, it's probably not a great introduction to theory for most people. It's very verbose, and somewhat unconventional. Although I love the freedom it allows for, especially when compared to "Tonal Harmony". I've only read some of Hindemith's harmony, but it does seem like a strong candidate. I haven't read Advanced Harmony, but the sight singing book Ottman co-wrote with Nancy Rogers is very good, so I'll need to check it out.
@r3I agree. Schoenberg is very very advance, definitely not for first year undergraduate..... (But then, this is a list for composer, presumably not undergraduate)
Here are some book recommendations I have personally used in my studies as a composer. These books are geared those interested in learning more about music theory, score study, instruments, 20th century music, microtonality, and Arab music.
🔗 LINKS to books mentioned:
Kostka, Tonal Harmony: shorturl.at/aIJP6
Starer, Rhythmic Training: shorturl.at/kuQTW
Dandelot, MANUEL PRATIQUE POUR L'ETUDE DES CLES - NOUVELLE VERSION (BLEUE): shorturl.at/lnpM5
Bach, Chorales 1-91: rb.gy/n4a6qz
Bach, 371 Harmonized Chorales and 69 Chorale Melodies with Figured Bass: rb.gy/emfvdu
Adler, The Study of Orchestration: rb.gy/ifrtk2
Hill, Extended Techniques for the Horn: rb.gy/lkgmzq
Dick, The Other Flute: rb.gy/wz2f9p
Stone, Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook: t.ly/YJd2ec
Kostka, Material And Techniques Of 20th Century Music: shorturl.at/csuw3
Barbour, Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey: t.ly/cJoP9
Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony: t.ly/r0xVK
Baklouk, Classical Riqq Technique: t.ly/jJ9b9
I’m curious if you have explored partimento or schematic theory made popular by Gjerdigen? I tend to apply those principles in my work, but their topic coverage tends to be lacking in 20th century textbooks.
@@markusboyd4834 no! Any books you recommend?
@@saadhaddadmusic I saw one other commenter on this video mention them: partimenti by Sanguietti and music in the galant style by Robert Gjerdigen.
I feel sometimes that many view developments in music theory as a linear progression from older traditions, perhaps similarly to how the sciences build upon knowledge. In music, this would assume that theoretical developments from historic practice (serialism, for example) are progressively part of a directional flow of knowledge towards a more ideal state of development.
Rather, I’m simply inclined to view artistic movements in art (whether romanticism, serialism or baroque) as expressions of culture that can not easily be compared against each other, unless the two have an expressed overlap (ie late baroque to early classical).
I’m curious, Saad, what you think about this. Clearly you are a proponent of more modern schools of practice, whereas I tend to delve into dusty ideas from three centuries ago!
All great recommendations. Another great book is "Techniques of the Contemporary Composer" by David Cope. It's great in that there are a ton of assignments at the end of each chapter with enough limitations so that you don't feel overwhelmed by the immensity of potential decisions otherwise.
Also, "Composing with Constraints" by Jorge Variego is quite good when dealing with lack of motivation or "writer's block."
Haven’t heard of either but I’m sure they’re great- anyone else read either one?
@@saadhaddadmusicYes both are incredibly inspiring books! 🤙
@@saadhaddadmusic I've read "Techniques of the Contemporary Composer" by David Cope. I've found it quite useful.
and for Arab music probably would go with "Inside Arabic Music" by Johnny Farraj and Sami Abu Shumays (although I haven't read it much yet)
Oh yes and his Maqam Primer online is accessible as well! Great rec. as well as his YT channel which demonstrates him playing the violin.
I started studying music pretty seriously only about one year ago. I engaged in Schoenberg's Harmonielehre and it's been a fantastic journey. Schoenberg takes us through a journey of his insights into how the music "rules" developed throughout the centuries into the common practice of harmony, which gave me a strong feeling of knowing what I was doing while writing chord progressions. I studied it to exhaustion through almost half the book and decided to give a pause before diving into modulation. The reason for that is because I felt I knew a lot already (really knowing how to write 4-part harmony on major and minor modes is something that most in the music industry out there probably have no clue at all - which is fine accordingly to what each one wants with music), but somethings were missing (maybe they'll be addressed later in the book, but I had to connect some dots). For instance: OK, I can write smooth and compelling chord progressions, but what are the implications of writing a specific chord (according to its function) on a specific beat of a specific meter?
At the same time I was studying Schoenberg's Harmonielehre, I also started to study his book on counterpoint. I also checked Alan Belkin's and Jacob Gran's RUclips channels (which I recommend) to have more info on the subject. I did a lot of exercises on the 2-part first species counterpoint and really felt I was grasping it, but I decided to pause before moving to the second species. Why? While studying counterpoint I got a lot of insights on melody writing (there's much more science there than first meets the eye), and I felt a need to go further on the subject. Until now I've found immensely valuable information about it in Walter Piston's Counterpoint, and Alan Belkin's Music Composition: Art and Craft, but the book that I'm digging into now on that matter is Nicholas Baragwanath's The Solfeggio Tradition. But, as I always loved Renaissance music I turned my attention to modal counterpoint, which I'm learning from two books at the same time: Thomas Benjamin's The Craft of Modal Counterpoint, and Peter Schubert's Modal Counterpoint. The reason why is that the authors address how it's a perfect start for learning the overall counterpoint since Baroque's polyphony will build itself upon the tradition. (I'm very interested in having good control over every aspect of a musical piece, then I'm giving special attention to pitch hierarchy and how pitches of a melody behave differently depending on where it's placed on music's pulse).
A book that has been great in putting together all the pieces is William Caplin's Analyzing Classical Form. The book deals with all those mentioned aspects regarding melody, harmony, and meter. So right at the start of the book, the author categorizes harmonic progressions into three different types - prolongational, sequential, and cadential. So, one thing is knowing how to voice lead a harmonic progression in four-part writing, another thing is knowing where to place each harmony depending on what you want. He goes into deep detail on melody as well, relating melodic phrases to harmony and rhythm. But I think the great value of this book is that gives the tools for the composer to write big lengthy forms, which can be daunting with no prior study.
I'm also studying Job Izjerman's Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento: A New Method Inspired By Old Masters. The XXI century has witnessed the revival of partimento through the works of Guido Sanguinetti, Rosa Cafiero, Robert Gjerdingen, Peter van Tour, and Job Izjerman. I've found Partimento very fun to study, and its knowledge builds upon harmony and counterpoint hand-in-hand, so we don't need to learn harmony in one place, counterpoint in another, and then try to figure out how to mix things and see what happens.
I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver Richard Cohn's Audacious Euphony, and Grosvenor Cooper & Leonard B. Meyer's The Rythmic Structure Of Music. As soon as I have them in hand I will look for an opportunity to share my impressions.
One subject that I'm really interested in is chromatism, but all those works will properly deal with them.
There is a list of books I believe are worth a look at:
Arnold Schoenberg - Harmoniehlere (Theory of Harmony)
Alan Belkin - Music Composition: Art and Craft
Nicholas Baragwanath - The Solfeggio Tradition
Thomas Benjamin - The Craft of Modal Counterpoint
Peter Schubert - Modal Counterpoint
William Caplin - Analyzing Classical Form
Job Izjerman - Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento: A New Method Inspired By Old Masters
W.A. Mathieu - Harmonic Experience
David Huron - Sweet Expectation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation
David Berkman - The Jazz Harmony Book
Mark Levine - The Jazz Piano Book
Thank you for your insightful comment! A lot of stuff I hope folks see and dig into!
@@saadhaddadmusic Don't mention it! We are even! I got to know you through Carlos Lalond's channel, and I'm grateful for that! I look forward for the "music of the future" and I instantly felt that you are giving us your share on this always evolving and never ending path! You are not only exploring music boundaries, but achieving results that are beautiful through your creativity! Huge respect! Thank you for sharing such great knowledge with who also aspire to make their living from their passion for music!
@@igordrm that was a fun interview! Carlos is a very curious guy and I was happy to oblige to be on his channel!
damn you really got that doctorate
Did I forget to mention that?! 🤣
That Douglas Hill book on the French horn is fantastic. I found Vincent Persichetti's "Twentieth-Century Harmony" very eye-opening, and crucial to my developing my own approach to harmony. Would highly recommend it.
I love the horn book so much I can’t overstate that enough! And looks like I need to check out the Persichetti, too thanks!
The Persichetti is about 70 years old, so it should be called Half of Twentieth Century Harmony 😊
A good resource for music engraving is Elaine Gould's "Behind Bars", published by Faber Music, for which she works. Came out 10 years ago and is probably due for a second edition. Much more comprehensive than prior music notation books. Expensive at about $100 but worth it if you want to learn proper notation.
Absolutely 🙏🏽 read it myself a while ago! Checked it out for free at the library 🙈
That's true, but it can be a bit limited to the Faber house style. I think best is a good combination: Gould and Stone, but also Music Notation: a Manual of Modern Practice by Gardner Read. That Stone and Read are out of print breaks my heart, but they should bat most uni libraries, one hopes. I do love that Read includes a section on Manuscript Techniques. The art of handwriting music hasn't gone away, but its education is hard to come by these days.
EDIT: Orginally wrote Read Gardner instead of Gardner Read, oops.
@@matthewburns4947 I agree with 99.9% of "Behind Bars" because that's what I see in Henle, Barenreiters, Peters, etc. But I disagree with 0.1% (or perhaps more like 0.5%) because Behind Bars is Faber house style, for sure.
That's an amazing book!
I disagree, it's a lot broader than just faber house style. Since publication, it's become an instant classic, and a "must have" for anyone engraving their own or other people's music.
A fantastic little resource is Nicolas Slonimsky
Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Sometimes you just need a *thing* and this has helped me loads
Love this one as well!
@@saadhaddadmusic those Melodie’s and scales are everywhere hiding in plain sight
Thank you for this video Saad!! Really useful
🙏🏽
Thanks!
Wow, just saw this, thank you again Destiny! I will see you on a call soon!
glad you finally made a book video! I think I remember asking for it :)
I made it because you asked! ;)
I only have a masters in music comp but I dig the Bach chorales. Many years ago I played them on the piano while preparing for my piano proficiency exam and then later just for enjoyment. Andras Schiff has some entertaining and informative RUclips videos on Bach, especially the Goldbergs.
“Only” a masters degree 🤣 that’s a good one 👏🏽
Very useful! Thanks. And it broke back some memories--when I saw the cover of Rhythmic Training! I remember using that book as an undergrad in the mid 1970s!
It’s such an underrated skill IMO!
I used Tonal Harmony in college. My professor made a modification to the chord progression chart (adding vi to V).
Thank you! 🙏 ❤
You’re most welcome Mr. Chopin. Big big fan
Love this. So thorough and an incredible resource! Love the Briggs treatise as well.
And of course you recognize some familiar things in there :P
I am a pianist, and I want to know more about the association of tonality and mood. Any recommendations for books? Thanks
honestly, you might just to do an analysis of Schumann's "Carnaval" for solo piano. That thing is insane with the number of moods it highlights across its 21 short character pieces. Have fun!
@@saadhaddadmusic thanks!!
Hey, any recommendations on good books focusing on the history of the development of harmonic languages in western music?
I am inquiring because 21st music theory book talk about harmony from 2024 looking backwards to hundred of years ago and I as a learner don’t really get to know what’s special about the harmonic invention of each period as I perceived them as nothing that special. But it is so important to know the harmonic inventions in that period as that’s what make that music of that period standout from predecessors.
Thanks for this great video..I’m wanting to start composing but I’m unsure what my influences are at the moment and what skills to develop to create a relevant piece of music. Something that I really liked in your video is using instrument manuals as reference - the idea that you don’t actually have to have a detailed knowledge beforehand..I’ve been reading Stravinsky’s Poetics of Music.. he says his starting point for writing a new piece is always to be very clear what he doesn’t want in the music and not to worry so much about what he’s actually going to write (I guess a specific commission helps)..he also talks about the importance of dogma - having something you really believe in..I find this interesting as he’s a composer whose music changed quite radically throughout his life..I personally found reading books by John Cage fascinating when I was younger…he opens you up to thinking about sound/no sound in a really fresh way..being empty of the past and allowing the create process to come out of life..at the moment that doesn’t help me thinking about “what is the actual material I want to use to create a piece of music I havn’t heard yet?”
No one is really sure what their influences are until they write a bunch of pieces. It took me years and years to finally figure out what I wanted to do with my “voice”. You just gotta start! :) thanks for your kind words. Glad it’s useful.
That book with the Arabic rhythms looks fascinating. I was surprised Iannis Xenakis' Formalised Music didn't get a mention in regard to 20th century treatises, it is a treasure for the composer (provided that they are familiar with the mathematics, that is!).
Can anyone else here attest to the Xenakis here? That’s cool - and the rhythm book is my go-to, it’s amazing!
Big Thanks!!! Great video! 😊 I have to get few of these books!!
🙏🏽
I have the Tonal Harmony at a local library. It's worth the money. Shout out to The Asia Foundation for providing an expensive and exceptionally great book to a poor area where music composition has almost no attention
That’s awesome 👏🏽
Wonderful video. Thank you!
🙏🏽
Thank you so much. I am applying for a composition degree now. I know more about what to do now.
Awesome 👏🏽
Can you make a video that focuses more on books about fundamentals before the 20th cenutry?
Is Fux’s Study of Counterpoint still in use? Also are you familiar with (and would recommend) Harmony and Voice Leading by Edward Aldwell?
Honestly I have my counterpoint book somewhere but I don’t remember if it was that one 🤣 - and has anyone here read those books mentioned?^
i think Kyle Gann's book "Arithmetic of Listening" is great for microtonality
His insights on microtonality have been very helpful to me too!
Thanks a lot for your very suggestion !
🙏🏽
What are your thoughts on piston’s books orchestration, harmony , counterpoint? Are they obsolete now?
I think they have their place in combination with other texts but my mantra is to “not go crazy” trying to learn it all at once. Stick to one text, try out some things on your own, and if your questions don’t get answered from that text, then go to another text. The symphony orchestra has been around for a long time so the information presented across various texts will be similar. Hope that helps. The main thing is that you apply the knowledge you learn. (I just answered your question about orchestration, but the same applies to the harmony and counterpoint related books).
"Music in the Galant Style (2007)" and "Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento (2018)"
Awesome, I don’t know those 2, can anyone else vouch for either one ?
I haven't read Tonal Harmony in over 10 years, and I'm not really aware of the discourse around it, but I hold a grudge against it because it misled me to thinking that certain chords are supposed to go to certain other chords through their chord flow chart. I haven't yet found a book that I would recommend to every beginner though, and it does handle a lot of basics very well. Out of the books I know, I'd probably suggest Roig-Francoli's Harmony in Context as an alternative.
cool! I don't know about the Roig-Francoli's Harmony in Context -- does anyone else?
Would you be able to recommend any books that cover the compositional process/method itself, such as Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition?
I’ve never read a book on this myself. My go-to is to study a s***load of scores and make my own inferences. Others might have other recs though that have helped them! I would be curious if there are more contemporary examples.
I have read Schoenberg's book and it can be quite dry and it puts the musical examples at the end of the chapter so you're constantly flipping back and forth between the text and the examples that he is referring too. I recommend Alan Belkin's composition book over the Schoenberg book. However, Kevin Ure's book "The Elements of Music Composition" is really good in that it explains how you can break up musical ideas into their constituent parts, modify them, reassemble them etc to give a sort of gestalt unity to your work while also providing variety and contrast.
Do you have recommendations for recordings for dipping into Arabic music if you know very little about it (but like it, generally)?
You’re a guitar player? Anything by Farid-al atrash then
I’m becoming a fan. I want to compose Jazz, Gospel, R&B and classical. My favorite is Bach
My favorite is Bach too 👏🏽
Or maybe one of my favorites 🤣
Amazing video thank you very much !
Glad you liked it!
Saad is there a particular book or treatise that you recommend about polytonality???...perhaps a few instructive scores to check out?, or is it covered well in one of the other books you mentioned?
for stuff like this I always go straight to the sources: Concord Sonata by Ives, and I would even go to a certain extent to Ligeti's Piano Etudes which also has polyrhythms... (!)
Omg, I didn't know that Dandelot should sing with melody. We use it for only cleff reading
Yes, Tonal Harmony is indeed controversial. Seems people either love it or hate it. As my very first theory textbook, I'm in the camp that hates it haha. My main issue with it is how dry and dense the writing is. I found I constantly had to google to figure out what they meant, it has a "software manual written by the engineers" kind of vibe for me. Shortly after I found a book called Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice by Allen Forte and while reviewing the contents they cover basically all the same topics, for whatever reason Forte's book was like a veil had been lifted for me - the writing is more terse and approachable yet clear, and he includes tons of exercises at the keyboard + sight-singing along the way. Sadly no longer in print but it's a great book!
Interestingly, it was the book my Theory I and Theory II professor used (he made one change to the chord progression chart, allowing vi to V as an acceptable progression). Personally, I found it useful.
Great video as always :))
Can you please recommend one on advanced techniques for the strings 🙏🏼
Does anyone here know a book on this?
@@saadhaddadmusic The Contemporary Violin by Patricia and Allen Strange. Also, a good one for percussion, is the Samuel Z Solomon - How to Write for Percussion. This is another one that looks small, but is packed with info.
id love to know what your thoughts are on persichettis book, twenty century harmony, since i was thinking about buying a copy
I have not read that one! Anyone else recommend this?
Yes, Persichetti’s book it’s simple but it’s full of gold inside. Its a book that you ether like it or hate it; why I don’t know! I personally like it a lot.
Yes the Persichetti book is rather thorough and helpful...at least to me anyway! The exercises and suggested listening at the end of each chapter was extremely helpful and enlightening to me
Hello, need some advice if possible. Is it possible to teach oneself using the Tonal Harmony book, and for that is the accompanying CD and Workbook necessary. In your opinion that is of course. I bought the book and only found out later that the CD is not easily available. Plus there were a lot of negative reviews for the book on forums. So I found another book called The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning & Elizabeth West Marvin. It is also a college level book. Any views on that particular text. Any advice would be appreciated. Very helpful video btw, thanks.
I don’t have views on the second text, but generally speaking any music theory textbook if studied in a rigorous way over time should do the trick. It’s always helpful to have the recordings as well but if you have a keyboard it should be fairly straightforward to play through the examples they present (even as a beginner/intermediate level pianist). Just my 2 cents.
@@saadhaddadmusic Yes, that helps. Thanks.
@@accentontheoff youre welcome
Hi Saad, I really like your channel. Please keep it up!
Now, I would like to ask you about Jazz harmony. It is perfectly fine if you say it is not your thing, but still, I would love to hear your take on it. Especially if you have any recommendations for jazz harmony books. It seems to me that jazz harmony is considered a parallel world by classically trained composers and teachers. Even the vocabulary seems to be different. I would understand that historically the jazz genre has a distinct roots but going forward there will be more and more musicians and composers that do not want to live in parallel worlds. Is this something you are thinking about? Is a jazz harmony something you study and want to take inspiration from as well?
I love jazz but I’m not the most qualified to speak on it!
The Tonal Harmony books are great
Cool, Don't forget that rhythm is the structure of music, "the book of movements" has 14 volumes of rhythmic movement patterns! for all musicians
Don’t know that one cool!
Why do you think the Tonal Harmony book by Kostka is controversial?
Oh just in general the idea of learning 4-harmony and rules of that nature… you can go down Reddit holes if you’d like I’m not gonna explain that here 🤣
Other than reading these texts, are there any exercises you would recommend doing to get better at applying the theory and write more creative/colourful harmonies and melodies in composition? I find I gravitate too much towards very conventional chords. Thank you for all these resources!
Try copying out as many aesthetically diverse scores as you can by hand and playing them back on the keyboard - that is a crazy fun way to get in a composer’s head
@@saadhaddadmusic Thanks so much for the tip!
@@unclouding This is where BACH earns his place. Memorize his 371 (one of my mentor could do that, and encourage me to do so too..... i only memorize about 50 of them)
In the category of "extended techniques," do you have a recommendation for the violin and the bass guitar?
Does anyone here know books on these topics?
Dear Sir, would you address in a youtube video a scenario where a composer abandons real world representation and reluctantly embraces synthetics due to the lack of audience, musicians, interest…
Which digital programs would one be directed toward if the composer does embrace microtones and extended techniques when one only has Finale and a Mac Air?
Respectfully,
Guerino
Thanks Saad! I'm not sure how relevant the book, Contemporary Harmony - Romanticism through the Twelve-Tone Row, by Ludmilia Ulehla,
still is, to readers today, but it really helped broaden my horizons as a young music student in the 1990's.
It helped me fill a gap between what I had learned in music theory and what I was hearing in Jazz and other styles of music at the time.
Cool! Has anyone else read this? I haven’t myself!
@@saadhaddadmusic yes! I use it all the time. Her explanations seemed to ring true for me, so I guess I like her methodology.
Fundamentals of music composition by Schoenberg is incredible. And know that it is about tonal music, not atonal.
very helpful❤❤❤
Glad it was helpful!
It's important to know all the quirks, weirdness and idiosyncrasies introduced or rediscovered during the 20th Century (like micro-tuning, quarter-tone tuning, non-tonality, aberrant/abhorrent tonalities, "chance" pieces, etc.) simply because *it's extremely important to understand how it was that last century's composers managed so successfully to clear the audiences out of the concert halls* and into the arms of "popular" music, which has remained securely wedded to Common Practice Period tonality, methods and modalities. *No one needs sit for noise, and no one needs pay for orchestrated noise, since they can get that, **_gratis,_** from any garbage truck chancing down the alley, with freaky glissandos provided by the squeal of its brakes.*
I respect your point of view but everyone has their peculiar tastes in music. Sure, not everyone likes the aesthetics you mention, but I know a ton of people that absolutely love it and have a fulfilling life in music doing those things, myself included (although many of my colleagues would be quick to actually say I’m quite a traditional composer!) Certain institutions gravitate towards one aesthetic or another, it’s natural to lean one way or another. We’re all just humans trying to grow in the end in our own ways. Always best to approach things in a positive light and find out if one is curious why someone is writing in a way one might not like. We might learn something in the process. Just my 2 cents. This is less a comment directed at you specifically Eduard, but more in general to members of our community that may feel the same way.
What is your primary instrument?
Sibelius :P
@@saadhaddadmusic Ha! Seriously: I ask because your story about being required to sight-sing may seem unexpected for people who would think such an ability would be a REQUIREMENT to enter Juilliard.
@@spb7883 it’s not a requirement at all - composition majors at Juilliard don’t need to play anything - although we did have to test out of keyboard skills class if we wanted to get out of taking that class (which I did, but my level of piano is very intermediate level, no where near the conservatory student level)
@@saadhaddadmusic This is useful information because I think there are a lot of misconceptions about musicians’ abilities, especially relative to their education level/where they studied. When I entered my first master’s program (jazz history, but you needed to be able to read music), I thought most musicians with a bachelor’s from a prominent music school would be excellent sight-readers. How wrong I was!
@@spb7883 well I was not 🤣 but many were.
THAT EDITION OF MUSIC THEORY BY KOSTKA IS IN MY SCHOOLS LIBRARY 😭😭💖💖💖
There you go 💫
I have the first edition of Adlers book. It's crap. I bought and studied it thoroughly and wrote in the margins all the sloppy mistakes and downright incorrect information. Then when I took a course in orchestration, the instructor assigned this book for us. I took my copy to him and showed him that it was an inept work. The following week he told me that I was exactly right: the book was crap. I don't know if Adler improved it, but you'll be better off using the old standby Orchestration texts. I like the Kent Kennan and Donald Granham book a lot. I also got all the U of California Press's contemporary instrument series.
Earliest one I got my hands on was the 3rd edition. Not sure what the previous two were like.
@@saadhaddadmusic I ordered the first edition before it was published because Adler told me to when he turned me down to study at Eastman. It was unbelievable that he had created such a faulty product. He told me on the phone that it was the best orchestration text ever written! Hahahaha. Thank you for spotlighting all the awesome books. These kind of technical books, with their musical examples, are so exciting to read and study.
Can anyone comment on _Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide To Music Notation_ by Elaine Gould (ISBN-10: 0571514561; ISBN-13: 9780571514564)? Who or what level is it aimed at?
It’s quite broad - good for beginner composers/arrangers/engravers and those they have been in it a very long time.
nice!
🙏🏽
Interesting the fact that these books are NOT Composition methods in terms of “How to” they are actually just Books of theory,or works from others composers.
Makes me think that at the end of the they the best way to learn composition is just paraphrase in the sheet the work or musical concept of others🤔
Score study score study score study - absolutely
No counterpoint? I guess I should be thankful.
I couldn’t find my copy 🤣 but it exists somewhere…
Dandelot is not to sing, just to read faster an faster... thanks
Also that yes
@@saadhaddadmusic Excuse me sir, but it's not "also" but only read aloud, to learn how to read fast, not to sing or play, with the practice of reading on the instrument to follow. This manual was designed exclusively for this purpose and has been used for dozens of years in french conservatories (developing reflexes for reading notes aloud). This is not a singing solfeggio manual
I love the iconic Aldwell & Schachter's Harmony and Voice Leading (5th edition). It can be quite technical sometimes but it's incredibly complete. One can extract from it very interesting ideas that transcend mere practical difficulties.
I only miss one thing: a book that focuses on the "why" that lies behind every concept of music theory. The Aldwell & Schachter talks about it from time to time and when it does it's very brief. It's not the purpose of the book, it's not a complaint about the book. But I really miss that aspect. I think it's the elephant in the room. It's the most important thing and hardly nobody talks about it.
Edit: If anyone has any book recommendations, it will be greatly appreciated!
Cool! Another one I haven’t read. Wonder if anyone else has?
@@saadhaddadmusic A & S Harmony and Voice Leading is quite academic (aka, dry and uninteresting)
So many books, so few composers..
Did Mozart read any of them?
Ear Training 😢
#waynegang
...and no book will help talentless one
Talent is a lie the lazy tell themselves to feel better about not trying
I was just go to ask about a book on that topic, uhmmmm, ... for a friend.
Andrey; my wife Ambra knows you from RAM - she says hi ☺️ and don’t worry about the books
@@saadhaddadmusic 🥰
"Tonal harmony" ---- yes, very contraversial. Why not Schoenberg's Theory on Harmony, or Hindemith's Traditional Harmony (book 1) and Advance Harmony (book 2).
I also recommend Arensky's book too.
Those familiar with Russian school will use (quite conventionally) Sporvov.... (something like that, i cannot recall those cyric language)
While I like Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony, it's probably not a great introduction to theory for most people. It's very verbose, and somewhat unconventional. Although I love the freedom it allows for, especially when compared to "Tonal Harmony".
I've only read some of Hindemith's harmony, but it does seem like a strong candidate.
I haven't read Advanced Harmony, but the sight singing book Ottman co-wrote with Nancy Rogers is very good, so I'll need to check it out.
@r3I agree. Schoenberg is very very advance, definitely not for first year undergraduate..... (But then, this is a list for composer, presumably not undergraduate)