The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition |  | Author: Michael Miller
Publisher: Alpha
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy Used: $5.97
as of 7/31/2010 10:20 MDT details
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Seller: lala-31
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 19754
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 1592574033
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.3
EAN: 9781592574032
ASIN: 1592574033
Publication Date: October 4, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This is a step-by-step guide to writing music taking you note by note through the mechanics of bringing your music to life.
The book shows musicians how to compose simple chord progressions and melodies, and leads them through more advanced compositional techniques and musical forms.
Designed for composers of all types of music, it includes instruction on composing stand-alone melodies, using different scales and modes, themes and variations, orchestration, and composing for film, theater, and videogames.
You will find:
? Instruction on how to compose music with chords first & melody first
? Methods for developing simple melodic motifs & themes into longer compositions
? Tips for creating interesting chord progressions, using chord extensions & substitutions
? Advice for orchestrating & arranging your compositions - & creating complete scores
? Tips on how to employ both traditional & contemporary compositional technique
? a comprehensive glossary of musical terms
? an appendix of various computer-based composition tools
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 Perfect follow-on to Idiot's Guide to Music Theory October 30, 2005
calvinnme
103 out of 103 found this review helpful
Just like this author's previous book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory", information is presented in a very readable way without losing necessary details. The author presents many musical examples and each chapter has exercises with some solutions included in the back of the book. This book is designed to be read from beginning to end, and the exercises are very instructive in that by doing them you WILL learn how to compose music based on formal techniques. This book consists of 18 chapters in 5 parts, with each part showcasing a different aspect of composition. Since Amazon does not show a table of contents for this book at the time I am writing this, I shall summarize for the purpose of completeness:
Part 1 is entitled "Before You Start," and it describes different types of composition, and discusses the tools needed to start composing music.
Part 2 is entitled "Harmonic Composition," and discusses the art of composing music, chords-first. Also described is the creation of a harmonious chord progression, using both standard and extended chords, and using chord substitution to create more sophisticated compositions.
Part 3 is labeled "Melodic Composition," and introduces melody creation techniques, including scales and modes, structural tones, embellishments, rhythm, syncopation, melodic contour, flow, tension and release. Also discussed is fitting chords to a melody and reharmonizing existing chord progressions.
Part 4 is entitled "Developing the Composition," and gives instruction on transforming a composition from something basic to a substantial work. Short melodies are transformed into a full musical piece. The use of repetition, variation, and creating multiple-voice compositions is included.
The fifth and final part of this book is entitled "Advanced Techniques". The subject matter moves beyond basic composition into more advanced musical areas. Orchestration, chromaticism, atonality, contemporary composition, and ultimately songwriting are discussed.
I would therefore highly recommend that you first read the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory", and then this book for someone who wants to self-study music theory and composition. These two books are particularly valuable to someone who is familiar with the computer and would like to get into computer music but does not have a formal education in music. These two books will get you up and running to the point where you can understand what some of the computer music books written by musicians are talking about.
Will Definately help you write music June 28, 2006
T. Caniano (NY)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
This is undoubtedly the best book i've ever read on music composition. Be warned though, if you do not have a background in basic music theory the concepts in the book may be a little confusing. However, if you read Miller's other book the guide to music theory first you should have no problem picking up the concepts in this book. I cant say enough good things about Miller. This book is full of so many great things and yet he writes in such a way that even someone with just a basic background in music can understand him. If you follow what he says you will definately be able to write your own compositions
Extremely Helpful book on Composing/Writing Music January 22, 2008
J. Brogden (Cincinnati, OH USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a very useful and informative book. I already had a solid grounding and understanding of music theory, chords, scales and the like. But felt i needed help synthesizing the information into a more useable form when it came to composing music. So i looked into this book for help. I agree the first half of the book is sort of a rehash of information from the idiots guide to music theory but its still very helpful. The book does a great job of explaining the core concepts of music composition such as melodic phrasing, orchestration, setting a melody to a chord progression (and vice versa) ect.
I would recommend you have a solid understanding of music theory and notation before diving into this book since the author assumes you do and the musical examples are presented using written notation. I feel the goal of this book was to present you with the essentional knowledge needed to become a good composer and feel it delivered. If you expect in-depth information on non-traditional topics (atonality, minimalism ect.)then you might want to look elsewhere. But if your looking for a book that'll help you grasp the essentials of writing or composing music...then this is the book to get.
excellent book October 19, 2007
Agustin Grau Carles (Madrid, Spain)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
It is an excellent guide for beginners and self-taught people. For those who start in the subject I recommend to buy it together with another book of the same author: 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory'. The author writes in a concise language, and makes clear concepts that are difficult to understand in other books. It is a comprehensive guide.
Simple training for a complex topic April 11, 2008
Chris Lang (Wisconsin, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm an advanced right brained musician (I've been playing for 20 years but never really gave much thought to theory). This book was just the thing to connect that other side of the brain and now I can start forming some structure out of my playing. The book takes a complex subject and boils it down to the necessities. It's got to be tough to describe abstract concepts like musical phrasing but this book does a good job. Get it if you want to write songs, or even if you just like to jam.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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