An advanced understanding of harmony is essential to any working orchestrator. Start with the basic, useful, and well-written Piston book. Then check out Reger’s treatise to see how such information can be applied. Schoenberg goes even deeper, to the atomic level, and yet keeps his feet on the ground for the most part. Then Persechetti…
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Both the above texts deal with traditional form for the most part. The Green is a university text, but used copies are always turning up here or there, as it’s a heavily assigned book that results in a lot of resales. The Rosen book helps to put a lot of Green’s information into context. His…
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This book is likely to be hanging around gathering dust in your public library. If so, go check it out, and on the way home pick up some popcorn – because after reading through the history, perspective, and interviews with these film composers, you’re going to be doing a lot of screening of classic films.…
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This is simply an enormous boon to the aspiring film and television composer. Morrell has collected theory, philosophy, musicology, and history into two huge volumes – the first alone is almost 400 pages! It’s hard to think of a topic that he doesn’t cover in this two-part work, but just in case he might have…
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This is a much much cheaper option than “On The Track,” but it’s quite a different book. It’s got some extremely informative interviews with top pros, and then a course approach to the process of film scoring. If you’re going to Berklee, this is the book that you’ll use – and even if you’re not,…
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This book is the “Behind Bars” of Film Scoring, with every detail of the process carefully considered and clearly laid out for both university students and working professionals. Though it’s even more pricey than Sam Adler’s “Study of Orchestration” listed above, I’ve heard some film orchestrators say that John William’s introduction to the book alone…
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I cannot imagine a single copyist who would have the income to drop over $700 on a book like this, which is what’s asked on Amazon. And yet if you work by hand for a living, then it’s the best book that I’ve ever read on the subject. Clean, clear, concise, and precise. If you…
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A lot of composers I know rave about this text. My feeling about it that it’s really for hardcore notation junkies, libraries, and university professors. It’s an enormous tome and isn’t too concerned with jazz arranging conventions and so on. And it costs a bundle. Yet it provided the notational standard for Sibelius and possibly…
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This is the Piston of music notation: clear, concise, well-laid-out, and memorable. I use it frequently. It has an approach that seems more aware of certain American music publishing conventions than the Gould text below. Its sections on percussion, harp, and brass special techniques are especially clear and detailed.
