Customer Reviews

How to Write for PERCUSSION

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book addresses nearly every aspect of composing successfully and creatively for percussion. It is a must have for any composer who wishes to expand his compositional palate and increase his awareness of the possibilities and limitations that percussionists face with regard to mallet/stick choices, timbre characteristics, setup issues, etc. It is also a must have for any serious percussionist. It serves as a reminder to us all as to what is actually possible to achieve on our instruments and how we can further advance it through careful decision making and a willingess to push our limits as performers. There is nothing else like this book in print ANYWHERE.

I should think this would be particularly useful for film, TV, and other media composers, as the standard work by Emil Richards is terribly out of date. Also, Solomon's book is far more detailed than Richards' was, and more practical all around. It would be useful if there were a web site connected with it with with examples of the sounds of all the instruments referenced, playing characteristic rifs.

if you are a percussionist, composer, or new music scholar, this book is an absolute must. Written in a functional colloquial, "How to write for Percussion" clearly explains many of the key issues in composing for percussion instruments in orchestral, chamber, and solo contexts.

This book was so incredible! Not only did it teach the fundamentals of percussive writing, it also explored contemporary techniques and how to write for them too. It's almost like a performance and writing guide, perfect for a composer!

This book offers great information concerning the practice of notating and selecting percussion instruments when composing music.

There is also a great section at the back which includes contemporary score examples for reference.

If you're an orchestrator or composer writing for percussion, become informed and buy this book.

If you need to write or arrange for percussion this book will be your bible - well written and easy to reference, with excellent examples drawn from the literature.

I am a concert music composer. One of the things I like about being such a composer in the 21th-century is the abundance of percussion instruments and complex rhythms available to us. However, writing and notating these percussion parts is also a challenge, unique to the 21th-century, and we must have the guidance and assistance of professional percussionist. "How to Write for Percussion" is now my new guide to notating composing for percussion. I am enjoying this book very much.

This is a wonderful book! Within its useful and informative pages, organised super-efficiently, Samuel Z. Solomon has crafted a work of genius! If you are set on composing for percussion, you can drop all previous resources and focus on buying this book, because within just under 200 pages Solomon has created a comprehensive guide to all things you want to or need to know, hands down! So please, even if the price does appear expensive, you will not regret it! I would have paid double the price, and I barely have a steady income. I'm sure the big bucks will come afterwards, when you've created a percussion masterpiece; it's certainly possible now with this terrific book!

This book isn't what I expected at all; however, I don't think the failure lies with poor expectations. The title of this book is "How to Write for Percussion: A Comprehensive Guide to Percussion Composition" so I expected a book on percussion composition. But get this: on page 3 the author writes, "The author is not a composer; therefore, little instruction regarding the compositional use of percussion in the context of an ensemble is included." In a "comprehensive guide to percussion composition" I expected to learn about syncopoation, swing, time signatures, using percussion to draw attention to a passage, to build and resolve tension, fills, flam, downbeat, etc. Instead its basically about percussion notation and setup and a catalog of instruments and various tips, like "rimshot rolls is an unreasonable request" and "A standard triangle roll is executed with one hand. The player moves the beater rapidly back and forth between two sides." Useful for some people i'm sure, but maybe a better title would be "A Percussion Composer's Handbook" as it assumes you are already a composer.

This book really helps sort out many details about percussion that are not easily discovered in other books on orchestration.