Customer Reviews

Musical Composition

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

 

 

This book is a nice sketch idea of how to compose in a small ensemble or solo setting. the examples given are of good quality and obviously very thoughtful. I would recommend this book for beginning composers. The short chapters provide enough details to understand most topics. For a more mature developing composer, I would recommend Techniques of a Modern Composer by David Cope as well as 20th Century Harmony by Vincent Persechetti. Also, nothing really helps understanding composition than just studying the masters! if you need a good book to help you get started, however, this book definately fits the bill.

I highly recommend this wonderful book. I have used it myself to teach beginning composition lessons, and used it as a reference many times for advanced analysis and composition. It's a real down-to-earth read that can be absorbed quickly while retaining many great composition "rules of thumb". Only a moderate understanding of music theory is needed to grasp concepts within the book. Great exercises in the back of the book.

This book covers almost every aspect that the composers are looking for. It is a book for composers indeed! It's a book of sound roules. Examine the techniques of the 20th century showing exactly how it will sound the work and how the parts will interact as a form.

Mr Brindle is a composer and that's why composers will welcome this book. It talk in the same idiom that composers want. It gives the harmonic and composition techniques but it shows the pourpose of it. The roules that he shows are taked from his own impresions and analisis,not from other books of theorics writers.

The contemporary techniques(Free pentatonic music,pandiatonicism,impresionism,polytonality, tonal contradiction,interval harmony etc.etc.) are stated very cleverly.

It has,also,a chapter devoted to choir writting that explain,as I have never seen before,this technique,and is so good that you think that the choir writting is easy after that.

I'm a composer,and I'm always seeking for good boks on the subyect of composition. This one will belong on my library forever.

ferreyramarcelo@usa.net

This book is good if you only need to get some ideas about composition techniques in general. It does cover various essential topics and yet nothing is covered in textbook details. I suppose this book is not for learning to compose but for learning what is a composition and how it is actually done in various styles and forms etc., sort of like a reference book or dictionary. So, take it as it's and it's good enough for its purpose.

This book consists of short chapters that treat many compositional styles. It is a fine book, both, for a student composer taking lessons, or a beginner "self-taught" composer (if you are somewhat familiar with European "Classical" music styles (17th - 20th centuries). Also, it is a good reference. Unlike his earlier Serial Composition book, here, Smith Brindle considers many diverse styles; some of them, have much relevance to today's eclectic "compositional scene." I definitely recommend this book.

Dr. Smith Brindle offers a very usefull text for those who alredy started in composition. This book provides both theory and practice. It's a good choice for one familiared with the main counterpoint and harmonic procedures, as well with a background in Music History.

This book along with the Russo book are a good starting point . I am a composition book nut . This book plays like most composition books with chapters on theory and texture .Form and other topics are covered . The best books for tonal composition is persichetti and The Lou Harrison book . The Dallin book and Ulehla book are also good for a approach to understanding modern music in a tonal sense .Youll need a backround in harmony and preferably counterpoint to get the most out of this book . Brindle suggests the self studying student accompany this book with a harmony book . For that the best are Schachter or Payne-Kostka , or Tchaicovsky if you don't have the time to go through one of those tomes .The Piston books are exceptional .Exept for his Harmony which is unnecessarily dense and technical .The Schachter Text is The cutting edge for understanding the harmony of the 18th and 19th centuries . The work of Lerdaul has made a big impact on modern music theory . This book is really easy to read among a subject that is often very technical .I would recommend this book with the russo book for begining composers .The russo book is very practical and tells the secrets of transformations .A composer who already knows about transformations and variations will find the Russo book would be elementary but even a experienced composers can get something out of the Brindle book . Its somewhere in between a coffee book survey and a more in depth book like persichetti .

Great books on music composition are, in my opinion, extreamly hard to find. This one is very good. It covers a lot. As a fan of the composition of diatonic art-music (sometimes with chromatic color added) I love the first half of this book, and the last half covering modern music composition including atonalism, etc. is also great.

As a fan of melodic composition the approach given in this book is great.

To get the most out of this book the student should have a knowledge of basic music notation and diatonic harmony.

In my opinion, this is one of the best books on begining musical composition.

This is a great book really about musical composition. There is lots of books saying to be about composition. In fact, most of them talk about counterpoint, harmony, musical forms, etc. The point is that musical forms and counterpoint are not composition itself, they are topics of musical theory instead. Brindle's book is not about theory, is truly about composition. You will find answers for questions like: How to create distinct colors in composition, write the melody first or together with the accompaniment, how do I prepare myself for writting for several instruments, hints for my piece in entire tones not become boring, and so on. If you do not know theory deeply you can complement with specific books on the subject you need (i.e: musical forms, counterpoint)

This book is thorough, however it assumes too much familiarity with the classical repertoire like so many other books on music composition. To utilize this book you would have had to a)perform what seems like nearly all of the classical repertoire when you were in high school and recognize the music by name, b)starting on your masters degree in music or c) be capable of performing all of the examples on sight and want to. This book is not very accessible and is only for experienced classical composers with an emphasis on the 20th centery. Too hoity toity for me. I can't recommend this book to anyone except seasoned classical afficianado's.