Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration [Paperback]

Henry Mancini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

A practical guide to professional orchestration featuring recorded musical examples performed by Henry Mancini. Included in the book are sections on the woodwinds, brass, the rhythm section and the string section. A recording is included to follow along with the printed scores.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Warner Bros Pubns (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898986672
• ISBN-13: 978-0898986679
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Instrumentation > Orchestra

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you already know the techniques of arranging, proceed., August 27, 2007

By 

M. Sweetz "Pop-a-holic" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration (Paperback)

I bought this book before learning any of the technical aspects of arranging, and it left me wanting more. After I found the books that cover the techniques of arranging, I went back to this book and found it way more beneficial.

You get to 1.) read Mr. Mancini's commentary about a particular score example, then 2.) listen to a CD of the example while looking at the score. Not every example comes with an audio track, but the CD has well over 50 tracks, so you still get an abundance of examples to see AND hear. To be able to see the brass/sax/French horn voicings at the end of 'Peter Gunn Theme' and the string and horn parts in 'Mr. Lucky' is pretty amazing.

So, if you know basic techniques of writing for several instruments and sections, and you'd like to see and hear how a master of the craft puts it all to use, consider this book a worthwhile investment.

If only it had the vocal arrangement to 'Bachelor In Paradise', but that's just me being greedy.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not the best general orchestration primer, April 6, 2008

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AB - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book and found it valuable. However, it is not the best book from which to learn comprehensive orchestral technique. Rather it is a source of "Mancini-isms." If the reader wants to get into the mind of one of the best TV and film composers this is a great book. It is simple and easy to understand. It is also a bit dogmatic and as other reviewers have written "out of date." My purpose in reading the book was to better understand Mancini's jazz technique. For this purpose the book is perfect!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first of them all., January 14, 2011

By 

D. G. Etheridge (Malvern, Worcs United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration (Paperback)

Okay all you other reviewers who've criticised or damned with faint praise, listen up.
Realise that this book is a classic, first published in 1962 or thereabouts (I bought my copy in 1982 and still have the flexidiscs -remember them?), This book was THE FIRST one to ever give you a way of HEARING what the scores sounded like (hence the title) rather than trying to imagine what the scores sounded like in your head. A few pro conductors can do that, the rest of us mortals play things at the piano and hope for the best.
So the idea that this book is 'dated' is quite absurd. At the time is was written the sounds and scores in there represented Hank Mancini's current and recent work, and for the principles that they show and represent, remain timeless. Sure there may be things missing in comparison with later arrangers and books, but this one still is the first in line. I also have Don Sebesky's classic Contemporary Arranger, and that could also be regarded as 'outmoded' musically by those who can't see the gold before them. I'm sure Sammy Nestico's book has been slagged off somewhere as well, and there's probably some ignoramus somewhere who doesn't like Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration because it doesn't cover jazz and rock......
The point is that classic material like this doesn't date. It gives you some of the ideas behind Mancini's composing and orchestration, but it's not going to spoon feed you into becoming a great arranger. You have to work that out for yourself and sound like you and not a Mancini clone.
I'll point out that at least two film composers I know of started their work in film (and went on to great success) precisely because they acquired and studied this book. When other musicians recommend this book, that's all you need to know. A timeless classic, and like the Sebesky and Nestico books, pure musical gold.