Musical Composition: Craft and Art

Good reference book

A lot of people have been recommending this as a replacement for Schoenberg's "Fundamentals of Musical Composition", but, I have both and I can say this is clearly not the case. This book is best used as a supplement to that book-- Mr. Belkin, instead of really going in depth to the nuts and bolt of what each form presented sounds like and progresses, provides a few musical examples and allows you to essentially abstract from your mind generally how each form works. Schoenberg does not do this; he explains everything very clearly with clear wording instead of letting the examples speak for themselves. Of course, Schoenberg provides a lot of examples too, but they are all elaborations on the basic skeleton he lays out at the beginning of the chapter in clear wording. One would best, therefore, read through the Schoenberg chapter, then switch to the Belkin chapter, as Mr. Belkin provides many much clearer examples for how each form can be stretched and shrunk and played with in general. More on that later. In theory, Mr. Belkin's book contains more "forms" than Mr. Schoenberg's, but Mr. Belkin does not go sufficiently in depth, again, affirming the main idea before expanding to "what can we do with this." For the most immediately offending example, Mr. Belkin mentions in passing in his section on ternary form how minuets are frequently in ternary form paired with a trio. He does not go into any more specifics about characteristics of the minute and trio or the evolution to the scherzo as Schoenberg does. Belkin's book has one huge leg up on Schoenberg's book and that is that Belkin covers binary form and how to properly write a piece in binary form. This could prepare a reader to compose an individual piece in binary form, or a movement in a larger work, or a number of movements in a baroque dance suite (though I would supplement the last with videos by Musica Universalis on YouTube.) Furthermore, Mr. Belkin's book does not go sufficiently in depth on what Schoenberg refers to as "motive-forms," which are essentially the building block of phrases. He instead provided a vague answer, because it's more "style-neutral." In his chapter on phrases, he does elaborate more on "less stable structures" of phrasing, which, Arnold Schoenberg does as well, but honestly, Belkin's book does a better job of adding on top of that basic frame that Schoenberg lays out. Ultimately the one thing that makes this book such an amazing complement (not replacement!) for the Schoenberg text is that it goes quite in depth about more general concepts instead of the nitty-gritty of each form. So, to sum it up nicely: Schoenberg's book will teach you form. It is the book you need for that. Belkin's book will open your mind after reading the Schoenberg chapter and teach you HOW to compose artistically using those forms. Thus, I can strongly recommend this book, but I will say, it should be used as a supplement instead of a replacement for a more fundamental knowledge of forms.

Book came in with no damage. This is a great book for beginners in writing, but not suitable for someone who never learned music theory. So I guess I'd say it’s an intermediate level book. I enjoyed reading it! I’d highly recommend it.

Alan amazes me with his simple, straight-forward approach. He brings wonderful value in a "style neutral" format, so the reader can clearly understand the "what", and more importantly the "why", in the principles and methods used by great composers. In conjunction with his online videos and other pdf resources, Alan has really helped me fall in love with music that I used to perceive as plain and boring, and has enabled me to courageously start creating music that is much more rich and fulfilling. Like I said, worth every penny!

I have been composing since age 7. This book was a Christmas present and I was looking forward to going through its pages to gain a different perspective on musical composition other than my own. I did some research, discovered Alan Belkin’s book, and decided to give it a try. As I began to peruse it, much of what I read made perfect sense with some additional things I had not considered. Belkin’s approach to composition is a good jumping off point for someone who is new and not so new. The book is well written. There are good techniques and exercises for the beginner and seasoned composer alike. The author has an active website which I visited. The site has a link that allows one to send him a message. I wanted to thank the author for writing the book, and I had a few questions to ask. Before I finished my message to him, I inadvertently tapped send. Horrified, I immediately began writing another message apologizing for my error. I finished my questions from my initial message, and apologized again before sending the second. A few days later I received the nastiest most unprofessional message from him. He didn’t answer my questions, and his response was basically why was I bothering him. It was disheartening. All this being said, the book is nice for those wanting to gain insight into the craft of musical composition. However, I would not and do not recommend contacting the author with questions or comments.

This is a great comprehensive book that deals with the traditional subjects taught in music composition in an artful and entertaining way. There are many books that aim to teach music composition but fail at execution. It is simple, to the point, and straightforward. As an undergraduate studying music composition, I have found this book to be extremely helpful as a supplement to my regular theory and composition courses. Must read!!

Composition is an art in itself - and is taught in this book. Generally, people learn composition through other relates disciplines: harmony, analysis, counterpoint, etc. But - as far as I know - this is the first book to focus on the craft of composition in such a practical and direct manner. A gem. If you are interested in composing music, get it as soon as you can, read it and practice it.

This book brings some very interesting concepts that I couldn't find anywhere else and are now are invaluable to the way I compose. The writing is a bit boring at times, and the book could benefit from more and better recorded examples, but the content provided makes up for these minor issues!

Quite interesting book, but it should be called "Western Classical Music Composition". It's mostly focused on European Classical Musical. With a bit of motivation you can extrapolate the concepts to Latin music, Jazz or other styles, but the book is really focused on European classical music.

Really well organised with excellent explanations and a considered approach to composition. There are also freely available You Tube videos for most of the chapters. Highly recommended.

Totale Empfehlung für Leute die einen wirklich guten, ernsthaften Einstieg ins Thema Komposition suchen. Neben natürlich zwingend erforderlichen guten bis sehr guten Englischkenntnissen (ggf. Online dictionary bereit halten) solltet ihr mindestens solide Grundlagenkenntnisse und Fähigkeiten in Sachen Musiktheorie, Gehörbildung, Blattspiel, grundlegende Keyboard/Tasten-Fähigkeiten, ggf. ein (oder mehrere) weitere/s Instrument/e, Notenschrift, sowie Repertoire-Kenntnisse in verschiedenen Genres, aber vor allem im "klassischen" Repertoire (mal grob gefasst), mitbringen. Daneben die Bereitschaft, euch auf die Materie, samt ernsthaften Übungen, wirklich einzulassen und auch da dran zu bleiben. Das ist hier mal keine Feel-Good Nachttischlektüre à la "? Steps to Songwriting Success" für halbherzige Gehversuche, sondern für Leute denen ernsthaft daran gelegen ist das Kompositionshandwerk zu erlernen, oder zumindest verstehen zu lernen. Otherwise don't bother ! Dieses Buch ist dabei aber nicht so brutal trocken wie Arnold Schönbergs (trotzdem sehr empfehlenswertes) "Fundamentals of Musical Composition" und andere ältere Standard-Texte. (Tut euch letzt genanntes Buch an, nachdem ihr euch durch dieses Buch für die Materie aufgewärmt habt.) - Die Thematik ist hier auf die Höhe der Zeit gebracht und überflüssige Dogmatik bleibt dabei außen vor (Gottseidank !). Tolles Buch. Googelt und youtube't mal den Namen des Autors, da findet man einiges zu lesen und zu hören, womit dann auch eigentlich alles in Bezug auf die Qualität des hier Gebotenen gesagt ist. Der Mann weiß genau was er tut und deshalb lohnt es sich, das Buch zu erwerben und durchzuarbeiten. Klare Kaufempfehlung für diejenigen die sich für das Thema ernsthaft interessieren !

Llego en tiempo y forma. Es un muy buen libro par estudiar composición, la edición es en inglés y los colores son muy estéticos. A pesar de ser un muy buen libro no es para principiantes se requieren estudios previos en armonía tonal y contrapunto. 100% recomendado.

Ainda não o li todo, mas posso dizer que estou muito empolgado com o livro.