A Pattern Language For Composing Music

by Thomas Schlechte

Do you wish to become a composer of music? Are you a trained classical musician, but having difficulties to compose your own stuff? Or are you interested in making music, and do not really know where to start? If this is your story, A Pattern Language for Composing Music is for you.A Pattern is a simple principle which shows you how to turn the building blocks of music into a unique piece of music by piecemeal variations. A Pattern Language offers you ideas how to connect patterns and apply them to your own choices of notes. A Pattern Language for Composing Music offers 79 different patterns including short descriptions, simple pictures, hands-on examples, and inspiring relations to other patterns - all waiting to be combined and turned into something unprecedented by you!Reviews„A Pattern Language for Composing Music reminds me of Brian Eno‘s Oblique Strategies, but with a pragmatic twist that offers realistic advice to a composer who needs to change the frame.“ - Chilly Gonzales - Canadian Pianist, Composer & Entertainer

265 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2019

Reviews

[Sandy Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hard to review. It's not particularly /good/, but it is /actionable/ which is so much more than can be said for most books on music. Its message is "just try things" with a good heaping of "and here are lots of things you can try."

I'd personally like some more explanation behind why (if?) some of these patterns work, and of the macro-scale ideas to be thinking about while composing. But nobody seems to ever talk about these things, so it seems unfair to judge this book on its absence.

Four stars. More helpful than most books on music; nowhere close to being helpful enough.