Composing Music: A New Approach

by William Russo, David Stevenson, Jeffrey Ainis

Aimed at those who have some knowledge of music but not formal training in composition, this concise introduction to composing starts right in with a brief composition exercise, then proceeds step by step through a series of increasingly complex and challenging problems, gradually expanding the student's musical grammar.

"This is a wonderful book for anyone who is developing improvising skills or who would like a fun way to explore music."—Jim Stockford, Co-Evolution Quarterly

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

230 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1983

Reviews

[Jeremy Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been writing music for over 30 years at this point and was a music major and teach music professionally, so I was not expecting to learn anything new. And I did not. I read this book with an eye to getting ideas for exercises and approaches I could use in teaching composition to my own students, and I even did a few of the exercises when it seemed like I would learn something interesting from working them. The book is aimed at students who have very minimal knowledge of music and composition — think college freshmen who are maybe also taking Theory 101 and studied some instrument in high school. It would be totally fine for self study. If you do that, know that it came out in 1980 so it’s subtly dated, mostly in its emphasis on ideas found in minimalism. Which at the time was absolutely cutting edge. For my own work it was most helpful in reminding me of techniques and procedures that I often don’t think to try, so I copied them into a list in my notebook as I went, to refer to when I’m writing my next pieces.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep wanting to rate this book higher, because it really is filled with fascinating ideas, a lot of which are going to be very interesting to a new composer-to-be.

The problem with this book, however, lies in its "new approach." Learning concepts while constantly writing things is ultra refreshing compared to the standard, and the fact that it's so easy to hold and carry around for self study is another great feature, but unfortunately it is a very odd book with very advanced ambitions, which is an odd thing to throw at beginning students of music.

For instance, the insistence on non-diatonic chords, or the incredibly long look at organum or the 12 tone row. I struggled for hours on the 12 tone row, trying to write good and listenable music, before looking online and finding that even the professional music recorded in this way is intentionally jarring and difficult to understand.

[William Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a 35-year-old book, this is great. It seems to be lessons from a course the author taught in composing. It is a learn-by-doing approach, starting from writing the simplest of tunes. Exercises have severe rules, like "write a melody of 8 bars using only these four notes: EGAB. Start and end on the same tone. Use intervals of two and three only. Write in 4/4 and use only quarter and eighth notes." I was amazed at what kind of interesting tunes one can write under those conditions. It's like the challenge of writing a sonnet in poetry. The pattern is very rigid, forcing your mind to reach for remote associations you wouldn't otherwise think of.

The lessons in this book get increasingly more complex, but are never difficult (just tedious at times). You have to know the basics of musical notation, reading and writing it, but just the bare bones. And you should have access to a piano keyboard to do it right. It took me a year to get through the two-hundred-odd pages of the book. I started out struggling to understand triad inversions and slow to recognize interval sizes. After a year I had written a contrapuntal fugue and even a string quartet. I can hardly believe it myself.

The book has a few problems. The explanations are often frustratingly vague using undefined terminology that has to be looked up. Most frustrating is when the rules (the dreaded rules!) confine you to some bland scale like D Dorian so the result is about as interesting as that sounds. But the point is to learn the techniques, not to write "great" music. That's what I'll be doing next, I'm sure.

It's also difficult to work without feedback. I never knew if my work was adequate or horrible. But maybe that doesn't matter. Highly recommended for anyone with the motivation to learn.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing I didn't already know, which surprised me

[Michael Meusch]

If not one of the best books on composition. Get it fill up the pages with notes.