Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pipa!janzen
From: janzen@pipa.DEC (Thomas E. J. LMO4/B5 279-5421 ECL Test)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: music theory bibliography
Message-ID: <3577@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 15:39:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.3577
Posted: Mon Aug 12 15:39:22 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 08:42:05 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 122

We on the Digital engineering network were having a lively discussion 
about music theory.  I contributed the following bibliography on 
traditional theory.  Others also suggested the book Elementary Training
for Musicians by Hindemith, and Persichetti's 20th Century Harmony.
Also, the jazz theory books by Mehegan came up.

*Notation (To learn to write music, first you must learn to write music.)
Preparing Music Manuscript - Donato (good stuff on making parts for large
	ensembles)
The Art of Music Engraving and Processing - Ross (Hansen) (Extremely detailed
	exposition of American music engraving standards on basic notation.
	Essential for people writing transcription programs for computer.)
Music Notation - Read (Crescendo) (not actually that good, but in a desert...)
New Music Vocabulary - Risatti (U of Illinois) (source book of symbols for 
	new instrumentation effects.)
Practical Guide to Music Notation - Carl A. Rosenthal (pretty good.)

*Harmony (a major fifteenth chord with flat fifth and a double sharp 11th?)
Harmony - Schenker (MIT) (Nothing special.  Doesn't include his theories.)
Harmony - Piston (Norton) (Very popular and complete book.)
Traditional Harmony - Hindemith (An outline.  I used it in high school.
	Better with a teacher around than without, but can be navigated alone.
	No examples from the literature; a teacher is supposed to give you
	that.)
Theory of Harmony - Schoenberg (Uni California) (A wise book.  Somewhat old.
	About traditional harmony, not his serial system.)
Structural Functions of Harmony - Schoenberg (Norton)(Excellent description
	of the relations of key areas; addresses the same issues as Schenker.)
Structural Hearing - Salzer (Dover) (based on Schenker's work, was intended
	to be a complete 3 year course in everything.  The modal counterpoint
	section is not good.  The rest provides good illustration of Schenker's
	thought. A big two volume work in one book from Dover.)
Five Graphic Music Analyses  Schenker (Dover) (No commentary, just graphs of
	pieces. Read the Salzer first.)

*Counterpoint
Tonal Counterpoint - Krenek (Boosey & Hawkes) A short outline.
Counterpoint - Piston (Norton) A more complete textbook.
Modal Counterpoint - Krenek (Boosey & hawkes) A very short outline. Better with	
	a teacher.
Studies in Counterpoint - Krenek (Shirmer) (An outline of serial twelve-tone 	
	technicque.  Pretty good.)

*Form
Exercises in Melody Writing - Goetschius (Shirmer)(Beginning principles 
	of form.)
Homophonic Forms - Goetschius  Very old.
Musical Form - Leichentritt  Very old.
Musical Structure? - Wallace Beery, (a standard college text based on 
	Schenker, Salzer and Cooper/Meyer.

*Rhythm (I got rhythm - have you?)
The Rhythmic Structure of Music - Cooper & Meyer (U of Chicago) (The standard
	psycho-acoustically founded treatise on grouping, emphasis, accent.)
Principles of Rhythm - Creston (Belwin Mills)(A compendium of the confused
	historical Western ideas about rhythm,presented as coordinated theory.)

*Instrumention and Orchestration (for writing permanently obscure music)
Dictionary of Bowing & Tonal Technics for Strings - Mark Lorrin (Hansen)
	Fantastic summary of string instrumentation details.
Orchestral Technique - Gordon jacob Really talks about orchestration
	and texture and blending
The technique of Choral Composition - A. T. Davison (Cambridge)
	(Hard to remember, but I think it was OK)
A Guide to writing vocal arrangements for Solists, Groups, Chorus - Jimmy Joyce
	(First Place Music Pub.) Studio orientation.  Good concrete guidance.
Scoring for the Band - Lang (mills Music) (good job of what no one needs.)
	It's for making wind orchestra and marching band charts.
Orchestration (a practical handbook) - Wagner (McGraw Hill) not much special, 
	some things on choral and strings were unique.
Teach yourself Orchestration - King Palmer (English University Press)
Project Lessons in Orchestration - Heacox (Oliver Ditson, Theodor Presser
	remarks on writing for school orchestra; real orchestration exercises.
The Technique of Orchestration - Kent Wheeler Kennan (University of Texas)
	models of texture; hints on transcribing piano music.
Practical Orchestration - Arthur Olaf Anderson ( Incredible instrumentation 
	detail on strings (every single fingering in every position)
	Pointers on using each instrument in a texture. Not much orchestration.
Orchestration - Cecil Forsyth (since reprinted by Dover). Really only
	instrumentation, but includes some weird old instruments such as
	Tenoroon, Quartfaggot, and dulcitone.  Does anyone have a
	DX7 patch for a quartfaggot?
Orchestration - Piston (Norton) (Popular, really mostly instrumentation.
	Very little on orchestration.  Woodwinds get covered pretty well.
	Brass is short-shrifted, so is percussion.  Strings are just
	routinely covered.  eh. No weird old instruments.
Treatis on Instrumentation - Berlioz (R. Strauss additions marked with
	change bars)(Kalmus(now Belwin-Mills)) Very old but well illustrated.
	More actual orchestration, mixed in with the instrumentation.
	Includes older rare instruments.  Half the book is full examples,
	mostly from Berlioz, Wagner, and the others.
Instrumentation or Orchestration by Rimsky-Korsakov.  Dover.  Remembered
	this at the last minute.  The front half is mostly instrumention
	covered lightly, with hints on using instruments in a texture.
	the second half is all examples from Rimsky-Korsakov.
Well_Prepared Piano - Richard Bunger (POOP)  the only guide to using
	special mutes in a piano to change the sound.

*Composition
Craft of Musical Composition 2 vols.- Hindemith (Schott) (Vol II is
	Abstract rules for beginners to practice discipline.  Has nothing 
	to do with reality.) However, I never saw volume I, which is 
	supposedly the theoretical part.)
Fundamentals of Musical Composition - Schoenberg (Faber)
Invention & Composition of Music - Hutchings (Aphorisms, simple guidance and
	encouragement.)

*Advanced studies
Notes of an Apprenticeship - Boulez (examples of modern theory-great article
	on the rhythm of The Rite of Spring)
Technique of My Musical Composition - Messiean (How he actually composed,
	including scales, rhythm, and color correspondance with chords)
Twentieth Century Music Idioms - Welton Marquis (Prentice-hall) (atonal 
	primer, a slightly artificial introduction)
Serial Music? - George Perle (advanced serial text.)
Formalized Music - Iannis Xenakis (Compilation of articles including his
	description of his FORTRAN composing program and his techniques.)

Tom Janzen DEC Marlboro MA

Posted:	Mon 12-Aug-1985 14:29 EST
To:	@CLASSICAL