Music composition learning resources

[KBSoundSmith]

Bonus: Counterpoint

Counterpoint should be undertaken after you have some harmonic and melodic experience under your belt. This will greatly enrich your command of writing both melodies and accompaniment, but for now isn’t strictly necessary for your interests.

what are your thoughts on learning counterpoint (2 & 3 part species) along side (or even prior to) harmony? From what I understand, some institutions are now teaching this way.

Certainly it's a valid approach. I made the recommendation I made to the OP for a few reasons:

1) Writing just melody will teach horizontal development (allowing the study in isolation)
2) Writing just harmony will teach vertical development and reinforce the drills of learning chord names largely allowing the study in isolation -- harmonic change obvious entails some level of horizontal development)
3) Counterpoint seems to come easier to some students when they have a teacher guiding them, although there are plenty of exceptions to that (subjective) observation
4) Counterpoint following the guidelines of Fux doesn't emphasize the resulting harmony -- according to Fux's guidelines, harmonic progressions could develop that would be "objectionable" to the harmonic progressions we use today (particularly if the student is unaware of those progressions -- students who know them tend to apply them without a problem, with the resulting counterpoint being more like that as addressed in the Kennan text)
5) Today's pop music textures can primarily be described as homophonic

Since I'm trying to get the OP to his goal of writing songs using as straight a line as possible, that's why I suggest counterpoint to be done a bit later.

However, counterpoint first certainly has advantages.

1) A heightened melodic sense (probably the chief advantage, deserving consideration for primacy for this reason alone)
2) A more flowing quality to the bassline
3) A heightened awareness of intervals between parts
4) A more sophisticated command of musical texture
5) It is more like writing "real" music than chorale writing (another reason why counterpoint first deserves consideration for primacy) ** chorale writing and its limitations is actually something I plan on addressing in a later post -- since I've spent this time writing these posts, I might as well go all out and make it sticky worthy

Off the top of my head, those are a few of my thoughts. Totally valid, and if I was teaching someone one-on-one, it would very well likely be the approach I took. But the OP is going to be self-teaching primarily, so reduced complexity seems appropriate to me.

@sellyoursoul: In other words -- make sure you add counterpoint study

Thanks for the reply.... I'm not trying to hijack the OP's thread btw, I was just wondering after hearing someone else explain the benefits of learning CP along side or even prior to harmony. IIRC, they were explaining that since harmony is a derivative of contrapuntal style, by learning counterpoint first, you learn how melodic lines move horizontally whereas when you learn harmony first you tend to think vertically and forget about the movement from one chord to another.

Yep, that's exactly right. I'd simply add the qualifier "forgetting about the melodic movement from one chord to another," where the actual melody and independence of the lines tend to suffer from poor development.

And your question seems perfectly topical to me, no worries

[Hooj]

Thanks for the reply.... I'm not trying to hijack the OP's thread btw, I was just wondering after hearing someone else explain the benefits of learning CP along side or even prior to harmony. IIRC, they were explaining that since harmony is a derivative of contrapuntal style, by learning counterpoint first, you learn how melodic lines move horizontally whereas when you learn harmony first you tend to think vertically and forget about the movement from one chord to another.

Yep, that's exactly right. I'd simply add the qualifier "forgetting about the melodic movement from one chord to another," where the actual melody and independence of the lines tend to suffer from poor development.

And your question seems perfectly topical to me, no worries

Thanks again.... Much appreciated! Several of the books you mentioned were also highly recommended by some other people I recently talked to about studying harmony & counterpoint (Gauldin's Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music, in particular).
However, I was also considering some other texts but have received mixed reviews thus far, all by Arnold Schoenberg:-
"Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"
"Theory of Harmony"
"Structural Functions of Harmony"

Just wondering if you are familiar w/any of those titles and if you would (or would not) recommend them?

[KBSoundSmith]

Thanks for the reply.... I'm not trying to hijack the OP's thread btw, I was just wondering after hearing someone else explain the benefits of learning CP along side or even prior to harmony. IIRC, they were explaining that since harmony is a derivative of contrapuntal style, by learning counterpoint first, you learn how melodic lines move horizontally whereas when you learn harmony first you tend to think vertically and forget about the movement from one chord to another.

Yep, that's exactly right. I'd simply add the qualifier "forgetting about the melodic movement from one chord to another," where the actual melody and independence of the lines tend to suffer from poor development.

And your question seems perfectly topical to me, no worries

Thanks again.... Much appreciated! Several of the books you mentioned were also highly recommended by some other people I recently talked to about studying harmony & counterpoint (Gauldin's Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music, in particular).
However, I was also considering some other texts but have received mixed reviews thus far, all by Arnold Schoenberg:-
"Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"
"Theory of Harmony"
"Structural Functions of Harmony"

Just wondering if you are familiar w/any of those titles and if you would (or would not) recommend them?

Yes, I own two of those books, plus several others he wrote. The one you listed that I don't have is "Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"

Theory of Harmony and Structural Functions of Harmony are excellent books -- but I do not recommend them (as your first books) for a few reasons:

1) Schoenberg invented a lot of his own terminology, which got further clouded by the fact that he wrote in German, then got help with English translations. So, the terms you find here aren't used in other theory texts, nor will you hear them used by other musicians (even if they are describing the same concept)

2) His symbols for chords are different than what is standard today (again, because he made up his own). For example, a secondary dominant in today's practice might be notated V7/V, whereas Schoenberg would notate it as II7 with a dash through the letters.

3) They are verbose, making them a daunting read for a beginner (Theory of Harmony) -- or they have too little explanation (Structural Functions of Harmony) for a beginner.

4) He goes on (extremely valuable and interesting) tangents about pedagogy and aesthetics and composition; but again, for someone whose enthusiasm is bursting and they want to just write a song already, it might be a slow, frustrating read.

5) In the case of Structural Functions of Harmony, you really need to have read Theory of Harmony and/or other complete theory texts before attempting to read it. It is not a beginner's book.

His books are definitely worth reading (especially Theory of Harmony). But the reason I would suggest them is that they are High Concept books -- they question the foundations of why you do what you do, at every turn, before you do them. You can't help but come away from them as a more thoughtful person. Whereas the books I recommended kind of just get right down to business because they assume you just want to get to writing without existential hand-wringing.

If you want to read them, I suggest:

1) First reading the theory texts I initially recommended
2) Read a text on jazz harmony and concepts
3) Then read Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony

[Niklashe]

Maybe this book is a good way to get started?

https://www.amazon.com/Songwriting-Dumm ... 0470615141

You seem to be more oriented towards pop music, so perhaps you don't need all that stuff about writing counterpoint and orchestration to start with.There are also Music Composition and Music Theory in the same series. Can be worth checking out. Also, websites like Groove3, although they cost money, have a lot of courses on composition in pop styles, can also be worth checking out if it suits you. I think Groove3 gives the opportunity to test their site for free.

[Hooj]

Thanks again.... Much appreciated! Several of the books you mentioned were also highly recommended by some other people I recently talked to about studying harmony & counterpoint (Gauldin's Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music, in particular).
However, I was also considering some other texts but have received mixed reviews thus far, all by Arnold Schoenberg:-
"Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"
"Theory of Harmony"
"Structural Functions of Harmony"

Just wondering if you are familiar w/any of those titles and if you would (or would not) recommend them?

Yes, I own two of those books, plus several others he wrote. The one you listed that I don't have is "Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"

Theory of Harmony and Structural Functions of Harmony are excellent books -- but I do not recommend them (as your first books)...


His books are definitely worth reading (especially Theory of Harmony). But the reason I would suggest them is that they are High Concept books -- they question the foundations of why you do what you do, at every turn, before you do them. You can't help but come away from them as a more thoughtful person. Whereas the books I recommended kind of just get right down to business because they assume you just want to get to writing without existential hand-wringing.

If you want to read them, I suggest:

1) First reading the theory texts I initially recommended
2) Read a text on jazz harmony and concepts
3) Then read Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony

Okay cool, I have access to Theory of Harmony but will wait to lay some groundwork before I tackle it.

Regarding the Harmony books you mentioned, Korsakov's Practical Manual of Harmony has both a book and sheet music for sale (separately). I'm guessing I need both, correct? I plan on working through this book before I purchase the Gauldin text.

My only concern stems from my last read, Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. I found it necessary to consult with someone who had a good understanding of CP and could check over my work (exercises). There was no way for me to know whether or not I was on the right track otherwise. Is it possible to actually progress through Korskav's book without aid?

[KBSoundSmith]

Thanks again.... Much appreciated! Several of the books you mentioned were also highly recommended by some other people I recently talked to about studying harmony & counterpoint (Gauldin's Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music, in particular).
However, I was also considering some other texts but have received mixed reviews thus far, all by Arnold Schoenberg:-
"Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"
"Theory of Harmony"
"Structural Functions of Harmony"

Just wondering if you are familiar w/any of those titles and if you would (or would not) recommend them?

Yes, I own two of those books, plus several others he wrote. The one you listed that I don't have is "Preliminary Exercises in Counterpoint"

Theory of Harmony and Structural Functions of Harmony are excellent books -- but I do not recommend them (as your first books)...


His books are definitely worth reading (especially Theory of Harmony). But the reason I would suggest them is that they are High Concept books -- they question the foundations of why you do what you do, at every turn, before you do them. You can't help but come away from them as a more thoughtful person. Whereas the books I recommended kind of just get right down to business because they assume you just want to get to writing without existential hand-wringing.

If you want to read them, I suggest:

1) First reading the theory texts I initially recommended
2) Read a text on jazz harmony and concepts
3) Then read Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony

Okay cool, I have access to Theory of Harmony but will wait to lay some groundwork before I tackle it.

Regarding the Harmony books you mentioned, Korsakov's Practical Manual of Harmony has both a book and sheet music for sale (separately). I'm guessing I need both, correct? I plan on working through this book before I purchase the Gauldin text.

My only concern stems from my last read, Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. I found it necessary to consult with someone who had a good understanding of CP and could check over my work (exercises). There was no way for me to know whether or not I was on the right track otherwise. Is it possible to actually progress through Korskav's book without aid?

Ah, I checked the Amazon link. The "Sheet Music" is actually the paperback version, so don't buy the hardcover at all, just get the paperback (everything is in just that one volume, no additional purchases are needed).

Regarding your second question: that's one of the chief obstacles in self-study and why having a teacher can be valuable -- sometimes they can see things you're missing, so they can speed up the process by pointing out errors, giving insights, etc.

But I do believe you can have great success working through the Korsakov without a teacher (and later, the counterpoint text as well -- with diligence, you CAN handle solo everything I've suggested). You'll have to do the exercises in three stages:

1) do the exercise (creation)
2) look for errors based upon the guidelines provided (analysis)
3) fix errors (correction)
...then repeat as necessary.

You WILL make mistakes. But that's alright, over time, you'll start seeing them as you practice looking for them. Korsakov tells you what to look out for, so simply try your best, use his advice to analyze what you've done, and make corrections when necessary.

Don't get discouraged or bogged down either. Do an exercise, learn what you can, then go on to the next. No one is going to die because you made a voice-leading error in an exercise. Doing the exercises multiple times will also be beneficial. For example, you might work through half of chapter 2; then, instead of moving onto the second half of the chapter, you instead go back and do that first half's exercises a second time before moving on.

[Hooj]

Ah, I checked the Amazon link. The "Sheet Music" is actually the paperback version, so don't buy the hardcover at all, just get the paperback (everything is in just that one volume, no additional purchases are needed).

Okay, glad I asked then.... I was going to purchase both.

Regarding your second question: that's one of the chief obstacles in self-study and why having a teacher can be valuable -- sometimes they can see things you're missing, so they can speed up the process by pointing out errors, giving insights, etc.

But I do believe you can have great success working through the Korsakov without a teacher (and later, the counterpoint text as well -- with diligence, you CAN handle solo everything I've suggested). You'll have to do the exercises in three stages:

1) do the exercise (creation)
2) look for errors based upon the guidelines provided (analysis)
3) fix errors (correction)
...then repeat as necessary.

Yeah, I will try to work through it on my own and if I do need some assistance, I'll have to call on someone to look it over.

Thank you for all of your suggestions/help/recommendations.... You explain things in a very thorough manner!

[jancivil]

Wow, this is pretty exhaustive. I would suppose the OP, whose goal is 'songwriter' is overwhelmed just a bit.

ONE thing I will say is <feel free to bypass Fux, Gradus>.
You can get good discipline from a good 4 part part-writing course. Those hard rules aren't going to get you anywhere you can't get from a more relevant study. Unless you have to have that primitive sound.

It's gratifying to see the emphasis on part-writing in harmony, melody IN and of harmony, rather than the usual 'over' the harmony discussion.

The main thing for a beginning is get your ear together. A combo of transcribing, I mean in detail, and solfege. Ideally a course which contains this and a part-writing emphasis.

[sellyoursoul]

Wow, this is pretty exhaustive. I would suppose the OP, whose goal is 'songwriter' is overwhelmed just a bit..

Not overwhelmed, just knocking out some piled up todo's lately. And inbetween I'm thinking on points of KBSoundSmith's good advice.

I'm also thinking about how I might integrate other music stuff's that I am working on into the things which KBSoundSmith listed.

[sellyoursoul]

I'm just about to wrap up my backed up todo list, and I will be able to get back to music stuff. Thinking on the flashcards aspect, I did some searching and came across some good ideas. Although, I'm not exactly sure how I might integrate them.

The first idea is using spaced repetition for committing to memory the same material in less than half of the time. It works like this: You have separate piles for flashcards labeled, every day, every other day, twice per week, once per week, and finished. Say that your goal is to commit key signatures to memory. You would use each flashcard every day until you think that you are starting to just get a grasp on recalling the information on it. At that point, if you are recalling the information correctly, you move the card to the, every other day, pile. And you continue doing this, moving each card through each pile, until the card reaches the, finished, pile. Then you are done with that card. If at any point, you recall the wrong answer for that card, it gets put all the way back into the, every day, pile. The benefit here is that you aren't reviewing every card equally, where the information on some cards is easy to recall and other cards are more difficult. For example, once you know that all notes in C are natural and that it's key signature has no flats or sharps, you don't need to review that card every day. Simarly, for C#, it's easy to pick up that every note is sharp and that it's key sig has a sharp for every note. So those cards will move very quickly through the piles in comparison to say, the Db card. And since the Db card is more difficult to memorize, it will get more review by using the system of spaced repetition.

When looking at the music flashcards listed at amazon, what is actually covered in the cards seems vague. This got me to thinking about making my own cards. And in searching to see what has worked for others, I ran across a couple of ideas. One is that making your own cards has been shown to improve memorization, because you are actively involved in organizing the information and producing the cards. Another idea is that adding a little drawing to each card aids in memorization. For example, for a key signature card for Bb, you might add a drawing of a bee with a flat tire. It was said that the more wacky the imagery, the better it serves as a memory aid.

[jancivil]

Rather than this flashcard memorizing and 'all the notes are sharp in C# {major}' you'll benefit by understanding the structure of key revealed in the key signature. EG: Db's last flat is Gb; it's a P4 above the tonic, true of every flat key signature. You can think of it this way: the flat keys run in P4ths up from C major, and in the key signatures they accrue thusly: Bb, Eb, Ab, et cetera. The sharp keys run in P4ths down from C major; the sharps are major 7ths of the key, albeit C major doesn't contain any. BUT, note how F# is ^7 of G, C# is ^7 of D, G# is ^7 of A etc...

[sellyoursoul]

Rather than this flashcard memorizing and 'all the notes are sharp in C# {major}' you'll benefit by understanding the structure of key revealed in the key signature. EG: Db's last flat is Gb; it's a P4 above the tonic, true of every flat key signature. You can think of it this way: the flat keys run in P4ths up from C major, and in the key signatures they accrue thusly: Bb, Eb, Ab, et cetera. The sharp keys run in P4ths down from C major; the sharps are major 7ths of the key, albeit C major doesn't contain any. BUT, note how F# is ^7 of G, C# is ^7 of D, G# is ^7 of A etc...

Maybe it would be good to understand that concept as well as using flashcards for memorization. In use, moving by intervals requires counting, which seems to me that it would be much slower than recalling from memory. Or maybe I don't have all the details of what you mean.

[jancivil]

scratch - n.m., I've already said it.

Good luck.

[anomandaris1]

Archive.org has many out of copyright book scans - Percy Goetschius, Ebenezer Prout, Howard Hanson, Joseph Wagner, Sergey Taneev, Tchaikovsky, Korsakov etc (too many to list).
While some of the information (like instrumentation) can be dated, they are free - (100-150 USD for a harmony book is a robbery practiced in the universities) (and probably have less print errors than the modern textbooks).

[sellyoursoul]

Following up on KBSoundSmith's post.

So these books require some music reading ability. I can eek through reading a bit, but I'm very weak at it (especially pitch, intervals, chords).

Melody: Melody In Songwriting, Perricone
Harmony: Practical Manual of Harmony, Rimsky-Korsakov

I guess phase one of this adventure is going to be working with flash cards, which I am just starting on making up now; writing out keys, scales, and chords on music paper, as outlined by KB; working with The Rhythm Bible. I'll see how that goes and report back after a while. Or more likely, I will report back sooner with questions.

I have also been working with a couple of guitar resources, one of which focuses heavily on learning intervals by graduating from a limited set to the full range of intervals, all the while listening to the tonal colors, creating phrases from them, singing them, and anticipating where you want to go next, then moving to building chords by ear and improvising with chords and phrases by ear (according to what you want to hear). It's like a melody and harmony course without the theory, focusing on listening and improvising. If that pans out as being a good experience, I'll report back on it. The other guitar resource is theory based, focusing on building chords, building progressions, using substitutions, and that type of thing.

Any how, I think this will all be a good foundation before beginning into the melody and harmony books.

Oh, and my resources for making the flash cards will be The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, and the The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition, neither of which I would recommend as a good learning resource. I have read through both, and neither provides adequate exercises for learning and working with the material. But for the purpose of reference for making the flash cards, they will suffice.

Also, thanks again KBSoundSmith. In my experience, answers to these kinds of questions are usually very vague, amounting to lists of books and other resources without any direction and details in using them.