In my undergraduate career, I’ve accumulated quite a few books, a trend that will likely continue in graduate school. That said, we at { WMM! } have compiled a list of books that have really helped us over the past few years.
The Music Theory Handbook by Marjorie Merryman is a thin, softcover book that covers just about everything related to music theory. It’s concise, it’s informative, and it’s great as either a textbook (like we used it) or as a reference book (as some of us STILL use it). Also, it is one of the cheapest and most-often-used textbooks I bought.
The Grout A History of Western Music is the most-used textbook of music history on the university level, and has been for many of its nine editions. This most recent edition spans nearly one thousand pages and covers everything from antiquity to the present day.
Continuing on the history side of things, Brian R. Simms’ Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure covers…well, the twentieth century. This book looks at music since 1900 from a historical, theoretical, analytical, and stylistic standpoint. This can be (and IMHO, should be) supplemented by the companion Music of the Twentieth Century: An Anthology – But I’m not having any luck finding a copy for sale.
Next up is a definitive text in the art of writing in a contrapuntal style. Kent Kennan’s aptly-named Counterpoint discusses the practice of 17th and 18th century contrapuntal practices through analysis and writing. Of course, it’s my firm belief that every composer should write a crab canon at some point in their life, even if it’s only once…
A book that I have used A LOT recently has definitely been my trusted orchestration book. While the Rimsky-Korsakov and the Forsyth are great standards (and I’m sure the Piston is too, but I haven’t had the pleasure of using it), I find myself turning to Samuel Adler’s The Study of Orchestration. More of a textbook than a reference guide, the Adler gives numerous technical and musical examples of instrument capabilities as well as scoring examples from various works.
Furthermore, every musician (composer or not) should have a copy of a reputable music dictionary. The two most recognized are The Oxford Dictionary of Music
Well, this entry made it out there later than I anticipated, so I’ll have to cut it short for now. Stay tuned for Part 2 (and maybe part 3, and 4 and…) and remember that everything discussed here is available through Amazon, eBay, and other retailers!
