Learning Theory

The classics are often quite cheap since they were written more than 100 years ago (and sometimes more than 250).

Treatise on Harmony

No one is more qualified to talk about theory and counterpoint than a BAROQUE composer, get it? Broke?

Eh....


Anyone, start there and follow the various "People who bought this also bought other things" links.

I'm not going to argue the merits of Rameau's Treatise on harmony here, but I wouldn't recommend this book as a primer or as a practical guide to learning about counterpoint. The content is great, but the style of writing is a bit much/dense/boring, and as I recall, the language and terminology are dated.

If counterpoint is what you're after, then I'd suggest picking up Bach's chorales and reading through them. I'd also say to pick up some of Bach's easier preludes and fugues, and perhaps the two and three part inventions. These pieces can be played through and studied by someone with moderate keyboard skills; I can attest to that.

Fux's Study of Counterpoint is an entertaining read as well and would give you more of a "how-to" approach. It's an old book, but still very relevant and readable.

As I said, follow the bread crumbs.

Fux's book is right there on the page ;)

Why do you want to learn counterpoint for sound-design/game music? Fugues, canons and ricercares aren't very light reading....

dannthr,

yes, i saw fux in the list of books that other people bought.

and anyway, being baroque, i read amazon reviews now more than i read actual books. although i don't recommend learning counterpoint that way. :)

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Original post by Music Composer Why do you want to learn counterpoint for sound-design/game music? Fugues, canons and ricercares aren't very light reading....

Seriously, dude, that is the absolute wrong attitude! We should all be on such a quest to better ourselves musically--our scores will be better for it, who cares if you don't think it's 'necessary' for game music--all that does is demean game music.

Bettering oursleves, bettering Game Music.

I wish we lived in a world where more young game composers were so interested in lending their scores musical substance instead of just trying to emulate Nobuo Uematsu over and over and over.

Quote:

Original post by Dannthr Seriously, dude, that is the absolute wrong attitude!!! I wish we lived in a world where more young game composers were so interested in lending their scores musical substance instead of just trying to emulate Nobuo Uematsu over and over and over.

AMEN! The more you know the more versitile you can be. I've heard many video game OST that used extensive counterpoint and/or fugue which were very well received!

Quote:

Original post by Dannthr Quote: Original post by Music Composer Why do you want to learn counterpoint for sound-design/game music? Fugues, canons and ricercares aren't very light reading.... Seriously, dude, that is the absolute wrong attitude! We should all be on such a quest to better ourselves musically--our scores will be better for it, who cares if you don't think it's 'necessary' for game music--all that does is demean game music.

One game composer client of mine has only a rudimentary background in music theory which actually makes things quite difficult for him at times. He told me once, "I thought about taking some harmony and composition lessons, but I'm afraid it will change my sound. I'm afraid teachers will tell me, 'You have to write this way or that way.'"

I replied, "As part of an exercise you'll be told to write something a certain way, but that the whole point of an exercise - to learn a technique or principle. What you do with the knowledge you gain from that exercise is up to you. Once you have that knowledge, it's another tool in your bag. You can use it whenever or however you want. But you'll never have that tool if you don't learn."

Music theory doesn't teach you how to write, it gives you tools and techniques you can use so that you don't end up trying to use a nail when you really need a screw, or worse, trying drive that screw with a hammer!

Furthermore, a good knowledge of theory enables you to analyze your own writing. It's great for those moments when you need to figure out why something doesn't sound right. It's also great when you are trying to get more mileage out of an idea. Theory can give you options for reharmonization, different settings for a melody, variations on a theme, or a host of other tools.

Bottom line: you may not use traditional species counterpoint in your score, but you will use that knowledge of counterpoint to create colors that cannot be created any other way.

http://www.cwu.edu/~music/theory/counter.html

I attended cwu for a number of years, and took classes from this guy.

Learning theory can't teach a good writer how to write. It's the same as learning how to stroke with a pain brush on a canvas, but it doesn't mean you'll be any better at it.... but at least you can step back and say "Why didn't this work? How can this get better?"--- And you'll know.

For me, when I write something, and it just doesn't quite click harmonically, I can step back and do an analysis... oh, there's parallel fifths, or that voice is leaping too far, or that chord can resolve better to this chord and go from there, etc etc etc.

It's not so much skill improving as it is efficiency and tool improving.



For the record,

Uematsu doesn't rank all that high on my artistic list, since he was brought up...

Soule, on the other hand, is fairly high, if not the highest on my appreciated list. Certainly a skilled writer, however I hope I can hear some varying sounds come from his portfolio (this could have to do with producer's demand for stuff that 'sounds the same' though)

It's been a while since I contributed on this board and my own music writing has slumped recently (to the point of nonexistence). But what the hell, here's my two cents.

I agree with Nathan and Dannthr regarding their approaches to composition. Even if you never end up writing a fugue, you'll be better off knowing how to do it.

http://www.musictheory.net/index.html

Kenny, check this site out. For starters, go through the "Lessons" pull down menu in order. This is the single most concise, well rounded, and easy to use page I've come across for learning music theory on the entire web.

If you already play an instrument, then you probably have a functional understanding of clefs, major and minor scales, and key signatures. If that's that case, click on the "Lessons" menu and dive into the section on chords and analysis. Otherwise you should start from the very beginning.

If you don't have any, I recommend going to a music store and buying some blank musical manuscript paper. Being able to write music legibly by hand and notate figured bass is a good skill to have. Even if you end up transcribing everything to computer later on, I find that it helps me focus.