# I Want to Take My Compositions to A Higher Level.



## kamalayka (Sep 8, 2012)

The two books I gained most of my musical knowledge from were Piston's Harmony and Gradus ad Parnassum.

Am I ready to learn orchestration yet? I want to be able to compose music like this:

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=/#/watch?v=5I0SzwTu000

(It's not exactly "classical," but it's my favorite style of writing.)


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Get yourself the Joseph Adler Orchestration book. Costly, but a lifetime reference, so well worth it. Tons of score examples, an additional booklet with score samples, and a CD.

Now, just as learning to compose is Not commencing with a large work, it is quite the same for orchestration.

Getting familiar with the qualities, and very much the technical capacities, of the various instruments is not an overnight deal.

Start with a single instrument and piano, or just that single instrument, small combinations of different instruments, and so on.

Then there are the homogenous groupings of winds, a duo, trio, quartet or quintet, Ditto for Strings and Brass.

As eager as you are, that will 'get you there' faster than plunging in to a full score for large orchestra, midi or no midi


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

That video you linked to is a good goal to start with, I think.

Apart from obviously picking up a book and studying the technical side of orchestration, the most important thing you can do to learn is to intelligently listen to a lot of music like this over and over again, so that you internalize the processes. Another good exercise to do would be to manually copy out the notation you see in that video into your own notation software, so that you can take the music apart and get a detailed look at how it's put together.



PetrB said:


> Get yourself the Joseph Adler Orchestration book. Costly, but a lifetime reference, so well worth it. Tons of score examples, an additional booklet with score samples, and a CD.


*Samuel Adler, just to clear up any potential confusion =P.


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