1 A Practical Guide to Musical Composition by Alan Belkin
[email protected] © Alan Belkin, 2008 2 Presentation The aim of this book is to discuss fundamental principles of musical composition in concise, practical terms, and to provide guidance for student composers. Many of these practical aspects of the craft of composition, especially concerning form, are not often discussed in ways useful to an apprentice composer - ways that help him to solve common problems. Thus, this will not be a "theory" text, nor an analysis treatise, but rather a guide to some of the basic tools of the trade. It is mainly based on my own experience as a composer and teacher. This book is the first in a series. The others are: Counterpoint, Orchestration, and Harmony. A complement to this book is my Workbook for Elementary Tonal Composition. For more artistic matters related to composition, please see my essay on the Musical Idea. This series is dedicated to the memory of my teacher and friend Marvin Duchow, one of the rare true scholars, a musician of immense depth and sensitivity, and a man of unsurpassed kindness and generosity. Note concerning the musical examples: Unless otherwise indicated, the musical examples are my own, and are covered by copyright. To hear the audio examples, you must use the online version of this book. To hear other examples of my music, please visit the worklist page. Scores have been reduced, and occasional detailed performance indications removed, to save space. I have also furnished examples from the standard repertoire (each marked "repertoire example").