Essential Music Theory and Orchestration Books

Essential Books for Continuing Self Development:
By Mike Worth
Hi, all!
So, here’s the reason for this document. Simply put, you can’t learn enough from a four year
program to never have to develop yourself as a composer. And, also simply put, there’s a lot of
rubbish out there. Now, I’m not claiming I have all the answers, but learn from my errors. I’ve
purchased, read, studied almost every major music textbook out there. And, I wanted to distill
those books down to a list that would allow you to optimize your dollars as students, and
purchase together a list of books that are great “first steps” for composers that wish to
self-educate, and continue to develop their knowledge of theory and composition.
Couple of disclaimers and opinions:
1. My interest in composing is to score emotionally meaningful, dramatically interesting,

orchestrally colorful, and narratively coherent music. I have no interest in “art music”. I
have no problem with people who wish to focus on that, but my focus is on “cinematically
symphonic” music, and that informs the text that I study, and the scores that I study.
2. From a theory standpoint, I find classical musical theory to be inadequate to help a
contemporary composer write in the styles that he/she needs to write in. Simply put, the
rules that the classical theory textbooks put forth were observational rules for a very
narrow window of composition (basically, from Corelli and Scarlatti to Chopin). The
musical language available to us nowadays includes parallel 5ths, cluster chords,
planing chords, things that classical theory can’t explain.
3. Before, during, and after my degree programs, I was a gigging jazz and rock pianist. I
found that I gained much more compositional knowledge and theoretical background
from actually playing and learning songs, than from trying to apply outmoded classical
theory to media music that composers are writing today. I find that the language and
theory of jazz is the most comprehensive, most easily used to compose, most musical,
and most versatile of the organizational theories out there. Remember, that this is my
opinion. You don’t have to agree with me. I’m saying this to contextualize why I chose
the books I did.
4. These are great books to start your self-education journey with. After you’ve done all
these, there are other amazing books that are more advanced (Nelson Riddle’s book on
arranging for example). But, these are designed for a starting-out composer to get a
rock-solid handle on his theory and his transcribing.
5. I think we should never stop learning. I’m currently finishing up studying the Equal
Interval System, and it’s opened my eyes and ears in ways I never could have thought.
Don’t ever stop learning, it’s what makes this job so amazing.
So, now, onto my books. Each of these books that I’m recommending, I’m doing so for the
following reasons:
1. I feel that they are designed to impart skills and theory to a composer that they can use
immediately and musically. I feel that they are designed to help build and train working
composers, not theoretical academics. As a teacher of professional composers, I want to
give them tools that are actionable and strategic.
2. I think that students and budding composers should be able to buy value-based books,
and get what they need for a reasonable price. All of these books are under 50 dollars,
many of them under 30.
3. Most of these books are also available as Kindle or PDF, for modern portability.
4. Most of these books contain harmonic language that is germaine to the kind of music I
feel that media and commercial composers and arrangers need to know (golden age
Hollywood, Silver Age hollywood, pop, classic jazz, contemporary jazz, and traditional
jazz arranging).
Lastly, I’ll say this. You’ll see these books, and some of them are pretty big (Ron Gorow’s). I
have two comments on this. First, don’t take it in all at once. It’s like the old joke, “How do you
eat an elephant? One small bite at a time.” Get one book. Do a chapter a week, or two chapters
a week. Trust the process. Feel yourself getting better. Then, use what you’ve learned. Write a
short pop piece, or a 30 second cue. Be gentle.
Second… and this “tough love”. Becoming great at composing music ain’t easy. It takes time.
Discipline. Focus. Determination. Most people simply don’t have the guts and the “grit” to sit and
go through these books, and practice the skills, and truly try to get better. It’s your choice. You
can choose to dive into these, spend maybe 200 bucks, plus a Spotify account, and train
yourself to be an excellent composer for a fraction of music school. Or, you can say, “It’s too
hard”, and not. No one is making you do this. But, if you do, you’ll have such an edge over those
who don’t.
Lastly, don’t study this in a vacuum. Transcribe! Sketch! Write!

Contemporary Music Theory - Mark Harrison
(3 Volumes, Level 1, 2, 3)
● I find these three books to be an excellent introduction and codification of contemporary
harmony. The books are laid out thoughtfully, in a good progression. There are drills at
each chapter, which really drive home the concepts. Go through these, and you’ll have a
good foundation of pop and jazz theory, which you can apply to film scoring, songwriting,
and arranging.
Jazz Theory - Mark Levine

● If you then want to take your theory to the next level, Mark Levine’s Jazz Theory book is
great. It expands upon the Harrison trilogy, but has a lot of real world jazz examples, so
it helps to cement the lessons. Good, clear writing.
Music Notation (Berklee Guide) - Mark McGrain

● In my opinion, don’t get any other notation book than this. They’re overpriced, and not
designed for a working arranger. This book gives great exercises and drills on how to
make your written music legible, clear, and consistent. Even if you’re not an orchestrator,
use this book so that your sketches are clear and readable. Yes, some of us still write to
pen and paper, and you know what, I’m a faster composer for it.
Hearing and Writing Music - Ron Gorow

● We all forget that music is heard, not read. Our ears and our aural transcription is our
single greatest gift as a composer. And, it’s hard to figure out how to develop our
transcription ear. This book is huge, and dense, and the drills are tough. But I promise
you, I swear on everything holy, if you throw yourself into this book, if you do the
exercises, if you commit, you will gain a major weapon in your arsenal. The ability to
write from head to page (or to DAW) without checking if what you’re imagining is what
you’re writing. This is huge. And, once you learn how to transcribe, read on in the
Corozine book for examples of what to transcribe!
Composing Music: A New Approach - William Russo

● The exercises seem a bit simple, but the book excels at getting a composer to “get out of
his/her way”, ditch the writer’s block, and start composing. It’s gentle, and fun, and
makes you realize that you can compose every day, and it doesn’t all have to be The
Rite of Spring.
Melody in Songwriting - Jack Perricone

● Most classical theory books have little to no areas on how to compose a melody. Melodic
writing is based upon a combination of thinking about intervals (from jazz) with singable,
“hook’y” shapes. This book really helps a composer think about how to construct an
emotional, memorable, catch’y melody. Even though it’s written with the songwriter in
mind, the lessons translate to writing a catchy instrumental melody.
Arranging and Composing for the Small Ensemble - David Baker
● This is a great book to help an arranger get from “chords and melody” lead sheet, to
actually writing it out for small ensembles. The ability to convey your emotion and vibe
with few instruments is of profound importance in today’s sample library world. Done
right, you can sell a mood or emotion better with 4 live instruments than with all the
layered orchestral libs out there.
Arranging Music for the Real World - Vince Corozine

● This book is awesome for a couple of reasons. First, it covers a set of principles and
theories for orchestration that translate universally across all genres. Jazz, film scoring,
production arranging, classical, etc. It’s a great book to expand your sketches into
fleshed out orchestrations. Second, there is an appendix which lists all the
recommended orchestral literature to listen to. So, after crushing the Ron Gorow book,
open up this appendix… and there’s your transcription homework! :)
● Oh, I forgot a third. This comes with audio CD tracks, so you can hear the different
examples. Totally worth it!
Principles of Orchestration - Rimsky Korsakov

● This is the bible of modern orchestration. Forget the Adler and Kennan books. Those
books talk about ranges of instruments, and techniques. This book talks about how the
instruments of an orchestra work together, how they balance, what the roles are, etc.
Plus, instead of 100 bucks for Adler, this one is like 20. AND, over at
www.northernsounds.org, they have this whole book up for free, with embedded audio.
Seriously. This should be required reading for all orchestrators.
Arranging for the Large Jazz Ensemble - Ken Pullig and Dick Lowell
● This book is more of a “nice to have”, because we don’t do a lot of big band arranging.
However, if you ever get a gig doing a big band chart, this is a good “nuts and bolts”
book on big band arranging. Well written, lots of good examples, comes with audio
examples, too.

Essential Music Theory and Orchestration Books

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Essential Books for Continuing Self Development:

Couple of disclaimers and opinions:

1. My interest in composing is to score emotionally meaningful, dramatically interesting,

Lastly, don’t study this in a vacuum. Transcribe! Sketch! Write!

Jazz Theory - Mark Levine

Music Notation (Berklee Guide) - Mark McGrain

Hearing and Writing Music - Ron Gorow

Composing Music: A New Approach - William Russo

Melody in Songwriting - Jack Perricone

Arranging Music for the Real World - Vince Corozine

Principles of Orchestration - Rimsky Korsakov

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