Guide to MIDI Orchestration- Helpful?

[Speeeven]

Hey, I just ordered this book off Amazon, I was wondering if anyone has read it and could let me know how helpful you found it. I've been composing for about 8 years, but have never really received any formal education beyond the basics of theory. I'm hoping this book can help with orchestration techniques, and just overall making my MIDI (with vst plugins) sound better. Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240814134/ref=oss_product

[Kanthos]

I just ordered it myself and got it yesterday. The impression I have from skimming a bit is that it's probably not ideal as *the* only book you'd ever want, but if you use it mainly for the computer aspect and use something like Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration together, you'll be better off than relying on it to also cover everything you need to know about orchestration.

[Speeeven]

Awesome, thanks! I'll be eagerly watching my mailbox. 600 pages of goodness

And I went ahead and ordered the Rimsky-Korsakov book as well--- $8 used on Amazon, hard to beat that price!

[BearCDP]

Hello, I was just lurking and thought I should chime in. A friend recommended the Gilreath book to me, and it's been great. If you're looking for a really thorough and modern text on orchestration, I really recommend The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler (amazon link). It is pricy unfortunately, so maybe a library near you will have it so you can see how you like it. Regardless, it's definitely my go-to reference for orchestration.

[Blue123]

All excellent recommendations! I'm not familiar with Adler's book, but I've heard good things about it. Personally, I use Kennan's "Technique of Orchestration".

http://www.amazon.com/Technique-Orchestration-Recording-Package-6th/dp/0130771619/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288896005&sr=1-3

It's huge, the score and audio examples are great, but it's even more pricey. Take a look through the comments of reviews of both, and see what you think. However, for a quick, easy to read reference, I recommend the Essential Dictionary of Orchestration :

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Dictionary-Orchestration/dp/0739000217/ref=pd_sim_b_1

It's quite small (I like to take it on long journeys), to the point, and while it does cover a lot of topics a few descriptions are on the vague side.

You should have waited on buying the Rimsky-Korsakov though; there's a full, free and updated (with interactive score and audio examples!) available online. Several other great tutorials are available from the same site:

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration-On-line

Lastly, "Acoustic and MIDI orchestration for the contemporary composer" is a good starting point for beginners, or a companion. It contains a lot of useful and good information and techniques and how-to, starting with the traditional instruments and then moving onto sequencing them, but is of limited depth.

http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-MIDI-Orchestration-Contemporary-Composer/dp/0240520211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288896496&sr=1-1

[dannthr]

Hello, I was just lurking and thought I should chime in. A friend recommended the Gilreath book to me, and it's been great. If you're looking for a really thorough and modern text on orchestration, I really recommend The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler (amazon link). It is pricy unfortunately, so maybe a library near you will have it so you can see how you like it. Regardless, it's definitely my go-to reference for orchestration.

I second the Adler book AND I would highly suggest the accompanying audio CDs--every single excerpt in the Adler book is provided including voice explorations of moving a part from one instrument group to another.

The pair are invaluable.

They are pricy because they are currently in common use as a college text book.

I have the Rimsy-Korsikov, I have the Berlioz/Strauss, the Forcythe, etc, and Adler's is my go-to every time.

[Gario]

All excellent recommendations! I'm not familiar with Adler's book, but I've heard good things about it. Personally, I use Kennan's "Technique of Orchestration".

Adler's book is alright - it goes over what instruments can do and why instruments may have trouble performing certain things, like any other orchestration book should do, and it does this quite well. Really, though, the art of Orchestration comes from listening to orchestral music and developing a taste for timbre combinations.

Tell me how the 'Midi Orchestration' book is, though - I'm sort of interested to see what take they have on the subject.

[dannthr]

Adler's book is alright - it goes over what instruments can do and why instruments may have trouble performing certain things, like any other orchestration book should do, and it does this quite well. Really, though, the art of Orchestration comes from listening to orchestral music and developing a taste for timbre combinations.

Tell me how the 'Midi Orchestration' book is, though - I'm sort of interested to see what take they have on the subject.

If you really want an indepth book on the history of instruments and why they sound the way they do and their complete limitations, Cecil Forscythe's book is a great read.

There is no substitute for studying actual scores.

Any local university library worth its weight in balls will have a decent music library with scores available for listening. There is no better way than that and that's what I like about Adler's book, the accompanying CDs really add a great dimension to excerpts and really exemplify varied voicings, etc.