The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arranging and Orchestration

Description

I bought the Idiots Guide to Orchestration while being aware of exceptionally strong criticism of the book. The first critiques I encountered on Amazon were clearly from experts in the field who, to my mind, were trying to impress me with their great knowledge. My reaction to those critiques was really "where is your book?". So I bought the Idiot's guide. I'm a jazz guitarist trying to glean whatever I can without an enormous commitment to years of study. The ideas about harmonisation and inversion are solid and reliable information. The also remind me that their are many inversions possible that are outside of the possibilities of the guitar. The biggest criticism by other reviewers was regarding the included CD. The sampled sounds are, in many cases, absolutely awful. But I think his musical intention is accurate enough. I'm still able to learn from them (although the big band sounds and the trumpet in particular are some of the worst in history!). So, I'm still reading the book. I'm reasonable happy with it. It didn't cost me $100!! It was cheap and it was an "idiot's guide" - basic stuff. So, in summary, helpful, fairly clear, not expensive and quite enjoyable if you can live with the poor audio samples. But their is much more to the subject, clearly. 7Summits......Page 1 COVER......Page 2 Contents at a Glance......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 8 Part 1: Essential Skills......Page 22 Understanding the Arranqinq and Orchestration Process......Page 24 Structuring the Arrangement......Page 46 Harmonizing with Chords, Progressions, and Substitutions......Page 56 Utilizing Voicing and Voice Leading......Page 66 Working with Melodies and Countermelodies......Page 84 Deciding on the Right Instrumentation......Page 98 Part 2: Instruments and Voices: Ranges and Techniques......Page 106 String Instruments......Page 108 Brass Instruments......Page 120 Woodwind Instruments......Page 130 Keyboard and Electronic Instruments......Page 138 Percussion Instruments......Page 146 Voices......Page 158 Part 3: Real-World Arranging......Page 166 Arranqinq for a Rhythm Section......Page 168 Arranging for a Jazz Big Band......Page 186 Arranging for a Marching Band......Page 202 Arranging for an Orchestra......Page 216 Arranging for a Choir......Page 226 Arranging for a PopularRecording......Page 240 Glossary......Page 248 Arrangements......Page 258 CD Contents......Page 286 INDEX......Page 290