samuel adler the study of orchestration cd

The Study of Orchestration is divided into 'Instrumentation', chapters 1 to 14, almost two thirds of the substantive text and 'Orchestration', chapters 15 to 19, with a couple of dozen pages of appendices and references and two indices – of concepts and of works and composers.

This edition also covers material relevant to composition for bands in greater depth.

Samuel Adler's The Study of Orchestration is intended primarily for students in the sense that all the principles covered and explored – in admirable depth and with exemplary clarity – are illustrated both in the book with score extracts and access to audio and video samples online recorded by members of the Eastman School of Music. Similarly, as listeners, we're likely to appreciate better the challenges (of pedalling, breathing, bowing and fingering, for instance) of the huge variety of tonal support for melodic lines and of the need for contrast to provide variety and surprise as well – again – as continuity in underpinning almost all the music we listen to. Composers must have such an in depth feeling and technical knowledge in order to make anything worthwhile of their melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and textural ideas. It's no co-incidence that the books by Piston, Rimsky-Korsakov and Berlioz ( ISBN-13: 978-0486269030) feature prominently on the shelves of anyone wanting better to understand how music works from an instrumental and orchestration perspective. Expensive (well over US$130 on Amazon at the time of writing) and heavy, though it is, it's well worth it and would last a lifetime. And Adler's superb grasp of the principles of how instruments work in an orchestral context (he is, after all, an accomplished composer) makes this book one to be recommended without hesitation.

It is not length that should determine the quality of a book, of course. But now Adler's is by far the longest at over 1,000 pages including index etc – almost 15% longer than the third edition from 2002. These are all lengthy, substantial and thorough books. The new fourth edition of Samuel Adler's The Study of Orchestration amply retains its place in the top rank of the several excellent books on instrumentation and orchestration.

Samuel adler the study of orchestration cd