Leaderboard

The problem with your search is that you are looking for a magic bullet, the composer bible. Unfortunately that doesn't exist. Books like composing for dummies attempt to be that one stop shop for composer but it lacks a lot of information you would need. What you really need are several books over a variety of topics. Books on orchestration Books on music theory Books on music history CDs and MP3 of any and all kinds of classical music from all periods of music. You also just need to get started on writing. The art of composing doesn't come from a book. The only thing gained from books is how to refine the craft and understand the music. They cannot teach you to be creative though, that had to come from within.