Stas B.

Thank you! I will check out those books. I'm not sure I understand what you mean in the second part of your post. Let's take painting, for example. They can't teach you how to be a great artist, but they can teach you how to draw. I don't really know what exactly analysis means in the context of music, but I know it generally involves breaking something complex into smaller, well-understood parts and figuring out the logic behind their assembly. Now, surely, I could learn how to analyze music, spend years analyzing different kinds of it and figure out the common principles. I guess I was hoping that somebody has already done it... :eyebrow:

Hello, everyone. I'm new here and I really need some help. Here's my situation: I'm not completely clueless, but I have very little musical technique or knowledge and no formal training. I've always loved romantic-era music and have developed some musical intuition over the years of listening to it trying to play it. I can play moderately complex piano and guitar pieces by ear. I can construct interesting chord progressions and improvise melodies. I understand the logic behind basic concepts like 12-note equal temperment, musical notation, scales and chords. Every once in a blue moon, when I come up with a nice theme and it quickly dissolves into nothing in my mind, I strongly regret not being able to express and develop it. I want to study composition and I really need recommendations for some good reading material. It should cover the basics and be practical and accessible to a layman while still offering some insight. (When I say basic, keep in mind that I can hardly even read sheet music.) I realize that I'm going to need a good instructor eventually, but I need something to get me on my feet first. No good teacher would take up a talentless student and I can't expect them to take my word for it.