Review (PDF) How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite
Alexander Publishing's How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite is a breakthrough in orchestration instruction with its newly engraved score with piano part at page bottom, the original short stories that Ravel based the work on, and a complete analysis of each movement, combined together, showing how Ravel orchestrated. For fast referencing, each bar is numbered at the bottom of the page (original rehearsal markings are also included). By including the piano part at page bottom, students of counterpoint will see specific devices that Ravel used, where, and how he orchestrated them. Jazz musicians and composers will also see how Ravel composed and orchestrated using altered Dominant 7th chords, mixolydian chord scales, and triads with the added 9th. Preceding each movement is the complete short story that movement was based on, which helps teach dramatic composition and scoring techniques. By comparing back to Ravel's score, a better understanding of Ravel's approach is gained. Following each movement is a brief orchestration analysis based on The Eight Keys of Professional Orchestration as taught in Alexander Publishing's Professional Orchestration Series. How Ravel Orchestrated: Mother Goose Suite is further supported by an optional CD or legal downloadable MP3 performance of Mother Goose Suite, color coded scores showing how the piano part went to score, and a video performance of the entire work as found on YouTube.
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Alexander University, Inc. (October 14, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0939067129
ISBN-13: 978-0939067121
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.5 x 11.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #2,551,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #54 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Ravel #1198 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Composition #3080 in Books > Reference > Encyclopedias & Subject Guides > Music
"Ma Mere l'Oye" is a beautiful piece of music, so I was excited that someone had written a book exclusively devoted to digging into this piece. Though I also write classical music, I'm a jazz composer at heart who's always looking to delve a little deeper into the field of classical orchestration.After going through the book, I was very disappointed with it. At least 50% of this book is a presentation of the original fairy tales before each score. Another 25% or so of the book are essays by Edgar Allan Poe. While enjoyed reading the tales and the essays, I didn't expected 75% of the book to be this! After a lot of introductory material, that leaves less than 25% for the scores and the analysis. This is extremely deceiving, and I'm sure all of this filler drives the book up to an undeserved price.As you can imagine, the scores take up many pages, so the amount of analysis in this book is extremely slim. This is very disappointing, considering it was the whole reason I purchased the book. On top of all this, the limited analysis itself is uninspired, unscholarly, and rushed. The "keys" system is a waste of time, and musical jargon is mostly forgone to pander to a non-academic crowd. If you are studying Ravel, it's assumed you have most likely studied Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms at the very least. I was looking for something that delved into the compositional process and his unique orchestrational decisions, not something that tells me a flute is playing in bars 3-5, which I can see from the free public domain score available from IMSLP.On the upside, it's not super dry and boring like most people would consider classical orchestration texts to be, but I would rather have an informational book be informative than fun.
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