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Become a Composer without going to the college
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Harmony and Voice LeadingHarmony and Voice Leading by Edward Aldwell
Buy new: $130.61 / Used from: $71.48
Best of the best
Study of Counterpoint: From Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad ParnassumStudy of Counterpoint: From Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum by John J. Fux
Buy new: $12.21 / Used from: $6.50
Good Starting Point. Very interesting text
Counterpoint (4th Edition)Counterpoint (4th Edition) by Kent Kennan
Buy new: $102.91 / Used from: $61.35
Can't think of better text for 18th century style
Modal and Tonal Counterpoint: From Josquin to StravinskyModal and Tonal Counterpoint: From Josquin to Stravinsky by Harold Owen
Buy new: $93.46 / Used from: $56.83
Finish your counterpoint with this
Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music (Two Volumes Bound As One)Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music (Two Volumes Bound As One) by Felix Salzer
Buy new: $15.61 / Used from: $9.59
Tells you how tonal music works
Modal Music Composition: Expanded EditionModal Music Composition: Expanded Edition by Stephen M. Cormier
Buy new: $35.00 / Used from: $64.57
If your music is either major or minor all the time this is the book to pick up !
Twentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and PracticeTwentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice by Vincent Persichetti
Buy new: $29.03 / Used from: $16.00
Good Starting point
Simple CompositionSimple Composition by Charles Wuorinen
Buy new: $29.00 / Used from: $20.97
Twentieth-Century Stuff
Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, Sixth edition, RevisedSerial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, Sixth edition, Revised by George Perle
Buy new: $47.31 / Used from: $39.88
Another Twentieth-Century Stuff
Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian ApproachAnalysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach by Allen Cadwallader
Buy new: $55.87 / Used from: $47.44
The best
Music for Analysis: Examples from the Common Practice Period and the Twentieth Century Includes CDMusic for Analysis: Examples from the Common Practice Period and the Twentieth Century Includes CD by Thomas Benjamin
Buy new: $51.39 / Used from: $17.79
Tons of examples
Study of Orchestration, Third EditionStudy of Orchestration, Third Edition by Samuel Adler
Buy new: $74.20 / Used from: $61.99
This book goes into some depth on the finer points of orchestration
OrchestrationOrchestration by Walter Piston
Buy new: $45.70 / Used from: $14.94
Definitely a book on Instrumentation