[Trombone-l] Learning to arrange for Trombones

[Adrian Drover]

> From: John Burton
> 
> You arrangers out there, how'd you learn?


Well, John, I'm delighted that you appear to have a driving force to
arrange.  Mine began when I was still wearing short pants.  A good place to
start is with classical SATB harmony.  A book I found most useful as a kid
was 'Practical Harmony' by Stewart MacPherson.  I still believe it is a good
idea to learn the strict classical rules before learning how and when you
can break those rules.  Once the groundwork is done, there are countless
books available on jazz, pop & commercial arranging styles.  I got most of
my self training from transcribing recorded materials that turned me on.
When scores were not available I would collect the parts and construct one,
just to see what voicings were used.  It's a long haul, but when you have an
uncontrollable desire to write music, the answers come easily and naturally.
If you are interested in the commercial side of arranging I cannot think of
any better book than Russell Garcia's 'The Professional Arranger Composer'
as a starting point.

A.