Good books/online courses for music composition?

I've bought a few classes from the Teaching Company, and I've really enjoyed this one:

http://www.teach12.com/store/course...and+Great+Music

But, I was curious if anyone knows of something in a similar format for music composition? I don't have time to go to actual classes, but I thought it might be interesting to get some introductory composition knowledge.

I know there are a couple of books by Stewart Macpherson, the one that I've read the most of is "Form in Music" he has written many other books one is on counterpoint an dI don't remember the other one that I've seen.

__________________
~ Suspirium Puellarum
~ Nauarchus Difficilius



Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. - Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball, former coach of the University of Kansas at Lawerance Jayhawks, (Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!), and Presbyterian Minister...

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. - Victor Hugo

Where words fail, music speaks. - Hans Christian Andersen

Well as for composition, (don't laugh) The Idiot's guide to Music Theory tells you everything you need to know. But if you have a notation system, composition is really easy if you know an instrument's range and what notes sound good when you play it back. If you go to Finale, they have free software you can download and experiment with.

__________________
"La musique est ma vie et ma maniere..."

~Francesca Lee Williams~

"A great man once told me that love has a funny way of screwing you over. But after years of consideration, I realize, he lied. I'm more in love than I've ever been before, and than I ever will be. Hopefully this time, it'll be real."

Look on amazon.com for the Stewart Macpherson stuff, altough its really old it is really helpful.

__________________
~ Suspirium Puellarum
~ Nauarchus Difficilius



Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. - Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball, former coach of the University of Kansas at Lawerance Jayhawks, (Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!), and Presbyterian Minister...

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. - Victor Hugo

Where words fail, music speaks. - Hans Christian Andersen

Yeah, I have the cheap version of Finale (the one that will at least open MIDI files and such). That's what got my curious. I was sort of noodling around with a couple of tunes, basically trying to put something together to play as a warm up tune on my violin.

One other thing, here is a link to a online music dictionary, that I find myself almost continually using http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/ and another for ranges http://users.tkk.fi/~tbackstr/ranges/ranges.html

hope this helps

__________________
~ Suspirium Puellarum
~ Nauarchus Difficilius



Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. - Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball, former coach of the University of Kansas at Lawerance Jayhawks, (Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!), and Presbyterian Minister...

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. - Victor Hugo

Where words fail, music speaks. - Hans Christian Andersen

There's an online music dictionary? *saves it to favorites* I wonder how many of them I don't already know?

__________________
"La musique est ma vie et ma maniere..."

~Francesca Lee Williams~

"A great man once told me that love has a funny way of screwing you over. But after years of consideration, I realize, he lied. I'm more in love than I've ever been before, and than I ever will be. Hopefully this time, it'll be real."

Thanks for that... I'll check those books and the sites out.

I think going through this music history audio class has also got me interested in composition as well. It's really amazing to step through each period in history and the musical development that occurred.

I love reading about music history. It's so amazing, how many of them went insane

__________________
"La musique est ma vie et ma maniere..."

~Francesca Lee Williams~

"A great man once told me that love has a funny way of screwing you over. But after years of consideration, I realize, he lied. I'm more in love than I've ever been before, and than I ever will be. Hopefully this time, it'll be real."

It is really fun to read about music history, and I even like reading about theory, but I think that makes me completely wierd.

__________________
~ Suspirium Puellarum
~ Nauarchus Difficilius



Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. - Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball, former coach of the University of Kansas at Lawerance Jayhawks, (Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU!), and Presbyterian Minister...

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. - Victor Hugo

Where words fail, music speaks. - Hans Christian Andersen