Forward: What this book IS, and what it is NOT

“…to be gifted is to possess the capacity of work…”
—William Thomas McKinley

No single book, treatise, or theory about music can be everything to everybody. It is, therefore, important for me to preface what this book is and what it is not before you continue further.

While many of the ideas, concepts, exercises and strategies may be broadly applicable to a wide range of musical approaches, styles, and domains in music creation, it is not intended to be a “one size fits all” set of concepts and solutions for composing music. Nor should it be. The primary focus in this text will be music centered around the Western music tradition with a keen awareness that the Western tradition does not exist in a vacuum nor is it divorced from the world’s other varied and rich musical traditions. Nor do I posit that Western musical traditions are superior to other traditions in music.  That said, my experience and training lies almost exclusively within the domain of Western music and it is there where my energy is is primarily devoted, thus that is where this book will be centered. I will, when possible, indicate side explorations and links to as many diverse sources of material drawn from the musical traditions of cultures outside the associated scope of Western musical practice as well as draw attention to voices within the Western tradition that have been, for reasons far beyond the scope of this text, underrepresented.

The information contained within this text is an amalgamation of ideas, concepts, and processes drawn directly from my own practice as a composer and teacher over the past thirty years and includes much of what I’ve learned from others, past and present. I am humbly indebted to all those who have taught me either directly or through the fortune of reading their missives through the years including George Russell, Joe Maneri, Robert DiDomenica, Malcolm Peyton, William Bolcom, Ted Pease, Randy Feltz, Vincent Persichetti, Milton Babbitt, George Pearle, Glenn Gould, Paul Hindemith, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Barry Harris, Arnold Schoenberg, Alan Forte, Elliott Carter, Harold Blatter, Samuel Adler. and my father, William Thomas McKinley.