Publisher's Synopsis
Designed for arrangers, jazz writers, serious composers, church musicians, students, and class use. The Street Smart Guide to the Bach Chorales is a 21st Century presentation of Bach's 389 Chorales, complete with lyrics, with specialized instruction that even includes recording the Bach chorales with programs like GarageBand, Finale, Sibelius, and other more advanced recording software programs. Alexander, author of the Professional Orchestration series, looks at the Bach Chorales from the perspective of a professional arranger. The reader is taught how to look at Bach's technique for reharmonizing melodies; techniques that help the songwriter know what note to put in the bass, how to get men to sing difficult bass lines, coloristic writing, and more. Alexander briefly touches on how to study the Bach Chorales from the perspective of four-part counterpoint. There are two indexes. The first index lists the chorales alphabetized by their first line. The second index is a thematic/seasonal list by title showing their use across the church calendar. Also included is a 10-stave music sheet that readers can photocopy to use in their analysis. Overall, a practical, common sense approach teaching techniques still used today.
