Our list of some of the best Musician books & series in recent years. Get inspired by one or more of the following books.
- The Musician’s Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness (2009)
- The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Theory, Analysis, and Listening (2015)
- Music Marketing for the DIY Musician: Creating and Executing a Plan of Attack on a Low Budget (Music Pro Guides) (2014)
- Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) (2013)
- Musician’s Yoga: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Inspiration (2009)
- Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Clarinet (2015)
- The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis Workbook (Third Edition) (2016)
- The Musician’s Lifeline (2019)
- Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Percussion (2016)
- Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Trombone (2016)
The Musician’s Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness (2009)
In The Musician’s Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers.
The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Theory, Analysis, and Listening (2015)
Beginning with music fundamentals, The Complete Musician covers all the topics necessary for a thorough understanding of undergraduate music theory by focusing on music in context. Rather than rote learning of concepts and memorizing terms, The Complete Musician emphasizes how theory informs the work of performers.
Music Marketing for the DIY Musician: Creating and Executing a Plan of Attack on a Low Budget (Music Pro Guides) (2014)
There has never been a greater need for practical DIY marketing advice from a musician who has been there and succeeded than now – at a time when new technologies make it more possible than ever for musicians to attract attention independently and leverage their own careers, and record industry professionals look exclusively for developed artists who are already successful.Written by a professional m…
Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) (2013)
Here are the life stories of such diverse figures as Vivaldi, Mozart, Scott Joplin, Nadia Boulanger, and Woody Guthrie. Readers will learn of both their musical natures and the personal, humorous characteristics that make their lives so fascinating. “Living, breathing anecdotes–the stuff of which the best biography is made.”–Publishers Weekly
Musician’s Yoga: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Inspiration (2009)
(Berklee Press). Become a better musician through yoga. By integrating yoga into your practice routines, you will develop a more focused and concentrated mind for performance. You will be able to increase awareness of how you use your body to allow for proper posture and ease of movement while performing, helping you to avoid overuse injuries and play with greater expression.
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Clarinet (2015)
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician is a field-tested, vital, and-most importantly-musical collection of more than 300 sequenced exercises for building fundamentals. Perfect for use by an entire band or solo player for years two, three, and beyond, this series contains carefully sequenced warm-ups, chorales, sight-reading etudes, rhythm vocabulary exercises, and much more.
The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis Workbook (Third Edition) (2016)
The Third Edition workbook features 4–5 double-sided worksheets per chapter, more than enough for the entire theory sequence. The workbook contains a wide range of exercises, including drill-and-practice, melody harmonization, figured bass, composition, analysis, and a wealth of real-music examples.
The Musician’s Lifeline (2019)
The Musician’s Lifeline by Peter Erskine and Dave Black represents the combined opinions of the authors and their knowledge gained through their lives in music. In addition, it includes advice from 150 of the best musicians that the authors have the honor of knowing, who responded to seven simple questions about topics ranging from sight-reading to travel to general wisdom.
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Percussion (2016)
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician is a field-tested, vital, and – most important – musical collection of more than 300 sequenced exercises for building fundamentals. Perfect for use by an entire band or solo player for years two, three, and beyond, this series contains carefully sequenced warm-ups, chorales, sight-reading etudes, rhythm vocabulary exercises, and much more.
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician – Trombone (2016)
Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician is a field-tested, vital, and – most important – musical collection of more than 300 sequenced exercises for building fundamentals. Perfect for use by an entire band or solo player for years two, three, and beyond, this series contains carefully sequenced warm-ups, chorales, sight-reading etudes, rhythm vocabulary exercises, and much more.
Best Musician Books Reviewed & Ranked
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some musician books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body: The Practical Application of Body Mapping to Making Music
Author(s): Bridget Jankowski
ID: 3693132, Publisher: GIA Publications, Year: 2023, Size: 51 Mb, Format: pdf
Beethoven in the Bunker: Musicians Under the Nazi Regime
Author(s): Fred Brouwers
ID: 3700408, Publisher: Other Press, Year: 2023, Size: 14 Mb, Format: epub
Psychology for musicians : understanding and acquiring the skills
Author(s): Robert H. Woody
ID: 3161550, Publisher: , Year: 2022, Size: 21 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are really best-sellers according to Los Angeles Times, others are written by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.