We are often asked where to read more about film scoring. Here are just a few very high quality reading resources, listed in no order of priority or importance.
The Society of Compsers and Lyricists – SCORE
Sound and Vision: 60 Years of Motion Picture Soundtracks, by Jon Burlingame
Music for the Movies, by Tony Thomas
Double Life: The Autobiography of Miklos Rozsa, Composer in the Golden Years of Hollywood by Miklos RozsaJerry Goldsmith (Film Music Masters), by Karlin/Tilford
Jerry Goldsmith: An American Film Institute Seminar on his work (Seminars / American Film Institute), by Jerry Goldsmith
TV’s Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes from “Dragnet” to “Friends,” by Jon Burlingame
The Last Prodigy: A Biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, by Brendan G. Carroll
Film Music Notebook, by Elmer Bernstein
On the Track, by Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright
Hugo Friedhofer: The Best Years of His Life: A Hollywood Master of Music for the Movies, edited by Linda Danly
Listening to Movies: A Film Lover’s Guide to Film Music, by Fred Karlin
Movie Music: An Insider’s View, by Charles Bernstein
Film Music and Everything Else, by Charles Bernstein
The Emerging Film Composer, by Richard Bellis
Advanced Techniques for Film Scoring, by Earle Hagen
Composing Music for Film, by Jack Smalley
The Art of Writing Music: A Practical Book for Composers and Arrangers, by John Cacavas
Elmer Bernstein: An American Film Institute Seminar on his work (Seminars / American Film Institute) by Elmer Bernstein
Alex North, Film Composer: A Biography, With Musical Analyses of a Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus, the Misfits, Under the Volcano, and Prizzi’s Honor by Sanya Shoilevska Henderson and John Williams
S. Prokofiev: Autobiography, Articles, Reminiscences by Sergei Prokofiev, Rose Prokofieva, and S. Shlifstein
Dimitri Tiomkin: A Portrait, by Christopher Palmer
Please Don’t Hate Me, by Dimitri Tiomkin
Hollywood Holyland, by Ken Darby (tales of scoring The Greatest Story Ever Told with Alfred Newman)
Film Music: A Neglected Art : A Critical Study of Music in Films, by Roy M. Prendergast
Reel Music: Exploring 100 Years of Film Music, by Roger Hickman
The Invisible Art of Film Music, by Laurence E. MacDonald
Did They Mention the Music?: The Autobiography of Henry Mancini
It’s More Than Do-Re-Mi: My Life in Music, by John Cacavas
Sounds and Scores : A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration, by Henry ManciniMusic on Demand: Composers and Careers in the Hollywood Film Industry, by Robert R. Faulkner
Memoirs of a Composer Nobody Ever Heard Of, by Earle H. Hagen
Stu Who? Forty Years of Navigating the Minefields of the Music Business, by Stu Phillips
A Guide to Film Music – Songs and Scores, by Roger L. Hall
Music Arranging and Orchestration, by John Cacavas