What books have impacted your music career?

[BPBasso]

More or less the title. Fact or Fiction. Biographies. Composers. Conductors. Educators. Musicians. Listeners. Trombonists or other instrumentalists. Singers. Performance psychology. Whatever has crossed your eyes, stayed in your head, and weighed on your life in music.

I'm less curious about trombone technique writings, e.g. Mastering the Trombone by Kleinhammer/Yeo, but if there is something you consider a must read, please share.

[mbarbier]

Arnold Steinhardt's Indivisible by Four had a huge affect for me. Really lovely book. The whole Guarneri quartet's book "The Art of Quartet Playing" had a big effect, but his book especially really opened my mind to how chamber groups and a life in music can function. Always suggest my students read it.

[musicofnote]

The "Inner Game of Music" by Barry Green. He was the principle Double Bass player in the Cincy orchestra and professor at CCM when I was there. But I didn't read it then. I read it after experiencing Eugene Corporon at the Band Conductors Graduate program in Calgary in 1990. He'd was working with Cincy Wind Ensemble as conductor. He came into his week as guest lecturer completely different than any of the others. First of all, he took out his clarinet and sat in the 2nd section and played with the group, so he experience the student conductor as a player would. Then he taught using principles from the Inner Game, without telling us. Only on the last day in the final session did he explain what he was doing differently as a teacher - it made sense. So I picked up a copy of the book and read it from cover to cover. Changed how I approached teaching, both individual lessons as well as ensemble rehearsals. I started ordering less and asked more leading questions of the students. Less judgemental and more insistence on the student listen to his/her own playing. Letting them try different things rather than simply telling them what what was.

[VJOFan]

D. J. Grout, A History of Western Music. No really. I read the whole thing cover to cover to prepare for entrance testing for my Masters program. Lots of things to say about "Western History" etc. , but having an organized story in my head first helped me pass the entrance exam and second changed my views on performance practice.

[BPBasso]

Thanks for the recommendations so far

[mgladdish]

I'm only halfway through "Learn Faster, Perform Better" by Molly Gebrian and it's already the book I wish I'd had 30 years go. It's essentially going through how to practice, which techniques work well for what sort of material/stage or learning, and why.

[AndrewMeronek]

Rayburn Wright's Inside The Score was a great kick in the pants resource to formalizing good jazz orchestra scoring when I was in college.

[RossM]

"Sound in Motion", "The Musicians Way", "What to Listen for in Music", and "The Unanswered Question" have been favourites of mine. I've listened to Molly Gebrian's book and am definitely going to pick up a physical copy sometime to go through it properly.

[bitbckt]

My favorites are already covered, so I’ll add “With Your Own Two Hands” and “Mental Practice and Imagery for Musicians”.

[LeTromboniste]

In no particular order:
Berlioz's memoirs
Brian Frederiksen's Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind
Peter Schubert's textbook Modal Counterpoint – Renaissance Style
Silvestro Ganassi's La Fontegara
Johann Joachim Quantz's Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen

[Kbiggs]

+1 for Blum’s Art of Quartet Playing

Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs, compiled by Bruce Nelson. Helpful for developing healthier concepts and approaches to playing a brass instrument.

Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music, Glenn Kurtz.

I’ve enjoyed Alex Ross’s The Rest is Noise and Listen to This, although they didn’t necessarily impact my career.

[BrianJohnston]

Song & Wind. I've read that book about 6 times and still learn something new. Also reminded of the great wisdom that took a backseat in my brain.