"In The Style Of..." books

Hey guys!

I'm new here, so I figured a short introduction would be appropriate:

I'm in my late twenties, have studied guitar for ten years but more or less switched totally to piano, which I play for almost 3 years now. On guitar I always had the wish to write my own pieces, but somehow what I came up with never satisfied me - maybe that was one reason for giving up my guitar studies, but I'm not totally sure. After learning piano for some time now I want to try to compose some things myself - and that's why I'm here...

Now to my question: I remember my piano teacher once told me about books that teach how to compose in the style of a certain composer - as 'In the Style of Bach' or something like that. Unfortunately he couldn't remember something specific as the author or the exact title and my research at amazon didn't succeed. Does anyone know of books of this type?

Best wishes,

Frank ak.a. FoN

I reckon the best way is to study the composer whose style you want to emulate. No book could tell you how to write exactly like xxxxxxx, just give you stylistic ideas. You'd still have to know (somewhat) the music of xxxxxxx to check if you were, in fact, writing in that style.

By the way, I see no problem in emulating a composer you like when you start out composing. Eventually you'll want to add a bit more of yourself...............then oneday, books may be written about how to emulate the work of Frank- a-Fon.

;)

Before trying to emulate anyone, you should first understand the basics of music theory, have you done any music theory before? if not, work through the lessons on this site Go through them slowly, don't rush, it's a slow process.

Mark

Thanks for the suggestions. I've had a look at the site that Mark posted - I think I know most of the stuff from the lessons there but I will nonetheless recapitulate it...