His earlier book 'On Sonic Art' might be even more useful, if you can find it (may
need to contact Trevor directly  - I can help there if needbe) . Trevor's approach,
while thoroughly rigorous, is also simple, in the sense that he gives great thought
to the issue of communicating structure and relationships to the listener -
something which many composers prefer not to worry about too much! Hence the title
'Audible design', of course - though that book is less concerned with the
larger-scale issues of compositional design  and more concerned with small to
medium-scale transformations (it's also something of an extended manual for the CDP
system).

Re composing:  though there are historical precedents for composers entirely
finding their own way, it must still be a very difficult thing to do. Composing
does not normally require the body to be trained as playing or singing does, but
the best way to learn still appears to by the apprenticeship system. Do any USA
colleges give group 'classes' in composition? Beyond the legendary classes in
Europe, such as those of Messiaen (and even they were apparently mostly concerned
with analysis) , I only know of it in environments such as the Dartington
International Summer School (which does indeed run a course in electro-acoustic
composition).  The caveat is that probably all books and classes  teaching
composition presume a subscription to one or more recognized styles or 'schools',
for which a pedagogical canon is available.  It is still something of a moveable
feast in electro-acoustic music. But it would be useful to practise writing
counterpoint, harmonic progressions, variation form, etc. Steve Reich, Philip Glass
et al. will have ground through all that before looking outside the Western
tradition and going their own way.

Otherwise, I would suggest - choose a working composer who seems to be simpatico,
and offer yourself into some sort of  learning programme. A composer who is also a
gourmet would be a good choice! The other trick, if you play, is to join a
performance group. One can learn quite a lot about composition from the music
stand.

Richard Dobson

Daniel W. Hosken wrote:

> Trevor Wishart put out a book called "Audible Design" that might be
> applicable. It was reviewed in the Computer Music Journal (vol. 20, no. 1).
> I have not read it, and the two reviews in CMJ offer differing opinions on
> the book's value (Miller Puckette's review gave it a general thumbs up).
>