arrange • compose • conduct
Historically, composers drew no distinction between composing and arranging. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, virtually every composer since has transformed existing melodies for their own purposes. I don’t think of the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as an arrangement, and neither do you. The simple truth is that good arranging is […]
Greek myths & music arranging: the art is in how you tell the story and what lens you choose to use. One of the things I love most about Greek Mythology is its malleability. Read The Iliad, or Ovid’s Metamorphoses, or a Sophocles play, and you are experiencing one version […]
How do you do your “one last look” at a new project? Even thought I do my music writing almost all on computer (sometimes some sketches are done with a pencil and paper), I feel like I always catch an error or two if I only edit it digitally. Printing […]
I love it when the blobs come to life! We’re doing a bonus Cabaret this year. (get your tickets! Wednesday, June 8!) For me, that means taking an other stack of piano-vocal scores and turning them into band arrangements for a pro rhythm section. By far, the most exciting part […]
The small things are important. But they can be agonizing. Half Time 12/8 feel (quarter=90) Half Time, 12/8 feel (quarter=90) Half time (quarter=90) 12/8 feel quarter=90, 12/8 feel Half time, 12/8 feel 12/8 feel, quarter=90 These are just some of the metronome markings I considered for a particular spot in […]
I love premieres. As a composer and arranger, you would think it goes with the territory, but the truth is that developing my craft was focused so much on the work I do in my studio – selecting notes, rhythms, orchestration, voicings, etc. – that it took me years to […]
Most of the time, good writing is the natural outcome of more writing. A common refrain to my composition students (and to myself) is, simply, “More bars!” No adjectives necessary to describe the bars. Just more. We can always choose the best ones. We can always edit, revise, reimagine, or […]
Design is a vital and often overlooked part of writing music. I’ve long been obsessed with design – thanks to my long relationship with graphic design by way of concert programs, CDs, posters, etc. I spend at least a little bit of every week with visual design. Which is why […]
My (alto) student remarked this evening, “Tenor parts are weird.” The correct response is, “You’re right. And alto parts are weird too, right? But they’re weird in the way you know.” If you’re an alto, alto parts are normal-weird. But tenor parts are just weird. If you’re a tenor, it’s […]
Writing a piece “without thinking” is a good sign you’ve done a lot of thinking for a long time. Every piece I wrote used to take my entire brain, and hours of work crafting the perfect solution to the musical challenge at hand. Today I wrote an entire arrangement for […]