ASMAC, the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers, is one of the most prestigious organizations of actively working composers in the world. I had the great honor to give a presentation at one of their seminars yesterday, which was both a pleasure and a daunting thing because at least half of the audience was people who I respect very much and whose insights I would love to listen to in a seminar.

The seminar was titled The Art Of Music Preparation “Notation Creation.” The event tonight basically walked through the music preparation process in the hopes that we could give the audience some usable tips and tricks about the best ways to get their music from concept to finished, printed, and published music.

My portion of the presentation shows my most time-efficient methods of getting MIDI out of a DAW and into a music notation program. Wayne Kiser, a veteran music copyist with a specialization in modern notation, followed with a presentation on the intricacies of music preparation for traditional classical orchestras. Ryan Beard comes from the sheet music publishing world and discussed the detailed science of preparing notation for publication, as well as his work at the Kjos Music Company. Liz Finch is a music copyist and an icon of music preparation in Los Angeles, and she talked about the history and practicality of Hollywood studio notation, followed by Q&A from the audience. ASMAC’s president, Gayle Levant wrapped up the evening discussing the importance of the art of music preparation from a player’s perspective, including some valuable harp notation tips.

I was in excellent company, happily outclassed by the other panelists and many of the audience members, and I hope to do more with ASMAC in the future. The seminar was at LA Valley College.