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, …
Sheet Music: The Map To Your Score
Originally published Spring 2017 in The Score, the quarterly journal of The Society of Composers & Lyricists, by Designing Music Now, and by Scoring Notes. Not every score will need to be written down as sheet music before it’s recorded. However, if you’re hiring musicians those players almost always need something written down for them. Scoring for media is very particular and the parts for live players are usually written out note for note. Composers vary widely in their need and ability to notate their ideas, but generally the larger the project is and the more live musicians there are, the more important sheet music becomes. I’m fortunate to work almost exclusively with live ensembles. As a result, my career …
Sheet Music, the map to your score – article in The Score
I have written another front page article for The Score, the quarterly journal of the Society of Composers and Lyricists. This article is a quick how-to guide about the fastest ways to get music out of a sequencer or DAW and into printed notation as quickly as possible. In it I share some tips and tricks from my two decades of experience in sheet music preparation that may help to improve or streamline your processes, hopefully resulting in more free time and better art. You can read the whole magazine online.