Have you ever drawn a fortune from a fortune cookie and thought, this would make an awesome song? No? Well neither had I, until just recently. So I decided to make that our challenge for the sixth Composer Quest quest. I'm hoping this one will inspire you to meet up with other songwriters and composers to get your creative gears really turning.
Your regular Composer Quest host has been replaced by a Demonic Overlord. Enjoy this talk with William Dodson and Wendell Jones, who compose Halloween music as the duo Sideshow Sound Theatre. Stay until the end to hear a brand new song by the Demonic Overlord himself, about one of his favorite pastimes.
Poet Brian Laidlaw has been teaching songwriting at McNally Smith College of Music, where he challenges students with assignments like writing from the perspective of a murderer. In this episode of Composer Quest, Brian shares some of the best lyric-writing tips you'll ever hear on the podcast. We also talk about his Internet Cat Video Festival performance, which aired on Animal Planet. As a special treat, Brian premieres a powerful new song called "One Tree Falling."
DJ/producer duo Sjoerd Huissoon and Tim van Doorne are on a quest to get one huge dance hit with their project Ducked Ape. In this episode of Composer Quest, I talk with Sjoerd and his manager Budi Voogt about what it takes to break into the dance scene in the Netherlands. We also discuss what Budi looks for in new artists to sign on his label, Heroic Recordings.
Cognitive neuroscientist Wilma Koutstaal studies and teaches about creativity at the University of Minnesota. In this episode of Composer Quest, she shares words of wisdom with all of us who want to be more creative. We talk about how to to get unstuck from writer's block, how to move between abstract and detailed thinking, and how to avoid procrastination.
Every week, disquiet.com music journalist Marc Weidenbaum feeds his community of hungry sound artists a creative new challenge. In this project, called Disquiet Junto, Marc challenges composers to produce tracks based on an ice cube, or an Instagram photo, or the sound of space plasma hitting the Voyager I. Marc joins me for this episode of Composer Quest to share some of the coolest and most influential sound art pieces. Marc also explains why he believes music as we know it will be totally absent from films in a matter of decades.
I'm excited to announce a brand new Composer Quest competition! The Amadeus Chamber Symphony is in need of Christmas carol arrangements for their holiday performances with the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University choirs. The performances are attended by over 1,500 people, so it will be great exposure for the chosen composers. Eight arrangements will be performed by the orchestra and choirs, recorded, and featured on my podcast.
Student jazz players have likely come across the name Dean Sorenson - his jazz curriculum books have been published by Kjos music and played in schools across the globe. In my Composer Quest interview with Dean, I ask him about how he makes music fun and playable for younger jazz players. We also talk about the differences between improvising and composing.
In this special episode of Composer Quest, multi-platinum songwriter Kevin Bowe tells us everything he's learned about getting your music published and placed on TV. He also explains how to get the biggest piece of the music royalty pie you can. He's a really entertaining and knowledgeable guy, so I'm happy to bring you these 75 minutes of great music business advice.
Desmond Simmons, a.k.a. PreciseHero, produces music using only open-source software - he says his computer is too old to handle anything other than Linux. So how did Desmond's DIY mixes end up on the Japanese label P-Vine Records? Creative fortitude and a collaborative spirit have been central to Desmond's success. In this (50th!) episode of Composer Quest, Desmond shares his thoughts on our remix culture, and why 70s Brazilian music is the best kind to sample from.