Your Composer Quest quest, should you choose to accept it, is to arrange a pop song or movie/TV theme for the Twin Cities Trio (Maia Hamann on bassoon, Karen Jennings on oboe, and Mary Beth Huttlin on clarinet). They're looking for fun tunes to perform for children in schools.
Rapper and poet Dessa somehow found time to join me over the phone for Composer Quest Episode 21, in the midst of her nationwide tour (SXSW, New Orleans, Nashville, etc.). I was honored to talk with Dessa about her creative process of writing and arranging hip hop songs.
In episode 20 of Composer Quest, Sci-fi songwriter and composer John Anealio shares tips on getting your music out to the online world without seeming like a narcissistic party-crasher. For example, following the 80/20 rule for Twitter and Facebook posts will keep your self-promotion in check. John also gives some helpful pointers on writing melodies, and he explains how even a simple song can employ one of Mozart's secret weapons - the Rondo form! John has also set forth a challenge to those who would accept: finish 23 pieces of art in 2013. He believes that if you don't finish and present your songs to the world, "you're just the guy talking about your art, you're not the guy doing it."
As a dad of two young kids, songwriter Tim Cheesebrow has limited hours in the day for music. But he recently wrote an album's worth of material in a self-imposed solitary confinement at a cabin in northern Minnesota. He's now in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign to produce this new album, Home in the Heartland. We talk about his three main sources of inspiration: his family, the concept of home, and a Carl Sagan-inspired philosophy of universal connectedness. Oh, and we also talk about extraterrestrial music.
In episode 18 of Composer Quest, electroacoustic composer Ted Moore enlightens us about coding music to interact with human performers. He also shares his ideas on choosing a musical form for your piece, like sonata form (ABA) or binary form (AB). We also talk some philosophy when I bring up Ted's piece "Eyes May Be Impaired," which he based on Plato's allegory of the cave.
Guitarist and songwriter Mike Nilles has a secret method for writing melodies: dreaming them up! In episode 17 of Composer Quest, Mike and I swap stories about our dream-inspired songs. We also talk about a few of the groups Mike has played in over the years, from his 70s St. Paul band Smart Alex, to an Italian blues band, to his latest project, The Badinovs.
Jazz trombonist Nick Syman has challenged himself to write a large jazz ensemble piece based on the St. Anthony Falls collapse in 1869. In Episode 16 of Composer Quest, Nick talks about how using a story can help you structure an instrumental piece of music. Nick also explains how the tension and release system of Afro-Cuban rhythms can help make more compelling melodies. And finally, we talk about our experience starting and finishing our Cagetones album in one month last February, for the RPM Challenge.
Jazz drummer Pete James Johnson has recently been getting into sampling his dad's old records to make beats for his DJ project Elephane. In this episode of Composer Quest, Pete shares his beat sampling advice, his experiences composing for jazz trio, and his new method of thinking in terms of "melodies" when he plays a drum solo.
Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer have built up a fanbase of nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers on their channel, Corridor Digital. Sam writes and produces most of the music within a very short deadline. In this episode of Composer Quest, we talk about what goes into his soundtracks for their video-game-themed short films.
Will Van De Crommert produces Hollywood-quality film scores in a humble basement studio at Saint John's University. We talk about composing for film, his portfolio for USC Film School, and how to produce an endorphin-releasing pop tune.