Tuesday, September 28, 2010

ASCAP and a song

Greetings readers!

First off, I just applied for ASCAP membership online :) One-time fee of $35 is well-worth it, esp. as a writer! For the record, the Singing Sextet is the name of a group that sang The Lord's Prayer as arranged by
myself. More to come!

Second, some musical motifs are being organized into longer works. This is really a task, and my Composition for Idiots guide does help - completing even a few exercises will sharpen your skills! My preference is actually pencil and paper now (Finale isn't working for Playback, don't know what's wrong there -- and paper and pencil go so well with piano). Currently completing a jazz tune.

Third: finished the Richard Rodgers autobiography and am now reading A History of Film Music by Mervin Cooke (highly recommend) A History of Film Music

Fourth: have acquired an Ipod nano 5th gen and am now taking a few amateur videos....still saving for a nice Mac Mini : ) With Final Cut Express, I can hone my film-music-making process much faster.

Lastly, a rather lengthy book list - on broadway composer biographies - is now compiled, and hopefully I can still dig up a few film composer bios (more recent stories anyway). Oooo and the Henry Mancini autobio arrived today too, hurray!

Stay tuned....don't touch that computer dial!  

Monday, September 20, 2010

Short update!

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (20th-Century Composers)

Hello readers,

Now there's a 16G ipod nano, 5th generation to boot....

Finished Richard Rodgers autobiography, and am now reading Korngold (see above link).

Watched a bit of Marx bros. bio film on Netflix -- I do have Netflix. What a joy to an aspiring film composer!

Still on the broadway path right now (esp Gershwin), and have started composing a song called "Sumthin Else" having a jazz flavor. Will begin composing other short works based on memories of mine, a sort of autobiographical portrait if you will.

In addition, the video capabilities of my new ipod nano are such that if I can shoot my own little videos - then I can make my own soundtrack too :)