Composing : What to target??!! by Adam Daniel Maxfield

Hey Adam. You are asking several different questions. Do you write music for you or for someone else? Licensing sites or music supervisors? Develop your musical style or adopt a current trend? Self publish or not? The answers depend on what your goal is. Is your goal to make money or to make music? Only you can answer that question. And there is no wrong answer. Make the music that YOU want to make. The marketplace will find you. If you are "sacrificing yourself" for a project, it is the wrong project for you. Good luck!

Hey Allen Yeah, guess I used to be indecisive but now I'm just not so sure!!

Not so different from other music fields. Say you were a rock band. Do you do covers, do you write music that conforms to the current sound of the day, or do you create your own sound and lead the pack. Consider two rather well known bands - The Beatles and The Bee Gees... they went through the above in that order. But ultimately it is all about the 'sound' and 'branding', imho. Do you have to go through all three? Not necessarily, I'm not personally. I have created a sound and a brand and I am a locally big fish in a very small pound. If someone here wants a large orchestral or jazz ensemble sound with melodic undertones and motifs (not just rhythms and chords) and want to stick with acoustic instrumentation and not purely synthesized sounds, they know where to find me.

I will not write to a library, but if a director/filmmaker gives me a temp track while I am scoring their film and want the cue to 'sound like' it, I will oblige though in my own personal way and sound.

It is a big question. If you don't develop a style, nobody will look for you searching for your sound. If you don't adapt, they won't call you. I think it depends on how much you have to change and who is asking for it, and how much you need the job. That's why I would do both under certain circumstances. If someone out of your league asks for a big change in your style, you might be interested due to contacts, future jobs, etc. In one word: you might be interested in the doors that project will open for you. If that possibility doesn't exist, you might consider the amount of changes and how much you need that job. Meanwhile, there must be a place for your creations, where they fit perfectly. That might be self production, But gaining fans and promoting yourself will definitely not hurt. :-)

Cheers guys, some great points raised! Working a concept album just now which is soundtrack style and covers a number of genres so hopefully that'll act as a great portfolio!

Here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a local singer/guitarist made it to the finals of NBC's The Voice in 2016 - Laith al-Saadi - and while his talent is "rare air" on shredding blues guitar with a powerful voice, my opinion is that it hasn't translated to filling up stadiums due to his desire to do blues cover songs... instead of creating his own stuff.

He can shred like Jimi Hendrix and sounds like Mountain's Leslie West so he'll never be at a lack of credible gigs, but imho, his "next step" as an artist would be better served if he did his own stuff instead of that of others' popular stuff.

Then again, if he started playing his own stuff, people might not line up to his shows as much... that's the trade-off. What a conundrum...

I personally believe that there is some give and take sometimes. Not having much experience in this realm (as you know) Anything you write for someone else is going to have "your sound" stamped on it somewhere... I find it almost impossible to NOT be myself in my writing. It is YOU that makes you unique. Writing your concept album will be a great start to show everyone what YOU are all about my man :)

Great insight Phil! I have a free Taxi account and was just monitoring opps to see if becoming a member would be a good fit for me or not. Besides a few random instrumental requests, it doesn't look like it would be worth the membership fee.

Very good points all. The biggest dislike of mine is doing "covers"! I've done one in 25 years (which I really like perversely) and have always believed in doing what's within me rather than someone else. I guess though it depends on what I want to do with my musical career! I have given myself 5 years to get up and running as a viable business so that gives me scope to experiment a bit. Find a micro niche perhaps or stick to cues rather than scoring?! Who knows, a vast amount of talent goes under the radar so.....only time will tell!

Adam, here is a twist on 'covers'. When I was first learning to orchestrate, I had no-one available for me to perform live. There might be many opportunities to write for a single instrument or even perhaps a string or other trio or quartet, but go try to find a large ensemble. Unless you are a full time student at a large university or blessed with excellent musicians such as at Julliard or here at Rice, it is unlikely you will have orchestral ensembles you can practice your 4 and 5 parts harmonies with. But my teacher and early mentor suggested instead I learn how to write idiomatically for big band. The music may be 'different', but one quickly discovers that big band writing normally consists of 5 sax staffs (2 alto, 2 tenor and bari), as well as 4 or 5 trumpet staffs , 4 trombones staffs, a rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass and drums) and sometimes, a solo singer, a duet, or an SATB jazz choral group - quite a few staffs. Also, arrangements often are fast paced, generally in 'swing', and rely on many different types of 'articulations'.

But to the topic here, the best way to start and learn is to 'transcribe' an existing track (of piece that you did not compose). As I recollect, the first one I ever did that was performed live back in 2005 was "It's Been A Long Long Time" - the famous Harry James track that is associated with "VE Day" which ended World War II in 1945. I wrote the charts without a string section but had a vocal part which got sung.

It doesn't even have to be a 1920s - 1940s big band/jazz specific transcription. Some years ago, I posted a transcription video here I did to the famous Top 40 Cozie Cole track from 1958 called, "Topsy, Part II". You can listen to an original track on Youtube and then watch a 'first reading' (which they nailed) of my charts by the Houston Community College big band back in Sept. 2011.

https://www.stage32.com/media/644309202969309144

The point of doing these 'transcriptions' which is sort of a cover is not necessarily to get it into a film (with a sync license of course :) ) but it is (1) a great learning exercise to learn many aspects of large ensemble writing and learning to interact and possibly conduct live musicians and (2) hearing music we have written performed live.

So if you aren't lucky enough to have an orchestra at your disposal, try transcriptions for a big band.

Now that is food for thought! Mind you it's been 20+ years since I touched upon theory/written/sheet music!! Could be time to dive in again!

In the meantime, here's a little something I put together

https://youtu.be/KRXfLpwnekU

Good point also Robert! Do everything, keep all doors open :) Never turn down an opportunity... well, at least until you're Hans Zimmer and can be a little picky about who you work for

I have been known to play "heavy metal Piano". Interested?