All Drums Are Percussion, but Most Percussion Is Not Drums
Every drum is a percussion instrument, but not every percussion instrument is a drum. The confusion between the two terms comes from using "drum…
Posts
The B-flat Trumpet Lies on Paper: Transposition, Timbre, and Choosing a C
Walk into an orchestra rehearsal and you will usually see C trumpets on the stands. Walk into a jazz club or a wind band rehearsal and you will see B…
A Song Cycle Turns Separate Songs into One Story
A song cycle is a set of individually complete songs designed to be performed together, in order, as a single work. Each song stands on its own, but …
Writing for Children Means Smaller Ranges, Not Smaller Ideas
While it may seem like a simple task, writing music for children can be an extremely challenging task for composers that are used to writing for prof…
The Symphony Is Not the Only Large Form: Four Alternatives That Endure
The classical symphony is one of the largest and most ambitious developments in classical music. As a composer, I view the symphony as one of the hig…
Writer's Block Is the Ear Running Empty: Four Ways Back to Work
Coming up with that first idea can be a very frustrating part of composing. Once you have that initial germ of an idea, the compositional process bec…
Four Traditions of Teaching Composition, and What Each Gets Right
Composition can be taught - centuries of composers trained other composers prove it - but it has never been taught one way. Every tradition of compos…