All Episodes
Episodes
The Making Of An Epic Orchestral Adventure - Time Machine
I walk you through a short, epic orchestral adventure, taking you through some mixing decisions, and scoring decisions that can lead to exciting orchestral textures with natural orchestral forces.
This audio was taken...
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The "Big One" to Focus On (Beginner or Advanced)
This episode talks about the one big question you should ask yourself if you're trying to develop and grow as a composer. From years of teaching, I've learned that beginners and more advanced composers can get so much...
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How To Actually Develop A Musical Style
This episode talks about developing a musical style, and specifically: What exactly is musical style, and how can we develop our own unique voice?Â
In the last part of the episode, I mention my upcoming free Composer...
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Help me to Design a Composer Workshop
I'm excited to announce a Composing Workshop, which will happen live from April 29th to May 6th! It's completely free, and while I've drafted the lesson plans, I need your help putting the finishing touches in! Listen...
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How Memorizing Music Will Transform Your Composing
After last week's illuminating conversation with David Conte (check out the podcast episode), I decided to try out memorizing a few short pieces of music, to see what the experience teaches me. Spoiler alert - I'll...
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How to Actually *Learn* Composing - Composition Pedagogy with David Conte
This is one of the most illuminating conversations on music I have had in living memory. Our guest today is David Conte, who is Chair of Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory, student of Nadia Boulanger, and...
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How John Williams Writes for Percussion (Not What You'd Expect)
This episode explores Williams' writing for non-tuned percussion, particularly in his cue "The Quidditch Match" from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We look at how John Williams uses percussion in ways you...
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The Five Phases of Composing
This episode talks about the five essential phases of composing that experienced composers generally go through, and why it might be a great idea to adopt them. It also shares details of my upcoming training on...
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John Williams' Orchestration in Harry Potter, 'Leaving Hogwarts'
This episode explains how valuable it is to "learn from the masters". I spent last night transcribing a track from one of my favourite film scores; in the latter half of this episode, I show you what John Williams'...
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Stuck in a 4-Chord Loop? Here's Why Your Beginning Matters
In this episode, I explain how to avoid problems like the '4-chord loop' that plagues a lot of music, and why the beginning of your piece is crucially important when handling this kind of problem.
To join my list and...
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My Composing Process: The Creative Phase
This episode talks about the power of the 'Creative Phase' - a period of sheer creativity at the start of each project. I talk about how to implement a creative phase, and what it can do for your writing process.
If...
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My Composing Process and Tools
This episode looks at my composing process and tools, referring to a track I wrote and mocked up in the first week of January. We talk about all the gear, software, and processes you'll need to go through to produce...
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