Diary of an Orchestrator: The View from My Hospital Bed

Diary of an Orchestrator: The View from My Hospital Bed

I was hospitalised this year, but I quickly recovered. Around that time, I read lots of comments and posts about the externalisation of music: using DAW’s, whether a piano should be used in composing, and so on. Here is my commentary on the topic – how a trained inner ear can be used to compose,…
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NOT “The Next Mozart!”

NOT “The Next Mozart!”

This is a special 54th birthday post – a bit of rumination over how I started as a composer, how I’ve seen other composers starting whom I’ve helped over the years, and how crucially important it is that we are all completely and totally ourselves no matter what our gifts may be. I was musically…
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Diary of an Orchestrator: Dealing With Client Feedback

Diary of an Orchestrator: Dealing With Client Feedback

Have a read over the following two paragraphs, and think about which one is easier to process emotionally and practically. “Dear Hubert! Thanks so much for the first draft of my “Sonnet for a Dying Sparrow.” I feel so lucky to be working with such a talented and gifted musician as yourself, bringing my ideas…
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Diary of an Orchestrator: Five Decades in Music

Diary of an Orchestrator: Five Decades in Music

This is a special birthday post from your orchestration teacher at Orchestration Online. A couple of years ago, I uploaded a video about turning 50, and charted my own development as a composer. Today, I want to contemplate the punctuation of decades. Where were you musically a decade ago[…]

Diary of an Orchestrator – Coming Back to Yourself

Diary of an Orchestrator – Coming Back to Yourself

I’m starting the morning like I usually do: propped up against some pillows, typing away with my laptop rested on a carved chest from Singapore, my cat happily purring his fool head off on my lap. Through the lounge windows, the lights surrounding Wellington harbour gleam as they surround its inky darkness […]

Welcome to Orchestration Online: The Website!

Welcome to Orchestration Online: The Website!

Hello to Orchestration Online YouTube channel subscribers, Facebook group members, Twitter and G+ followers, and musicians interested in orchestration across the planet! You’re reading the first blog post of the new Orchestration Online website […]