This weekend marked the end of the Fortune Cookie Songwriting Quest. Our compilation album is going to be a pretty interesting mix of vocal and instrumental tracks from all over the world. I'll tell you more about them in an upcoming post. In the meantime, I thought I'd share my fortune cookie-inspired bassoon and trombone duet, plus some composing tips for these bass clef instruments.
Experimental songwriter Ben Simon (aka Felix Frost) caught my ear when I was judging the SpinTunes songwriting contest. His album Phineas Flux has a really shiny pop sound, but it almost never repeats the same phrase twice (in fancy composer language, that's called "through-composed"). We talk about his elaborate plot-driven songs about cowboys and pirates in this episode of Composer Quest.
Music Psychologist Victoria Williamson is an expert on earworms - songs that stick in our heads. In this episode of Composer Quest, she reveals her findings on what makes a melody sticky. Vicky also answers my other pressing music psychology questions.
Guitarist Dylan McFarling is obsessed with studying the work of other songwriters and composers, all the way back to Bach and his ingenious Musical Offering. In this episode of Composer Quest, Dylan shares his songwriting tips and explains how string quartets have inspired the way he orchestrates guitar and voice in his songs. Also in this episode, you'll hear some beautiful, previously unrecorded songs that Dylan performed live in the Composer Quest studio.
Composer Richard Russell is a philosopher at heart. In his mission to become a better composer, he went back to school to study the big questions surrounding aesthetics, music, and beauty. He has dug into both existential and practical composing topics in his podcast Creativity and Composition (one of my favorites). I'm pleased to bring you this Composer Quest podcast interview with Richard, in which we discuss everything from feminist musicology to Plato to getting performance royalties from ASCAP.
I'm thrilled to bring you this incredibly comprehensive flow chart of my advice on making a living with your art.
I was opening some fortune cookies for the Fortune Cookie Songwriting Quest, and I realized they were speaking to my inner N64-playing child.
After nerding out about video game soundtracks for 20+ years, Michael Chadwick (aka Nebyoolae) finally started composing his own, a few of which are for games that don't actually exist. In this episode of Composer Quest, we chat about Michael's score for his made-up RPG Ebben Flow, his chiptune album Average Town, and his soundtracks he composes for his everyday activities (eating a muffin, doing the dishes, etc.).
DJ, opera singer, and film composer Brooke deRosa is making a name for herself around LA. She recently sang on Ghostface Killah's 12 Reasons to Die and appeared on Jimmy Fallon with the group. In this episode of Composer Quest, Brooke gives us some practical advice she's learned from scoring over 15 films and TV shows in the past five years. She also shares tips on composing for vocalists.
Have you ever drawn a fortune from a fortune cookie and thought, this would make an awesome song? No? Well neither had I, until just recently. So I decided to make that our challenge for the sixth Composer Quest quest. I'm hoping this one will inspire you to meet up with other songwriters and composers to get your creative gears really turning.