Your regular Composer Quest host has been replaced by a Demonic Overlord. Enjoy this talk with William Dodson and Wendell Jones, who compose Halloween music as the duo Sideshow Sound Theatre. Stay until the end to hear a brand new song by the Demonic Overlord himself, about one of his favorite pastimes.
I just learned a fun trick to make your computer extra Halloweeny: invert the display colors. You'll soon see Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and every other bland blue site turn into a magical Halloween orange!
Poet Brian Laidlaw has been teaching songwriting at McNally Smith College of Music, where he challenges students with assignments like writing from the perspective of a murderer. In this episode of Composer Quest, Brian shares some of the best lyric-writing tips you'll ever hear on the podcast. We also talk about his Internet Cat Video Festival performance, which aired on Animal Planet. As a special treat, Brian premieres a powerful new song called "One Tree Falling."
DJ/producer duo Sjoerd Huissoon and Tim van Doorne are on a quest to get one huge dance hit with their project Ducked Ape. In this episode of Composer Quest, I talk with Sjoerd and his manager Budi Voogt about what it takes to break into the dance scene in the Netherlands. We also discuss what Budi looks for in new artists to sign on his label, Heroic Recordings.
In my latest podcast episode, I talked with neuroscientist Wilma Koutstaal, who studies creativity. After our in-depth conversation about how to think creatively, we joked about how everyone wants things boiled down to a few easy tips. So here are seven ways to get your creative juices flowing.
Cognitive neuroscientist Wilma Koutstaal studies and teaches about creativity at the University of Minnesota. In this episode of Composer Quest, she shares words of wisdom with all of us who want to be more creative. We talk about how to to get unstuck from writer's block, how to move between abstract and detailed thinking, and how to avoid procrastination.
Every week, disquiet.com music journalist Marc Weidenbaum feeds his community of hungry sound artists a creative new challenge. In this project, called Disquiet Junto, Marc challenges composers to produce tracks based on an ice cube, or an Instagram photo, or the sound of space plasma hitting the Voyager I. Marc joins me for this episode of Composer Quest to share some of the coolest and most influential sound art pieces. Marc also explains why he believes music as we know it will be totally absent from films in a matter of decades.
I'm excited to announce a brand new Composer Quest competition! The Amadeus Chamber Symphony is in need of Christmas carol arrangements for their holiday performances with the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University choirs. The performances are attended by over 1,500 people, so it will be great exposure for the chosen composers. Eight arrangements will be performed by the orchestra and choirs, recorded, and featured on my podcast.
I wrote this song from the perspective of Walter White, the nihilistic druglord of the Breaking Bad series. I can't wait to see how the final episode turns out!
Student jazz players have likely come across the name Dean Sorenson - his jazz curriculum books have been published by Kjos music and played in schools across the globe. In my Composer Quest interview with Dean, I ask him about how he makes music fun and playable for younger jazz players. We also talk about the differences between improvising and composing.