Taught by Paul Dresher
https://www.dresherensemble.org/about-pde/paul-dresher/


This seminar is designed to give composers an in-depth exploration of the rapidly evolving options for creating music and life outside of the academic community. The seminar will explore the contexts and processes by which a composer may pursue and develop their musical inspiration(s) in a variety of forms that typically involve working in collaboration with or for other performing or media artists – choreographers/dancers, theater artists/directors, and scoring for film, video, television, games and other emerging media.

For those inspired to take more control of the development of one’s musical career and opportunities, we will cover how to form one’s own ensemble and/or producing organization and the tasks and responsibilities that go along with that undertaking: understanding structure of not-for-profit (501c3) organizations, how fundraising via public and private philanthropy works and considerations and techniques of grant writing and all that go into producing new works - whether purely musical or multi-disciplinary – from conception, fundraising, contracting, rehearsal, performance to general career maintenance.

For those with an entrepreneurial bent, we will try to gain an understanding of how to use marketing, public relations, and social media to create and take control of potential opportunities. We will also examine how the internet and digital media tools in general have completely transformed the role and economics of recording and the distribution and/or licensing of recorded works. This remains a very fast-moving target.

We will also cover the importance of gaining an understanding of and a measure of skill with the technologies typical of live performance – sound reinforcement, lighting, projection, and recording. Linked to this, we will address the importance of interpersonal skills in working effectively on the stage or in the rehearsal or recording studio with those who can make your life easy or hell – sound, lighting, and projection designers and engineers, stagehands and stage managers, all those whom we as composers and performers depend upon but who are not on the stage but nonetheless can have a huge impact on how your music reaches and impacts an audience.

The seminar will involve a number of site visits to theaters and studios where independent artists are at work creating, rehearsing, and performing new works. I expect to have a few guest artists speak of their own unique approaches to our topic and there will certainly be one or two visits to the Dresher Ensemble Studio in West Oakland and to venues where our or other artist’s projects are being presented.

We may also look at how both some very well-known composers - as well as several composers from subsequent generations - such as Pamela Z, John Luther Adams, Michael Gordon and others - have each forged their own unique pathways to a professional life in music.

I would like to be clear that there is no single pathway that can be defined and taught that will be effective for every composer hoping to expand their creative opportunities. Success or failure will depend on many factors - many of which are a challenge to quantify. These might include your own musical style, your flexibility as a collaborator and your level of genuine interest in other performing or media art forms and artists, the range of the musical idioms and forms in which you are willing and able to effectively compose.

The final project/deliverable for the semester will be related to the skills pertinent to the individual interests of the students. Final projects might include writing a grant proposal for a large-scale project, developing a statement of purpose and programs for a non-profit organization (like forming a new music ensemble, commissioning and premiering new works), conceiving and creating a production plan and budgets for a multi-layered project or audio or video recording project. show less