Composing

This is great, thanks for sharing @Geoff!

Pablo Casals was interviewed by George Carlin. Carlin asked him why, at age 93, he still practiced three hours a day.

The Maestro’s response: “I’m beginning to show some improvement.”

Emily J you are most welcome, Emily J.

Linwood Bell Linwood! Hahahahaha! That is a wonderful sardonic wit! Love it.

Wow - great post and thoughts / ideas to ponder, Linwood. I added a short Motif in Violin tonight before making the MIDI transfer to Logic. - in the Violin part. I think I wanted the part to

Stand out brightly before the voice comes in with the melody - Silent Night.

Forever young - I’m mid age guy - lol

This is too cool! Amazing how he works and creates such powerful music. And he gets to wear cool crocks while he does it. Goals! Thanks, Ashley Renee Smith!

Fantastic, Ashley Renee Smith ! Cristobal Tapia is one of my favorite examples about how to create impactful, distinctive music for visuals. In order to achieve that I think we need two things: inspiration and the ability to think outside the box. But balancing inspiration and creativity with notes and deadlines can be difficult at times, this is why I really appreciate this video as a positive reminder that it is possible. Thank you so much for sharing!

Love it! Thanks for that share. I hadn't seen it. He must have written that in December with that Carol of The Bells nod and all.

So true, Elena Maro! I love how inventive he is even under typical project constraints.

You're welcome, Elena Maro. I'm about to share your blog on Twitter (X) too.

You are a star, Maurice Vaughan , thank you so much!

You're welcome, Elena Maro. Hope you have a great weekend.

Thank you, Maurice Vaughan . I wash the same to you.

You're welcome, Elena Maro. Thank you.

I haven't tried that yet but I'm interested in hearing more about it, too. I was doing the East/West thing for a while but let it go. I wasn't using it that much with the projects that I've been doing lately. Those subscription fees really start to add up. I don't even wanna think about it.

I was doing the East/West subscription too for a while, but the monthly costs get old. when you purchase outright and have it paid for you're done. That's why I'm not really interested in the Musio product.

We need Musio+ that includes Hulu.

Great share Linwood!

Very beautiful actually!!

Yes, very nice

Beautiful piece. Thanks for sharing Linwood.

Linwood Bell - this piece is a perfect example of how to hook a listener in the first five notes.

Linwood Bell Geoff Hall we should make a Stage 32 Composing Lounge expedition to Abbey Road ;)

I wish....I did buy the Abbey Road cellos today though. :)

Linwood Bell - Well some good shopping for the studio is always a good start! ;)

It's a never ending money pit. I watched Rick Beato's vid on this tune and he showed some software that will pluck out the vocal of a 2 mix. I went to the site and bought 90 minutes of time for $18. I'm working on a project doing some tracks for a 80's pop star and I grabbed the song that I'm working on and with that software got her vocal by itself and have it playing against what I doing for the show. Really helps out a lot. I had to pitch it down a couple steps so that kind of makes it a little weird but all and all what a great thing to be able to do....and cheap.

Elena Maro that sounds like a great idea!

thank youu ! @Maurice vaughan

You're welcome, @Federico Gasparini.

Of course, Federico Gasparini :)

Thank you Geoff!

Great job, Federico! We should have all done this one for Halloween!

Xochi Blymyer ! Cool name:)... ooh, well, you found some good questions of your own!

Well.... I firmly believe that doing anything SUPER well is equally difficult... and often equally rewarding... but in terms of meaning? Not everything has equal meaning... attempting to do something WELL... like, better than well... more like GREAT... is hard enough, but when that thing has to do with guiding and shaping another human being from baby to grown man? Well, that's not only difficult, but carries with it so much meaning, purpose and responsibility... so I guess that's harder, because it's more important than any song... BUT, I will say that anything I put my entire self into gets ALL OF ME in that moment.... so whether it's a song or raising my two lil boys (8 and 3)... while I'm doing either, it's my whole world... everything... it gets all my effort. Max effort.... Heart effort... Brain effort... Soul-effort. It's the only way to do anything pn a super high level; near obsession levels of commitment. (or total obsession levels!.... But, that's not necessarily recommended haha... hard to sustain:).

How do I organize it all? Well... depends who you ask... I've realized that, "it takes a village" to have a career like this... it can feel like I'm often alone, or just inside of a tight little collaboration... the reality is; I couldn't have gotten here without a supportive family... and I wouldn't be able to continue being here without a supportive wife... and great friends and collaborators.... So, for the past 3+ decades, while I'm off in creation-land, someone is usually holding down the fort or has helped enable me to do so... so that's part of it... support systems.... but also, I'd like to hereby than what my naturopathic doctor calls "Hyper-Focus ADD".... which she casually (maybe too casually) knighted me with last year... I suppose the shoe fits! I realized that I'm not anything close to calm or happy unless I have 3 to 10 different things going at once... if I'm not multi-tasking I'm not only bored, but I start self-destructing... my brain doesn't do well without problems to solve.... it would rather create a problem (or make one worse) than just sit there doing nothing... it's a good thing to know that every mini-super-power has a super-weakness!

And thank you... yes... I can't WAIT to share the FOLLOWING FIREFLIES world with you all... best case scenario, we'll start releasing the book series early next year, while we dive into making the film.... we're about to start taking meetings and finding a production company partner now that our initial 20-month development period has garnered a ton of IP... we're ready for the next step. It's gonna be so so cool. I feel this one in my dang bones!

Hi Adam, Thanks for doing this! How do you approach writing for yourself vs writing for someone else? Do you use different techniques or try to stick to the same methods?

Hey Niki H You're welcome:) This is weirdly complicated question to answer accurately! I'll give it a shot... Fundamentally I approach both writing for myself and writing for someone else in as much the same way as possible... but that's rarely possible! Whether that "someone else" is an artist, or a film or tv show, my best work is going to be work where I can bring my entire self to the process: not just my skills but also my tastes and my... well, heart/mind/soul (as cheesy as that may sound!).

There are two main differences between writing for myself or someone else (or another project):

1) When I write for myself, my goal is to accurately express something... I'm just trying to express myself and please myself while creating. When the song is done, I HOPE other people connect to it... I really do... it's incomplete without that piece... but WHILE I'm creating, ANY thought of what ANYONE else might think is 100% a negative to the process and result. If I stay within myself, the outcome will always be more pure and of a higher level of overall quality. I know that if it's more pure in that way, then it's more likely that it'll go deep for those who might connect to it. BUT, if I try to people-please, I'll just be guessing what others will like and screwing up my process... I'll either pander or go outside my own sensibilities and end up with a lesser piece of work.

2) Business: especially in recent years, there's almost no business agenda that enters into the equation with my solo music. It's the musical equivalent of writing in myth journal... like a diary entry... with the added element of seeking to make it something artistic and with benefit of knowing that I'll get to share it with people... and that if they connect to it... that will feel really good.

When I write for or with others, it's always for some external purpose... so I HAVE to take those considerations into account... and the further those considerations are from my own personal tastes or instincts or goals, the more I have to essentially "police" myself artistically so I stay on track!!

It's an incredibly delicate process... and I've spent the last 2+ decades figuring out how to bring AS MUCH OF MYSELF (the best of myself) to a project and yet, be careful not to let my own instincts take me away from the project's known goals. I've certainly made that mistake and experienced how I got in the way of myself by accidentally pulling something toward my own tastes when it needs to be something else... a High School Musical or A WEEK AWAY song isn't SUPPOSED to have a Jeff Buckley, Sting, Radiohead, and Chris Cornell vibe:).... but I think the upside is that sometimes there's a little something of those personal tastes that seeps in, that gives the work a little something different... some extra weight maybe... I did notice that Disney started coming to Andy and I more often for the "big emotional moments" in the films... and I think that might be a part of it.

My own tastes only partially align with most of the songs I've co-written that I've built my career around (especially most of the Disney stuff)... sometimes they only align a tiny bit... so it's essentially like being a character actor and I'm tasked with playing a role that is almost nothing like who I actually am... it's a fun challenge... and I have to use my intellect and imagination to get outside myself and create something that works... It's quite the psychologically complex feat!... at least for me... it's a whole thing:).... I've thought a lot about it... the goal is to internalize all the criteria and then bring as much of myself to it as possible... how much of myself? It varies widely!

In cases where I've been able to bring more of myself, the result (I've noticed) is always better....not because I'm awesome... but just because I think any artist's best work is the work that is a natural extension of their own tastes and internal experience.... that said the imagination can do some wonderful tricks... am I a girl named Gabriella that is about to bail on Troy in High School Musical? No. lol. But if I have to imagine what that might be like... and imagine what the goal demographic would want to FEEL while watching that scene... (that song was "Gotta Go My Own Away" from HSM2)... there are ways to get there that have more to do with a kind of artistically focused empathy that is a key tool in the professional songwriter's toolbox. Writing those kinds of songs with a collaborator (in that case Andy Dodd) is also helpful; we keep each other on point.

I think that's what I've spent this long response trying to find...haha... it's about a kind of ARTISTIC EMPATHY that makes writing "outside myself" such a fun and worthwhile challenge.

The boxes analogy (in one of the above answers) applies here.... Before I start co-writing, I try to find out (and make it conscious for myself and my writing partner) what's in the box.... then figure out how much of that aligns with my own tastes.... once I get those answers, I then see how much of my own thing I can bring to it that will positively effect the song, and not get in the way!! Then I can find my way in from a place of passion... then it's not just work... at least in some way, even if it's small. It varies widely on each project... but honing this skillset has allowed me to work in a super broad range of music and projects and have fun doing it.

Adam Watts , thank you so much for your detailed answer! I am hooked! " the definition of success as "fulfillment and a sustainable healthy lifestyle with good relationships with family friends and associates" truly resonates with me. I am looking forward to finding your book underneath the Christmas Tree :)

What a fantastic answer, thank you Adam Watts. Artistic Empathy is a great way to put it. I think a lot of what you are saying is experienced by the masses in "selling out". Such a loaded and negative term, that is often misused. But I think the heart of it comes from people who can see that an artist has stopped putting themselves into the work and are putting others wants and desires in instead. Separately, I'm here for a Chris Cornell High School Musical :)

Yes. Saw this feature some time ago. The remastered audio will be fantastic.

Very interesting, thank you so much for sharing, Geoff Hall ! Added to my bucket list ;)

It was beyond cool then and it is beyond cool now. Thanks, Geoff Hall - this made me smile.

Sam Sokolow me too, Sam. It’s such a joyous film

If anyone is interested I created some piano sheet music for the Main Theme. It is available here: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/1190331/Product.aspx

Linwood Bell , this is one of my favorite main titles of all times! Thank you so much for sharing. Nice hearing from Britell about "jolting" the theme adding those notes that don't belong to the scale or creating dissonance in the harmony. One of the most valuable tips for Film Scoring! Also, about his reference to the great classical composers from the past... when I first heard this theme and the underscore I thought immediately of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0kqVShFEs. :)

An iconic score

Linwood Bell b6, b5, mM. I love it when you talk secret code, Linwood!

That was an awesome share. I’ve never seen Succession (wrong streamer) but especially loved the theme for season one, that scratchy beat box thing. Cool.

Wow, Linwood Bell! Nicholas Britell is really talented! When the video started, I thought about classical Horror movies like FRANKENSTEIN, then at 4:10 of the video, Nicholas talked about late 1700s dark classical universe/music. I guess the music in classical Horror movies was influenced by late 1700s dark classical music.

It was great. Glad I attended and made new contacts.