Composition with Nicholas O.

Professional music composer with 12 years of experience ready to teach students ages 13+ in music composition. Students will each receive their own lesson plans based upon their wants and needs because each student should have a learning plan as unique as they are. Music composition topics I can instruct on include developing musical ideas, writing idiomatically for instruments, utilizing musical forms, tension and release, deep listening, drawing influence from others' work, and rehearsal techniques. Students can expect to learn about their musical likes and dislikes and what makes others' music work through listening exercises. The more comfortable students can get with the fact that nothing is truly original the better. All art comes from the study (conscious or unconscious) and synthesis of what came before, and through, combining extant ideas, we can create our own statement in the artistic forum. Beyond listening, students will be giving weekly writing assignments to help them honing their craft. An example of this could be "compose a one minute miniature for flute and clarinet using a minor scale," or "write one phrase for an orchestral score that highlights the brass," and will usually be connected to the listening that week. Based on what material the student has written that week, each lesson will include concepts in the context of a musical example(s) so that the concept is not only theoretical, but also, put into musical context. Eventually, I want students completing works of music that they will then have read or performed by their friends. In working toward these sessions, we will discuss how to rehearse music and make sure that all sessions are recorded for future study. In discussion of the recordings, we will learn what went well with the composition, what did not go as planned, and how we can use those lessons to improve future works.