Archive for the ‘experience’ Category

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Compositional goals from 2004

June 19, 2010

Back in 2004, when I really started to consider composition as a major I made a list of pieces that I wanted to write within my composition ‘career’. I put it aside as my life priorities changed, and I found it yesterday. I think it is time that I bring back this list, and hope to start crossing more things off. So that I can hold myself accountable, I want to make it public. This isn’t a complete list of ideas, but as of right now it is a big enough one to always remind me that I have projects I can and need to be working on!!

List of Compositions to complete:

Solo Works
Piccolo
Flute – Romantic style piece, “Jig”, and others.
Alto Flute
Bass Flute – Low Register stuff
Oboe
English Horn
Clarinet – 3 Sketches for A Clarinet (also other A Clarinet pieces)
Saxophone
Viola
Cello
Trumpet
Baritone
Tuba
Marimba
Soprano
Tenor
Bass
Soprano Sax
Tenor Sax
Alto Sax

Solo with Piano:
Piccolo
Flute
Alto Flute
Bass Flute (unamped)
Bass Flute (amp)
Clarinet
Soprano
Tenor/Baritone
French Horn
Trumpet
Marimba
Soprano Sax
Tenor Sax
Alto Sax

Chamber Music:
Piccolo, Flute and Piano
Flute, Alto Flute and Piano
Flute, Bass Flute and Piano
Piccolo and Bass flute
Flute Duo/Trio/Quartet/Quintet
Flute Choir (up to 8 parts)
Flute and Clarinet
Flute and Marimba
Bass Flute and Clarinet
WW Quintet (standard)
Brass Quartet (Trombone)
Brass Quartet (Trumpet)
Trumpet, Trombone, Violin, Cello
Flute, Marimba and Trumpet trio
Sax duets and trios
Sax Quartet (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
String Quartet
Soprano and Alto with Piano
Soprano and Bass with Piano
Tenor and Bass with Piano

Bassoon Quartet/Quintet/Sextet

Small to large ensembles:

2 piccolo/3 flute, 2 oboe, 3 clarinet, 2 bassoon, 2 alto, 1 tenor sax, 1 baritone sax, pitched percussion, snare drum (16 musicians).

2 Flutes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, and 2 French Horns (double quartet)

Early Bands (Elm. and JH)

Beginning Band (HS)
Intermediate Band (HS)

Symphonic Band (with English horn, Soprano sax, and alto flute) (C)
Symphonic Band with Flute Quartet (Picc, C, alto, bass). (C)

Picc/2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 violins (2 parts), 2 violas (1 part),
4 cellos (2 parts), 2 Trombones, 2 trumpets, 1 tuba,
3 mixed percussion (24 musicians)

String Orchestra

Full Orchestra

Men’s choir (TTBB)
Treble Choir (SSAA)
Mixed Choir (SATB)


Posted in composition, experience, Flute, goals, Music, opinion, Sibelius | Leave a Comment »

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TILT Scoring Contest!

May 5, 2010

I have been given the opportunity to enter in a competition to get the chance to write music for an independent film collaboration. I found out about TILT by someone I follow on twitter (@philontilt) and decided that I’m at the point in my ‘composition career’ that I need to do everything I can to get my name out there and build my resume by attaching myself to strong people who I’d like to work with now and in the future. I thought that this would be a great opportunity, and I’ve been plugging away at my contest entry for the last couple weeks. Submissions are due by May 15th. I’m really excited to see what type of feedback I get from the people who follow and interact with me regarding my music.

The way the competition will work:

All composers have been given from April 21st to May 14th to score a video (1 video; 2; 2 minute clips) downloadable from Vimeo.

Once submissions are received, TILT will do another blog posting with the entries and people will have until May 31st to cast their vote for which they like the best.

After all votes are received, the top 3 entries will be considered by the TILT team and someone will be selected an offered the opportunity to score the movie. The winner will be announced on June 3rd!
(paraphrased from TILT website)

Here is my entry!

Voting starts May 17th!

To say that I want this opportunity is an understatement. I know that I would do everything I can to give them what they are looking for to score their film, and I hope that I can at least make it to the top 3 so that I’m truly ‘in-the-running’. I’ve talked with Phil, and interacted with other members of the team, and they seem like a great group of motivated and talented people. To be able to work with them would be a great opportunity and a pleasure, and I’d love to be part of their creative team to help bring their vision to life. If you’d like more information about TILT, you can go the following places:

TILT Website
Twitter: Phil (director), King and Keck (writers), TILT on twitter

While working with Camden, the Director of Abandoned Allies, I realized that I really enjoy the process of creating music for someone else’s vision. It is a very different creative process than what I would normally do when just composing music for me and it is something I really enjoy. I’ve had nothing but a great experience working with Camden, and she has been a great motivator for me to move forward to look into other scoring opportunities. I’m still currently working on Abandoned Allies, and progress is being made as the film comes together and more research and interviews are added. I’m really happy to be part of Camden’s team, and as more happens with Abandoned Allies, I’ll post! I’m meeting with Camden on Thursday to see the movie where it stands now and to talk about musical needs. Thank you Camden for your support and faith in me as we work together, now and hopefully in the future!

If you like my entry, when the contest is open for voting, I ask that you please vote for me and my submission to get me in the top 3. Again, I’d love this opportunity to work with the TILT team, and I can’t do this by myself. I need the support from those who like my music and who want to see me succeed in this area of music composition. I’ll be posting updates here as I find out what is happening with the contest, and you can check out other samples of my work at my home page, kyleowen.com!

Thanks again,

Kyle


Posted in composition, experience, movie, Music, Sibelius, technology, youtube | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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Questions to help define my personal business model for my music.

March 11, 2010

As I write more music on a regular basis the thought of what I want to do with it becomes something I think about more and more. I have been composing technically for about 10 years with some time off to move from place to place and settle. Now it is time for me to start thinking about the projects I’m doing now and what I want to be doing with my music in the future. Right now I’m lucky enough to be composing for a movie, but I don’t know when/if I’ll get other opportunities to work with such great people again. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, and I’m not taking it lightly as a commitment I have made.

I have the option of “locking things down” and making all of my music and projects “paid only” but that doesn’t help spread the openess that music promotes. Realistically, I’m lucky if I have 1 or 2 fans of my music. Mainly because I haven’t put it out there for people to have access to it. I’m sure that as I put more and more of my music out there and expose myself to more people, I will eventually have 10 fans, and maybe even 100. I know that I’ll greatly appreciate anyone that says they like my music, and I’m willing to take criticism and feed back from those who don’t. I want to better myself as a composer, and one of the only ways I can do that is to get feedback from those who know about music and those who just enjoy listening to it.

Can a “freemium” (free content with an optional buy-in) business model work for a composer? I’m unsure if it really can. I think that I’d rather give my music away and find out where my fans are, and if they exist, rather than holding onto my music without anyone able to hear it. I think I have more to gain by giving it away, even if it comes down to just getting feedback. Yes, I’d love to make money off my music, but I don’t know if it is realistic to think that I ever will. One can always hope, but it isn’t something that I expect. I have invested a lot of time and money into my music education and experience and I hope that it translates in my final product, but I can’t make people decide that my music is ‘good’ or ‘respectable’. Ideally I’d give my music away, and then just give a way for people to donate to me if they wanted or felt my music was worth the money. That way it would be completely opt-in, and hopefully all parties would be happy.

I do have some larger goals that I still want to accomplish: Getting my music published, and getting a CD made (even if only digitally distributed). I feel they can both happen, it is just a matter of how. With everything digital now, it makes it much easier to distribute music (PDF, MP3s, etc) and I want to utilize it the way that ‘my audience’ wants. So I guess the best way for me to get my name out there will also still allow me the opportunities to accomplish those bigger goals. Realistically though, no matter what, I’d just be happy if people were playing my music and talking to me about it, outside of the small group of people that know about it.

I’m currently in the process of setting up my main domain, that will have samples of my music and information about my music and projects. I hope that this will become a good way for me to start interacting with people and to share my music with them. I plan on having samples, if not full piece downloads (PDF, MP3) for people to have and interact with. I just have to do some soul searching and decide how I want to peruse these goals while still keeping everything else going.

Any ideas or thoughts?? Please comment.

Thank you,

-Kyle


Posted in composition, experience, Flute, opinion, technology | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

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I’m writing music for a local documentary!

March 6, 2010

Yesterday was amazing! I am now officially writing music for a local documentary with some amazing people involved. This is my first “scoring” experience so it is going to be a great learning opportunity for me. I told myself that I will never turn down an opportunity that requires me to grow and move forward in my life. I will be creating music with a specific tone and that needs to invoke specific feelings. From a composition level that can be really difficult, but I know I’ll be able to do it. There will be some challenges, such as no budget and only a few months to compose, but I know I can work around it with what I have.

In many cases the music I write, writes itself. I do editing and I move things around. Once I got used to the process of composing it has become very natural to me. To write music for “someone else” is a different process. You cater to different needs and you have to try and be 100% objective and willing to make changes when the other people don’t like or agree with what you did. You have to be willing to change things you pour your heart into to make it work. A lot of give-and-take will be essential to a successful project. Fortunately I’m working with people who love what they do and are just happy to have me as part of the team.

Last night I gave the director/producer and music coordinator samples of my music and they listened to it as we spoke music. So much of last night was spent talking about the overall tone of the movie and the roles that the music needs to play in it. My biggest challenge will be taking music from the natives (in the movie) and using it as inspiration for some of the music I’ll be writing. I want to create music to honor them, not insult, so the way I write it will be done with as much research as I can beforehand to insure that tonally I’m where I need to be. This is a fun challenge in itself.

I’m nothing but excited for this project and I will be trying to document everything I can regarding my experience so that I can learn from
It more. I have software that I need to get comfortable with (outside of Sibelius) and it needs to become a tool and not an obstacle. On top of working on my Computer Certification I also have software I need to learn!!! Time to take my notes and start writing music.

-Kyle

Posted in composition, experience, Sibelius, technology | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

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Luck of the draw?

February 13, 2010

Sometimes in life I need a gentle reminder to be greatful for what I have. This morning, I got one of those wake up calls.

I spent the evening (Friday night to early Saturday morning) with loved ones, friends and my partner, and then went to the grocery store that is open 24 hours to pick up some things for the time spent at home due to snow. It was there that I got slapped by reality. There was a shopper that was in front of me that was upset because the lady at the check out stand wouldn’t let him purchase his soda when he was short. He then put it back and got a bag of chips and handed her a pile of pennies. She asked him if he had any bills and he quietly sad no and then glanced back at my partner and I. I don’t know what he was thinking, but part of me was assuming that he was embarassed.

It made me realize that I take too much in my life for granted. I have family, friends, and many people in my life that care about me more than I know. I’m in no way saying that I’m “popular” but I do know that I’m loved by the people I have in my life. Because of the love and support of so many, I’m able to not only do things with and for others, but I’m also allowed to think about what makes me happy. I truly don’t worry about having a roof over my head and money for food. Yes, sometimes things are really tight and I force myself to keep a strict budget, but I’m given this opportunity because of the people that love me. I know that I have had some part of this, in terms of holding myself personally responsible for making steps to move forward in my life, but I know that it wouldn’t be truly possible without the support I have.

I know that it is a small thing to give a big meaning to, but when I saw him struggle for the change for something that wasn’t healthy or nutritionally valuable to him, it hit me hard. I had a small hand basket full of fruits and veggies and things that I WANTED. I truely didn’t NEED them. I wanted to give him my food and buy him more. This desire to want to help him and being completly unsure of how or even how to suggest such a thing just made me silent and dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to do, so I stood there and just let him do his thing. He didn’t ask me for money, but I wanted to give it to him and give him something to be thankful for.

So my question is: what makes my life so different from his? I’m sure he has dreams, but if he struggling for things that I don’t often think about is he ever given the opportunity to shine and better himself? How can he better his life if he can’t take care of his basic life needs?

These questions make me question everything I value as important. I’m able to strive for what I want, not because of me, but because I’m allowed a life style that grants me those feelings and opportunities. So did I just get the luck of the draw?

Thoughfully yours,

Kyle

Posted in experience | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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