Alan Theisen provides his top 10 tips for composing and arranging for concert band and wind ensemble through live analysis of scores including standard repertoire, contemporary selections, and pieces from his own catalogue. Also topics like navigating rehearsals, getting consortiums, best techniques for maximizing time with these groups and actually finding them will be covered. Questions are encouraged and answered at any point during the presentation. Participants may offer their own projects - current or past - for examination and critique.

Meet with John Kaefer, Film and TV composer and conductor, for an in depth conversation about his process of putting music to media.

His newly-scored feature films include A SCORE TO SETTLE starring Nicolas Cage/Benjamin Bratt and ONLY starring Leslie Odom Jr./Freida Pinto. Of the score for ONLY, Film Music Magazine wrote "in a world increasingly in need of tenderness as it deals with growing madness, the elegiac quality of ONLY strikes a powerfully tragic, yet entrancingly melodic chord." Other scores include MEATS (2020 Sundance), HOW TO BE ALONE (2019 SXSW), and PARTY BOAT starring comedian Jay Mohr (Sony Pictures), as well as the feature documentaries THE DIVINE PLAN, SILENCE PATTON, A POLITE BRIBE, and the 3-part DANCE SCHOOL: JUILLIARD (PBS).

Interested in writing for mallet percussion instruments but not sure where to start? Want to help your percussion writing become both playable and powerful? This workshop will offer an introduction to the most typically used keyboard percussion instruments as well as idiomatic practices that will help your ideas be most effectively performed. In addition to introducing keyboard percussion instruments, Compitello will discuss working with performers on revisions and common sonic and idiomatic misconceptions. Because of the nature of this topic, extensive time will be left for workshopping participants’ works, which they will bring at the time of the class.

An interactive session from Yousif’s studio where he will answer questions about, and demonstrate, various world percussion instruments.

Helpful Hints On Choosing And Presenting Your Best Work

BMI Student Composer Awards preliminary judge Jeremy Gill offers an insiderʼs view on how judges assess your work, and what you can do to make your best work stand out. This workshop is aimed at student composers applying to early career competitions (ASCAP, BMI, etc.).