Writing for an Audience: composing music on request

By -

Part 2 (?) of "Commercial Music"

I wasn't really planning on writing a series for this topic, but I've been working on a project for my daughter --a theme song for her "late night" television show project she's doing at work. The idea of the show is to create a 'talk show' like episode to illuminate what their department does. They needed an opening theme so I wrote one.

Living This Life by Chip Michael

However, my daughter and her boss wanted it to be more up-beat, less "minor mode." Interesting request since I wrote the piece in Dorian mode, not really major or minor. But, I gathered what she meant, so I made some minor edits.



Did I sell out? While I like the first version better, the music wasn't written for me. It was written for a specific audience. They wanted to hear something which the first version didn't quite capture. They like the second version much better. In terms of music complexity, the first version has more of what I'd consider "crunchy" chords, finding that place between sweet and tangy.

There's a point to all this. As a composer, I need to be aware of my audience. I need to know who they are. Yes, I do write music just for me - but that doesn't pay the bills. As working composers, we need to make room for both types of music composition and for a place where they meld. Is the 2nd piece worthless because it was written to spec? Not at all.

I'm curious as to what you think.
Which piece do you like better?
How should composers handle commercial demands versus artistic desires?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more