Blog
This Feels Different
Technology has disrupted and altered the music business many times in the past. It’s not a New Thing, by any stretch of the imagination. The invention of the printing press was a radical change for music. The player piano came
The Legacy Series Has Arrived
It’s here. A few months back I announced plans to release a series of “legacy” titles – music from my earlier years that had gone P-O-P! Permanently Out of Print. Now I will admit there have been creative efforts from my
“Legacy” Titles to Return
One of the great frustrations for any composer/arranger of printed music is that much of what one writes is doomed to eventually go POP! – “permanently out of print.” It’s one of those cold decisions publishers have to make when
The New Reality
When I first became a consumer of recorded music, most of my friends purchased 45s. I typically opted for LPs, which were not only a better bargain (more music for the money), but also they also had a lot of
Keeping Up
When I entered the music business in the very late 1970s, how was I to know the music industry of the 20th century was at a peak and on the verge of a cataclysmic shift? This shift would occur gradually,
New Music for Orchestra
A year ago, I launched a new line of orchestra arrangements – for the “Modern Orchestra,” separating these new charts from the more symphonic arrangements that had preceded them. It seemed time that I should add to that little line
WRITING. ABANDONING. (A Musical Tale)
In 1991, while still a newly-signed writer/arranger with Word Music, I took my first shot at the art and craft of musical theater. Or, to be more accurate – church musical theater. One needs to understand that “church” is a powerful modifier
Finale’s Finale
The End of an Era and What It Means to Music Geeks A bomb dropped on the music industry yesterday when it was announced that the venerated music notation program, Finale, the software users loved to hate, would cease to
Adventures in Rewriting – “Turning My Steps”
“Writing is rewriting.” I wasn’t the first to say it. I wouldn’t be surprised if that quip pre-dates Shakespeare. But it’s an important truth for writers to accept as a crucial part of their creative efforts. It’s a (sometimes brutal) reality
Life Its Own Self
I may have outdone myself this time… going a full seven months between blog posts. That may well be a new record for the World’s Laziest Blogger. Alert the folks at Guinness! It’s not like I’ve not written anything in
Zagging in a Zigging World
I think it’s safe to say that I can be something of a contrarian. (Duhh!) So – when I decided it was time to introduce a new line of orchestra arrangements (after considering it for years), it should come as
The Kindness of Strangers
This is embarrassing on two levels. First – I find myself once again trying conjure up an excuse for blogging soooo infrequently. But it always boils down to the same thing: I get so wrapped up in composing, or editing