Skype Film Scoring Lessons
Teaching Times
Due to my composing schedule, I only teach for a few hours each week, on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, Central European Timezone. I’ll keep the following tables updated:
Pricing and Lesson Format
The lessons cost €75 and are one hour long. The lessons are over Skype with real-time screen sharing. This means we are talking and looking at the same material in real time, just like an in-person lesson.
Lesson Content
I teach an intensive course in orchestral composition, with a focus on film score styles.
The foundation for this course is a deep study of harmony, counterpoint and orchestration.
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•The harmony course usually takes about 22 weeks to complete. What is harmony? When you hear soaring melodies, gut-wrenching climaxes, thrilling chases... it is actually harmony that is playing a huge part in driving everything forward. Without great underlying harmony, all the orchestral fireworks and acrobatics seem empty and unjustified.
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•The counterpoint course usually takes about 14 weeks to complete. What is counterpoint? When you hear several independent musical elements–each beautiful in it’s own right–come together into a balanced, elegant and even more beautiful whole... that is counterpoint at work.
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•The orchestration course usually takes about 24 weeks to complete. What is orchestration? When every part is written so it falls under the fingers of the players in an easy, confident way; when each musical element is carried by an instrument combination that is a perfect match for its inherent character; when the music sounds elegant, clear and balanced... that is orchestration at work.
Once the above technique is acquired, it is possible for the student to study and emulate film scoring devices, in order to build up a vocabulary of writing chops, or just go ahead and make up a whole new language of their own. I was particularly interested in devices by film score composers like John Williams and Joel McNeely, and I studied and emulated a great many of their devices, some of which I shared on my blog.
Finally, I teach an intensive MIDI mockups course, which can be completed in about 12 weeks. The idea here is to turn a computer running sample libraries into a true virtual orchestra that is capable of performing your work to an extremely realistic degree.
If you are interested in taking a course, please get in touch.
