When I compose, I always have to do something new to me, something I haven’t done in just that way before.  Composing is in many ways a lot like simply arranging your own musical ideas, but the twist for me is that I don’t think I’ve composed unless I’ve done...

I’ve done a ton of arranging for live shows involving large casts of singers and dancers, with live orchestras or big bands, and “play-along” tracks to supply whatever the live musicians aren’t available to do, provide effects, etc.  Whether the orchestra’s in the pit or the band’s on the stage,...

This is where it happens. The audience is waiting. The musicians are ready. The anticipation is incredible. Will this be the performance that goes that extra bit beyond the best rehearsal?  When the curtain goes up, it could be a solo pianist, a symphony orchestra, a big band, a large...

I make music with technology. The music dictates the technology, not vice versa… but the technology is critical to the life of most composers/arrangers/producers these days. I’ve heard that in the early days of computers, computer programmers were recruited from the ranks of composers, because they understand working in a...