In my previous blog post I indicated that I’ll be interviewing some high-profile Finale users at the NAMM Show this week.

Today I can let you know who’s participating, and it’s a Who’s Who of busy Hollywood orchestrators:

• Thu, Jan 19: Patrick Russ
• Fri, Jan 20: Tim Davies
• Sat, Jan 21: Bruce Fowler
• Sun, Jan 22: Jeremy Levy

Note that I’ve linked to their imdb.com pages above so you can check out some of the many projects they’ve been involved with. In our interviews we’ll learn how they started in the business, what their work encompasses, how Finale fits into the picture, and more.

If you’re attending NAMM, please join us: Our interviews will begin each day at 12:10 p.m. at the MakeMusic booth, # 6112 in Hall A. If not, I hope to share the highlights right here on the Finale Blog as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

Are you attending this year's NAMM Show Jan 19-22? It’s the annual music industry trade show held in Anaheim, California. This is where music instrument and software manufacturers demonstrate their new products to the media, dealers, distributors, and the musicians of the world.

The MakeMusic booth (#6112 in Hall A) will host several in-booth presentations daily. Here’s a brief overview:

• 11:10 a.m. Depth and Breadth of Garritan Libraries with Gary Garritan and Justin Phillips
• 12:10 p.m. Meet Finale Users with Scott Yoho
• 1:10 p.m. Why Choose Finale? with Justin Phillips
• 2:10 p.m. Creating SmartMusic Accompaniments with Finale with Tom Johnson
• 3:10 p.m. Meet MusicXML Creator Michael Good with Justin Phillips
• 4:10 p.m. Top Ten Tips: Easiest and Fastest Ways to Use Finale with Tom Johnson
• 5:10 p.m. Using Garritan Libraries in Finale with Justin Phillips [Thu-Sat ONLY]

I’m still in the process of finalizing the scheduling WHO we’ll meet in my “Meet Finale Users” section, but we’ll be pretty close to Hollywood, so you can expect some of our many friends from the film community to appear.

Not attending NAMM? Of course we’ll share late-breaking news as well as highlights from the show right here on the Finale Blog as well as on facebook and twitter.

Have questions or observations? Please let me know by clicking on “Comments” below!

Robert Paterson, photographed by Daniel Dottavio

In our last post we met NYC-based composer Robert Paterson. Today we conclude our interview, see an example of his excellent Finale work, and learn more about his most recent recording, The Book of Goddesses, which earned him a Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation.

SY: Could you describe your music, or your musical goals?

RP: I think of my music as contemporary classical concert music, for lack of a better phrase, so I focus on writing music for people to sit in concert halls and enjoy. I would describe my music as oftentimes energetic and colorful; I focus a lot on timbre and color.

I am also obsessed with form, so I try to create pieces that feel like, as you get to the end of the piece, there is never a dull moment where you lose focus. If people say to me, “Oh, there was never a moment where I dozed off,” then I’m happy. [laughter]

SY: That seems more honest that most composers might be willing to be in an interview; most would feel compelled to claim that they’re out to change people’s lives or something grander.

RP: You know, there are some pieces you listen to where there are whole swaths where you kind of float in and out. As much as possible, I try to engage listeners’ interest for the entire duration. Obviously, as you write longer pieces, this becomes more difficult.

I also really enjoy writing pieces that performers like to play. I am not the kind of composer who thinks of performers as automatons or technicians – I like to think of them as my colleagues and that the whole creative experience is a team effort. I like to think of composing as something you do with performers and not against them, not as a solitary effort.

I think that music is a very communal experience in the best possible way. If you go to a really good performance and the performers are happy and enjoying themselves, and they’re getting into the music and nothing is holding them back (whether it’s the notation or how they feel about the music itself), it makes the audience enjoy the performance so much more. And they’ll want to experience it again. My goal in life is to make people fall in love with that experience.

SY: Let’s talk about the music on your new CD, The Book of Goddesses.

RP: I am really proud of this album. It was three years in the making, so it was definitely a labor of love. It contains three chamber pieces. The first, The Book of Goddesses, is in nine-movements and was written for MAYA, an amazing trio based in New York City. It is scored for flute, harp, and percussion, and the percussion part is primarily hand drums. Writing for hand drums was a little out of the ordinary for me, as I usually write for classical percussion instruments, but it was a lot of fun. The whole work is meant to be choreographed. Each movement highlights a different goddess from a different region of the world, and the music reflects this. [View an excerpt.]

The second piece, Freya’s Tears, was written for Clockwise, a violin and harp duo in New York and is related to The Book of Goddesses. It’s like a sister piece, for violin and harp.

The third piece, Embracing the Wind, is scored for flute, viola and harp. This piece has been played quite a bit, as I wrote it quite a while ago. On this recording it’s performed by the American Modern Ensemble [of which Robert is the founder and Artistic Director].

SY: You mentioned the communal experience, of the composer and the performers, in the creation of music. One performer on the CD links all three ensembles heard on the disc.

RP:  The line that runs through all three is harpist Jacqueline Kerrod, who is in the American Modern Ensemble, Clockwise, and is a former member of MAYA.

SY: Any last thoughts?

RP: Perhaps an unsolicited plug. I feel strongly that Finale is the best software program out there for making your music look as beautiful as you want it to look.

I’d like to congratulate Robert for winning the Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation and for sharing his thoughts with us.

What are you creating in Finale? Let us know by clicking on “Comments” below.

Robert Paterson, photographed by Daniel Dottavio

This week we meet composer Robert Paterson. Based in New York City, Robert is currently the Music Alive composer-in-residence with the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association. His latest release, The Book of Goddesses, garnered him a Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. Learn more about his many awards, commissions, and performances at robpaterson.com (and note that he’s not the Finale plug-in creator and composer Robert G. Patterson).

Scott Yoho: What was your introduction to composition?

Robert Paterson: When I was a kid, my parents used to take me to new music and other classical concerts. My dad was a sculptor and taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo. So I grew up seeing people like John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lejaren Hiller and all kinds of other musicians all the time. I was used to that, and thought this was normal, and that all kids did this.

In my early teens I began studying composition with Puerto Rican composer William Ortiz, and he was influential, but my high school teachers were also really supportive of my composing habit. I definitely have a lot of gratitude for them now as a professional composer, and I think about my background quite a bit as resident composer with the Vermont Youth Orchestra. I’ve visited many schools and I always talk to teachers about how important it is to support students who want to compose, even if it seems a little out there for them.

SY: What was your introduction to music notation software?

RP: I am one of those people who have been using Finale from the very beginning, from version 1.0: I transitioned over from something called Professional Composer…

SY: I used Composer too – you could have any beam angle you’d like, as long as it was perfectly horizontal! [Laughter followed by tales of horrible ink jet printers and tearing of tractor-feed paper…]

RP:  Once Finale came around you could tell it was going to be a different ball game, and I’ve been using it ever since. While at Sarah Lawrence College I taught a course in notation with Finale and Sibelius side by side. We would often do experiments with the students; creating a page in Sibelius, and then trying to do the same thing in Finale, and comparing the results.

This emphasized even more for me how much I really enjoyed working with Finale and didn’t really enjoy Sibelius. I always felt like Sibelius threw up a lot of roadblocks: Almost like somebody was slapping your wrists when you tried to do something out of the ordinary. Whereas in Finale, if you come up with a crazy idea or something that’s a little out of the ordinary that’s just not common, it’s easy to do.

I think that Finale is a much more open-ended program that allows composers to be more creative.

SY: Can you describe your work process?

RP: I began writing music before there was notation software. All along my process has been to sketch by hand with pencil and paper, then move to the computer to notate. A lot of composers nowadays don’t do that at all. While I want to transition over someday [to composing directly on the computer], I am waiting for a large-format touch screen that’s easy to use with a MIDI keyboard, because I don’t want to have a computer keyboard in front of me.  I’d rather use a stylus or my fingers. I don’t want to have too many interfaces between me and the music, but that’s just the way I think about it and everybody’s different.

SY: When we spoke before, you said that because Finale can, for example, let you make feathered beams look exactly the way you’d like them to, you might be tempted to do that as you compose, whereas if you simply sketch it, you just capture the idea and move on.

RP: For me, what is most important is that the ideas flow as I invent them without having to worry about how I am going to notate them. Knowing that Finale will be able to notate anything I write means I never worry about whether it is possible. I like to focus on the composition first, then concentrate on the notation later.

SY: What are your goals when notating music?

RP: I don’t want the performers to think about how the music is notated. In fact, the less they think about that, the more I feel like I’ve done my job. I want the notation to be so clear that there is nothing about it that distracts them from making music. I think a lot about how to make everything look clean and precise and as conventional as possible.

On the issue of transparency, I think of film composers. The great ones write music that is so integral to what’s on the screen that you forget the music’s even there. The music reinforces your emotional response rather than interrupts it.

SY: I think we have a theme here. Your preference for Finale, your pencil-first workflow, and your notation approach are all driven by your desire to not place any barriers between people and music.

RP: Exactly. My philosophy is to remove any unnecessary obstacles.

In our next post we’ll conclude our interview with Robert, see an example of his excellent Finale work, and learn more about his music and his award-winning CD, The Book of Goddesses.

It sounds like a joke: “The good news is you get to lead a 115-piece group. The bad news is they’re all trombones.”

Actually, that’s good news, too. Last week Trombone Christmas performed its second annual show in Anaheim, California, playing seasonal tunes with an all-volunteer group of 115 slide trombonists. While this is shy of the world record of 289 trombonists at a single concert, it’s a great showing for the group’s second performance.

Organizer Douglas Grieve was kind enough to share some of the details with me.

Scott Yoho: Where did the idea for Trombone Christmas originate?

Douglas Grieve:  About four years ago the word went out that they wanted to set a world record at Disneyland for tubas. So I borrowed a baritone from a friend, and when I got there I realized that about a third of the performers were trombone players who were just there to play some Christmas music and have a good time. So that’s how the whole idea started.

SY: Who creates your arrangements?

DG: It’s a community effort. We started with the premise that we wanted to standardize, so we use four tenors and two bass trombones (see full details here). I’ve created some of the arrangements, Mark Divers did some, and then Jim (James) Christensen, who was the music director at Disneyland for 35 years, has also contributed some arrangements.

Plus we have composition contests every year, which generates new music. This year the contest was to create a closer for our show, last year we had a fanfare contest.

SY: Have some performers traveled great distances to perform with the group?

DG: The winner of last year’s fanfare contest, Travis Maslen, flew down from Sacramento join us, and did again this year. The winner of this year’s closer contest, Larry Mills-Gahl, flew in from Columbus, Ohio.

SY: Tell me he’s a trombone player.

SG: He’s a bass trombone player.

SY: Even better!  Are your arrangements done in Finale?

DG: I use Finale, I know Mark Divers uses Finale, and Jim would, but he’s never used a computer in his life. [Laughter] Jim has been hand-writing his arrangements – he’s a big Hal Leonard arranger among other things – but he does everything by hand. What usually happens is he’ll give a score to me and I’ll enter it into Finale.

SY: Do you have plans to make your arrangements available to others?

DG: We want to publish the book. We’ve had several enquiries from people interested in creating their own Trombone Christmas, but we need to publish the book before we make our arrangements available to others.

SY: I’d like to accompany this post with one of the YouTube videos from your 2010 performance. Do you have a favorite?

DG: My personal favorites are the Fanfare and the piece that follows: Angels We Have Heard on High. When you put something like this together for the first time, which is what these clips are from, you don’t what’s going to happen on the downbeat. When that hit and we heard how in-tune it was and how well it sounded, we were all having a great time.

I’d like to thank Doug for his time and would like to end with two items from The Trombone Christmas FAQ page:

Q: Can I bring my valve trombone?
A: Sure, but you must leave it in the car, Trombone Christmas is for slide trombones.
Q: Is this kinda like Tuba Christmas?
A: No, we have trombones.

Let us know if you have any questions OR answers by clicking on “Comments” below.

Last February, MakeMusic, the American Composer’s Forum, and the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird announced three finalists in the Finale National Composition Contest. All three were asked to submit final scores by October 1, 2011, and will workshop their pieces with eighth blackbird in Chicago on December 7 and 8. After a concert of all three works on December 8, the judges will select the recipient of the final prize, who will receive an additional cash award and a future public performance by eighth blackbird.

Having earlier met Eric Lindsay and Kurt Rohde, this week we’ll feature finalist Andy Akiho. Andy is an award-winning composer whose interests run from steel pan to traditional classical music.

Scott Yoho: How did you initially discover the steel pan?

Andy Akiho: I didn’t actually know what one was until I was about 18. When I was at the University of South Carolina I did everything I could do as a percussionist. I really tried to learn about everything that was available to me at the time. In addition to playing in orchestra, concert band, and percussion ensemble as a classical percussionist, I joined the local West African percussion ensembles, Brazilian drumming ensembles, and the steel bands. By the time I finished at South Carolina I felt that playing pans was what I loved to do the most, and I subsequently traveled to Trinidad several times. My first visit, I stayed for five weeks and played with a big band called the PCS Starlift Steel Orchestra, led by Ray Holman (a legend in the steel pan community). The following year, I played with another steel orchestra called Phase II, led by Len “Boogsie” Sharpe.

SY: How did you make that connection?

AA: I went to Trinidad without knowing anybody. The first day I got there I immediately began telling the locals I met that I really wanted to play. The place I was staying happened to be a block from where Ray Holman lives, and within a few hours I was knocking on his door. He led me to the Starlift Orchestra pan yard, and I got to play with the band that night. I played and performed with them for the next few weeks.

I returned to Trinidad in 2002, 2003, and in 2006, when I shipped over eighty pans up to New York and started two programs, one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. [Andy has served as a lead teaching artist for ArtsConnection, New York’s most comprehensive artist-in-education non-profit organization.]

SY: Was music composition part of your formal training?

AA: I didn't formally focus on composition until I was at the Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Performance Program, when I was there for contemporary percussion. I had been in New York for years teaching and playing steel drums after completing my undergrad at the University of South Carolina.

This year I just completed my master’s degree in composition at Yale, and plan to pursue my doctorate in composition this fall at Princeton.

SY: What composers are influencing or inspiring you these days?

AA: What really got me into the whole composition thing, and gave me the confidence to go in that direction, was doing the Bang on a Can Summer Festivals in 2007 & 2008. I really learned a lot from my colleagues and composers there: David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe especially... And all my teachers at Yale: Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, and Ezra Laderman have been extremely influential. I'm constantly excited. I’m at Aspen right now and am really enjoying working with Matthias Pintscher and Christopher Rouse. I’ve also been extremely influenced by the Caribbean community too, including Caribbean guitarists, like Scipio Sargeant who used to teach me in Crown Heights. The pan players in Brooklyn like Freddy Harris III, Kareem Thompson, and Eddie Quarless were a great influence as well. There’s just so much inspiration out there. I feel very fortunate for all that.

I’m really lucky that I came into this at a later stage because at this age I feel like I really know what I want and hence more able to appreciate the instruction from the best composition teachers and performers out there.

SY: Does writing for eighth blackbird’s instrumentation offer some unique challenges or opportunities?

AA: It’s crazy! A big piece that really influenced me right when I began to compose was Jacob Druckman’s “Come Round,” which I performed at the Manhattan School. When I got the score I looked for a recording of it to learn the percussion part really well, and the first one I came across was by eighth blackbird. I didn't know who they were back then, and I was just blown away.

What I like about the Pierrot ensemble instrumentation is that you have three pairs of instrumental families: piano and percussion, violin and cello, and flute and clarinet. Each pairing offers a unique range, color, and technique. The different composite timbral combinations are truly limitless! I think that’s why so many composers write for this instrumentation.
 
SY: Can you describe your musical goals?

AA: I want to write music that I feel really confident about artistically and creatively, that all kinds of people can relate to and appreciate. It would be awesome if my colleagues, professors, AND my family could enjoy a piece. I don’t want to create music that only 2% of the population can relate to – I don’t want to be completely academic about it.

I really feel that rhythm is something almost everyone can all relate to. For me it’s the most important musical parameter in terms of what I can manipulate and communicate to others. If the rhythm and rhythmic counterpoint feels right, I’m happy with it, and the music seems to make more sense.

SY: Got any Finale stories or tips?

AA: Just about every piece I’ve written I’ve put in on Finale. I really like the program because I feel like you have a lot more freedom to do funky things with notation that other programs don’t offer. It's great for clarity and innovation. I’m particularly happy with the prepared piano solo I’ve done that I don’t feel could have been done with any other program. I originally wrote it all out by hand, and was able to make the Finale version look identical to the handwritten version. See an excerpt of Andy's piano piece.

SY: Anything to add?

AA: I’m extremely excited to be a part of this project and really grateful for this opportunity, and I just want to really max it out!

I’d like to thank Andy for his time and I’m looking forward to hearing more of Andy and the other finalists in Chicago in December.

Three time Grammy Award-winning guitarist, composer, and producer Steve Vai is currently working on an orchestral piece entitled “In the Middle of Everywhere” for a world premiere in the Netherlands this November. In a video newsletter below, Steve displays the score-in-progress in Finale, talks briefly about his Finale process, and describes his new piece:

Here are the concert details for those of you who read Dutch.

What are you working on? Please let us know by clicking on "Comments" below.

Today we conclude last week’s interview with composer, pianist, and Finale user Chris Opperman.

SY: How did you meet Steve Vai?

CO: The first time I met Steve Vai was when Keneally was on tour with him in '96. My first rock concert was the first G3 tour and I got to go backstage and everything. SO COOL! I met Steve a few times after that, but he would never remember who I was until I reminded him. But after my “Klavierstucke” CD came out in 2001, Steve became a big fan, which alone was worth all the effort of making that album!

SY: How did you come to orchestrate some of Vai’s work for the Metropole Orkest?

CO: Unbeknownst to me, Steve had been looking for a project for us to work on together, and he thought I did such incredible work on Keneally’s “The Universe Will Provide” that he hired me to work on his orchestral project. Mike Keneally and Co de Kloet (commissioning editor of Dutch public radio) also highly recommended me.

SY: Why you?

CO: When we were in Holland, I actually asked him why he picked me over everyone else in the world and he said it was because I know instinctually what it means to be both a classical composer and a rock musician, since I come from both worlds.

SY: Can you tell me about your work process in that project?

CO: That project was much different and much more complicated than Mike's project. There were several other orchestrators and we all worked on our own projects. In addition to my orchestration duties I had to supervise what everyone else was doing (besides Steve, obviously, he was the boss!), so I was completely overwhelmed. We all were. I had status update spreadsheets and everything.

One of the pieces, "Bledsoe Bluvd,” proved to be the single most difficult piece I've ever had to notate. It had multiple simultaneous non-standard key signatures and more notes per square inch than the population density of China. It was the bane of my existence for a while, but finally getting to hear it is a dream come true and it is, and always will be, one of my absolute most favorite Vai pieces.

SY: What was your first introduction to Finale?

CO: I can't remember the version number, but it was whatever was current in 1994. My choir director Miss Novak would sometimes sign me out of gym class and let me play on Finale. I remember orchestrating a march called "Follow Me, Boys!" for band director Mr. Morgan's Boy Scout troop. That was the first time I stayed up all night working on a music project.

I don't think I would have become a composer if it wasn't for Finale. I would have become something else. I guess the thing I love is that you can truly make Finale do ANYTHING notationally. No matter what it is, there's a way to do it.

SY: Got any Finale tips?

CO: When I started working on Mike Keneally’s project, I started dating all my file names as we worked on so many different versions, and this convention has served me well over the years.  I name them like this: ¬Title 110615 (The title, then the year, the month, and the day). This ensures the various versions of each score appear in chronological order.

Also, if you’re writing piano or pitched percussion music, your true best friend can be found at Plugins>TG Tools>Cross Staff. [And check out Justin's cross staff post! - Scott]

SY: You recently released “The Lionheart,” your fifth solo CD (which includes performances by Mike Keneally and Finale Blog alumni Frank Macchia). What were your goals or vision for this project?

CO: After finishing Steve Vai and Mike Keneally's orchestral projects, I felt that my best work was music I helped other artists create so I wanted to make an album that was a true statement of myself as an artist.

While most of the tracks on “The Lionheart” were pieces we had been performing live for years, the arrangements really came alive in the studio.  That effort was dwarfed , however, by the task of assembling "The Porpentine” (the twelve part opus that concludes the disc).  I was determined to compose a big orchestral piece and have it all performed by real instruments rather than synths and samples. 

Once I completed the score, my friend Steven Leavitt converted all the MIDI files from Finale into Gigasamples, so we had a high-end film studio version of the piece.  Then, over the next year, we overdubbed all the real instruments one at a time (whenever I had the money and musicians available). The benefit of doing it this way was that engineer Neil Citron and I had complete maniacal control over the hundreds of tracks in the mix.  I'm very proud of how the album turned out and it wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the inspiration, encouragement, and support of everyone involved.

SY:  How do you describe this music to others?

CO: Usually I tell people it's an eclectic blend of rock, jazz, and classical music, but that doesn't truly describe “The Lionheart” because there are also elements of bluegrass and folk music and other elements that are specific to it. 

Usually, though, I find that I am motivated to compose by love.  If I'm writing it's because I LOVE something, be it a story, or a feeling, or just a passing comment that I friend made to me and I'm excited about sharing those feelings with others. 

I’d like to thank Chris for sharing his experiences with us as well. Let us know what you think, or what you’re up to, by clicking on “Comments” below.

Chris Opperman conducting his piece "Luminescence" at Montclair State University, April 2010

Composer/pianist Chris Opperman is best known for his work orchestrating the music of guitar heroes Steve Vai and Mike Keneally for their respective performances with Holland's Metropole Orkest. He has recorded with Vai as a pianist as well, including a performance on "Lotus Feet,” a 2006 Grammy Award nominee for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Chris has also been recognized as a composer, having been awarded several ASCAPlus Awards, and has recently released his fifth solo record titled “The Lionheart.”

Scott Yoho: Your website indicates that you were “first inspired to become a composer by hearing the music of Frank Zappa,” and today you’ve worked with Mike Keneally and Steve Vai, who both played guitar with Zappa. Can you talk about your first introduction to Zappa’s music?

Chris Opperman: My high school trumpet teacher, Charlie Guzzo, had a poster on his wall for Zappa's Universe and I thought Frank looked like a brilliant mad scientist. Charlie raved about Frank's music, inspiring me to buy my first Zappa album (the “Zappa's Universe” tribute concert), which prominently featured Mike Keneally.

After that, I was completely obsessed and spent my high school years collecting every Frank Zappa CD. When friends would hang out in my basement, it was understood that we would all be listening to Zappa.

Sometimes I'd let my friends play the Beatles...but only if I was at their house!

SY: How did you first meet Mike Keneally?

CO: I stumbled upon Mike's website when I was a high school senior and we started an e-mail correspondence. He would send me insane homework assignments, like learning the hard version of "The Black Page.” I spent days just trying to play the nested tuplets correctly.

SY: How did your involvement in “The Universe Will Provide” come about?

CO: I had worked on charts for a few of Mike's projects including his “Dancing” album (on which I played trumpet and a little bit of piano) and a live performance he did of his “Nonkertompf” album in Holland. Since that project was successful, Mike was offered the opportunity to compose a piece for the Metropole Orkest and hired me to help him with the project.

SY: Can you tell me about your work process in that project?

CO: I had an unprecedented amount of freedom with that project as I was promoted from copyist drone to orchestrator. Mike composed all of the pieces but we worked on all the orchestrations together. Mike would come over to my apartment and we'd do orchestration sessions until three or four in the morning, giving me a chance to get 2-3 hours sleep before my day job at Universal Music Publishing Group.

In addition to the stuff Mike was composing, I would sometimes raid his notebook and just start orchestrating stuff out of it. Sometimes he would ask me to do random things like "Give me Gil Evans here," or "Pick a motif from somewhere and make a cool chord progression out of it for me to solo over."

We basically tried every single little thing either of us thought of.

The "Worrywart" section of "Worrywart Spoonguy" was something Mike wrote while he was supervising my orchestration of "Spoonguy." I thought he was drawing but he was composing another piece. I was in total awe because I can't listen to one piece of music while reading a completely different piece.

Mostly what I remember about that time of my life was how totally happy it was. Personally, I don't think I've ever been more productive musically and it was very hard work but a total and complete dream come true. I was on the moon the entire time.

Next week we’ll conclude our interview with Chris with details on his work with Steve Vai as well as his solo projects. Ask a question or let us know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below.

Back in February we announced the three finalists in the Finale National Composition Contest. All three were asked to submit final scores (by October 1, 2011) and will workshop their pieces with the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird in Chicago on December 7 and 8. The contest will culminate with a concert of all three works for invited guests on December 8. The judges will subsequently select the recipient of the final prize, who will receive an additional cash award and a future public performance by eighth blackbird.

This week we’ll meet finalist Eric Lindsay. Eric was born in 1980 and grew up on Whidbey Island, WA. Like so many of us, Eric’s early musical development was fueled by an attentive music educator:

“I was first introduced to Finale in the sixth grade with the encouragement of my band director. He had spotted me improvising at the piano before rehearsals and encouraged me to write down my improvisations so that my peers could play them on their respective instruments. It was through the experience of working with Finale, learning what a score should look like, and how to prepare music for each instrument, that I gained a taste of the activities that would follow me into adulthood.

The first piece that I premiered in public (with the exception of a solo piano piece that I had composed for myself) was a work for my 60-piece sixth-grade wind ensemble. The thrill of having that many performers simultaneously playing a work that I had devised at a piano – such a modest genesis for such a large final product – was so awesome that I knew immediately that I would be a composer for the rest of my life. I doubt that this could have happened without Finale’s flexibility and intuitiveness scaffolding my introduction to this critical aspect of composing.”

Eric subsequently studied at Indiana University-Bloomington, the University of Southern California, and at King's College in London, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in composition at Indiana University-Bloomington. Eric is the recipient of several national honors and awards, and his scores are published and distributed through Peermusic Ltd. and the Theodore Presser Company.

Scott Yoho: Your website indicates that your music “defies easy categorization.” What do you say when asked to describe your “style?”

Eric Lindsay: “As much as I try to create a singular identity for my music, I feel as though each work turns out wildly different. This might be a result of my early music experiences, which were steeped as much in orchestral music as they were in jazz, musical theatre, and the fabulous scores from the golden era of cartoons, including the work of Carl Stalling and Winston Sharples. But there is usually a thread that ties these pieces together, as I consistently try to weave in some elements of zaniness and the unexpected.

I'm also fascinated with the idea of throwing two or more stylistically different things in the same piece, to see how they merge or otherwise influence each other. I’m intrigued by styles that break free of their trademark identities and slowly transform into "something else" – I find that ambiguous yet propulsive state of transition very exciting.

And as much as I try to avoid it, something pretty usually works its way into my music. "Go AWAY!" I typically exclaim when I notice it's there, but it subversively finds its way back in (in usually a more covert way) before the double bars are drawn.”

SY: What or who influences or inspires your work?

EL: “Investigating cultural phenomena, from Elizabethan nursery rhymes, to the Monopoly game, to the Hopkin Green Frog meme, is another fascination of mine. Surely, reexamining traditions as they adapt through time is a theme that has captured the attention of many leading composers and artists in the postmodern era, though perhaps the imaginative and performance art aspects of the work of Hussein Chalayan, Matthew Barney, Ben Rubin, and Gyorgi Ligeti have become the focal point for my investigation of this theory in practice.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration also inspires me, as indicated by my multiyear partnership, Neptune's Broiler with guitarist/sound artist Robert Hawes and my recent exploration of sound installation and performance art with the San Francisco-based ADORNO ensemble.”

SY: What are you working on in addition to your contest submission?

EL: “I'm starting to dig into my doctoral dissertation, a piece for large mixed ensemble and electronics, which I expect will receive its premiere by the Indiana University New Music Ensemble in their 2012-13 season.

I'm also in the early stages of collaboration with choreographer Selene Carter on an improvisatory piece for multiple dancers. Embedded their costumes and props are microcomputers that allow us to track their movements and reinterpret them in sound controlled from my laptop. We're calling it an interactive feedback system within a dance performance environment. I premiered a piece in 2010 using that technology and the results were awesome.

Also, one of my good friends is part of The Academy (Carnegie Hall's program), so I'm working with him and his quartet, DZ4, this summer on a few grant applications for early next year.”

I’d like to thank Eric for his time and wish him the best with the competition and beyond!