This month’s blog is going to be a bit different to previous ones on this site. Since Covid hit in 2020, there have been some very big changes over a short period of time. So, I thought it would be a good time to stop, take a deep breath, and consider what has happened. In particular my experience doing a Masters at ThinkSpace Education.

Contents

1) Some Background

2) ThinkSpace Education

3) Future Plans

Some background

I started learning the Piano at the age of 8, and the Saxophone at 14. Eventually I went to University in 2008 to study performance on Saxophone and composition. In 2012, I started teaching both of my instruments, as well as music theory. When I wasn’t teaching, I was composing, and worked on a couple of projects including a collaboration on a short film for the RSPB, and a TV pilot. A couple of years later I got married! This was of course a great thing, but led to a loss of focus on composing as life stuff got in the way.

COVID

In March 2020, we had a baby in the same week as Boris Johnson announced lockdown – quite the dramatic week! At first, having two huge events happen at the same time blew us off our feet. After a month or so off, I restarted teaching but now over Zoom and Skype. This led to having a lot more time at home. Funnily enough it was this change that rekindled my desire to restart writing music. I got back into the swing of things, relearnt Cubase, and started having fun with music again. In 2021, I was ready to start pushing again, but now with more determination than ever.

Next Steps

After a few months, I stumbled upon Dan Graham’s excellent ‘A Composer’s Guide to Library Music’. This gave me a desire to push on from composing for fun, and to take things more seriously. There’s a lot of practical information in this book, and it led to a realisation that there was much more to explore. Alongside this I submitted a composition for a competition run by Indie Film Music. What attracted me to this competition was the offer of feedback. Unfortunately, the feedback wasn’t what I hoped for, including the line “Your score just doesn’t work.” It took a lot of energy and willpower to move on from this, but it ended up being a crucial experience. Not least because rejection in this business is something you have to learn to deal with, but also because it led to me applying for a Masters at ThinkSpace Education.

ThinkSpace Education

I successfully applied for a full-time 1 year Master’s degree in Orchestration for Film, Games & Television in the summer of 2021. It was definitely a gamble, as I needed to fit it alongside my full time music teaching. I have to say my wife was amazing during this year, and without her I wouldn’t have managed it. The decision to do the degree completely transformed my approach to music writing, orchestration, and outlook on everything!

Overall, I had 26 deadlines over the year. This led to a huge increase in work ethic. Due to the intensity of it, I found myself picking things up very quickly. Despite the number of deadlines, I never felt rushed with any of my submissions. Over the course of the year there were 8 modules, and a Final Major Project at the end of the course. Most of the modules had 3 deadlines – 2 formative assignments that didn’t contribute to the overall grade, and 1 summative assignment that did. I think this format helped keep the pace manageable.

Amongst the various assignments, I had to orchestrate music for different ensembles, write for solo instruments, varying ensembles, and full orchestra. I also had to create realistic MIDI mock-ups, and transcribe the theme to Jurassic Park to score. I also had to prepare 6 full scores with parts, and with accompanying Pro Tools sessions, giving valuable insight into what it takes to prepare for a full 3 hour recording session. There was a lot of variety, and a lot of helpful feedback that was given for every submission. For each assignment I needed to submit a 1,000 word commentary (which became 1,500 words halfway through the course) justifying my decisions, and proving my research. Initially I dreaded these, but to my surprise found them incredibly useful. Having to justify each decision led to me discovering a lot of flaws in my original compositional process. These commentaries ultimately led to this blog!

Each module has a series of course materials, including text and videos, containing interviews with various performers and composers. Although there is a huge range available, I did feel that some of the materials were quite dated. Having said that, they have just released a huge number of new videos for the course, which I’m looking forward to working through.

Despite it being a fully online course, there were plenty of chances for interaction with tutors. I found in particular the 1-2-1s very helpful. These were 30 minute sessions via Zoom where we could go over assignments or any music related topic you wanted. I had some incredibly helpful sessions with Sam Watts, Emer Landers, Chris McGuire, and Norman Ludwin, to name a few. There were also Webinars (online lectures) available, usually several times a week, on a huge variety of topics. As I was often teaching when these were on, I was thankful that everything was recorded and available to access in the Webinar Library. I am however regretful that I wasn’t able to attend many of these live. During the few times I managed to, I felt the interactivity – i.e. being able to ask questions and talk to other students – was a huge plus.

Overall, I would fully recommend this course with a few warnings. Firstly, you get what you put in – so if you put minimum effort into everything, you’ll struggle and most likely fail. This course won’t magically make you a better composer/orchestrator. On the flip side if you work hard, the course gives you the platform to hugely improve as a musician. Secondly, you need to make sure you have enough free time to do the course. It is an intense course, and I only managed due to my wife picking up a lot of the slack with childcare. And even then I wasn’t able to go to all the webinars I wanted.

Future Plans

With my Masters done, and having a few months to setup this website and blog, the inevitable question is: what are my plans for this year? Well… my main priority is to keep writing music, to keep researching and improving. I want to carry on with this blog, and to look to network more with other musicians. I would love to have the opportunity to work more with live musicians and to collaborate on a few projects. It seems like there is a lot to look forward to this year!

Happy New Year!

Daniel