Tag: arranging

articles about/relating to arranging music

  • How Thomas Newman’s “American Beauty” Score Flipped the Script on Film Music

    How Thomas Newman’s “American Beauty” Score Flipped the Script on Film Music

    Almost 20 years later, Thomas Newman’s score to “American Beauty” still enchants us with its refreshing approach and seductive sonics. Here’s why.

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  • How I’d Redesign Piano Sheet Music

    How I’d Redesign Piano Sheet Music

    TL;DR: Here’s a new method for writing sheet music for piano that makes it easier to learn to play everyday songs. Traditional sheet music relies on symbols, scales and memorization and can be difficult to learn and read, so this new notation uses visual cues by showing “fingers and hands” on keys. It’s read from top to bottom with…

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  • How Taylor Swift Turned Right Said Fred’s Body-Positive Hit Into a Revenge Fantasy

    How Taylor Swift Turned Right Said Fred’s Body-Positive Hit Into a Revenge Fantasy

    + Soundfly helps curious musicians meet their goals with online courses like The Creative Power of Advanced Harmony and Pop Vocal Production. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe for unlimited access. Last night, Taylor Swift released a new single, and it’s already blowing up. That in and of itself is about as unsurprising as…

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  • Allegro! Exploring the Legacy and Technique of the Great Django Reinhardt

    Allegro! Exploring the Legacy and Technique of the Great Django Reinhardt

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. A fire roars with life on a cool summer night somewhere in the north of France, possibly even just over the Belgian border. Music drifts into the night…

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  • Dorothy Ashby Was One Fierce Lady Pioneer of Jazz Harp

    Dorothy Ashby Was One Fierce Lady Pioneer of Jazz Harp

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. A few years ago, I had one of the most powerful live music experiences of my life when I went to see Stevie Wonder on his Songs in…

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  • ‘Yakety Sax’ — Making Gruesome Violence and Real Drama Zany Since 1963

    ‘Yakety Sax’ — Making Gruesome Violence and Real Drama Zany Since 1963

    After becoming a hit as the “‘Benny Hill’ Theme,” “Yakety Sax” experienced a renaissance turning dramatic web videos into funny ones.

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  • Hear a Never-Before-Seen 1986 Dexter Gordon Piece, Played by 8 Different Artists

    Hear a Never-Before-Seen 1986 Dexter Gordon Piece, Played by 8 Different Artists

    In November 2016, Peter Pillitteri, an aspiring composer and one of the students in Ian Davis’ popular Orchestration for Strings course, emailed us out of the blue to tell us this incredible story: “‘Round Midnight is a 1986 film by Bertrand Tavernier about a fictitious jazzman, Dale Turner, who was played by the great jazz saxophonist, Dexter Gordon.…

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  • The Inimitable Legacy of Van Dyke Parks: A Life’s Journey Through Song

    The Inimitable Legacy of Van Dyke Parks: A Life’s Journey Through Song

    “The song form is a great central theme in a life well lived.” – Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks occupies a very distinct corner of the 20th century. His is a world of imagination, wonder, and the sublime. His stylistic interests pair a considerable appreciation for the music of the past with an almost complete…

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  • How Successful Musicians Practice: The Horn Section

    How Successful Musicians Practice: The Horn Section

    This is the fourth instalment in our series on How Successful Musicians Practice. If you’re just joining us now, this series asks professional and semi-professional musicians performing and recording with all kinds of groups how they practice and what helps them stay organized. We’re getting to the heart of what it takes to grow your musical…

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  • Rhythm Section Essentials Workshop: “Locking in” with Bass and Drums

    Rhythm Section Essentials Workshop: “Locking in” with Bass and Drums

    In most ensembles, a combination of drums, bass, guitar, percussion, and keys make up the rhythm section, which provides the rhythmic and harmonic direction of the band. Particularly for bass and drums, one of the most challenging things to understand is how to interact with each other to make music that achieves something specific. When…

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