Untapped Market
30/06/13 10:18
Looking for a new medium to write for? Found two!
I’m sitting in a classroom full of middle school band, orchestra, and choir directors. It was only brought up for a second, but I hear the one thing that every composer wants to hear - “We don’t always have great repertoire to teach.” What a beautiful thing to hear.
As composers, we tend to be so deliciously seduced into writing for the best performers in the world. Who wouldn’t? Pushing limits. Discovering new music. Exploring the best performers’ abilities. But how about challenging yourself from the other direction?
I’ve had the great pleasure these past two years of tackling and completing my first piece for middle school band and the piece is, quite honestly, my favorite to listen to of all the works I’ve created. Now, sitting here, listening to these teachers wish for new and exciting repertoire, I feel myself a gold miner sitting smack in the middle of the biggest California strike.
I remember middle school band music. I remember enjoying very little of it. Such music is usually written by band directors as teaching tools, which is excellent and necessary. But why are we leaving this rich and challenging market to the middle school band directors? The challenge of writing something interesting and engaging for younger students provides unique and provocative compositional problems to solve that were a joy to tackle.
So, composers, dive in!
I’m sitting in a classroom full of middle school band, orchestra, and choir directors. It was only brought up for a second, but I hear the one thing that every composer wants to hear - “We don’t always have great repertoire to teach.” What a beautiful thing to hear.
As composers, we tend to be so deliciously seduced into writing for the best performers in the world. Who wouldn’t? Pushing limits. Discovering new music. Exploring the best performers’ abilities. But how about challenging yourself from the other direction?
I’ve had the great pleasure these past two years of tackling and completing my first piece for middle school band and the piece is, quite honestly, my favorite to listen to of all the works I’ve created. Now, sitting here, listening to these teachers wish for new and exciting repertoire, I feel myself a gold miner sitting smack in the middle of the biggest California strike.
I remember middle school band music. I remember enjoying very little of it. Such music is usually written by band directors as teaching tools, which is excellent and necessary. But why are we leaving this rich and challenging market to the middle school band directors? The challenge of writing something interesting and engaging for younger students provides unique and provocative compositional problems to solve that were a joy to tackle.
So, composers, dive in!
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