Composer Quest: A Songwriting and Music Composition Podcast

Ellen Stanley (aka Mother Banjo) brought her banjo over to the Composer Quest studio to share some songs and stories. We talk about everything from her Walden-inspired song to her unusual connection to Paul McCartney. In addition to her banjo-playing career, Ellen is the executive director of the Minnesota Music Coalition, and for eight years she worked as a publicist for Red House Records. So she also shares some advice on networking, getting airplay, etc.

If some episodes of Composer Quest are like delicious deserts, then this one is like eating your vegetables. Just in time for tax season, we have a special episode on tax tips for musicians and other creative professionals. Attorney and CPA Brad Begley shared lots of tax advice at an event hosted by the Minnesota Music Coalition and Music Mafia Minnesota. It’s especially helpful for freelancers and people with a growing creative business.

After a failed dolphin keyboard experiment, Seth Horowitz decided to change roles from dolphin trainer to biopsychologist, neuroscientist, aural therapist, and author. In this Composer Quest episode, Seth shares his knowledge of how echolocation works, and how he used his knowledge of bats to sound design an alien race for a sci-fi show by the producers of The Walking Dead and Heroes. We also talk about his aural therapy recordings engineered to induce sleep, nausea, pain relief, etc.

If you heard the Questmas episode, you’ll remember Josh Wilson’s thrilling adventure to find a fortune cookie in Taiwan. I’ve gotten a kick out of his quirky YouTube series Mr. Wilson Presents, which is a great example of how classical composing can be fun and approachable. Of course, this “infotainment” is not without Josh’s flair for music theory terminology. In this Composer Quest episode, Josh teaches me a thing or two about how to structure a symphony like Haydn, how to write upside-down “table music” like Mozart, and how to make decent-sounding choral MIDI files.

Laura Marie believes one of the keys to great songwriting is overcoming self-consciousness and writing with brutal honesty about your own life. In this episode of Composer Quest, we talk about the benefits of forcing yourself to write consistently, and Laura shares songs and stories from her song-a-week project.

At Berklee College of Music, Pat Pattison created the world’s first songwriting major. He has taught a host of talented songwriters, including Grammy winners John Mayer and Gillian Welch. I was introduced to Pat through his free online Songwriting course (check coursera.org), and his method of “preserving the natural shape of the language” has really helped me analyze my own lyric writing. In this episode of Composer Quest, I ask Pat about his theory that our language can be interpreted like a piece of music, with a tonic note and harmonic structure. I also share music from The Happiness Project, in which Charles Spearin wrote music to match up with the speech patterns of his family and neighbors.

The 7th Composer Quest Quest is here! As Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, I challenge you to write a piece of music for your valentine. The twist is, it must be for your valentine to perform, not you. So if that special someone plays an instrument or sings, this is the perfect opportunity to give him or her a unique gift. Don’t feel limited to writing for a romantic valentine, either; you could also choose a friend or family member.

Craig Carnahan has been a part of the American Composers Forum since it was small enough to fit in someone’s living room. In this episode of Composer Quest, he shares some advice on writing grants, getting performances of your music, and arranging copyrighted material. Craig explains how ACF’s Innova recording label works, and why it’s such a great opportunity for composers. We also get to hear a few of Craig’s original pieces.

Chris Kukla shares some practical advice about freelancing as a video game composer: where to find gigs, how to get paid, and how to work with your clients.

The infamous trio Lazerwülf joined me for a Composer Quest interview about their new charity single to raise money for children in Africa. We also unearthed some deep cuts from the Lazerwülf catalogue.

Santa visits the Composer Quest studios to kick off this special Christmas episode. You’ll get to hear music from the past three quests. First, we travel out to rural Minnesota for KMS Elementary’s heartwarming performance of our collaborative Christmas musical Elfluenza. Ms. Hamann’s 1st-3rd graders also give us composers some advice. Next, I reveal which orchestral carol arrangements were chosen and performed by the Amadeus Chamber Symphony. Finally, we get to experience Mr. Wilson’s epic journey to find a fortune cookie in Taiwan for the fortune cookie songwriting quest.

Experimental songwriter Ben Simon (aka Felix Frost) caught my ear when I was judging the SpinTunes songwriting contest. His album Phineas Flux has a really shiny pop sound, but it almost never repeats the same phrase twice (in fancy composer language, that’s called “through-composed”). We talk about his elaborate plot-driven songs about cowboys and pirates in this episode of Composer Quest.

Music Psychologist Victoria Williamson is an expert on earworms – songs that stick in our heads. In this episode of Composer Quest, she reveals her findings on what makes a melody sticky. Vicky also answers my other pressing music psychology questions: Why do babies have an innate sense of rhythm? Why did Clive Wearing, a severe amnesiac, retain his ability to perform music? When did humans start playing instruments? Also in this episode, you’ll get to hear the sound of the world’s oldest instrument, and a never-before-released Charlie song. Enjoy!

Guitarist Dylan McFarling is obsessed with studying the work of other songwriters and composers, all the way back to Bach and his ingenious Musical Offering. In this episode of Composer Quest, Dylan shares his songwriting tips and explains how string quartets have inspired the way he orchestrates guitar and voice in his songs. Also in this episode, you’ll hear some beautiful, previously unrecorded songs that Dylan performed live in the Composer Quest studio.

Composer Richard Russell is a philosopher at heart. In his mission to become a better composer, he went back to school to study the big questions surrounding aesthetics, music, and beauty. He has also dug into both existential and practical composing topics in his podcast Creativity and Composition (one of my favorites). I’m pleased to bring you this Composer Quest podcast interview with Richard, in which we discuss everything from feminist musicology to Plato to getting performance royalties from ASCAP.