Wise words from Conrad Pope

Yesterday I jumped on an ASCAP Hollywood Music Workshop Zoom, led by Conrad Pope. Lots of great discussion. Here’s a few comments that resonated with me and I thought were worth sharing as a reminder to us all.

• The most crucial person on recording day could be the person taping the music.

• For every note you should consider pitch, duration, dynamic and articulation.

• If you write well for your ensemble, it doesn’t matter what size it is.

• Write clearly, and the music will speak clearly.

• People tend to write too many close intervals in the bass. Allow the overtones to resonate up through the orchestra.

• Emotion, energy, colour, balance, execution.

• Writing for the different instruments of the orchestra should be a love letter for that instrument. The player should see the music and think ‘he loves my instrument’.

• You should write ‘as simple as it can be, but not simple-minded’.

• No piece ever failed because of the notes you took out, but it can fail because of the notes that you should have taken out.

• Your first audience is the musicians, and they ultimately determine what music keeps living.

• Bernard Herrmann ’What’s stopping you? Maybe you?’

• If you don’t learn something everyday, change the way you make music.