I’m all about helping composers "up" their composing for singers game—everything from text setting to poetry permissions to range, tessitura, and voice types & more!

It’s a particularly important subject during this current renaissance of new opera. So many composers are developing new operatic works.

But there’s someone else to keep in mind as you write your vocal works. Someone who often gets overlooked, ESPECIALLY in opera writing.

Your pianist.

If you’re writing an opera, you’ve probably heard about taking your orchestral or chamber score and creating a piano reduction—a rehearsal score that singers will use in lessons, coachings, musical, and staging rehearsals. These rehearsals are ALL done with only a rehearsal pianist—not the full ensemble—for budget reasons. The instrumental ensemble only joins for the very last few rehearsals.

My #1 tip for you:
Make sure that piano part is beautiful, idiomatic, and artistic.
Make sure that it stands ON ITS OWN.

Why?

• Just look at HOW MUCH TIME your singers, director, designer, and more will be spending with the piano vocal score! It’s most of that rehearsal process.
• Smaller companies, colleges, scene programs & festivals typically only have the budget to do your opera in the piano version. That means most people will experience your opera in the piano vocal version.
• The strength of the piano vocal version will be what convinces a group to take the plunge and invest in performing the full version of your opera.
• Not to mention: your pianist is a highly skilled performer who deserves gorgeous, playable music! And many pianists who work in opera are opera coaches or directors as well, who have the opportunity to recommend your piece to others if they like it.

 
The sad fact is that many of the piano reductions I see are simply NOT playable. They suspiciously like what notation software spits out when you use their automatic “arrange” functions. This forces your pianist to rework your reduction in real time during practice and rehearsal, crossing out notes that don’t fit in their hands, leaps that are impractical, and sometimes even cutting out that chord or motive that is supposed to be an important cue for the singers—YIKES!

Don’t let that be you. Take that extra time (and negotiate for extra money in your commissioning fee!) to make sure that the piano reduction isn’t just an automated “arrangement” of what the ensemble plays, but a thoughtfully composed piano version. A version that provides all the necessary elements for the director, designer, and singers to rehearse and stage your show AND that makes expressive, beautiful, crafted music on its own. It’s more work. But it’s worth it.

My friend Danielle Kuntz, harpist asked a great question on Twitter today: 

How do we support and encourage living composers?

I love this question, and it's one I get a lot. Performers, ensemble directors, music teachers, and music fans know that the odds have been stacked against living composers for a while. They want to take meaningful action, and they also know they can't do it all at once or all on their own. Many performers I talk to get stuck because they want to offer composers big commissions but don't have a dedicated funding source for that. 

It doesn't have to be hard to support living composers. You can get started right now. It doesn't have to cost a thing. 

Here's a list of 21 ways you can support living composers:

1. Regularly seek out composers & works that are new to you. 
2. Introduce a fellow performer, teacher, or ensemble director to one of your favorite composers.
3. Share a recording by a composer you appreciate with a friend. Invite a friend to accompany you to a concert or to tune into a livestream with you that features music by composers you like. 
4. Stream and purchase our albums. Like and review them on streaming platforms. Share on social media with a comment about why you like our music. 
5. Purchase & perform our existing music. 
6. If you teach, seek out & include music by living composers to use in your studio/class. 
7. Don't make illegal copies of our music. If your budget is too tight, reach out to us and ask for an accommodation. Most composers I know will be happy to work with you. 
8. Performers are often quite skilled at communicating with audiences about the pieces they perform. Your program note or verbal introduction to our music makes a big difference! Share what you say about our music and how you introduced our music to audiences with us. 
9. Record your performances (even just on your phone) and share with composers so we can use recordings on our websites & social media.
10. Perform new works multiple times, take them to festivals & conferences, take our works on tour with you to share them with wider audiences of music fans and fellow performers & ensembles.
11. Let us know about performances of our pieces in advance so we can promote them on our websites & social media channels, share them with our email lists, and add them to our CVs. (Composers are regularly asked to submit CVs listing our works & performances when applying for calls for scores, festivals, grants, etc.).
12. Send us programs from each performance as PDFs or JPGs so we can submit performances for royalties from our Performing Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI, etc.).
13. Tell us the things you appreciate in our work. Be specific. Most of the composers I know are pretty darn hard on themselves and have had imposter syndrome and perfectionism moments. 
14. Offer to write a composer a testimonial about what you loved about playing their piece, working with them, what the audience reaction was, etc. 
15. If you see something in a score (especially for a premiere or a piece with very few performances) that might pose an obstacle for future performances such as an unplayable passage or confusing notation, reach out and ask if the composer would be open to some constructive feedback. (ASK and get a YES  before offering that feedback).
16. After a performance (especially a premiere), offer to send the composer pictures of your part with any bowings, tonguings, etc., that you added that a future performer might find useful.
17. If you teach, encourage your students to compose! Include some short composition projects as part of the lessons. Too few music students get to be composers themselves. The more people who get to try composing out, the more appreciation and love for this artform will spread.
18. If you're a studio teacher, partner with a composer (or several composers) to write pieces for your students. Composers with music that makes it into the teaching repertoire are the ones who will continue to be programmed.
19. Share information with the composers you know about repertoire lists, professional organizations, and other places that studio or ensemble teachers are talking about, sharing, and discovering repertoire. No composer starts out as an expert in every single instrument or ensemble's convention for looking up and assigning rep. 
20. Commission composers, partner with us to help find funds for such projects.
21. If you're longing to commission a composer but feel unsure about how to begin or worried you don't have enough money...just start the conversation. You don't have to have all the details figured out in advance--talk to us and let's discover what's possible together. Sometimes the budgeting doesn't come together for a project, but so often with many creative folks putting their heads together, funding can be found. ​

What did I miss? Get in touch and let me know YOUR favorite ways are to support living composers.