COMPOSER SABRINA PENA YOUNG | MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | FILM | CLASSICAL | OPERA

What Really Happens When a Composer Writes Music? When you watch your amazing composition performed for the first time, audience members are usually wowed by the amount of work that it took to create the work. They often can't fathom the hours behind such a great musical feat, even if they didn't care for the music, they still remark on the ingenuity it took to pull together the latest song, whether it was a string quartet, an avant-garde percussion piece, or an electroacoustic work.  The reality is that it takes a lot of time to write a composition, and usually the work takes several stages. Cover of Leonard Bernstein STAGE 1: The Planning Stage Most composers take some time to plan out their piece. This can include writing sketches in a notebook, jamming on an instrument, listening to recordings, or even reading books. Like composer Leonard Bernstein , my routine also involves many hours lying down, inert, letting my brain figure out how I will create my ne...

5 Tips on How To Ask Teachers to Revise Your Grades After teaching everything from early childhood to college for the last fifteen plus years, I thought it would be helpful to share some tips on asking your teacher to revise your grade.  1. Read the Syllabus If the assignment was writing to write a ten page essay and you submitted a 200 word blurb worthy of Facebook, then realize that your best bet is to read the syllabus carefully next time and submitting the right assignment. If the wording was ambiguous, then ask politely if you could resubmit your assignment with the correct requirements, maybe for partial credit. 2. Don't Plagiarize Believe it or not, your professor will not believe that you "accidentally" copied the entire Wikipedia entry on Napoleon Bonaparte. If it is a formatting issue, then be sure to read the class requirements on proper citation . Some professors are real sticklers for correct citation, checking every comma, and some just want to ...

MUSIC GRANTS AND DEADLINES FOR COMPOSERS IN CLASSICAL MUSIC AND JAZZ As musicians we are always looking for opportunities to share our music and find out the latest about grants and great opportunities. Check out this list of grants, originally shared by the New York Women Composers . Remember when filling out a grant application, be sure to read all the directions, meet the deadlines, and be sure to present your best foot forward. This means avoiding typos, badly written scores, handwritten scores, poor recordings, or submitting just any old piece. You need to shine, you need to be the best. And keep in mind that many opportunities are not "blind", a term meaning that the judges panel checks out anonymous portfolios, a process that often results in a much more diverse pool of recipients and lessens unintended favoritism in the process. Best of luck! - Sabrina Pena Young May 30th Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation French-American Jazz Exchange The French-American Jazz Ex...

Percussive Notes and Faculty Matters Magazines Shine a Spotlight on Libertaria The Percussive Arts Society Music Technology expert Kurt Gartner from Kansas State University recently interviewed me for  the recent Percussive Notes magazine, a national music publication that reaches percussionists and band directors throughout the United States. In this exclusive article, we discuss online remote collaboration for the music project Libertaria: The Virtual Opera, a cutting edge animated opera I completed last year with an amazing cast and crew that we produced entirely online, without a single rehearsal. Any musician who wants to find out more about online music collaboration, music technology, and how to work together to create great musical works using today's latest social media and online music tools will benefit from this article. Watch Libertaria Opera Highlights Reel UPCOMING: The University of Phoenix shines a spotlight on faculty members engaged in exciting pro...

Receipt Deadline: May 16 – electronic submission Women's Work 2014 music video competition Beth Anderson Women's Work announces its 2014 music video competition. In lieu of its annual concert s eries, Women's Work will sponsor a new music video competition on YouTube , with a deadline of May 16. Composers are invited to submit their original, new music videos of up 5 minutes to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3zsZtaPZhGOwicugQYL8Q or submit a link to where their video may be viewed online at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Womens-Work/135440309855293 . Entries will be judged by a panel, chaired by Beth Anderson , from May 19 through 23. Winner will be announced the week of May 26. Entries will be evaluated by the overall quality of presentation. Visually static videos over music are not suggested. Please note that videos may be longer, but panel will not consider more than the first 5 minutes of any video. Please also note that there is a limit of ...