rapunzel

If you're your own boss and are satisfied with your career, you already have something that most people want and don't have. I think you should cherish that, and just moonlight, as they say, on the side. See if you can get any promising leads as a professional musician if that's what you want, but meanwhile don't fall into the trap of resenting your day job, getting restless and miserable. That will only stifle your creativity. If time is the issue here and you're essentially your own boss, couldn't you cut back your hours somewhat? That might be all you need to strike a proper balance. My dear mother loves musicians, but she warned us about having children with them. ;)

I hate playing favorites, but I'll throw a few names in the hat for fun. Jane Eyre (both) Snow Falling on Cedars Hook. Favorite movie too :smithy: The Green Mile Ararat Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon A.I. And I agree with KahliaSkye. Ever After was magical.

It could mean that, but usually people who make comments that devoid of meaning are either obscenely arrogant or trolling, neither of which is useful to anyone in any sense. I wholly agree with this comment. I saw a perfect example of the latter type of critique among the compositions on this forum. The person doing the critiquing, no doubt, came out of the womb penning elegant strains and found it his God-given right to completely demean the other composer's work and ability. The people dishing the destructive criticism usually have such sensitive egos that they can't take criticism in return, even when it's actually well-meaning (a.k.a. constructive). It's my humble opinion that people who have gained success in a field should use those skills to mentor and build up other young composers who are pursuing the same dream, instead of trying to tear them down. Only then is their advice worth anything. ~rapunzel

You can add your EWQLSO VSTs to Sibelius, apparently. You need sound sets, and unless you're an ultranerd and can make your own manual sound sets, then you can get them for $25 or so from this programmer Jonathan Loving's website at The Sound Set Project. I just bought them so I could use my Symphonic Orchestra Gold library in Sibelius 7 and the install went smoothly but, being that this type of stuff typically takes me hours of laboriously picking through outdated forum threads trying to decipher the meaning of some new file extension etc., I'm presently stuck on the Playback Configuration settings. About recording in Sibelius 7 as mentioned above, if you don't want the hemidemisemiquavers, you can go to Note Input>Flexi-Time>Renotate Performance, and set the Quantization unit to whatever note value is smallest in whatever you're trying to record.

Pieter, Have you learned anything more about these guys at ThinkSpace? I hadn't heard of this course, but I googled around a bit to see if anyone had left any reviews and I didn't find much of anything, which left me doubtful of their credibility. Nor was I especially impressed by the look of their website, although the tuition isn't a complete ripoff if they have anything worthwhile to offer... It might be helpful to find out how long they've been around. Another thing worth mentioning is that I checked out Jamie Christopherson's (one of the teachers mentioned on the site who contributed to the LOTR video game, etc.) website and his work with ThinkSpace is mentioned nowhere on his website from what I could tell. Have you considered Berklee Music? I know the tuition is steep by comparison, but their credibility is quite established and you can always try out one of their courses and see if it's worth your while to pursue one of their programs. Incidentally, I am going to try out their arranging for small ensemble and horns course myself, come this summer :) All the best! ~rapunzel

Hi, I am wondering about good books/software programs/websites (or affordable online courses) etc. that teach theory and harmony concepts (from A to Z, and cover the advanced and obscure concepts as well). Basically a complete, user-friendly way to ground one's theory/harmony skills - ideally heavy on the information rather than the exercises, but if the information is there, exercises are great. I'm looking for the authoritative manual on the subject, if it's out there. If you've heard tell of something like this, throw it my way and I'll be much obliged! And while we are on the subject, I could use some good resources on composition (particularly arranging and orchestration) as I am preparing to take a program in the winter and would like to do some in-depth study besides analyzing scores.

Half.com! I didn't know such a thing existed until now. Simply marvelous. Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's a go then.

I would like to hear from those of you that have used Adler's "The Study of Orchestration". Is it a worthwhile investment - in particular should the CDs and book be purchased together? It costs a fair bit, but I've heard good things about it. I am new to orchestration but I have a background in theory.

I'm rooting for ya Josh, because I basically have the same question...

I finally got my orchestra set up and I am running it on FL Studio. However, I am wondering if there is a way I can run it through a program (Sibelius maybe?) where I can make use of musical notation and "luxuries" such as key signatures, changing time signatures, ritardandos and accelerandos, etc. rather than slapping blocks down on a rigid chart like the one in FL, which is designed to make loops and not symphonies. I have looked into Sibelius and Finale a little bit but I am not entirely clear on their capacities. One other question. For anyone who uses EWQL Gold, when I open my Play engine and click on my library, there are three options: Gold instruments, Gold samples, and Silver samples. However, I can only make use of the Gold instruments section - they are followed with .ewi, and the samples are not. Is this normal or am I missing something? I noticed there is a choir in the samples section and I can only gaze longingly... Your ingenuity would be much appreciated!

Thanks a lot Davison and Yasamune for the links!

I guess I didn't give sheetmusicplus a fair shot so I will go and do that. In the meantime, thanks yall for the feedback!