Hello. My name is George Marshall and I am the founder of Any Old Music. I am a composer with over 10-years of experience, having completed work on 50+ projects for video-games, films and the concert hall. In 2020, I completed my doctorate in Music Composition. My PhD was on constraint and how it emerges in creative projects. For example, team discussions in video-game projects. If a video-game team presented a mood-board and certain briefs, these constrain and challenge the composer to compose in a particular way or style. Less quantifiable than, say, the application of serialism, but probably just as (if not more) constraining and creatively directing. It was during my PhD that I realised that there would only be two outcomes for me as a composer: I became a professional composer who needed to compose lots of music in not enough time. I became an amateur/hobbyist or semi-professional composer who needed to compose less music but still with not enough time. With this in mind I eventually opted for something more along the lines of semi-professional, but with an ambition of setting up Any Old Music as a means of helping similarly time strapped music makers. Particularly those in the second group, the hobbyists and semi-professionals, whose composing competes much more for time against other aspects of life. Composition is incredibly rewarding. You never stop learning and developing as a composer. Furthermore, many of us boast renegade autodidactic personalities to a certain extent. My hope is that Any Old Music’s self-paced composition courses can help composers to continue growing, by learning through creating and doing so in their own time.
A thought on composition, arrangement, and orchestration
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We think of composition, arrangement and orchestration as separate disciplines. I would say this is incorrect.
Although the overarching thing we are doing could be composition, arrangement or orchestration, we are likely—at least at some points—doing something that resembles one of the other musical activities we can undertake. Objective, Strategy, and Tactic If we think about this in terms of objective, strategy, and tactic, we might have the objective of writing a video game score. The strategy is one of composition: we need to compose music for the video game. However, tactically, it would be creative suicide to simply compose music endlessly without taking some of your composed material and arranging it and orchestrating it in different ways. A Second Example: Transcription Another example could be transcribing a piece of keyboard music for orchestra. While the strategy is orchestration—and principally transcription, minimising change—there will certainly be the need for some composition and arrangement on a tactical level. For instance:
The Intersection of the Three When we compose, arrange or orchestrate, we do so at the intersection of all three. While one may be our focus, there will be times that we do one or the other. Once we realise that a composition, arrangement or orchestration is not exclusive of the other two, we can start to think more objectively in order to compose, arrange or orchestrate a piece of music. Why Objective Thinking Matters Thinking objectively can be valuable, as it helps us when we cannot always wait for the mood to strike. For example, let’s say I got a call just now from a trio comprised of accordion, guitar and voice. They have a concert next week and, as I am a friend of the group, they would love to play something of mine. The problem is simple: I don’t have a piece for accordion, guitar and voice. Strategy Under Constraint On an objective and strategic level, I can take composition, orchestration or arranging as the focus. However, tactically, there could be a mix. Given the timeframe, pure, “completely original” composition for this quirky trio could be a challenge. Taking something pre-existing could really lighten the load. My strategy could then become something like composing variations on or around a theme or progression. This strategy alone immediately invites composition, arranging and orchestration into the fray. How the Disciplines Multiply Material
That said, if I purely composed material, I would still do these things. However, thinking more objectively, in line with the challenges, I can leverage these broader practices of arrangement, orchestration and composition to do a lot more work for me in less time. If I were to approach this more from the angle of composition, I would need to be confident I could create sufficient material. By thinking like an arranger and orchestrator, while primarily being a composer—in this instance—you create a process that multiplies material instead of demanding more of it. Flow, Work, and Professionalism While the ideal form of creativity is one you do not think about: a state of flow where creativity and productivity both intersect and peak—there are times where we need to compose, arrange or orchestrate something and simply need to get on with the task. Thinking objectively is not peak or optimised creativity or productivity, but it can get things moving. Plus, it may get us to those optimal, flow-state windows of creativity. The amateur waits for the muse to find them; the professional hunts it down. Practical Takeaways
Thanks for reading If any part of this resonates (or pushes back a little) I’d genuinely be interested to hear your thoughts. These ideas are still very much alive for me, and other perspectives often sharpen them. Feel free to reply if something here connects with your own composing, arranging, or orchestrating work. All the best, George P.S. Writing this reminded me how often progress comes from reframing the task rather than forcing new material. It’s something I’m still practising myself. |
Any Old Music
Hello. My name is George Marshall and I am the founder of Any Old Music. I am a composer with over 10-years of experience, having completed work on 50+ projects for video-games, films and the concert hall. In 2020, I completed my doctorate in Music Composition. My PhD was on constraint and how it emerges in creative projects. For example, team discussions in video-game projects. If a video-game team presented a mood-board and certain briefs, these constrain and challenge the composer to compose in a particular way or style. Less quantifiable than, say, the application of serialism, but probably just as (if not more) constraining and creatively directing. It was during my PhD that I realised that there would only be two outcomes for me as a composer: I became a professional composer who needed to compose lots of music in not enough time. I became an amateur/hobbyist or semi-professional composer who needed to compose less music but still with not enough time. With this in mind I eventually opted for something more along the lines of semi-professional, but with an ambition of setting up Any Old Music as a means of helping similarly time strapped music makers. Particularly those in the second group, the hobbyists and semi-professionals, whose composing competes much more for time against other aspects of life. Composition is incredibly rewarding. You never stop learning and developing as a composer. Furthermore, many of us boast renegade autodidactic personalities to a certain extent. My hope is that Any Old Music’s self-paced composition courses can help composers to continue growing, by learning through creating and doing so in their own time.
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