Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

How to Get Your Music Played

11/24/2011

6 Comments

 
Picture
Berlioz knew how to do it.
If you’re a composer, you will probably already know quite a lot about this subject. But if you’re not a composer, you may not have thought much about how, in this day and age, composers of “classical” music get their music performed.

There are in fact many methods that composers employ to bring their music before the public. And I’ve come up with what I believe is a useful and revealing way to organize these methods, which I call the “Contrived-Real Continuum.”


At one end of the scale are the most contrived methods: ways that composers might be heard that are largely or entirely attributable to their own initiatives. At the other end of the scale are the real performances, in which performers and concert-presenters are responsible for a composer’s music being performed – and their decisions are based on their genuine esteem for the music.

As a composer myself, I’m well acquainted with some of these methods through personal experience. None of them are “bad” or “wrong” things to do, but they offer different rewards to the composer.

Below are eight examples of how a contemporary work might be performed nowadays. They are ranked on my continuum model, beginning with the most contrived and moving towards the most real.

1. The composer organizes a concert and hires musicians to play his/her music. This is the most blatantly contrived of all methods: any composer with enough money and determination will probably succeed in renting a hall, engaging some musicians, and possibly even attracting a small audience. But of course, this is not what composers really want: they want other people to do these things, out of sincere admiration for their works. Some composers are reluctant to go down this road – fearing that others may judge them harshly for presenting a “vanity” concert – but others seem to be just fine with it.

2. Composers join together to create a new-music society or collective, and present their music. This is much like the method described above, except with creation of a mutual-admiration society as a kind of smokescreen. As well, such collective efforts may have an easier time attracting funds from government agencies and foundations than individual efforts will. However, such societies’ performances often fail to reach beyond a small audience of friends, colleagues and new-music aficionados.

3. Some kind of ad hoc “mutual back-scratching” arrangement is established. This is a murky, omnibus category, involving a variety deals that are not pretty in the light of day. For instance, a performer might agree to play a piece by a composer in exchange for the composer hiring that performer to play on a contemporary music series that he/she runs. And if a commission is involved, Method 3 can be dressed up for public consumption as Method 7.

4. A composer approaches performers and lobbies them to perform his/her music. Here, some interest on the part of performers is required – and if the composer’s music is subsequently performed, the performance is at least partially “real.” However, this is a tricky business: to be good at it, a composer must have sophisticated professional and social skills. And having to ask to attend a party is not quite the same thing as being invited to it.

5. Performers give subsequent performances, of their own volition, of a piece a composer has paid or lobbied them to play. Composers are gratified and encouraged when this sort of thing happens, because it means that the piece in question has taken on a life of its own. The contrived methods used to win the first performance can then be justified as “priming the pump,” so to speak.

6. A composer submits a work to a “call for scores” by a performing group. The piece is chosen and performed. Sweet! If you’re the successful composer, this means that there are some musicians out there who prefer your music to someone else’s, and want to perform it. However, there’s a modesty in this achievement: the composer’s music was not chosen in comparison with all other performable musical works; it was chosen only in comparison to a specific group of competing scores. And some promotional effort on the composer’s part is still required: if he/she didn’t submit the piece in the first place, it could not have been chosen.

7. Performers seek a composer out, and commission him/her to write a new piece for them. Not only is this a sincere expression of admiration for a composer’s oeuvre, it is an expression of faith in the composer’s future work. Any composer who is in demand for unsolicited commissions has “arrived.”

8. Performers hear a piece of music they like, and decide to perform it. This is also a very sincere thing for performers to do – no social, professional or economic contrivance is involved. I rate this above Method 7 because in this scenario the composer does not even have to be alive. This is about as real as it gets.

No doubt there are other examples that could be cited here of methods used by composers to obtain performances. But I suspect that just about any method could be ranked somewhere on the Contrived-Real Continuum.


© Colin Eatock 2011
6 Comments
Charles Fitts link
12/5/2011 08:02:51 am

You covered the main methods and I have tried them all with variable success. I have found that the surprisingly active music scene in Mexico had provided some excellent outlets for my own music. I have enjoyed performances of my chamber music by groups in Mexico City and am expecting my Clarinet Concerto to be performed at the magnificent Palacio de las Bellas Artes next fall. Many smaller towns have their own symphony orchestras as well

Reply
fast us loans link
10/1/2013 08:47:24 am

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have.

Reply
A. E. Godsey link
11/5/2013 03:14:11 am

I am a new composer who has just completed a symphony. Located at the given website, please let me know if someone out there is interested in having it performed as a world premiere. Thanks. Symphony Number One: Themes for Soren Kierkegaard by Dr. Andre' E. Godsey.

Reply
MckimmeCue link
4/26/2022 11:01:24 am

What an exquisite article! Your post is very helpful right now. Thank you for sharing this informative one.
If you are looking for coupon codes and deals just visit coupon plus deals dot com

Reply
Lhynzie link
6/14/2022 08:28:21 am


Excellent and decent post. Quite knowledgeable and informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Keep it up.

Reply
Lexynne link
6/14/2022 10:32:51 am

Awesome content. Loved this post and I’m definitely pinning it to share! You might like to visit couponplusdeals.com for amazing coupons and promotion, especially for health supplements, jewelry, gadgets, home and office supplies, apparels, and many more, with thousands of brands all over the world. Thanks for the great read. Kudos!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.