# How Do I Get a New Composition performed?



## Joe2aT (Sep 23, 2010)

I just finished a work for piano and orchestra. It is similar to Franck's Symphonic Variations, about 16 minutes, similarly scored for traditional early Romantic-period orchestra, easy/medium difficulty, nothing fancy. Any ideas on how to get it performed and what the cost might be for a community to second-tier orchestra? I cannot play the piano part so I'd have to hire a pianist to learn it as well. The part could be learned in a matter of a month. Should I hire an agent? If so, what type of agency would be interested in taking on this kind of project? Or should I just approach the boards of the orchestras directly? Any input is greatly appreciated.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Show us the score.


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## ScipioAfricanus (Jan 7, 2010)

1. add 2 more movements and make it into a standard piano concerto.

2. Edit and perfect it until no improvement can be made.

3. Publish it.

4. Upload it in midi on youtube.

5. Promote it on youtube

6. Contact music teachers of universities and high school and promote the work.

You will definitely then get a performance scheduled without paying a dime. But the key is that it must be a high quality work that no one can justly criticize.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> 1. add 2 more movements and make it into a standard piano concerto.


You must be joking.


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## Joe2aT (Sep 23, 2010)

Scipio,

1) it is in three uninterrupted movements.

2) In the process; can be finished in a few days

3) is that traditional publishing i.e. Kalmus or web published by posting online?

4) I'm trying to get a quality audio of it made now via a pro service; the way it sounds now is too mickey-mouse to put on YT; I am not a techie so I cannot do it myself

6)why would they perform w/o a fee? I thought orchestras were starved for cash and would charge for any service rendered for a new composer. i doubt this is on a level with Franck but it is highly listenable, written in traditional Romantic style, no avant-garde. 

Arimis, I don't know how.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

See if there are community orchestras in your area who are enlightened enough to support living composers. They might agree to play it - or even just rehearse it to get an idea if it fits with their aims/programmes, etc.
My orchestra provides such opportunities http://www.kpo.org.au/concerts/KPOCompWshop10.pdf - surely we can't be the only ones doing this sort of thing?
Are you affiliated with a conservatorium or music educational institution in some way? - there might be opportunities there.
In this day & age composers often control their own works (thanks to the magic of computer-published orchestra parts); our orchestra's hired parts directly from the composer in the past.
We don't expect to be paid by composers to play their music...
cheers,
G


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## Joe2aT (Sep 23, 2010)

Thanks much for the advice, Graeme. Sure wish I had your orchestra in my neck of the woods. Actually, there are quite a few in SoCal area, but most are of dubious quality, this being the result of the general suffering that the classical arts are experiencing these days with cuts cuts and more cuts in funding. I plan to approach a few teachers and conductors at some universities in my area and see where it goes from there. Cheers.


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## ScipioAfricanus (Jan 7, 2010)

you need to do traditional publishing to protect your copy right. It also helps when you give a professionally done manuscript to music professors etc.


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## Joe2aT (Sep 23, 2010)

ScipioAfricanus said:


> you need to do traditional publishing to protect your copy right. It also helps when you give a professionally done manuscript to music professors etc.


The big-house publishers want composers to sign over their copyright ownership to them, at least G Schirmer does. I'd like to try POD music publishing if i could find as reputable one.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I would also consider making an arrangement for 2 pianos (solo and orchestra part), assuming you haven't done so already. It should be easy to find a couple of pianists to make a youtube video or some type of recording out of it. Just go to a nearby college and ask the piano department, that's what all the composition students do at my school..


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## SonataSonataSonata (Sep 14, 2010)

ScipioAfricanus said:


> you need to do traditional publishing to protect your copy right. It also helps when you give a professionally done manuscript to music professors etc.


Absolutely incorrect. 

I took an entire class on copyright back in 1999, so unless things have changed significantly since then and the page I linked below is out of date (despite being right from the source)...

If your name is on it--it's yours. Even if it's written on a scrap of paper in your piano bench, you own the copyright and it's protected. Heck, even if your name _isn't _on it but you can prove it's yours--it's still yours.

I have colleagues who self-publish--in fact, I can't think of a colleague who isn't self-published thesedays. No copyright concerns there, at all. And their work looks just as professional as any other "professional publisher," sometimes even better IMHO, especially when it comes to alternative notation, etc.

But, if you are truly really scared, you can have your work registered with the Library of Congress...

http://www.copyright.gov/

I s'pose I may have misread what I Scipio wrote, but in any case, that link (above) answers the copyright portion.


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## SonataSonataSonata (Sep 14, 2010)

To answer the OP, simply find someone who can play it. The score doesn't have to be perfect or even complete (trust me, I have played more incomplete, unreadable scores than complete and readable ones). People know not to be persuaded by a "pretty" score.

Go to the universities in your area and see what they offer. I once took a long shot and asked a university orchestra director to have her group play a piece for piano and strings that I wrote. It was a crappy piece, but I wrote it entirely by the ear in my head, so I wanted to see how it came out by real life performers. I only expected a playthrough, but I ended up with a performance, recording, and I played the piano part myself! (It's still a really crappy piece, though, so it isn't in my catalogue, but still...)

I have had the opposite happen, too: Had a woodwind quartet all lined up to play my piece, the score was edited carefully and I was ready to go--they scrapped my project at the last minute. 

But, talking to music departments in your area is the way to go. You never know what could happen....!!!!


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> i doubt this is on a level with Franck but it is highly listenable, written in traditional Romantic style, no avant-garde.


Then noone will take you seriously.


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## Joe2aT (Sep 23, 2010)

Ravellion:
>>>>>>I would also consider making an arrangement for 2 pianos (solo and orchestra part), assuming you haven't done so already. 

Great idea and I have considered it, though I'd really like the video on YT to be with orchestra, but we can't always have everything we want. Thanks for the advice.

Sonata:
>>>>>>>Heck, even if your name isn't on it but you can prove it's yours--it's still yours.

Yes, true. When i say you sign away the copyright I'm not saying you lose authorship, just the ownership. Copyright is ownership as well as authorship and the publishing houses, of necessity, need to own the music in order to operate with it, otherwise composers would be threatening them with lawsuits saying, "I own this so you cannot do that!" BTW I did copyright it. Takes 18 months to receive the certificate.

>>>>>>Go to the universities in your area and see what they offer.

That's also excellent advice. I am trying to get a hold of the conductor at one university near me but it's just answering machines. I guess I have to go there. Another option I've considered is putting a Sibelius rendering on YT and asking pianists on there if they'd be interested in world-premiering it. Thank you, Sonata, for lots of good ideas. BTW, can we hear some of your work? Is there a website link?

Arimis:
>>>>>Then no one will take you seriously.

So be it.


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