New Music from Wingert-Jones

I got some great news recently – in addition to my three new compositions getting published by Alfred Publishing next year, two more pieces (Pioneer Sky and Woodpecker Cha Cha) will be published next year by Wingert-Jones Publishing! Here's the story of how this came about:

I've been working with Alfred Publishing for nearly 15 years now and they've included one to three of my compositions in their String Orchestra catalog every year. All the while, my editors have reminded me that we don't have an exclusive contract and that it's not uncommon for composers to get deals with several different publishers. So every once in a while I sent a portfolio of music to Kjos, Carl Fisher, or Hal Leonard and always received a nice rejection letter explaining that they're not looking to expand their stable of composers. Even when I introduced myself as the composer of Gauntlet and mentioned the enormous success that Alfred was enjoying with my publications, they still weren't impressed enough to accept my submissions.  Eventually, I got bored with the rejection and stopped trying to get their attention. Alfred has been more than happy to work with me and I'm happy to work with them.

Then, out of the blue this past summer, I got an e-mail from the String Editor at Wingert-Jones, a small but well-established music publisher looking to expand its String Orchestra catalog. He knew me by reputation and invited me to submit some music for their 2014 catalog, which I did. This week, he wrote back to tell me that two of the five pieces I sent have been selected for publication!

I normally send Alfred Publishing about nine pieces of various levels and styles each year and they take two or three of those. That means that about 70% of the music I write goes unpublished. When they pass over a piece of music, it's often not that they don't like it, it's because it doesn't fit their needs at the moment. Maybe they found another piece with a similar style or one that covers the same playing technique or they need more beginner-level pieces to create a well-rounded catalog. I've re-submitted music to Alfred and occasionally the timing is better on the second pass.

Alfred has been great to me over the years and I'll always give them the first (and sometimes second) opportunity to publish any String Orchestra music I write. But now, with Wingert-Jones, I have an additional outlet for some of the great music that was previously shelved.

So I hope you look for my two new pieces next year from Wingert-Jones as well as my three new pieces from Alfred! It should be an exciting time!

 

New Recordings and Sheet Music Available!

I'm thrilled to report that my new music for 2013 - 2014 is now available! I'm really excited about this year's selections and can't wait to share them with the world. I've included links in this post so you can buy the sheet music from J.W. Pepper and listen to and/or buy the recordings on the Alfred Publishing website.

First is Dragonfly, a piece in G minor that buzzes with energy and features darting, zigzag rhythms in changing meters.

Listen to Dragonfly here

Buy sheet music here








The second piece is Across the Wind, a soaring, triumphant overture in F Major with bristling ostinatos and a range of emotions.

Listen to Across the Wind Here

Buy sheet music here










 

New Music Selected for 2013

I got word recently from my editor that I'll have two new pieces in Alfred Publishing's 2013-2014 String Orchestra catalog!

First is "Across the Wind," an intermediate-level major-key concert overture that features 16th note ostinatos. It features a lyrical middle section that I'm particularly proud of.

The second is "Dragonfly," an minor key piece that not only features furious 16th note rhythms, but also meter changes. It's intended for advanced groups, but I'm sure it will get picked up by ambitious intermediate players.  "Dragonfly" was developed from a piece I wrote many years ago on commission for a local school orchestra. That version was never published, but I was very happy with the themes, so I split it up and recycled it. The first part of that piece became the main theme to my first opera and the second part developed into "Dragonfly." And now it's getting published! So it's been a long interesting road for this particular piece.

MP3 Downloads 2012

One of my absolute favorite things about working with Alfred Publishing is hearing their promotional recordings of my music.  The studio orchestra does a great job every year and I always look forward to their professional interpretations.  This year's recordings are no exception.

The links below are to Alfred's music download website, Alfred-music.com, and my three new pieces for 2012-2013. You can listen via Flash or download each piece for only $.99 USD.  You can search for my name or for any of my pieces and you can download those as well. For example, Gauntlet, Gargoyles, Agincourt, and Maharaja. Enjoy!

 

Music Engraving

Watch this video. It's fascinating.

I don't think any of my music is prepared this way. I'm pretty sure that my publisher creates printing plates electronically. But still, imagine engraving whole pieces, symphonies, and even operas in this painstaking method.  And doing it all backwards.  Hats off to these engravers and their artistry.
  

New Submissions for 2013

This past weekend I gathered together my portfolio of new music, recorded it to disc, wrote out some brief descriptions, and today I took it all to the post office and shipped it all to my publisher for consideration in their 2013-2014 catalog!

As always, I try to offer a wide variety of music and this year's packet of nine pieces includes three pieces for beginners, three for intermediate-level performers, and three for advanced players. Five are in major keys, four are in minor keys. Some are overtures like Gauntlet or Westward Motion, but I also included a scherzo and some pieces that mimic styles from around the world. None is too much like any other.

When I first decided which selections I'd submit, only three had titles, but I spent the last week coming up with names for the other six. As always, that's the most difficult part of the process and I know I shouldn't leave it until the last minute.  But I'm happy with the titles and with all the submitted music in general. 

Now we wait and see. The selection committee will meet, look over all of this year's submissions (from me and from all the other composers) and put together a catalog of interesting music for all ability levels. I usually hear back in June or July, when my fingernails are nubs. Once I hear back, I'll be sure to post it here. Wish me luck!

Sales Statement 2011 (Part 1)

I got my annual sales statement from Alfred Publishing recently! When I first started getting these, they were listings of how many copies each piece of published music was sold that year and, while that's the same basic principle for current statements, there are major changes from those early days. Now, each piece of music is available in multiple forms: Score and parts, score alone, parts alone, digital parts downloaded through SmartMusic, digital score downloaded through SmartMusic, print licensing, mechanical licensing, and photocopy licensing.  Then all of those are divided into domestic sales (inside the U.S.) and foreign sales (everywhere else), meaning that each of my published works has a potential for 16 revenue streams.

To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year.  So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!

Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year.  Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):

1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt

Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece.  Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new.  Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.

Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.

Doug Spata Program Notes

There's a new thing on the bar to the right!

I have a lot of people ask me for specific information about my music, so I've started a new page on this blog for program notes. The idea is that the new page will serve as a database for each of my published pieces, with a brief program note, information on keys, publication dates (since that's apparently a hot search item for some of my music), and links so you can listen, download, and buy each piece from the Alfred Publishing Web sites.

It's only just started and I have a long way to go, but check back occasionally for additional titles!

 

New Submission Time

I'm a little late in posting this, but about two weeks ago I sent off a packet of new music to my editor at Alfred Publishing.  It's always a challenging process, but here's what leads up to my trip to the post office:

1. Write a ton of music. I write about ten pieces of music each year for student string orchestras. On top of that, I've been working on a new opera and some other minor projects, but my main focus is on string orchestra music. The goal is to produce a wide variety of music in different styles and at different ability levels, to give the selection committee as much choice as possible and to hopefully get more music selected.

2. Get organized. In mid-April I took all my newest scores and laid them out on my office floor, organized by grade level and tonality into nine categories. Sort of like this:

Major Key/Beginner          Minor Key/Beginner          Novelty/Beginner

Major Key/Intermediate     Minor Key/Intermediate     Novelty/Intermediate

Major Key/Advanced         Minor Key/Advanced        Novelty/Advanced

Usually, I have more than one piece in each category. This year I had two or sometimes three new pieces ready to fill each specific need.

3. Make some decisions. I selected what I thought was the best piece in each category and removed the others from the piles, leaving nine pieces. Then I looked again.  This left me with two major-key pieces in a similar style and two Latin dances and two pieces that featured the same bowing technique.  So I switched some things out and played around with the lineup. Again, the goal is to balance the portfolio as much as possible, to give the selection committee nine completely different and highly attractive options. 

4. Look to the past. Finally, I decided which were the least-outstanding of the remaining pieces and replaced them with music from my back catalog – pieces that I'd previously submitted that weren't selected, but about which I still feel strongly.  I tried to find two of those, but in order to maintain a good balance, I only entered one re-submission this year.

5. Pack it up. I decided on what order to present the final nine pieces, wrote out descriptions of each in a letter to my editor, burned a CD of Finale recordings, packed it all up, and mailed the letter, CD, and scores. 

Now I wait. The selection committee meets sometime in June and I usually hear from them by late July, around my birthday.  It's always a tense time, knowing that I've done my best and put a lot of work into the submissions, but realizing that there are a lot of factors that go into their final decision.  I'm sure the folks at Alfred go through the same process, but with hundreds of submitted scores from dozens of composers, whereas I started the process with only about 20 pieces.

Until then, I can look forward to the roll-out of last year's selections. They're already available for sale at jwpepper.com and the recordings should be released soon!

Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 2

In my last post, I mentioned that most of my music sales come from within the US, but a small portion comes from other countries.  I can't be sure which other countries, but this blog has received hits from Canada, Sweden, Slovenia, Argentina, China, and Spain, just to name a few. I've also found my music for sale on German and Japanese online music stores, so that may also give some indication. 

As I understand it, many other countries don't have the same model of music education that is common here in the US and most ensemble playing is done in private after-school groups, so there's far less demand for string orchestra sheet music.

Anyway, here are my top foreign sellers for the past year:

1. Agincourt
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet & Porcupine Pantomime (tie) 
5. Hot Potato

Interesting results!  It seems that my most popular pieces abroad are very close to my most popular pieces in the US.  Porcupine Pantomime and Hot Potato are relatively new, which may account for their higher sales. 

Something else to keep in mind: several pieces on the royalty statement are listed multiple times, because they're sold at different rates in different countries with different currencies and exchange rates.  There are four different listings for foreign sales of Gauntlet because it was sold at four different prices around the world.

There's no record of foreign sales of scores only or parts only, which leads me to believe that either those options aren't available in foreign markets or there's no demand for extra scores and parts.

Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 1

I got my annual royalty statement from Alfred Publishing recently, which outlines how many of each of my pieces they've sold in the past year, and first, let me just say

THANK YOU JAMES CAMERON!

You see, James Cameron decided to name what would become the highest-grossing movie of all time after a piece of music I wrote five years ago (kidding - the fact that we used the same titles was a complete coincidence).  Anyway, it seems a lot of people mistook my music for James Horner's film score. Or they really enjoyed my music on its own considerable merits.

Here are my top five sellers this year (4/1/09 - 3/31/10):

1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. Quicksilver

So Avatar comes out of nowhere to become this year's number-one seller.  Gauntlet and Gargoyles are perennial favorites and always seem to make the top five and I'm pleased to see that Agincourt has retained its popularity.  Quicksilver was a new one last year and music often sells well in its first year.  Plus, Quicksilver was performed at the Midwest Conference last December, giving it a huge boost.

Last year's other new pieces were Porcupine Pantomime, which would have come in sixth place, and A Hero's Welcome, which has a place further down in the rankings.

Now, this is just domestic sales of scores and parts. Scores are sold separately, for when orchestras go to contest and the judges need to follow along.  Here are the sales of just the scores:

1. Avatar
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet
4. Crusader
5. Westward Motion

Interesting - perhaps Avatar is becoming a contest staple like Gargoyles and Gauntlet.  Or maybe people just want to see the score to Avatar, thinking that it's the film score.

There are still foreign sales and mechanical fees to report on as well as a certain long-standing bet to settle, but that's for a later post.

New Music Selected: [Untitled]

Yes, my third piece this year is untitled as of yet.  The title I originally submitted was "Workshop Song," and it's supposed to evoke happy elves making toys in Santa's workshop with fun percussive sound effects, but my editor asked me to make it more overtly holiday-themed while keeping "workshop" in the title.  I'm happy to comply and have come up with a few alternatives:

Elves in the Workshop

North Pole Workshop

I realize that directors are expected to play Christmas carols at winter concerts, but when programming concerts, I try to focus on neutral "winter" themed songs rather than "Christmas" songs.  I feel weird asking students of non-Christian faiths to play religious Christmas songs.  Growing up, I went to a school with a large Jewish population and during the December concert, the uneasiness was palpable when we sang songs like "Silent Night" and "Away In a Manger."  I had a student once whose religious beliefs prevented him from even playing winter-themed songs like "Frosty The Snowman" and I felt awful that he had to sit out while the rest of the orchestra played.

On the other hand, there is a high demand for good holiday music and I'm excited to see how this new one sells.  It's a charming little polka and, rather than using familiar tunes, it's an original.  As I mentioned, it uses percussive sound effects to imitate the clatter of Santa's workshop.  I may even make some last-minute changes and provide fun alternatives to the triangle and woodblock (I'm thinking of rachet, power drill, and brake drum).

Until then, there's the title to sort out.  Any ideas, interwebs?

New Music Selected: Maharaja

Guess what, Interwebs?  Alfred Publishing selected three of my submissions for their 2011 String Orchestra catalog!  (I'm sure this news will be met with great elation by the approximately zero people who read this blog.)  Never the less, I'm excited about it and I feel compelled to describe each forthcoming piece. I want to give them their own space, so each one will get its own blog post, starting with Maharaja:

The MENC has dictated in its National Standards that young musicians should be exposed to music of international origin, in order to foster an understanding of foreign cultures through their art.  This has not been difficult, because folksong arrangements from Japan, Latin America, Australia, and all over Europe are readily available and quite popular.  The exception: India.  There are no "Indian" songs available to string orchestras.  Traditional Indian music defies simplification and arrangement because it:

1. is a mostly improvisational musical genre.
2. doesn't really have "melodies" in the Western sense
3. utilizes sounds that are nearly impossible to replicate with Western instruments.

It's a challenge, to say the least, but one I was up for.  I decided that the key was not to approach Indian music from a "classical" perspective with all its confusing ragas and improvised noodlings, but instead, to approach it from a pop music perspective.  The "Bollywood" style uses Western tonality, forms, and  instrumentation but with a distinctive South-Asian flair and often the addition of tabla drums and sitars.  It's a fascinating blend of Indian and Western pop styles.  And that would be my starting point.

When writing my new, forthcoming piece, Maharaja, I started as I always do: with meticulous research.  I listened to countless songs and watched videos on YouTube to get an understanding of Bollywood style - its conventions, typical rhythms, melodic style, forms, and use of instrumentation.  The piece is based it on the "Asian" scale with flat third and sixth degrees and sharp fourth degrees.  I made sure to use idiomatic flourishes and syncopations, octave interjections in the violins, and even approximated the sound of tabla drums with slurred pizzicato in the 'cellos and basses.  Bollywood music is typically very rhythmic and, in lieu of using a drum kit, I opted for finger snaps.

Honestly, I submitted Maharaja with little hope of it being selected for publication but, once again, the selection committee surprised me.  I'm very glad they did, not only because I poured a lot of time and love into its creation, but because Indian music has a close plase in my heart.  As a small child my family lived in Sri Lanka, just off the coast of India and my parents lived in India before that. The two countries have somewhat similar cultures and musical traditions. I grew up surrounded by wicker, brass, Sri Lankan and Indian artifacts, and stories of the Para Hara.  My childhood nickname was that of a bell-shaped Buddhist shrine.  Long story short: I've always had an affinity for South Asian culture and I'm thrilled that I can share that interest with orchestra students of the world.

Rejected

Oh, interwebs.  I'm so dissappointed today. 

Remember back in November when I mailed music to Kjos Music for consideration in their next String Orchestra catalog?  No?  Well, I did.  I'm not upset that you don't remember - it slipped my mind until I got a big package in the mail today. 

Yes, that's right the big package.  Unlike college letters where the big package means you're accepted (full of information packets and meeting times), the big package from a publisher means that they're returning all your stuff and they don't want to publish it.

Yep, I've been rejected.  Which is to say that my six submissions don't "fit into their current catalog."  Some other publishers discourage any further submissions by adding something like "we're not looking for submissions outside of our current stable of composers."  Ouch. 

Anyway, it gets me thinking that it's about time to get my submissions ready for Alfred.  I have a lot of music to choose from and I need to make recordings, write up descriptions, choose which eight or nine to submit/  Lots of work.  No time to feel sad. 

Bingo!

So remember that spreadsheet that I keep with all the new music I write for the year? The one that helps me organize new pieces by difficulty level and tonality?

No?  Then check this out.  Or this one.

Anyhoo, just before Christmas, I finished the board, filling up every square!    I now have music for beginners, intermediate level, and advanced students in major keys, minor keys, and "novelty" selections.  That means that I've completed my self-imposed quota for the year and I still have about four months before I send anything off to publishers!  Plus, I've been working ahead for a while which means I have extras handy.  I also have previously-passed-over music that I can re-submit, so there's no lack of selection when it comes time to send music to publishers in the Spring.

Also, I found time recently to do some revisions on my opera.  I adjusted the vocal lines a little bit, made the choruses a little easier to sing, completely re-worked the wind parts in the final scene, and reduced the whole thing into a piano-4-hands version that will be easier to perform while still sounding like the full orchestral score.

Got my Proofs!

Alfred is really running ahead of schedule!  I got my proofs for Sneaking Suspicion about two weeks ago and Storm Trail and Star of Valor yesterday.  Usually, they don't arrive until mid-October.

Bob Phillips, my String Editor did a really great job with them.  He made excellent suggestions about articulation, bowings, and caught a few note errors on the scores I had submitted.  Other things arose that I think were good suggestions.  For example, I tend to favor tied notation and Bob recommended using dotted notes instead.  He also found places for courtesy accidentals, bow lifts, and reminders in the violin and viola parts to use 4th fingers.  All good suggestions which should make the music more playable.

My corrections to the proofs were minimal and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Got My Contracts

We've reached the next step in the publication process - after writing the music, sending it in, getting it accepted for publication, Alfred sends me a contract addendum.  The original contract (which I got over 10 years ago) outlines my rights as composer and details how I will be compensated for my work.  Each year I receive an addendum to that contract, which adds the new selections to the list, thus allowing me to receive compensation. 

Up next in the process: proofs!

Royalty Statement 2009 (Part 2)

The listings for foreign sales are shrouded in mystery. Though I've heard of a few performances in Austrailia, have found an online German sheet music vendor that sells my music, and got word of a performance in Canada, I'm not exactly sure who it is outside the U.S. that's buying my music. I would hope that it would sell in Japan, home of the Suzuki Method, and in Europe. From what I understand, other countries don't have school music programs analagous to ours and wouldn't need school-level string orchestra music. Here are my top-selling sets of scores and parts in foreign markets:

1. Agincourt & Mambo Incognito (tie)
3. Hot Potato
4. Gargoyles
5. Violet's Tango

As you can see, there's a marked difference from the top five sellers in the U.S. I should note, though, that foreign sales make up a tiny fraction of a percentage of my total sales. Also, the printout that I received shows that several of these pieces sold at different rates - probably in euros, Canadian and Austrialian dollars, and yen.

Last year I got a sheet showing sales of digital downloads from alfred-music.com. This year, there's no record of sales of MP3 files - maybe bacuase they're so few that it will be rolled into next year's statement.

Finally, I did get a notice about liscensing. When orchestras record their concerts, they're supposed to get permission from the publisher and pay a small licensing fee. A few honest souls actually did that this year and I thank them. Liscensing also includes a few listings from "Make Music," a program where directors can access notes from the composer with tips on how to rehearse and perform their music more effectively. I wrote a few of these two years ago and think that I might want to do some more in the future.

Royalty Statement 2009 (Part 1)

I got my annual royalty statement from Alfred Publishing this week! This is where they tell me which pieces sold how many copies. In this case, it's for the period from April 2008 through March 2009. Sales were significantly lower than I was expecting, but I suppose that's a result of the economy in general - schools have less money, budgets get cut, and sales of published music suffer. Hopefully, things will turn around next year.

The statement breaks the sales down to scores only and full sets (which include scores and parts) and also domestic and foreign sales. Here are my top five full sets, in domestic sales:

1. Gauntlet
2. Avatar
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. A Breeze In the Keys

Gauntlet and Gargoyles were the first pieces I ever had published and, as always, I'm amazed that they remain so popular. A Breeze In the Keys is brand new, and the new ones always sell well. Sleigh Ride To New Haven is also new and didn't do as well. I knew that Agincourt was popular and expected it on the list, but Avatar is making a surprise appearance in the number two spot. That one is a few years old and I had no idea that it was so popular. Here are the top five sales of scores only (domestic):

1. Gauntlet
2. Avatar
3. Las Mariposas Exoticas
4. Agincourt
5. Gargoyles

Directors buy extra scores to give to the judges at state orchestra contests, so high sales here indicate popularity on the contest circuit. If a piece makes it on to a lot of state contest lists, it's gold: guaranteed sales. Gauntlet is on quite a few contest lists and it shows - sales of Gauntlet's scores were more than double that of the next-best-selling piece. Avatar's sales weren't shabby either, indicating that it's increasingly being used as a contest piece. I have high hopes for Agincourt here and hopefully, as it catches on, its sales will skyrocket.

New Music Selected!

I just got an e-mail from Richard Meyer, String Editor at Alfred Publishing - they've selected three of my pieces for their 2010-2011 catalog! I'm super-excited! This is the best birthday gift for the 12th year running!

I submitted nine pieces back in May (including two re-submissions) and am proud of all of them, but expected a few to stand out. As usual, I'm surprised (though not at all disappointed) by their choices. I thought that my piece for combined orchestras would be a big hit, that my Bachata would be an exotic choice, and that the piece that lets students improvise would stand out, but none of them were selected. I stand by those pieces and I'll give them another shot by re-submitting them in the future.

So what did they take? First, they were charmed by "Sneaking Suspicion," an all-pizzicato piece for beginners. It's cartoon tiptoe music. Next is "Storm Trail," a firey minor-key piece for intermediate players. It's this year's "Gauntlet." Finally, they selected "Star Of Valor," a triumphant major-key overture for intermediate-to-advanced players. This one was written for Chris Doemel and the Mabry Middle School orchestra of Marietta, Georgia - the same folks who commissioned "Westward Motion." I originally submitted this a few years ago in two forms - I gave Alfred the option of publishing an all-string version or the full-orchestra version that premiered in Georgia. This year, they opted for the strings-only version.

I'm extra super happy and, to be honest, very relieved. May through July is a tense time for me as I wait to hear what the selection committe has decided. I think they picked some really good ones that have the potential to be really popular.