by Philip Blackburn

Living composers can do things that dead ones can only dream about. For you musical performers and presenters reading this, they are, moreover, especially handy in helping you with your organizational needs and goals. Some of my best friends are composers and this little pamphlet aims to spark some ideas about how you can enjoy their company too. And remember the American Composers Forum for all your composerly needs.

Welcoming Flattery

Congratulations and thank you for choosing your new Composer®. We are confident that with sensitive handling and treatment your Composer® will provide years of excellent service (though not so confident that we would include a warranty or accept any liability if it malfunctions). You are about to embark on an exciting adventure into making musical history.

Avuncular Advice

To help you get the most out of your Composer® please note that they all come with many optional features and skills fitted as standard. Knowing their potential will assist you in gaining maximum satisfaction and usefulness for all your musical tasks. Remember: no two are alike (they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, styles, and flavors. Try them all and collect the whole set!) Please note: variations in appearance and function are perfectly natural and considered part of the beauty of Composers. Finding that ideal match may take time and effort but there is no dearth of able and willing, even talented, smart and presentable, Composers.

Wanted: Dead or Alive?

While he/she is alive and in good working order, your Composer can perform a multitude of functions, over and above the obvious provision of music, to help you achieve your musical goals. While many dead Composers rank high in the Fame and Reassurance categories, their relationship to you is restricted to furnishing you with a finite quantity of off-the-shelf music, and that via intermediaries. This Manual pretends to make some preliminary suggestions on how to explore your personal relationship with a living, breathing, eating, rent-paying, musicking Composer. We encourage you to think of him/her as an asset rather than a liability. As always, check the fine print for important details. Batteries not included.

The Basics: Producing Music

1. Composing music for you to play (duh!)
2. Arranging existing music (be it carol, motet, sonata, song, opera...) for your available forces
3. Responding to spin-off commissions and activities that arise from their work with you
4. Writing personalized occasional music for special events/anniversaries/gifts
5. Writing music that embodies/addresses specific problems in society
6. Writing music for your church
7. Writing music for your community festival
8. Writing music which creates a sense of place around where you live
9. Writing music which celebrates ethnicities in your community
10. Writing music which can be used to take note of important events or people in your community's history
11. Writing music which provides a basis for discussion of what kind of community you want in the future
12. Writing music that bridges factions in your community
13. Making music that represents an ideal society, at least for the duration of the performance
14. Writing music that stretches you in new ways technically and artistically
15. Writing music that guides your improvisations
16. Writing music for children which does not "write down"
17. Writing music that involves the participation of local performers from a different tradition
18. Writing music that requires you to collaborate with other artists
19. Writing music for a diverse consortium of which you are a part
20. Writing music that glorifies the state and goads the populace
21. Writing music that avoids all of these
22. Writing music that illuminates the mating patterns of ravens (it's been done before)
23. Writing music to complement your exisiting repertoire and might be performed repeatedly
24. Writing an occasional work that can only be performed once
25. Writing a work that is not written but instructed orally

Helping with Performance Preparation

1. Rewriting her/his work on the basis of ensemble feedback
2. Helping performers overcome sections they thought were impossible
3. Inspiring an informed, analytical, and emotional performance
4. Coaching performers in rehearsals of the composer's work
5. Coaching performers in other new music repertoire
6. Serving as producer for a recording
7. Serving as scapegoat for all your problems

Ensemble Assistance

1. Identifying new repertoire appropriate for your ensemble
2. Advising on what to do with that pile of new scores you have never had time to look at
3. Linking you with a wider network of other composers
4. Curating integrated concert programs
5. Presenting a show-and-tell at a board/fundraiser cultivation event
6. Menial drudgery at your bidding
7. Playing alongside you (if he/she is also a performer)

Audience Interaction

1. Giving pre-concert talks
2. Schmoozing at the reception
3. Designing audience participation exercises to help understanding of a new piece
4. Moderating post-performance feedback sessions: eg, structured as:
   • audience positive expressions
   • perfomer questions audience
   • audience questions performers/composer
   • criticism, likes/dislikes, suggestions

Event Promotion

1. Communicating the story behind the work/event to media in order to humanize the new work and get people excited about its inspiration
2. Giving presentations to community groups as a run-up to the performance
3. Appearing on TV talk shows
4. Giving interviews to the newspapers and radio
5. Playing samples of previous works to give the new work a context
6. Streaking on the football field to garner publicity

Community Partnerships

1. Being visible in the community surrounding your performance
2. Mentoring local aspiring composers
3. Mentoring younger artists on career skills, business knowledge, copyright issues, recording, publication, notation, performing rights societies...
4. Working with radio, cable TV and print media to promote awareness of new music
5. Establishing links with other musical and non-arts organizations
6. Arranging meetings of local artists, eg, dancers/choreographers, film-makers, visual artists, poets
7. Talking about the composer¹s life (maybe including examples of other music or art the composer likes) to gatherings at: church/synagogue adult education sessions, senior centers, park and rec centers, anyone who will listen...
8. Working with public and charter schools on projects relating to their curriculum‹science, ecology, history, religion, math‹and devise musical strategies for addressing them in sound.
9. Scouting out alternative venues for future activities and performances
10. Providing workshops to teach teachers about composition and new music
11. Working with social service agencies or schools to use music composition as a means of self-discovery Using music to solicit, solidify, encourage support for various community initiatives
12. Thwarting the perception that all composers are dead
13. Other skills as available...