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After more than 30 years of teaching in the UCLA Film Scoring Program, the Film Scoring Academy of Europe, and Thinkspace, writing 12 books on composition and orchestration, and orchestrating on major block busters, I am now accepting private lessons in orchestration and film composition. All lessons via Zoom .
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The courses and lessons are self-paced, and can be altered to suit your
specific needs and goals.
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Other online courses are well-known, but my 12 Lesson course contains:
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  1. 12 private one hour lessons
  2. Three free e-books
  3. Lessons from a working Hollywood Pro
  4. In depth commentary on your music
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Read my testimonials here
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Lesson Options:
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Single lessons $75 
http://bit.ly/SingleLesson1
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Six lessons with 2 free ebooks for $425
($500 value-save $75)
http://bit.ly/SixLessons
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Orchestration or  Film Composition 12 Lesson Course 
with 3 free e-books  $825
($975 value-save $150)
http://bit.ly/ORCHCourse
Certificate of Completion
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Best Package:
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Orchestration and  Film Composition 24 Lesson Course
with 4 free e-books  $1500
($1900 value-save $400)
http://bit.ly/OrchCompPackage
 Certificate of Completion
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If you have any questions (or if you have already all the ebooks)
please feel free to contact me: lmus@mac.com
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Sample ORCHESTRATION 

course SCHEDULE:

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This course is designed to provide you with an in-depth knowledge of the orchestral instruments and their usage.

Two main areas will be covered: instrumentation, which deals with the construction, sound production, range, notation, and playing techniques of each instrument; and orchestration, which is the actual process of scoring music for orchestra. Groups of instruments examined include brass, strings, woodwinds, harp, and percussion. Lessons involve score study, discussion of instrumental techniques, and review of assignments.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this course:

  • The student will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the various elements (or textures) of orchestral writing and score reading.

  • The student will be able to demonstrate knowledge of voicing of chords for orchestra and writing sketches.

  • The student will be able to analyze the techniques used in successful works of the past.

  

Text:

Norman Ludwin, Orchestration- A New Approach –

The Fifteen-Lesson Course

Recommended:

Norman Ludwin - Volume Two-20th and 21st Century Compositions 

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  1. CLASS ONE

    1. Introduction to the course

    2. History of the Orchestra

    3. Strings Basics

    4. Beethoven-Symphony No.5

  2. CLASS TWO

    1. Strings 2

    2. Bowing versus Phrasing

    3. Mozart-Symphony No. 40

    4. Thom Newman-Road to Perdition

    5. Exercise One

  3. CLASS THREE

    1. Strings 3

    2. Harmonics

    3. Brahms-Symphony No. 1

    4. Exercise Two

  4. CLASS FOUR

    1. Woodwind Basics

    2. Debussy-Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

    3. John Williams-Leia’s Theme

    4. Exercise Three

  5. CLASS FIVE

    1. Brass Basics

    2. Strauss-Don Quixote

    3. Jerry Goldsmith-Voyager

    4. Exercise Four

  6. CLASS SIX

    1. Harp Basics

    2. Mahler-Symphony No. 5

    3. Desplat-Golden Compass

    4. Exercise Five

  7. CLASS SEVEN

    1. Percussion Basics

    2. Varesé-Octandre

    3. John Williams- March from 1941

    4. Exercise Six

  8. CLASS EIGHT

    1. Putting it all Together

    2. Varying Material

    3. Tools for Analysis

    4. Exercise Seven

  9. CLASS NINE

    1. Writing for the String Orchestra

    2. Elgar-Introduction and Allegro

    3. Herrmann- Psycho

    4. Exercise Eight

  10. CLASS TEN

    1. Writing for the Full Orchestra

    2. Preparing your music for live recording

    3. Stravinsky-Petroushka

    4. Giacchino-Super 8 and John Carter

    5. Exercise Nine

  11. CLASS ELEVEN

    1. Preparation for final mockup

    2. Holst- Planets-Saturn

    3. James Newton Howard-Maleficent

    4. Exercise Ten

  12. CLASS TWELVE

    1. Final project due

    2. Discussion of next steps

 

Sample FILM COMPOSITION

course Schedule

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This course offers you a detailed examination of the process and techniques of film composition. The emphasis is on contemporary scoring approaches with cues from John Williams, Johnny Greenwood, Michael Giacchino, Hans Zimmer and others.  Various genres will be examined including: suspense, family, sci-fi, and epic cues.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this course:

  • The student will have a in-depth knowledge of contemporary scoring techniques and styles.

  • The student will be able to analyze film cues and detect large scale textural patterns.

  • The student will have a much deeper understanding of how to develop their material.

 

Text:

Norman Ludwin, Composition- Anthology Volume Three

Recommended:

Norman Ludwin, Composition - Developing Variation 

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  1. CLASS ONE

    1. Introduction to the course

    2. Anthology Volume Three overview

    3. Review of your Material

    4. Textures

    5. Outlines

    6. Williams- ET Halloween

  2. CLASS TWO

    1. Hollywood Sound Secrets

    2. Modes

    3. Poulenc-Three Works

    4. Debussy - Interlude and Prelude

    5. Exercise One

  3. CLASS THREE

    1. Hexachords

    2. Modulation

    3. Chord Substitutions

    4. Bergersen- Two Steps from Hell

    5. Exercise Two

  4. CLASS FOUR

    1. Analysis of cues

    2. Examples by Zimmer, Williams, Greenwood, Newman, Mica Levi, “Shutter

    3. Exercise Three

  5. CLASS FIVE

    1. Development

    2. Mozart-Piano Sonata XIII

    3. Jerry Goldsmith-Voyager

    4. Exercise Four

  6. CLASS SIX

    1. Development 2

    2. JN Howard-King Kong

    3. Herrmann-Vertigo

    4. Exercise Five

  7. CLASS SEVEN

    1. Unusual doubling choices

    2. Solo instruments

    3. Stravinsky-The Rite of Spring

    4. Williams -Leia’s Theme

    5. Exercise Six

  8. CLASS EIGHT

    1. Scoring a suspense cue with Strings

    2. Harmonic language: Tonal with emphasis on dissonant intervals (no triads)

    3. Herrmann-Psycho

    4. Giacchino-Lost

    5. Exercise Seven

  9. CLASS NINE

    1. Scoring a family cue with Chamber Orchestra

    2. Harmonic language: Tonal with emphasis on constant intervals (triads)

    3. E. Bernstein- To Kill a Mockingbird

    4. Newman-Road to Perdition

    5. Exercise Eight

  10. CLASS TEN

    1. Scoring a Sci-fi cue for Full Orchestra

    2. Harmonic language: 12 tone

    3. Goldsmith-Planet of the Apes

    4. Goldsmith-Alien

    5. Exercise Nine

  11. CLASS ELEVEN

    1. Final cue: Scoring an epic cue for Full Orchestra

    2. Harmonic language: Your choice

    3. Kamen-Robin Hood

    4. Giacchino-MI3

    5. JN Howard-Maleficent

    6. Exercise Ten

  12. CLASS TWELVE

    1. Review of final cue

    2. Discussion of next career steps

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IN ADDITION EACH COURSE INCLUDES:
  • Detailed look at your music
 • Examining scores together and listening to tracks
• Going over handouts from my books
 • Reviewing exercises from the previous lesson
 • Discussion on the music business in LA and in general 
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Please note there is no refund for unused lessons
Lessons cancelled less than 24 hours prior will still be charged
Instructions:
After you purchase a single lesson, or package of lessons, you will get an email that gives you information similar to this:
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Included in this email will be your code and the link to schedule.
To use your coupon or package code, just click the 'Redeem Coupon, Package, or Gift Certificate' button just before payment and pop your code, or email address, in. 
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Purchased a package of lessons? Great! To book all of your sessions in one go, click the date and time you want to book first and hit 'Recurring' instead of 'Continue'. From there, choose the 'Choose Additional Time' option. Then you can add a second session at any other time. You can repeat this until you've booked all your sessions.

$425.00

$425.00

$425.00

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