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Learning Resources/Shaping Music for Dramatic Scenes

Shaping Music for Dramatic Scenes

In professional media scoring, writing great music is only part of the job. More often than not, the real challenge lies in adapting that music to fit constantly changing requirements. Explore different methods to adapt your own music for film and games. We will study timing, arrangement, and mood to help you become a more flexible composer.

TM

Tim Maurice

Instructor

7 modules · 45 video lessons

Intermediate

What you will learn

Through hands-on examples, this course demonstrates how a single piece of music can be adapted to suit a range of dramatic situations. You will study practical techniques for adjusting timing, arrangement, and mood — learning to shorten, extend, reshape, and re-orchestrate your cues so you can respond confidently when a scene's requirements change.

  • Reducing the Timing — bars, beats, and phrasing
  • Extending the Timing — motifs and repeating patterns
  • Reduce the Arrangement — rhythm, voicing, dynamics
  • Re-shaping for a Scene
  • Expanding the Arrangement — rhythm, voicing, dynamics
  • Changing the Mood

Course Content

Previews Available
7 Modules45 Video Lessons49 Audio Tracks

  • Overview of the Course
  • General Course Information
  • Course Materials [Score PDFs, Audio]

Requirements

While musicians without any educational background may benefit from our courses, we recommend having at least a basic knowledge of music theory concepts such as intervals, chords, and scales to ensure a smooth learning experience.

General course information

  • This course includes video lectures, audio examples, graphical analysis, and video playback of the scores. All course materials (music score pdfs, HD orchestral mock-up mp3's) can be downloaded upon purchase of the course.
  • When possible, we include chord symbols in the scores to help summarize the harmony.
  • For the sake of brevity and clarity, we use "condensed scores" for any large ensemble/orchestral writing.
  • Some specific musical notations (such as breath markings for winds and brass, harp tuning, piano pedaling, etc.) are not strictly conveyed in the scores.
  • In our course, we write all roman numerals uppercase and simply add the word "min" to indicate a minor harmony.

Instructor

Tim Maurice

Tim Maurice

Composer, Arranger, and Pianist

Tim produced music for a variety of independent film & media projects across New England, including “Searchdog,” a feature-length documentary about shelter dogs that are rehabilitated into certified search & rescue dogs. (Audience-voted “Best of Fest Selection” in the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival).

In addition to composing, Tim also served as music director, arranger, and pianist for the cabaret show “Never Far From Home” at Central Square Theater, which earned critical acclaim from The Boston Globe. He has worked with the North Cambridge Family Opera for the past several years, as an arranger and midi mockup artist.

He orchestrated for their production of “Flying High,” an opera with music by multi-instrumentalist/composer Graham Preskett and lyrics by writer John Kane. Tim also had the great fortune of working with Grammy-nominated jazz pianist/composer Taylor Eigsti, assisting with orchestration and score preparation for symphonic pieces for the concert performed by the Oakland Symphony Orchestra.

Tim Maurice's website

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