Commissions
Thank you for your interest in having me compose music. Becoming the patron for the creation of a new piece of music can start as low as $40 for a simple composition for a solo instrument and go up from there. I can provide you with a piece in the format of traditional printed sheet music, or as an audio recording. I can craft music for live performance in concert or compose a score for film, TV, or an audio production. Need theme music or perhaps a commercial jingle? I would be honored to create any type of music for you!
Please complete the following contact form to request a quote for a piece. You may also scroll down for a more detailed explanation of how I approach commissions.
Typically, my fee for composing a piece is 75 cents per notated measure, or $1 per notated measure for piano music or other instruments requiring layering (keyboards, guitar, harp, percussion, vocal music, etc.), and 50 cents per notated measure for creating parts in the case of ensemble works. Traditionally, the composition would be delivered as a clean performance-ready or publisher-ready hard copy engraving. For instrumental music, I can also deliver a digitally orchestrated recording in any standard format (WAV, AIF, MP3, etc.). If an audio recording is desired for vocals or using live musicians, additional costs for hiring performers or recording technicians will be necessary.
If both the printed version and a digitally orchestrated audio recording are requested or required, then that is typically an extra 25 cents per notated measure.
Since this formula only applies when a work is completed, a discussion and interview process with a patron would be required to come up with an estimate. The commission form above is a great start to this process. The key items to establish for the estimate are: total duration of the piece, instrumentation, character of the work, and tempo. I usually request a deposit of half the estimate prior to beginning work.
Some sample scenarios:
A medium slow waltz-like piece for violin and piano, about 3 1/2 minutes long.
For tempo I would work with a metronome to pick a number, we’ll say MM=72 (or 72 beats/minute). Waltz-like puts the piece in 3/4 time (3 beats per measure). For 3 1/2 minutes we need about 84 measures. The two staves of the piano music are $1 each plus 75 cents for the violin, making it $2.75 per measure. This makes the estimate $231. If a violin part was desired so the violinist would not have to read from the score then that would be an extra $42 (84 measures times 50 cents). A digitally orchestrated recording of the piece would then be an additional $63 (3 staves times 84 measures times 25 cents). Since it isn’t likely that both the violin and the piano would be playing all the time, the actual fee would likely be a bit lower than the estimate.
A slow simple piece for piano, about 2 minutes long.
This time we’ll say MM=48. For simple, lets go with a straight square 4/4 time. So we need only about 24 measures. Each piano staff is $1 per measure. So that makes it only $48 to commission a short, simple piece of piano music.
OK, let’s do a larger scale piece to put things in perspective…
A march for wind ensemble, about 4 minutes long.
Standard march tempo is about MM=120 with a 2/4 time signature. The “standard” marching band has about 28 instruments, although some parts are usually written together, so we’ll say 21 parts. We need 240 measures for 4 minutes. Since a typical Sousa-like march has sections that repeat, we’ll divide that in 2 again and say 120 measures. The 21 instruments make it $15.75 per measure. This makes the estimate $1,890 for the score, $1,260 for the parts, and $630 for a digital orchestration. Most certainly not all instruments would be playing all the time, so I would probably quote 65% of those estimates making it about $2,000 for score and parts.
Turnaround time will vary depending upon the nature of the piece and my current schedule.
I’ve found this formula is very sound and takes into account any possibilities for a piece. When you translate it into terms of an hourly wage, it can range from $21 to $33 per hour which is on the lower end of what any music professional in my area would charge for private music instruction.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.