Most composers never expect to become rich and famous. (Do we wish we could become rich and famous? Oh, sure!) The vast majority of us have day jobs that pay the bills (even Rachmaninoff had to give piano lessons and perform in concerts to support his family, when he’d much rather have been writing music). We grab a little composing time whenever we can—the more fortunate ones in a quiet room dedicated to that purpose, and the rest of us in a corner of the basement, garage, or bedroom. We try to block out the noises of children playing, sirens blaring, neighbors mowing, traffic zooming, dogs barking, telephones ringing, washing machines agitating, that guy across the street who has been building his new garage for two years with no completion date in sight…hammer! hammer! saw! saw! (true story).
Some of us have had years of formal training; others are self-taught. For a very few, composing comes easy, while the rest of us wrestle with each and every note. All of us try to create something new that is beautiful, or interesting, or unique. Sometimes we succeed—at least to our own ears. Many of us are “published” (although that is no guarantee of anything); lately more and more of us are choosing to self-publish and retain the copyrights and complete control over our works forever—but we are not marketing geniuses, and we all struggle to make choir directors aware of our music.
But regardless of who we are or where we compose or how successful any of us are, or think we are, or want to be, we all have one fundamental thing in common: the burning need to know if our works are being performed. Knowing that any of our pieces will be or has been performed not only gives us the incentive to keep on composing, it may also help some of us just a bit financially.
Composers who are members of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and who earn “…less than $25,000 in domestic performance royalties in the previous calendar year” (likely all of us, with a handful of exceptions) are eligible to apply for the ASCAP Plus Awards program (see http://www.ascap.com/members/ascaplus.aspx for details).
From the ASCAP website:
ASCAP Plus Awards are based on panel review of recent activity of writer applicants. Each applicant is considered on merit and in the context of all others applying. ASCAP Plus Awards is not a contest or competition involving the critical evaluation of any specific work or works. The primary basis for panel determinations is the activity generated by each member's catalog, with emphasis on recent performances.
And so a simple request from all of us not-yet-dead composers. Please tell us if you perform any of our music, preferably well before a concert so that we might arrange to attend if we are in your area. Simply “Google” the composer’s name; most of us are not at all hard to find. We want to be found! A one-line email would suffice:
“In our spring concert on May 18, 2013, 7:30 p.m., the Happy Valley Choir of Happy Valley, ND, will be performing your work, ‘A Simple Request,’ in the Happy Valley Civic Auditorium.”
But, but, but—you say that as an extremely busy choir director you have no time to do this? Why not ask a dependable choir member, or a helpful parent/guardian of a child choir member, or even a board member who really needs a job to serve as your group’s official “Composer Notifier”?
Please, just let us know. It will make all the difference. Truly it will.
ivo antognini says
Oscar Escalada says
Valerie Crescenz says
John Kennedy says