Composer Quest: A Songwriting and Music Composition Podcast

It’s finally here. Four years and 166 episodes later, we’ve arrived at the finale of the Composer Quest podcast. Before I get too sappy about it, I want to let you know what you’ll be in for in this monster episode. It rounds out the end of my world tour, after my journey home to Minnesota. This episode is definitely one for the fans; most of my interviewees in this episode have been prior Composer Quest guests, and I ask them what they’ve been up to. I don’t want to give away too much about how the episode unfolds, but I am really excited for you to listen, when you have 4 hours and 42 minutes to spare.

Ever since I heard music psychologist Dr. Diana Deutsch on Radiolab, I’ve been fascinated by musical illusions. In this penultimate episode of Composer Quest, I got to visit Diana in person! Join me on a trip that starts at a Halloween organ concert in San Diego and ends in Phoenix with an unprecedented songwriting/podcasting experiment.

This episode marks my return to the US after my trip to Australia and Asia. Despite the jet lag, I was able to get 5 interviews in for this Composer Quest episode. Also, Jeff Goldblum?! And you’ll just have to listen for yourself to find out why this episode is called “Squirrels in California.”

The second act of my Taiwan adventure features more interviews with music makers in Taipei, plus an interview with me about interviewing. We also discuss the jingles heard everywhere in Taipei, from the train stations to the 7-Elevens to the garbage trucks.

Join me on a musical tour through Taiwan in today's episode of Composer Quest. I stumbled into a music festival celebrating Hakka culture, and I got to record a bunch of interesting ensembles, including the Taiwanese jazz group Sizhukong. Plenty of other surprises come up in this episode, including an impromptu flight to another country...

Australia has been my dream vacation spot since I was about six years old. In today’s episode of the Composer Quest World Tour, you’ll get an audio peek into my adventures staying with musical families in Melbourne and Poatina Village, Tasmania.

If you've ever thought about moving to Los Angeles to pursue a creative career, today's episode will give you a glimpse into that world. I talk with six creators about what it takes to turn art into your job, while staying motivated and creatively fulfilled.

Take a peek behind the scenes of the Composer Quest Olympics in today's episode. I also talk with video game composers in Chicago about career advice, rhythmic composing tips, and silly six-second Vine melodies.

From pig racing to public-access TV, this three-hour episode chronicles my adventure around New England. I talk with four different songwriters about their process, and I co-create two songs from scratch along the way.

This episode, I'm in Philadelphia and New York to chat about music theory, film scoring, and slot machine composing.

This second episode of the Composer Quest World Tour is all about school. Should you go to undergrad or grad school for an artistic field? What do you learn in school that you couldn't on your own?

For the final season of the Composer Quest podcast, 110 Kickstarter backers decided it would be fun to send me on a two month trip around the world, interviewing composers and songwriters. I'm thrilled to announce that the first episode of my Composer Quest world tour is here!

Since I'll be on my Composer Quest World Tour this fall, I decided we had to do something worldly and big for the final composing quest. In the spirit of the 2016 Rio Olympics, I'll be hosting the official Composer Quest Olympic Games!

How does a composer write music that doesn't draw attention to itself? How can a director convey scoring ideas if they're not a musician? Why is temp music important for an editor? When should sound design reflect the real world, and when should it be from a character's psychological perspective? Will the dialogue editor choose the lavalier or boom mic recording, or both? These are just a few of the conversation-sparking questions we discuss in today's Composer Quest podcast episode (the season six finale!), featuring the team behind the upcoming film Twin Cities. You'll get to hear perspectives on film sound from a director/writer (David Ash), producer/editor (Jason P. Schumacher), sound designer (Mike Hallenbeck), and composer (me). We dissect the entire post-production sound process, from a spotting session with all four of us, to our experimental on-the-spot scoring session, which was very productive and slightly nerve-racking for me as the composer.

St. Thomas professor Dr. Vanessa Cornett-Murtada specializes in teaching piano, creativity, and performance anxiety reduction techniques. In this episode of Composer Quest, Vanessa shares some tips on getting past mental blocks as a composer, and she explains how hypnotherapy can be helpful in reducing stress, increasing productivity, and sparking creativity. She also explains why Brahms is her favorite composer.