AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: How to Get Your Choral Composition Published: The Composer as Artist, the Composer as Business Person by Barbara Harlow ISBN: 0-9648071-0-6 Publisher: Santa Barbara Music Pub Pub. Date: January, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: Useful to someone, perhaps, but not to me
Comment: I had high hopes for this book after reading the back-cover endorsements. Its reviews oversell its virtues.

While I disagree with few (if any) of the book's musical suggestions, they are useful for only the rankest underschooled beginners who have musical ideas worth sharing, but have little to no formal education in history or composition. Suggestions like "Give your singers a chance to breathe," reminders that extremes of tessitura are exhausting, or tidbits like instruments such as oboes "can add an interesting dimension to your composition" are utterly worthless to anyone with more than a rudimentary music education, much less to someone like myself with multiple degrees.

The business portion of the book is likewise barely above elementary, with reminders that it's a good idea to keep records of to whom and when you sent submissions, track your expenses, and be professional in your presentations. As someone who has been "in business" for years, I can only say...DUH! However, to be fair, if one has never had any business experience or education, these are all important and valuable points; but to anyone who has been involved in any business or who has run their own business, there's basically nothing here.

I was hoping for, and was very disappointed not to find, some insights into how the publishing process works, and therefore, how I can better work *with* the process to get my work accepted. One of its important suggestions is to not send the same piece to more than one publisher at a time, but the book stops there. Why do music publishers have this preference? Why does the process take so bloody long--four to six months before you can even expect a rejection letter? A more in-depth discussion of the "whys" would make this book much more useful to those who don't need reminding to think about meter and key and to keep decent business records.

Again, there's basically nothing wrong with anything that is suggested, but there's got to be more to the whole "getting published" thing than what's in this book--or else, it wouldn't be so hard to get your work published.

I'm giving the book three stars because I think it has a great deal of merit...but not for everyone. (I didn't think five stars represented its worth correctly, but only one star is unfair.) It would be a wonderful text for someone beginning their church-music career or for students considering composition as an option in a yet-unbegun career. To someone who is uninformed, inexperienced, or uneducated, this book will be invaluable. Unfortunately, for someone who *is* informed, experienced, and educated, it's worthless. The publishers would be well-advised to adjust their marketing to target their materials more narrowly. I got caught in their "all composers" shotgun appeal, and I felt ripped off.