• What you should know...
What it's all about...
Are you a young songwriter, composer or music producer between the ages of 12 and 20?
Would you like to learn to write songs, compose music, and record demos from a professional composer?
Whether your songwriting experience is limited to a tune you just started singing in the shower one day, or whether you have burned audio files of your own dance tracks, or whether you’ve already composed pieces for choirs, bands or orchestras – next summer, you can spend 4 intensive weeks July 10 - August 4, 2006 studying all the skills you need to take your interest in creating music to the next level.
• Dates, Times, Tuition
• The Application Process
• Michael Abels, Program Director
What you should know. . .
In the Excelsus Young Composer Mentor Program (YCMP), you’ll study songwriting, composing, arranging, harmony, notation, and recording with professional composers. You’ll get hands-on experience with some of the technology used by today’s leading artists and producers. Best of all, you will have your music performed in concert LIVE by professional musicians, and get the experience of working with them while they rehearse your music.
Dates, Times, Tuition...
For a tuition fee of $1000, you’ll get experiences and opportunities rarely found outside a university setting. Scholarships are available for promising and motivated students who are financially challenged.
All applications music be post marked by MAY 15, 2007 in order to be considered.
Students accepted into this Program will be notified by JUNE 1, 2007.
The intensive 4 week class will be from JULY 9 - AUGUST 3, 2007:
• All classes will be held Monday thru Friday from 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
• The Young Composer Mentor Program will be held in conjunction with the Summer Music Camp and will be in Long Beach, CA
• The YCMP Premier Concert will be Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Application Process . . .
Because of the extremely personalized nature of this exceptional summer workshop, class size will be limited to 12 participants ages 12-20. No formal experience, study of songwriting or music production is required to participate, but all applicants must submit samples of their work. Serious candidates will be interviewed in person or via phone. Enrollment is only upon acceptance of application and interview.
All applicants must:
• Complete an Application
Applications are available by contacting Jen Pratt or call (562) 438-9950.
• Make a sample of the music you’ve written with your name and the name of the musical sample clearly marked on it.
• Send the completed application and musical sample along with the application fee of $30 made payable to Excelsus Music Collaborators.
• All applications music be post marked by MARCH 15, 2007 in order to be considered.
No formal experience or study of songwriting or music production is required! All that’s needed is a desire to create music and a drive to learn everything you can to sharpen your skills in that area. The application process is not intended to exclude people who are inexperienced or unschooled, but to understand your musical background, abilities, and interests. If you complete the application and send a sample, you will be seriously considered.
Michael Abels, Program Director
With a "keen ear for musical color and a deft ability to adapt structural elements from popular music into the symphonic idiom" (Houston Chronicle), Michael Abels has gained widespread recognition for his orchestral pieces Global Warming and Frederick's Fables. Global Warming has been given nearly 100 performances by orchestras including Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, Phoenix, West Virginia, New Mexico, Tucson, Savannah, Dayton, and Toledo as well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
In addition to composing, Abels conceived of and teaches classes in Music Production and Technology for youth living in Los Angeles' public housing projects. This program, now in its third year, gives hands-on instruction in the technology which plays such an integral part of today's popular music. The class was featured on KCAL Channel 9 television.
His 40-minute opera Homies & Popz, was commissioned by Los Angeles Opera, and premiered in May 2000 at high schools throughout Los Angeles County. It tells the true story of the Compton Homies & the Popz, a cricket team organized by noted activist Ted Hayes to provide an alternative to gangs for inner-city youth and homeless adults.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Michael Abels grew up in rural South Dakota where he began piano lessons at an early age. He attended the University of Southern California, studying with James Hopkins and Robert Linn. In 1984, he was named Outstanding Senior among student composers for his composition Queries, scored for two pianos and prepared piano. In 1985-86, he studied West African music with Alfred Ladzekpo at the California Institute for the Arts. Aside from his activities as a composer, teacher and arranger, Abels is an amateur tri-athlete.
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