# Scott Smalley's Online Course



## JimmyPoppa (Dec 4, 2011)

Hey Guys,

Thinking of doing Scott Smalley's online orchestration course as a Xmas present to self. Looked for threads with info but didn't find anything lately. Any recent opinions?

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## sbkp (Dec 4, 2011)

Depends on what you're looking for. Where are you as an orchestrator right now?


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 4, 2011)

sbkp @ Sun Dec 04 said:


> Depends on what you're looking for. Where are you as an orchestrator right now?



Pro Arranger/Orchestrator for live stage and Musical Theatre for many (many) years. Very strong academic background (composition major). Very competent with Sibelius. Moderate mockup skills (have decent home studio with multiple (but older) libraries (VSL, Sonivox, Broadway Big Band, etc.) 

Zero film composing experience or training. Bought the old Music for the Media course a few years back. Went through it and learned some good things but it is not a focused film writing course. Thinking about doing their Cinematic Orchestration course but Smalley has a good rep and is cheaper.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## synthetic (Dec 4, 2011)

I took his course in person. I think you'll learn something. Not sure about the online course but he slams a lot in the 2-day course. My head hurt from all the info. And the two score books will keep you busy for a long time.


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## sbkp (Dec 4, 2011)

Jimmy,

Given that background, I think it's a great course. Like synthetic, I took it in person, so I can't speak to the online course. But the content is great. It's a lot for just a two day course, but it's still just a two day course. It doesn't get into the level of detail that a year of experience or study will get you, but it will put you a good way down a really fun path. You'll come out with lots of tools, tips, and tricks.

Enjoy!


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 4, 2011)

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going for it! Merry Xmas to me 8) 

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## rgames (Dec 4, 2011)

JimmyPoppa @ Sun Dec 04 said:


> Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going for it! Merry Xmas to me 8)
> 
> Be Well,
> 
> Jimmy



Do you know if the online course material is the same as the in-person course? I've heard the hardcopy course material is very good but it's not clear to me if you get the same material in both courses.

I tried several times to contact them to find out - never got a response... that pretty much turned me off...

rgames


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## gsilbers (Dec 4, 2011)

the regular course is great. dunno about the online one. but do remember that he filmed the classes i went. 

whihc might be cool. he does not teach a whole lot, just a few key points which are great. 

also, he rambles a lot, which depensing on the topic it can be good or not.. 
one day he went a long time saying somehting about aliens and a tunnel from stonehedge to the london syph hall . (o) ~o) 
other times he rambles about insider stories which where awesome and gives u a glimpse on what it is like working on hi end films. very cool. 


in my opinion, i think the books he gives in the class are worth the price of the class alone. 
i mean... its a whole fukin stack of famous scores, and their 2 staff skeleton original he got from famous composers. or that he found. so u can see the sketch from start and then the full score which u can analize. amazing. 
you just cannot find that anywhere. 

by the way...

one day he said, kinda informally while answering a question, that there is a place in LA that you can go and study any score you want but you cannot take it home, buy it etc. 
still havent found what he was talking about. 
anyone know?


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## eschroder (Dec 4, 2011)

USC is the place


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## stonzthro (Dec 5, 2011)

UCLA has a film score library too.

Scott's in-person course is indeed a great experience so I bet the on-line one is worth it too. 

But consider yourself warned about the alien stuff - he's pretty out there - that said he's also a VERY nice guy.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 5, 2011)

OK, signed up for part 1 (of 2)! Gonna spend the day doing an overview of it. Then dig in. Thanks again for the input.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## Jimbo 88 (Dec 5, 2011)

HEy Jimmy, please report back on what you find. I took the class in person a long time ago and it was great, just like the others said. When I'm working the cost of taking the on-line course is nothing and I'm debating about taking that also.

I have a son at USC, does that get me in their library?


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## Jimbo 88 (Dec 5, 2011)

I think the place where Scott got a hold of the great scores was in the dungeons of one of the big old movie studios like 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. I think he said he was allowed to look at one of the old Jerry Goldsmith scores for a sequel and found a whole bunch of other scores.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 5, 2011)

Jimbo 88 @ Mon Dec 05 said:


> HEy Jimmy, please report back on what you find. I took the class in person a long time ago and it was great, just like the others said. When I'm working the cost of taking the on-line course is nothing and I'm debating about taking that also.



Will do. Here is a quickie first impression after downloading and checking some of the audio lessons and the scores:

1. You MUST have some knowledge of instrumentation and, either arranging or orchestration as well as some harmony, to get value from this. It is NOT a beginner course about instruments and ranges and all that stuff.

2. The feel of it is like a seminar more than a true "course." There aren't any progressive exercises or drills or anything like that. He talks about a certain concept, illustrates it with scores and examples using his Zed clef, then on to the next thing.

3. The entirety of part 1 is all about Strings. Part 2 is Brass, Woodwinds. I don't know if there is anything on percussion. With the strings, he shares his techniques and thoughts about voicing, balance, some harmonic ideas, use of his Zed clef, etc. (I still have a lot to go so there may be quite a bit more.

4. It appears that his speaking portion of the lessons was recorded specifically for this course, rather than taken from a live seminar. As such, at least with the first few sections I've heard, the audio is quite focused on the material and concepts. No sailing off into Alien land or other flights of fancy so far

4. As everyone else has said, the BIG value is the scores. I don't see how you could get some of these (to keep) anywhere else. These are old school, handwritten score excerpts from various films. The only disappointing thing with that so far is that, in a couple of cases, the audio he plays is much longer than the written score excerpt. I don't know whether you get more of these in part 2.

5. For someone like me, with lots of writing background but no film/media experience, I feel this is worth it so far. I'm very comfortable getting information in condensed form like this and then working through it on my own time. My current plan is to go once through the whole thing just listening to him and to the excerpts and looking at the scores. Then go back step by step, take notes where I feel I need to and maybe transcribe some of the scores into Sibelius. That way I hope to really absorb the material. (note: You have access to the online audio for one year.)

6. For those who have already taken his, in person seminar, I don't know what you would get here that wasn't there. My impression is that this is a distillation of the main aspects of the seminar. I may be wrong but, that's my take on it.

As with virtually all seminars, only so much can be physically taught there. Usually, you are given a LOT of material to take home and study. I think that is the case here. The bottom line seems to me to be, how much you really get out of this will be determined by how much time you put into the scores on your own as well as how much you choose to apply his various concepts to your own writing.

So, those are my first impression. I'll let you know my final thoughts once I'm done.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

Hey Guys,

Here's a small update:

I did a first-pass through the whole of Part 1 of the course, as I planned and described above. No note taking, just listened to all the lectures while following along with the scores.

One thing I was wrong about in my previous post. Part 1 is actually divided into two sections. The first section, 13 short segments (10 - 15 min. ea.), covers all the sections of the orchestra (except percussion) by surveying various scores from different composers. He points out specific features as you listen and read along.

The second section, about 8 short segments, focuses specifically on details about string writing.

Pretty much all the rest of what I wrote above is accurate.

I would add: 

1. There appears to be no support whatsoever. The forum link doesn't work and they don't respond to emails. Understood that this is expensive and time consuming to implement and I'm not deeply upset by it. You just have to know that, once you purchase the course and download the material, you are really on your own.

2. Even though, in each score/audio excerpt, he talks about specific techniques used, it's quite obvious there is so much more going on in the scores. Of course, a lot of it one has to work through oneself but, I think, for the price, it would be nice if there were more of this. The points he does touch on however, are excellent, as is his explanation.

3. A very nice addition to this would be some kind of text of course notes. Even if you study the scores, you are bound to miss things - especially if you're not very experienced. A lot of additional info, analysis, things to look for in your own study of the scores, etc. could be included in a thorough set of such notes. This is especially true if they are not going to be available with support.

All that being said, for me, this is definitely worth it. It's hard to judge what those with film/game experience would think. 

For me, just getting this involved in the mentality and methods of the film world (along with the scores, of course), is quite an eye opener. My plan now is to go back through each segment, taking notes, and to copy parts of the various scores into Sibelius. I'll spend the rest of the week on that.

FYI: I will definitely buy Part 2 of the course. After this week, I have a bunch of arrangements to do and some holiday gigs to play. Then I will likely go for Part 2, because January here is really dead! A good time to do some serious wood-shedding 8) .

Hope this helps those interested in the course.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## Johnny42 (Dec 6, 2011)

The forum link does work. You need to log in and then click on the student forum icon not support.


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## JT3_Jon (Dec 6, 2011)

I wonder if the scores for the online course are the same for the live seminar?

Also, is the online course a "limited time" thing, or do you get a permanent log in and can view the material anytime? I know you can re-take his live seminar as a refresher anytime for free. Wondering if its similar permanent access to the material online? Or are you able to download the lectures / all information? 

I've always wanted to take this course…just never got around to it. :oops:


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## Johnny42 (Dec 6, 2011)

You can download the scores, and you also get access to the course for a year.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> The forum link does work. You need to log in and then click on the student forum icon not support.



Yeah, I've done that about 10 times from different computers and even using different browsers. I get to a page that asks again for the User ID and password, which I type in, then nothing happens.

J


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## rgames (Dec 6, 2011)

Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> You can download the scores


Do you know if they're the same ones you get in the live seminar?

rgames


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## Johnny42 (Dec 6, 2011)

That's weird. I just tried it and it works fine on my computer. Did you click on visit student forum?


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## Johnny42 (Dec 6, 2011)

@rgames

I wouldn't know since I have not attend the live seminar. I can tell you that the scores are Batman, Basic Instinct, King Solomon's Mines and few more. Maybe someone who did attend can verify if they are the same materials that he uses for the live course. You do get a lot of materials for the money.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> That's weird. I just tried it and it works fine on my computer. Did you click on visit student forum?



I just tried it again:

FMI Home Page - Student Login - My Course - Visit Student Forum - 

A White page with four lines in HUGE font:

*API Tricks* (nothing to click on)

*User Profile* (a dropdown arrow that does nothing)

*Log In to Forum* (boxes for User ID and Password). I'm using the one from the email I received when I bought the course. Is this supposed to be different from the Student Login ID?

*Scrolling Post Ticker* Huh!?!?!?!?

If yours is working, I'm probably doing something wrong but I don't know what. In any case, this is not life threatening. I'm enjoying the course without it. Thanks.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## JT3_Jon (Dec 6, 2011)

Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> Maybe someone who did attend can verify if they are the same materials that he uses for the live course.



Would love it if someone would….


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## rgames (Dec 6, 2011)

JT3_Jon @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe someone who did attend can verify if they are the same materials that he uses for the live course.
> ...



+1

I've contacted them a few times to find out. It appears they have no interest in responding to e-mails...

rgames


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

JT3_Jon @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> Johnny42 @ Tue Dec 06 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe someone who did attend can verify if they are the same materials that he uses for the live course.
> ...



The score list from the online course Part 1 is:

Anastasia (Tori Amos)
Basic Instinct - Main Title
Batman - Main Title
For Love of the Game - Main Title
I Love Trouble/Happily Ever After
Imperial Waltz
Judge Dredd - Council Chaos
Judge Dredd - Council Chaos - sketch
King Solomon's Mines - Main Title
King Solomon's Mines/No Diamonds
King Solomon's Mines/No Diamonds - sketch
Lonesome Dove - Main Title
Mission Impossible Zoom Part 2
Mission Impossible Zoom Part 2 - sketch
Robocop - Home
Starship Troopers - Punishment
Star Trek The Motion Picture
The Super Bowl

Without counting, I'd say it's in the neighborhood of 125 - 150 score pages (1 score page = 4 measures). They are pdfs of what were 11X17 film style conductor scores. I have 3 good size screens in my studio so, I was able to look at the scores on screen while listening to the audio.

There are also 7 single or 2 page Example sheets illustrating his use of the Zed clef for determining voicings and balance.

I don't know specifically what's in Part 2 nor what was in the live seminars. If part 2 is similar in score amount to Part 1, you're talking approx. 250 - 300 score pages of material.

Hope this helps.

Be Well,

Jimmy

Edit: OK, I counted 170 pages of scores for Part 1.


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## Johnny42 (Dec 6, 2011)

Jimmy,

That's really weird. I don't think you're doing anything wrong. But I did change my password. RGames, I'll contact them about the scores and report back.


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## rgames (Dec 6, 2011)

JimmyPoppa @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> The score list from the online course Part 1 is:
> 
> Anastasia (Tori Amos)
> Basic Instinct - Main Title
> ...


Great! Thanks for the info.

rgames


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## bdr (Dec 6, 2011)

all those scores listed above are the same as the live course.


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## Jimbo 88 (Dec 6, 2011)

HEy Jimmy, Thanks Much Man! I appreciate the insight and the time you took to report back.

Pretty much same as the live version. I hope you get a lot out of it.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

bdr @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> all those scores listed above are the same as the live course.



So, it seems that anyone who has taken the live course would be duplicating that by taking this online one. That was the impression I was getting. For those of you already involved in film/game composing and who haven't taken the live course, the people on here who are film composers can asses the course value, for your specific needs, better than can I. 

For myself, as I said, I feel it's worth the price, even with the critiques I mentioned above and even though I'm not a film/media orchestrator. I will definitely go for Part 2, likely after the holidays.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 6, 2011)

Jimbo 88 @ Tue Dec 06 said:


> HEy Jimmy, Thanks Much Man! I appreciate the insight and the time you took to report back.
> 
> Pretty much same as the live version. I hope you get a lot out of it.



Jimbo,

You're welcome. I'm pretty sure I will get a lot out of it. It's all about putting the time in with those scores.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 7, 2011)

So, I changed my mind and decided to go ahead and get Part 2 as well. I'm going to do a first-pass through it today/tonight and the whole experience will be more like the live seminar. Then I'll go back and dig into the scores.

Interestingly, the forum link works for me from P2. Still can't get there from P1. Some interesting points made there, though it appears no postings have been made since Sept.

The list of scores for P2 is:

Basic Instinct - Main Title
Batman - Shootout
Cherry 2000 - End Credits
Cherry 2000 - End Credits sketch
For The Love Of The Game - Main Title
Judge Dredd - Chaos Council
Judge Dredd - Chaos Council sketch
King Solomon's Mines - Main Title
King Solomon's Mines - No Diamonds
King Solomon's Mines - No Diamonds sketch
Men In Black - Montage
Mickey Blue Eyes - Auction Night
Mission Impossible - Zoom Part 2
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Raiders March
Richie Rich - Cliff Hangers
Richie Rich - Cliff Hangers sketch
Robocop - Murphy's Death
Robocop - Murphy's Death sketch
Starship Troopers - Punishment Grazing
Star Trek - The Motion Picture
The Phantom - Jungle Drums
The Super Bowl

About 135 pages (so 300+ for both parts). As far as I can tell via a quick look, the scores that repeat from P1 are exactly the same. Obviously, there's new material as well.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## gsilbers (Dec 7, 2011)

eschroder @ Sun Dec 04 said:


> USC is the place



oh cool. 

do i need to be a student or i just walk in check it out and leave?


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 8, 2011)

Hi Folks,

Just finished first-pass through Part 2 of Smalley course. Overall, I have to say that I'm very glad I took these courses and feel it is definitely worth the price and time. In one sense, it might be just as good as the live course because you get all the same scores while the audio is focused only on aspects of the scores. Only in the very last audio excerpt, #40, does he go into his philosophical thoughts and that's only about 4 minutes long.

A big thing you might get in the live seminars that you don't get in the online course, obviously, is the interaction with other orchestrators and the opportunity to ask questions in person. Someone else will have to comment on the value of this weighed against travel and other costs of going to a seminar if it's not in your town.

The one new comment I would add is, it seems to me that this seminar/course is primarily oriented toward attaining the Big Orchestral Movie sound. He focuses mostly on various devices to achieve that and most of the scores reflect that. Clearly, there are other approaches to film orchestration and sometimes the goals for a particular movie might be different from this. However, if you want to learn some of the techniques to get that Big Epic sound, this course offers those methods.

Other than these comments, I would say that pretty much everything I wrote in the previous posts is pretty valid. I honestly can't tell how much experienced media composer/orchestrators would get out of this, other than access to the scores and sketches (which, as everyone else has said, are the main value of the whole deal). For those who are working toward the goal of orchestrating (or composing) for film and who have at least some background in music theory or arranging at some level, I feel this course will be valuable.

Now, I've got some score study to do. Happy Holidays.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## choc0thrax (Dec 8, 2011)

JimmyPoppa @ Thu Dec 08 said:


> other than access to the scores and sketches (which, as everyone else has said, are the main value of the whole deal).




And those scores and sketches have been floating around the net for free for years. 8) 'Course, it's sketchy to download them... pun intended.


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 8, 2011)

choc0thrax @ Thu Dec 08 said:


> JimmyPoppa @ Thu Dec 08 said:
> 
> 
> > other than access to the scores and sketches (which, as everyone else has said, are the main value of the whole deal).
> ...



LOL! I didn't know that, of course. Can you provide any links to some of those? 

I still think his insights are valuable as well but the scores are the big thing. If there are more available, I'd love to get access to them.

I know there are many resources for free classical scores. I didn't know about the film scores though. Thanks for the tip.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## choc0thrax (Dec 8, 2011)

Yeah, uh, I don't have any links to them and even if I did I certainly wouldn't post them. 8)


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## JimmyPoppa (Dec 8, 2011)

choc0thrax @ Thu Dec 08 said:


> Yeah, uh, I don't have any links to them and even if I did I certainly wouldn't post them. 8)



Aaaaahhh! Well, I'll just have to muddle through with the ones I have. :cry: 

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## marknortham (Dec 19, 2011)

Hi All -

We host the Smalley courses (online & live) and I apologize for any technical issues with the forum or communications. I'll try and address the issues raised below:

Re: communications - here's our support link: http://www.globalmediasupport.com - I have no idea why any emails would not be going through - our support ticket system (hosted by Kayako) works well - suspect an old email address was being used. If in doubt, please send any questions directly to me at [email protected]. There may be an issue with the online course interface not sending people to the correct support site - will look into that immediately.

Re: course content - we designed the online course to match the content of the live course. Scott is very serious about teaching this course the same way, whether live or online. We worked for months last year putting this together and getting the audio just right - as one poster mentioned, it is custom-recorded audio for the online course. We tried taping a live course with the idea of using that audio, but Scott wasn't happy with the quality of the recording. 

Re: score books - the PDFs provided with the online course are the same as the printed score books provided with the live course with the exception that some of the works that Scott used to refer to (he's taught this course with the same coursebooks since 1999) and no longer refers to in the course were not included in the PDF version.

I'd be happy to address any questions/comments/etc about either the live or online course, and again apologize for any communications issues re: email. We're currently setting the schedule for 2012 and Scott at this point has indicated he wants to do 1 course, probably in LA, likely in April over a weekend. 

Best,

Mark Northam
Film Music Magazine / Film Music Institute


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## ed buller (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi

my first post ! be gentle with me.


Just started this course and I have to say it's wonderful . I am a big fan of film music and have read a lot of books , been to seminars and attended some wonderful recordings but Iv'e learned so much more in the last week than in the last ten years..........

The access to the course last a year so you can go over it again and again. The scores are priceless . 

worth every penny

ed

http://www.youtube.com/user/projektmelodik?feature=BF


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## EastWest Lurker (Jan 4, 2012)

choc0thrax @ Thu Dec 08 said:


> Yeah, uh, I don't have any links to them and even if I did I certainly wouldn't post them. 8)



Whadd'ya know, an ethical person. Kudos to you.


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## JimmyPoppa (Jan 5, 2012)

ed buller @ Wed Jan 04 said:


> Hi
> 
> my first post ! be gentle with me.
> 
> ...




Welcome to the Forum Ed. Obviously, I just did the course and enjoyed it as well. Definitely worth it.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## JimmyPoppa (Jan 12, 2012)

Hey All,

A quick update on the email/customer service situation. 

Had a problem with my registration access for Part 2. Sent in a support ticket email on Sun. night and had a reply Mon. morning. It took a couple of days to resolve the technical aspects of the issue but Mark and Robyn were in touch regularly, responded quickly and clearly were working hard to get it done. Problem solved and all is well.

Just thought you all might want to know. Kudos to the Global Media support team. Thanks.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## Ryan Scully (Mar 2, 2013)

Just stumbled upon this old thread as I was doing some research into the online Smalley Course. Hard to find anything but praise for it and have been thinking of giving it go myself - Does anyone else have anything to add or have recently taken either the live or online course?




Thanks!



Ryan :D


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## jamwerks (Mar 2, 2013)

Total waste of money imo.

There is of course some much to learn in orchestration, but you won't learn it there.

Unfortunately, he explains very little, and what he does, isn't very pertinent or insightful imo.

Orchestrating with generic zed clef (one of his concepts) is pretty fast-foodish thinking. From Beethoven to Wagner, you'll often find violas and even celli above 2nd's (for example). It's much more complex that he makes it out to be, zero insight there.

He's incredible pedantic, making up long complex terms (because he doesn't have much real knowledge to transmit imo). Does Ravel, Rimsky, JW (or others) need fancy terms when speaking or writing? No !!

And in all his slick Hollywood technical terms, he's often just wrong. He kept saying "Violi" which is wrong (it's "viole"). If you know Italian, it's a painful listen.

I'd forget books altogether. Find a good orchestrator and do either class or privet work with him. And forget film music for the time being. 

-Study a Beethoven Symphony (3rd?) then orchestrate the exposition of a couple 1st movements of the piano sonata. You do it (written out, no samples at first), the prof corrects.

Then do same with Mendelsohn, Tschaikowsy, Liste, Wagner, etc. Then up to Ravel Debussy, Stravinsky, and other self favorites. 

Do that for 1-3 years, then hop into any kinda music you'd like. You'll always know (various ways) to make an orchestra "sound" in any situation. /\~O


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## Ryan Scully (Mar 2, 2013)

jamwerks @ Sat Mar 02 said:


> Total waste of money imo.
> 
> There is of course some much to learn in orchestration, but you won't learn it there.
> 
> ...




Thanks for your response - interesting thoughts regarding the course. I'm not actually looking to go into in-depth study as I have had quite a bit through the years - I just always like to keep an open mind and learn from other's whenever feasible as to avoid bad habits and redundancy. 


Ryan


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## synthetic (Mar 2, 2013)

I learned more in two days of (live) Scott Smalley book than the four orchestration books I studied prior. 

Study Beethoven for film scoring? Maybe 50 years ago, but scores sound different than this. You could learn more about arranging brass for film from big band than you could from Beethoven. 

Best orchestration investment I've made.


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## Arbee (Mar 2, 2013)

I did one of the online courses and thought it was pretty good value for money. My only slight criticism was perhaps the heavy focus on tessitura when it comes to strings. Breaking the tessitura "rules" occasionally with string ensembles can IMHO produce some of their very sweetest moments.

.


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## jamwerks (Mar 3, 2013)

synthetic @ Sun Mar 03 said:


> I learned more in two days of (live) Scott Smalley book than the four orchestration books I studied prior.



Yeah books aren't the way to go to learn orchestration. It's true that Beethoven's harmonic vocabulary isn't todays, but I wouldn't confuse harmony, and orchestration.

Smalley doesn't touch on the Film harmonic vocabulary. I described the route (imo) to learn how to make an orchestra "sound". And you won't hear anything in film music that wasn't done 100 years ago in the "serious" relm (1913 was an incredible year).

Goldsmith, Hermann, Conrad Pope and others have gotten along fine by studying real orchestrations....


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## reddognoyz (Mar 3, 2013)

I found the Smalley course extremely valuable. At the ed of the two day seminar I asked him about film score harmony concepts and he said "oh, just move your chords in thirds" know what? that actually covered a huge amount of ground.


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## EastWest Lurker (Mar 3, 2013)

jamwerks @ Sun Mar 03 said:


> synthetic @ Sun Mar 03 said:
> 
> 
> > I learned more in two days of (live) Scott Smalley book than the four orchestration books I studied prior.
> ...



Nonsense, there is no such thing as an "orchestra sound". Beethoven never heard his music played by the kind of orchestras we do, and so did not orchestrate the same way Berlioz, Ravel, and Stravinsky did, and they sound nothing alike either.

ANY place or method you can learn from, be it books, courses like Scott's, score study, study with a good teacher,it is ALL valuable and people of high accomplishment in the field have taken many different routes. There is not one way only.

I have not taken Scott's course but my understanding is that it is a very practical approach. To the OP, if you can afford it, you will certainly gain a fair amount even if it is not the sum total of what you will want to learn.


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## reddognoyz (Mar 3, 2013)

super practical!, for me that was the whole idea. Now SS wrote his course before the advent of the modern hybrid score, but he was really part of the "epic" score revolution and there's a lot to be learned there from a guy who's been there on the front lines. What I learned from him about Low Interval Limits was alone well worth the course. Super simple, but I can't think of where else you'd hear it.


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