Do you currently compose or arrange music? So did we when we were in high school! Looking back to those days, we find that there were many “items” missing from our “toolbox” – things that we wish we could have found out sooner! In this class, we want to help you become acquainted with these tools. We will survey a variety of genres – classical, jazz, rock, video game music, or anything else you might be interested in – and discover what underlying compositional techniques might be common or unique to these genres. Through listening and by analyzing scores (from classical masterpieces to our own arrangements of video game music) in some detail, you might find new perspectives on form, melody, harmony, orchestration, among other facets of music. We hope our class will inspire you to write some music, too! Over the six weeks, we will encourage you to expand / polish pieces that you are working on, or maybe start a whole new piece! Our goal is that you will walk out this class with a fresh look on composition and arranging and a wealth of new ideas to try out!