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This blog post is part a series, in which John answers the questions he is most frequently asked.
Can you look over my compositions and give me an opinion?
Really, really sorry . . . but no. I can’t say I’m completely inundated with unsolicited submissions, but I do receive a fair number of them, and if I took the time to consider and report on them all I’d never have time for anything else. I also don’t think it’s a good idea to comment on other composers’ work without knowing quite a lot about them and being in a proper teacher-student relationship with them. (Just as risky as a doctor giving a diagnosis over the phone to an unknown patient, though it seems we’ll have to get used to that.) As I often say, I don’t want to deposit the pigeon droppings of my thoughts on the polished marble of a fellow-composer’s work. If you want advice and guidance on your compositional work, sign up with a composition teacher.
What’s your advice on how to get them published?
I am as confused as anyone else about how to get one’s music published. It used to be the case that any composer could submit a manuscript in an envelope addressed to the senior editor at any reputable music publisher and receive a considered response, even if it was a rejection. More recently, I believe some UK music publishers now do not consider unsolicited submissions (generally on the grounds that since the coming of music notation software and online communication, the volume has swelled to unmanageable levels); my publisher has indicated that submissions are especially welcome from under-represented sectors of the community, but some other publishers have not stated their policy. I wish they would – I feel as a matter of principle that access to a publisher is a democratic right, like access to your MP. That’s not the same as a right to be published, which is the publisher’s prerogative, but if you can’t even get your music considered, how do we find the next generation of composers?
On the other hand, self-publication is a perfectly viable option (Haydn self-published The Creation in 1797, it wasn’t taken on by Breitkopf and Härtel till 1803). Make your scores and recordings are available on your website, and someone is sure to find them. Even my long-established publisher, Oxford University Press, admits to searching out new composers online. Don’t people find their soulmates that way nowadays?
John