If you are a student composer, music teacher, or piano teacher, you will want to take advantage of this great opportunity to submit interview questions to a living composer! I’m sure you remember that last year, Kevin Costley was our featured composer and many of you sent excellent questions to which he gave very helpful answers (Costley Interview, Part 1, Part 2). Many have told me that Kevin and his interview was encouraging to composers and students and I know that this year’s composer will be as well.
This year our featured composers is Mona Rejino, a wonderful composer, arranger, and one of the authors of the Hal Leonard Student Piano Method. She has graciously agreed to answer our questions and tell us more about herself and her compositional process. Students and teachers can submit a question for Mona by simply leaving the question as a comment to this post. I will choose the best 10 questions, submit them to Mona and she will write a response. This is a great opportunity to learn how a real composer composes!
Some of the subjects you might want to ask about might include:
- How she comes up with ideas
- How she composes her themes, how she comes up with material for B sections
- What forms she likes to use
- How she comes up with titles
- How often she composes
Please tell your students to think of a question for Mona and submit it in the next 2 weeks. Please encourage other teachers and their students to participate as well! The deadline for submitting a question is September 27th.
Mona possesses many talents as a composer and an arranger for Hal Leonard. Some of her latest music includes the following:
In the Groove, a “groovy” Level 4 sheet which you can view here.
Current Hits, popular intermediate arrangements which are sure to interest any teenage student you have in your studio!
Disney Film Favorites, intermediate arrangements of Cruella De Vil • Friend like Me • Go the Distance • God Help the Outcasts • Scales and Arpeggios • True Love’s Kiss • When She Loved Me • You Are the Music in Me.
I’ll be telling you about more of Mona’s pieces in the next few weeks and I’ll ask Mona to share about some of her favorite pieces and some of the background behind them. Stay tuned…. It’s going to fun!
If you’d like to read more about Mona, her official bio is here, but she’ll be sharing a lot more about her background as a musician, her life as a teacher, and more in the next month. In the meantime, don’t forget to leave your interview question as a comment!
I was wondering what sparked Mona Rejino interest in composing and how she developed that interest.
What style of music do you like to compose best?
Student Question submitted via email:
When you don’t feel like composing, do you still compose or do you wait until you are inspired?
When you have writer’s block, what do you do?
also,
How do you choose your subject for each of your songs? Do you write the song and then decide on a title and theme or vice versa?
What gives you the insperation to write songs?
Where do you come up with the ideas?
Student question submitted by Bethany via email:
How do you get a B section after you get the A section?
Student question submitted by Ellie via email:
How do you come up with new ideas to be creative?
Student question submitted by Michael:
How do you get your music out of your head and onto the paper?
These are questions from some of my students. Thank you, Wendy, for this opportunity!
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What musical form do you use most often in your compositions?
What kind of music do you like to listen to? Does the music you listen to affect your compositions in any way?
Do you ever get melodic or rhythmic ideas for your compositions from your piano practice?
How do you choose titles for your pieces? Does the title or the music come first?
How did you develop your skill as a composer? Did you have a mentor or study a textbook?
How do you come up with a B section that is a good match/fit to an A section?
Does your personality show through in your compositions?
how do you get the melody and the rhythm in your head? Do you have someone write your music?
Questions submitted via email:
When you arrange a popular piece, do you use sheet music and re-score it, or do you listen to it and transcribe it?
Do you write your music by hand? Do you use a computer program? Which one do you use?
Do you have a daily time you devote to composing?