“Hotwired” Music Composition Course

Course dates:

Friday 04 to Sunday 06 January 2008 (10am to 6pm)
Friday 04 to Sunday 06 April 2008 (10am to 6pm)

About the course:

In proud association with Vienna Instruments, Toontracks, PMI and Scarbee Libraries, Alchemea are pleased to announce an excellent new short course in Modern Composition. The course is geared for the computer based musician showing the necessary techniques to accomplish great drum patterns, bass lines, chord progressions, melodies and much, much more.

Regardless of musical style, to achieve a truly successful result, a composer or programmer needs to understand the important elements of the creative process regarding the fundamentals of music construction, direction, melodic/harmonic interaction, and where appropriate, instrument emulation.
Having a good basic understanding of dissimilar musical styles greatly enhances one’s creative potential as they are able to draw on much wider resources of information. This expanse of knowledge increases the possibilities of innovation in one’s chosen genre.

All course material is presented in an inspiring, original and a highly informative way to accelerate the learning curve. This is a course designed to get you creating as quickly as possible.

You will also receive a specially written music pack containing 8 unique books which elaborate further on material covered on the course, as well as introducing new topics such as how to read music. This pack is designed to keep you learning, improving and stimulated for many years to come. There will be new additional supplements available in the future making it a truly modular musical and educational experience. The music pack is accompanied by audio CD’s and MIDI files relating to the books providing plenty of analytical examples and demos.

This is not your standard music course – it is far more innovative. It is intensive as well as generic and facilitates the comprehension of:

· Music Vocabulary (the essentials and the incredibles!)
· Imaginative Rhythm Programming (unique concepts)
· Instrument Performance Emulation (great tips and pro rudiments for ultra-realism)
· Composition (Quickfire Techniques)
· Modulation (effective paths of key changing)
· Improvisation (specialised gadgets and other great tools)
· Harmony (creating interesting textures)
· Orchestration and Arrangement (colouring with sound - dynamics)
· Ways to be Creative (motivational insights and formulas)
· Proficiency – Efficiency (being productive – time management)

The course uses an approach which translates well to most musical styles

Sounds Good ?

To demonstrate many of the components within the course, we are especially pleased to be able to use the cream of sample libraries such as the Vienna Instruments, a brand new library from world renowned developers Vienna Symphonic Library. These sounds, along with some of those from the Horizon Series and other developers mentioned above, help tremendously in showing what one can now achieve with a computer/sequencer set-up.

Who is the course aimed at ?

Anyone wanting to learn about:

· Developing their musicality, their perception and creativity
· Composition techniques and Programming skills
· Achieving a good playing level/technique on the piano/keyboard.
. Songwriters, Composers, Pop Producers, Dance Producers, solo artists etc. etc.

Musical Level?

No prior musical knowledge is necessary due to the specialised teaching techniques and the outline of the course. The information and methodology is extensively backed up by the music pack.
This course will be most rewarding for those of the beginner/intermediate level, although advanced level students can definitely benefit from the course content as well. (see Course Outline)
You will be saturated with interesting information. If you really want to learn – you will learn a lot.

Duration – 3 days (18 hours actual course time)

Cost – £500 (£100 depsosit - balance of fees due 2 weeks before the course start date).

It is also possible to puchase the "Hotwired" music pack separately for £212 from www.heatmusic.com If you have taken any course at Alchemea then the cost is discounted to £170.



Please contact if you would like to reserve a place on this course.

"Hotwired" Course Schedule.pdf