ASMAC (American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers) hosts various opportunities for creating new music, including:
- Calls for Scores (as seen below)
- including the new Concert Music Committee.
- ASMAC First Wednesday Hangs with John Mitchell's Flight 584 Big Band at The Mayflower Club in North Hollywood, CA, USA for new chart read-downs. See each month's event in the list of events.
- Periodic arranging, composition, orchestration challenges like was done for some New Year's and Holiday Hang events. For the 2026 New Year's Hang, we had folk arrange selections of Carrie Jacobs-Bond’s 12 Half-Minute Songs.
- Composing and Arranging Competitions.
2024–2025 Call for Score
The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA-LA) and the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC) are pleased to announce a Call for Scores for a series of events to take place in Los Angeles in early February 2025. NACUSA-LA and ASMAC will host Toronto (Canada) based clarinetist Kaye Royer and the Odin Quartet, in conjunction with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO), in a ten-day tour, with several concerts and workshops.
The CALL FOR SCORES is in two parts. [Please read carefully and submit accordingly!] Composers may submit to both CALLS (categories), but if your music is selected in both categories, you will be asked to choose between the two. The goal is to present as many composers as possible.
For the overall project, we are currently working on producing performances at:
- Chapman University (3 February 2025),
- The Westside Conservatory of Music, and
- a private home concert,
- but have possible other venues to be announced later.
There is interest the selected chamber works could be recorded in the Spring 2025 for release on the Canadian record label, Akashic Classics (distributed by Universal). The SPO would share the costs of recording with the individual composers. For more information, contact (NACUSA email). Examples of recent SPO Akashic albums featuring the Odin Quartet or Kaye Royer are Journey Through Night, Night Star: Chamber Music by Ronald Royer, Canadian Expedition, Between the Lines, and Ted Runcie: Jamaican Quartets (available on all major streaming services).
Film Score Cue
Submission Deadline: 16 December 2024
Deadline Extended!
Guidelines:
- Open to members of ASMAC and NACUSA-LA.
- Length:
- scored to video clips to be made available specifically for this project.
- Instrumentation: clarinet and string quartet, or any combination thereof.
- Submit a score and parts in a PDF format and a recording (MIDI is fine).
- May or may not be synchronized to the video clip.
There will be a live reading to picture on 8 February 2025, during an ASMAC Zoom at 12 noon PST (UTC-08),
with a live audience in Los Angeles and conductors Ronald Royer (SPO) & Charles Fernandez (ASMAC).
ASMAC will video tape the score reading event and make it available to the composers and all its members.
On 2 March 2025, there will be another event in Toronto at the Canadian Music Centre (CMC)
with a live audience and live stream. The selected cues will be played along with other programming.
This event will be sponsored by the SPO, the CMC, and Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC).
The selection committee for this category includes:
- Charles Fernandez (ASMAC),
- Bruno Degazio (SPO), and
- an additional ASMAC Board member.
It is anticipated that 8 ASMAC / NACUSA-LA works and 4 Canadian works will be selected.
Choose one of the Video Clips to use for this Call for Scores
Submissions Closed for
Film Score Cue
Helix Collective 2025
Submission Deadline: 4 March 2025
Call for Scores for our joint workshop and concert with ASMAC and Helix Collective!
Submit scores for the Helix Collective instrumentation.
Guidelines:
- Open to ASMAC members.
- Length: between 2–5 minutes. Maximum of 5 minutes.
- Instrumentation and parts to prepare:
- Conductor
- Flute (doubling: piccolo, alto, bass flutes)
- Clarinet (doubling: bass clarinet)
- French Horn
- Violin
- Viola
- Cello
- Bass
- Piano
- Percussion (doubling: drum set, small percussion)
- Guitar (doubling: electric & acoustic)
- Write for the full ensemble.
- Submit a score and parts in PDF format and a recording (MIDI is fine).
There will be two events related to this Call for Scores:
- Winning composers will receive feedback from our ensemble instrumentalists
on your score during an online workshop, 31 March 2025. - Winning composers will also have their scores performed by Helix Collective
on 26 April 2025 at Nathan Barr’s Bandrika Studios.
The concert will be live-streamed and recorded.
Submissions Closed for
Helix Collective 2025
New Year 2025
Submission Deadline: 3 January 2025
In replacement of the annual holiday hang is an ASMAC New Year Hang on Saturday, 4 January 2025, 12pm PST (UTC-08). Since the holidays have passed and this is short notice, we’ll be showcasing short arrangements of selections from Carrie Jacobs-Bond’s Half Minute Songs. These are typically 4–5 measure songs with one that has 8 measures. Something short with a bit of variety.
- Choose one song.
- Any instrumentation. With or without vocals.
- MIDI mockups are fine and likely given the short timeframe.
- Expand the piece or simply stick to the original length of 4–5 measures.
PDF score of the twelve (12) Half Minute Songs by Carrie Jacobs-Bond.
Submissions Closed for
New Year 2025
New Chamber Work
Submission Deadline: 1 October 2024
Guidelines:
- Open to members of ASMAC and NACUSA-LA.
- Length: Up to 8 minutes max.
- Instrumentation: clarinet and string quartet, or any combination thereof.
- Composed within the last five years.
- Submit a score in a PDF format (US Letter size, 8.5″x11″) and an MP3 recording (live or MIDI).
- Please include your name, address, email address, and phone number in the submission.
There will be at least two performances of the selected works in Southern California
and at least one performance in Toronto, Canada mid-January 2024 to which
the composer will be invited to attend.
Composers are required to submit entries electronically.
If the work is selected, finished parts will be required by November 1
and should be submitted by email to NACUSA-LA. Details will be sent upon selection.
The selection committee for this category includes:
- Alex Toskov (violinist, Odin Quartet),
- Ronald Royer (SPO Music Director), and
- two NACUSA LA Board members.
It is anticipated that 6 American works will be selected.
Selected composers may be asked to contribute
a small amount (c. $75) to cover the live concert recording costs.
Submissions Closed for
New Chamber Work