Ok, I found a copy of my first original composition. I was asked by a a good friend who has his own dance company for an emergency favor. He had composed a dance routine using the music from the "Lion King" at Brooklyn Academy of Music Auditorium. He had not secured premission to use the music from the Lion King(after he created the dance, purchased costumes and rehearsed with 8 dancers) This was Saturday before the performance. He called me and said " Sam, I have a problem...." Now, mind you I've never heard the music from the Lion King and luckly my god son's mother had a VHS tape(yeah I'm that old). I had to re-create a piece of music that match the theme and same timings of the music in the Lion King but it couldn't sound like the Lion King.
Ok, I'm a gospel musican so........why ask me? Well, I've been know to do the impossible when put to the test. As fate would have it I had and old Yamaha keyboard that had sounds of birds, lions, girraffe and monkeys on it ( go figure ). I have a background in orchestral music as a frecnh horn player. So I listened to the Lion King song and came up with this piece on Sunday night before his performance:
Sound of Africa © 1996 Sam Tolbert
www.Samsmuzikco.com/audio/soundofafrica.mp3He has been using this piece since 1996 in his performances. All praise to God because I don't know if I could ever pull this off again
To answer a question I've never been to composing school but I'm a good listener to good music.