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Musical Composition, Theory, Songwriting, and Singing/Dr Colin
All Reviews from Users
Column Headings: K = Knowledgeability C = Clarity of Response T = Timeliness P = Politeness
N = Nominated for Expert of the Month
| Date | User | K | C | T | P | N | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-11-19 | Michael Nelson | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Quick and thorough. Very helpful. |
| 2009-11-16 | Carlos | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | |
| 2009-11-12 | krislynn perry | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | thank you very much for trying to help out. I will take your advice on modulations and just try again. You were very helpful. |
| 2009-09-21 | Carlos | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2009-09-02 | Sina | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2009-08-24 | Nancy | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | No | |
| 2009-08-23 | Alex | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Very knowledgeable on many musical topics. |
| 2009-07-24 | Pete | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Thanks vewry much for your response. Helped me enormously; more than my tutor has done. Cheers, Pete. |
| 2009-07-16 | Joe | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | |
| 2009-07-12 | Joe | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | I am lucky to contact you. |
| 2009-07-03 | Zack | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | Thank you very much! I am amazed how fast and reliable your response was. |
| 2009-06-20 | Lara | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2009-05-18 | Michael | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | Thanks again for the reply, (real expert advice), I found that grades on the piano only get you so far, and to step above this there is an awful amount of searching to do to learn anything really complex and professional (like accomapaniment, playing by ear, arranging, writing harmony, etc... the web is a fantastic help though, -and any step /tips in the right direction is always valuable! Thanks for the consideration, |
| 2009-05-18 | Craig | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | thank you for your time and guidance Dr. Collin. |
| 2009-05-13 | Simon | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | many thanks excellent |
| 2009-04-30 | De | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Thank you very much! Your response was extremely helpful and gives me an idea of how I can help her to find what is causing her problem. :-) |
| 2009-03-29 | Dan | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Thanks a lot for explaining the term to me! Now I understand! |
| 2009-03-27 | Paulo | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Excellent response |
| 2009-03-07 | Joe | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | thanks a lot for your kindness and generousity. May God bless You. Joe. |
| 2009-02-27 | Judy | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Thank you so much for such a speedy response and careful explanation - it all makes perfect sense |
| 2009-02-19 | Brian F. | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2009-02-18 | Rebecca | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | Thanks for helping me :-)! I have a much clearer understanding of what i am doing now!! |
| 2009-02-11 | Joe | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | No | I am highly grateful and extraordinarilly edified by the answer Thanks a lot. Joe |
| 2009-01-28 | Ian | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Dear Dr Colin Many thanks for your reply - and for being available to be asked. My question was really a spin-off from my own activities. I'm a 60-something pianist with a 'proper' musical background, getting belatedly into jazz and improvisation. A piece I have recently found stimulating is based essentially on a 'descending semitones' bass, so I thought it would be interesting to see what I could do on a largely whole-tone descending bass. I looked at the modes for a sort of pretext or peg to start from, and decided (rather innocently!) that the Lochrian looked interesting - a nice run of whole tones and then the closing semitone. It has, in fact, proved very stimulating, but the B-F relation is obviously an issue. As a pianist, I'm not going to be into natural tuning anytime soon, but I was just curious as to whether the F over B actually historically occurred, or whether it was a sort of musical malapropism. Best wishes Ian G. |
| 2009-01-12 | Jacob | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2009-01-12 | Chris | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2008-12-31 | Theresa | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2008-12-17 | Robert | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | |
| 2008-12-04 | Kadian | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | I wish you had continued talking, especially after the rhythmic device section. I felt as though I was in a class, I wanted to be in. You are right-on about what the question is asking and the magnitude of it but that is what my teacher asked me to do. Just so you know, I had visited wikipedia. I tried to tell him that this sound like something, someone doing their doctorate should be doing, but he just chides me for not taking the challenge. I opted to do something else and he said, KADIAN, why don't you do this. I knew I could do it, but my resources are very limited in Jamaica. THANKY OU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP THOUGH. I sure wish I had the Full score to look at. I don't have much of an ear, so I can't really listen to it and speak a lot on it except for the emotional interpretation part of it and relationship between the family of instruments in communicating the piece. I will be sure to let you know how things turn out. THANK YOU AGAIN |
| 2008-11-05 | Sofie | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Yes | Thanks so much! Unbelievably helpful :) Kind regards, Sofie |
Answers by Expert:
Dr Colin
Expertise
I can answer questions from students of "classical" composing, arranging, notation problems and music theory, writing for instruments and voice and writing music for education. I can answer questions about orchestration but I do not cover questions about pop or rock music, pop song writing or electronic music.
I taught for many years in UK up to "A" level theory and composition. I have spent many years in music education, initially (like everyone else) as a teacher. Then I moved on to advisory work (teaching teachers!) and also lectured, giving many workshops for teachers in developing music education skills and techniques. For a time I worked as a teacher-lecturer at London University's Institute of Education and eventually worked full-time as a Music Education Adviser to schools in part of London, offering advice on music education and curriculum development.
Experience
I started composing music at the age 14 (it was mostly rubbish, since you asked) and now have a large number of compositions to credit as well as many publications, especially for instrumental music and choral music. I have also written several acclaimed works for large orchestra and choir. My work has been published particularly in the UK (under different names)(notably by Boosey & Hawkes, Novello, and Schott) but also in the USA and the Netherlands.
My music for elementary players (several publications) has been performed and broadcast worldwide. I am now retired from my previous job as Music Education Adviser. These days I spend most of my time composing and arranging. I am currently working on instrumental arrangements of world national anthems for my National Anthems website and also completing a suite of very easy piano solos and duets for elementary players. For many years I have used the music program "Finale" for all my music writing activities.
Organizations
International Society for Music Education;
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Publications
"The Times" Educational Supplement; "Hi-Fi News and Record Review". For several years, I used to write for many of the state music education periodicals in the US and I also wrote several influential articles on instrumental music teaching for "Music Teacher" magazine in the UK. (UK).
Education/Credentials
PhD(Hons); MA(Hons); FLCM (compositon) ARCM, LMusTCL,(music diplomas)
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