SaadApr 21, 202681 min14 attended

Office Hours · Apr 21

Aesthetic blueprint refinement, voice samples, drafting first pitches

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What was covered

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Heavy on the aesthetic blueprint. Saad pushed back on three students whose blueprints listed 8+ composers without specific musical anchors. His correction: cap influences at 3, name the conceptual problem, name a specific exemplar piece (not just composer). Walked Hana Voss through her Step 5 draft live. Second half on first-pitch outreach — covered the 'curiosity-first opening' rule and why CTAs in cold emails should be small (15-min Zoom, not score review).

Transcript

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Show transcript

[00:01:24] Saad:Welcome everyone. I see we have twelve people on. Before we dig in, let me say something I've been thinking about a lot this week...

[00:03:51] Saad:The single most common mistake I see, especially with people coming from grad programs, is jumping into Sibelius too early. The notation program creates this finality — once it's in there, it's mentally hard to revise the bones.

[00:08:14] Marcus:Yeah, that's exactly where I'm stuck on Tide Glass. The harmonic field feels right but the rhythm isn't landing.

[00:08:42] Saad:Pick one parameter per work session. You already named it on your piece — "rhythm against sustained harmonic field" — keep that as the only thing you're developing this week. Don't open Sibelius yet.

[continues for 81 minutes...]