Commission

Pricing Structure

Commission pricing is based not only on the duration and complexity of the piece but also on the total time required to bring it to life. This includes text selection, melody writing, voicing, piano or instrumental writing, score layout, and delivery of a professionally engraved score (and parts, where applicable). Reference MIDI recordings and professionally prepared instrumental parts, where applicable, are included in the commission fee.

Standard voicing—such as SATB, SSAA, or TTBB—does not ordinarily affect the fee. Extensive divisi, double-choir writing, or other specialized vocal forces may affect the final quote.

Arrangements

Custom arrangements and settings of existing music—including hymn settings, carol medleys, and folk-song arrangements—are quoted individually according to duration and complexity. Where the underlying music is under copyright, the commissioner is responsible for securing permission from the rights holder.

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The ranges below apply to typical unaccompanied or piano-accompanied projects. Final fees reflect duration, complexity, instrumentation, text requirements, and timeline. Projects involving additional instruments are quoted individually.

Who Commissions Music?

There is no minimum ensemble size or institutional requirement for commissioning a new work.

Recent commissions have come from a Nebraska high school celebrating its graduating class, an Episcopal parish in Georgia, a state ACDA chapter, and university and community ensembles. What they had in common was not budget or size. It was a specific occasion and a clear sense of what they wanted the piece to do.

If you have that, you have enough to begin the conversation.

Funding Your Commission

A commission does not necessarily require an existing budget line. Many projects are funded through a consortium, donor support, community fundraising, or grant funding—and the cost is often more manageable than directors initially expect.

Consortium: Several ensembles share a single fee. A $3,000 commission divided among five programs is $600 each, and every participating ensemble is named in the score and has the opportunity to perform the work with its own singers.

Individual donor: Many commissions are underwritten by one family or business connected to the program. The donor can be recognized permanently in the score’s dedication—a lasting form of acknowledgment that few other gifts can offer.

Community fundraising: Choir families, alumni, and boosters will often give toward a piece written for their own ensemble when they would not give toward general operating costs. Contributors can be listed on a dedication page in the score.

Grants: State arts councils and local foundations regularly fund the creation of new work. I have been principal investigator on multiple arts grants and am glad to supply the project description, artistic rationale, and composer materials a strong application requires.

Ready to begin? Submit an inquiry.

Process & Timeline

1. Initial consultation to determine voicing, duration, theme or text, and timeline.
2. Signed agreement and nonrefundable 50% deposit.
3. Text selection and artistic outline shared with the commissioner. Any licensing fees for copyrighted texts are the commissioner’s responsibility and are billed at cost.
4. Draft score delivered for review and feedback.
5. Final engraved score delivered as a PDF.
6. Remaining balance due upon final delivery.

When should I inquire?

Commission timelines are flexible, and I welcome both near-term projects and those planned well in advance. Depending on the scope of the work and current availability, an octavo-length commission may be completed within several weeks or a few months. Additional lead time can be helpful for text selection, collaboration, fundraising, or consortium-building, but prospective commissioners are encouraged to inquire regardless of timeline. Expedited projects may be subject to the rush-delivery fee outlined below.

Performance Rights

Copyright remains with the composer, and any subsequent publication is at the composer’s sole discretion.

Commissioners receive the right to:

• Present the premiere performance
• Reproduce the score in the quantity needed for the commissioning ensemble or consortium
• Be permanently acknowledged as the commissioner in the score and in any subsequent published edition

Optional Add-Ons

Rush Delivery: +25% surcharge, subject to availability

• Octavo-length works: fewer than 60 days
• Extended, multi-movement, or instrumentally scored works: fewer than 120 days
• Large-scale works: less than 6 months

Alternate Voicing: Beginning at $750

Composer Engagement: Commissions may include a rehearsal clinic, virtual session with singers, residency, or appearance at the premiere. These opportunities are available in person or remotely and are quoted separately.