To transcribe a piece of music one listens to the recording of the music and writes it down (on sheet music) in order for it to be performed or studied.  This is often done when the original sheet music has been lost, destroyed or is otherwise unavailable. 

Many times in my career I’ve been hired to do this, and many other times I’ve simply done it for  ear training purposes.   It is something I truly enjoy, especially when it comes to dense/complex orchestral music.  

Most recently I was hired to transcribe this rather incredible arrangement from the score of Tom and Jerry by Scott Bradley.  Below are some comparisons between the original audio and my transcription.    

A transcription can be also adapted to fit a certain ensemble.  The Tom and Jerry score was slightly expanded to make use of some idle orchestra members. Rates for this type of work start at 2000$/minute.

I’m proud to say this work is now available for rental from Sony Publishing.

Here is the link I was given to transcribe:

And here is the audio playback of my score (utilizing the sensational NotePerformer software). As is usually the case, the percussion has a mind of its own during playback so please disregard.

Here are some snippets of my score.

Here are some other things I’ve transcribed: