There are two main problems in film composition today:

1. People know what they like and it has already been written, but they would like something that sounds similar without infringing copyright

2. People want something completely new and forget that a composition doesn’t gain the imprint of association until it has been used with a film!

Between these two, composition can become an exercise in making clever forgeries. If there is no audible association between what someone knows they like and your piece, then there needs to be a clue in the title to help the client understand what “kind” of piece it is straight away. In either case, we borrow the approval of existing music by hanging onto the coat-tails of what is already known and approved.

In my free time I sometimes compose such loving pastiches and here are three: