Staccato Spotlight: Stephen DeCesare
Stephen DeCesare
“Jack-of-all-trades” composer and arranger, primarily of choral, musical theatre, instrumental, and church music.
ArrangeMe member since 2013
Over 20,000 titles self-published via ArrangeMe
Former SMP Press contest winner
Stephen DeCesare is an internationally renowned composer and arranger residing in his native Rhode Island where he serves as music director for Rhode Island College’s stage musicals, and is also the music director at his local church. DeCesare is one of ArrangeMe’s top users with an enormous library to his name!
DeCesare’s stage works, including his musicals A Christmas Carol: The Musical and The Competition, have been performed all over the world.
Originally trained on the organ, a piano teacher introduced DeCesare to composition and by the time he was a student at Rhode Island College, he was writing full musicals as well as choral and orchestral works. DeCesare studied voice, piano, and musical theatre, and maintains an active career as a performer and conductor.
One of Stephen’s favorite compositions:
”Summer Rain” for Solo Piano
Sheet music available here
(This piece is part of his larger work, “The Seasons of Earth”.)
On his arranging process
“Once I pick a song, I begin by arranging it for the largest ensemble first. I then distill that large arrangement down into several other arrangements that work for smaller ensembles (quintets, quartets, trios, duets, etc.). When I’m finished, I usually wind up with 30-35 separate arrangements of the same title to publish to ArrangeMe.”
Advice for arrangers/composers just starting out or looking to improve
“Keep the ear interested!”
“Study the masters, listen to everything, and don’t shut yourself off to anything … be open to all kinds of music because you never know what you can learn from studying it.”
“Always add chord symbols to your piano part.”
“Don’t presume the musician will know your intent … always write it down!”
Favorite thing about being an ArrangeMe member
“I get a real charge out of hearing other people performing my music and with ArrangeMe, musicians from all over the world can find and play it. That’s incredible!”
How to be successful on ArrangeMe
“Successfully self-publishing your music is quality and quantity! Make each arrangement or composition as good as it can be and then publish as many versions of it as you possibly can to maximize your chances of making sales.”
“Selling sheet music is 80% how it looks and 20% what you say! Be sure your sheet music looks professional … if it doesn’t, customers won’t care about the notes you’ve written.”
