Online Studio Class
What’s included:
In-depth video lessons (8h 40m)
Step-by-step curriculum
Online and at your own pace
Watch on all devices
Unlimited lifetime access
Taught by
Class Overview
Lessons (15)
Apply what you learn
In the class, Brian Usifer breaks down his contemporary musical theatre arranging process into clear, actionable steps. Follow along with Brian’s process step-by-step and arrange your own songs. You can also watch his process in full first and then bring the ideas, tools, and techniques into your own projects. By following Brian’s proven process, you’ll learn everything you need to arrange songs like these:
Arrangers and Orchestrators looking to explore how storytelling can influence and enhance your writing, and how working in a DAW using pop production techniques can make your work sound more modern and contemporary.
Music Directors looking to get insight into how to dramatically analyze a song and how that analysis can carry into the arrangement and orchestration.
Musicians who are interested in how songs are arranged and how a modern production approach can influence the parts they are asked to play.
Brian Usifer is a New York City based Arranger, Orchestrator, Music Director, Pianist, Producer and Composer. As an orchestrator and arranger, Brian's projects have included A Beautiful Noise: the Neil Diamond Musical on Broadway, The Heart of Rock and Roll with music by Huey Lewis at the Old Globe, Swept Away with music by the Avett Brothers at Berkeley Rep, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money with music by Motown legend Lamont Dozier at The Atlantic Theatre, May We All featuring the music of Florida Georgia Line and other country stars, Afterwords at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Into the Wild by Niko Tsakalakos and Janet Allard, A View From The River by Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott, Fantasy Football: the Musical?, by David Ingber, Pool Boy by Niko Tsakalakos and Janet Allard, The UnCivil War by Rick Kunzi, Barnstormer by Douglas Cohen and The First Snow by Niko Tsakalakos. Additional shows in development include Galileo featuring music by Michael Weiner and Zoe Sarnak with a book by Danny Strong, and Hearts Beat Loud by Ngozi Anyanwu and Niko Tsakalakos. He was the Music Director of Disney’s Frozen on Broadway and he is currently the Associate Music Supervisor of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. Prior to that he was the Music Director of Kinky Boots on Broadway, which won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Orchestrations. The cast recording won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album and the West End production won an Olivier Award for Best Musical. He was the Associate Music Supervisor as well for Kinky Boots on Tour, London and in Toronto. Brian has played in the Broadway and off-Broadway orchestras of …Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, Altar Boyz, Bloodsong of Love: A Rock & Roll Spaghetti Western, and The Book of Mormon. Other theatre credits also include Chess at the Kennedy Center and more than 5 years of regional theatre including Follies at Barrington Stage Co. Concerts include Bobby and Kristen Lopez: American Songbook at Lincoln Center, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and Clay Aiken “Tried and True,” for PBS. On TV, he wrote additional orchestrations for NBC’s Annie Live, The Wiz Live, and can be heard as a pianist on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon. As a music producer, his credits include a songwriting collaboration with Colin Donnell called The Nineteen Twenty. Their album, Chaos + Cocktails. Other albums include The First Snow (Niko Tsakalakos), Archetype (Jonathan Reid Gealt), Reflect (Tom Kitt), A View From the River (Will Van Dyke) upcoming May We All, and many more. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from SUNY Fredonia, and a Masters degree in Collaborative Piano from NYU, with a Specialist Certificate in Orchestration from Berklee Online, and is currently a professor at Berklee NYC.
What’s included:
In-depth video lessons (8h 40m)
Step-by-step curriculum
Online and at your own pace
Watch on all devices
Unlimited lifetime access