The Scoring Samurai is a blog about what it actually takes to do serious orchestral work at a professional level—not just the craft, but the whole ecosystem. The tools that remove friction. The habits that protect the hours. The philosophy that keeps you at the desk when nothing is urgent and everything feels far away. Written by a working orchestrator for anyone who takes the work seriously.
Project Management 102
If you’re working on a creative project—whether it’s an orchestration, a concert arrangement, or a full score prep job—your instinct might be to just sit down and start writing music. And sure, the music is the core. But over time, I’ve learned that if I don’t manage the before, during, and after of a project properly, I pay for it later.
So let’s talk about the humble to-do list—and why it matters more than you think.
This Year, I’m Not Writing a Symphony Before Breakfast
There’s a particular kind of January optimism that smells like cinnamon, brand-new calendars, and overly ambitious to-do lists. Each year, we sit down and declare war on our bad habits. This year, we say, I’ll wake up at 5am. I’ll run. I’ll meditate. I’ll write a symphony. Sometimes all before breakfast.