FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Unless we are having a design meeting, communication via email (or text) is highly preferred. You will typically get a response through one of those mediums much faster than a return phone call.
You may contact me at alexthodemusic@gmail.com.
The cost of commissioning a custom show for your marching ensemble depends on a variety of factors. For more information, please contact me directly.
1) Pick a show (or individual movements you’d like to combine).
2) Contact me to get the process started.
3) Acquire arrangement licenses (copyright) for all applicable works. I will assist you with that.
4) Pay for the show materials and copyright fees once finalized and approved.
5) Acquire the show materials and be amazing!
We will take care of applying for arrangement licenses, and you are responsible for the payment of these licenses upon approval. We typically utilize Tresona to get this accomplished, but there are times where contacting the publisher or copyright holder directly yields faster results.
IMPORTANT: Absolutely NO rehearsal materials of any kind can be disseminated until ALL arrangement licenses have been applied and paid for. There are NO exceptions to this policy. Need a show quickly? Please consider one with all or mostly public domain and/or original music selections.
Yes! We are happy to provide perusal scores for any number of shows you may be interested in. Perusal scores are copies of the original score, but with odd-numbered pages only.
Yes we do! For regional protection, we will require your primary (and secondary, if applicable) contest/festival circuit, as well as your specific contest/festival schedule once you have it finalized.
If you are attending nationally recognized shows like BOA or USBands, contest protection is offered as long as we know your full schedule intentions upfront. We never want ANY bands participating in a contest/festival in which another band is performing the same show, regardless of competitive class. We take this extremely seriously, but we can only implement protections if we have the proper information as soon as possible. Realistically, if a band decides to make changes to their schedule without notifying us, we of course cannot anticipate this change. Your cooperation is appreciated, and thank you for helping us doing right by your students, parents and program by ensuring this situation does not happen.
You have performance rights to the show you commissioned or purchased until January 1st of the following year. For example, if you purchase a show in 2026, you will have performance rights until January 1st, 2027.
Of course! You should absolutely feel free to adapt the title and concept of any show to make it your own. We just ask that in includes a reference to the original work. For example, if your band decides to purchase “Suspensions” and titles it something else, please include your new title along with “based on ‘Suspensions’ by Alex Thode.”