A film score is written, orchestrated, produced and mixed. These eight courses cover that chain end to end — pick the stage you are stuck on, or work through them in order.
The closest thing here to a complete film scoring course. Mattia Chiappa takes apart the harmonic and orchestral language of twentieth-century concert music and shows how Hollywood inherited it: how a theme is developed, how texture carries a scene, how a cue keeps moving. If you want your writing to sound like the scores you grew up with, start here.
View the course →Before you can score a scene you have to be able to write a piece. Ryan Leach treats melody, harmony, form and counterpoint as one connected craft, with assignments after every chapter. This is the foundation most self-taught film composers are missing.
View the course →The sequel goes into sonata form and larger structures — how to sustain one idea across several minutes instead of writing eight bars and stalling. Directly useful for long cues, suites and concert works.
View the course →Most film cues begin at the piano. David McCauley teaches you to sketch, accompany and develop ideas at the keyboard, so you reach the orchestration stage with real material instead of a four-bar loop.
View the course →Fantasy scoring as a genre study: ethereal harmony, celesta and string colour, and the full process from a first theme to a finished, orchestrated track. Written for anyone scoring fantasy film, games or animation.
View the course →Bold, story-driven adventure writing. Ryan Leach composes three original themes from sketch to full orchestral production and breaks down four classic cinematic styles — heroic, romantic, mystery and family adventure — along the way.
View the course →A score is only as convincing as its mockup. Across more than 35 hours Rico Derks shows how to program sample libraries so a virtual orchestra actually breathes — articulations, phrasing, dynamics and soundstage.
View the course →The last step before a cue is delivered. Joël Dollié covers EQ, reverb, compression and balance for orchestral music, so a full tutti stays clear and powerful instead of turning to mud.
View the course →Exclusive discounts for our students
All our students are eligible for discounts on libraries and plugins by renowned developers. This exclusive benefit alone can result in substantial savings, amounting to hundreds of dollars on composing software and libraries!
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Ryan’s approach is a welcome surprise that really benefitted my own writing process.
Unlike other courses, he sketches in Dorico before jumping into his DAW. Ryan’s detailed analysis of the genre can be applied to nearly any musical style. They may call this a “mini” course… it is anything but. There is a ton of inspiring material - so much so that I grabbed Ryan’s other courses!
20th Century Orchestral Writing was a real game changer for me.
Since I have no formal training, I wasn't aware how important it is to first clarify your musical ideas and tie them together harmonically before attempting orchestration. Mattia's clear explanations about the importance of piano sketching and excellent MIDI orchestration examples opened up a whole new world of musical exploration for me. Highly recommended.
Ryan's Pillars of Composition is an incredible resource.
Even for an absolute beginner, like me, the content is straightforward and provides a great roadmap to improve your compositions.
The Mixing Cinematic Music course is by far my favorite investment of this year.
Beginner or expert: Joël Dollié is an excellent teacher and gives valuable and essential mixing tips and tricks for everyone.
I bought this course really quickly after release, because I knew Ryan makes high quality videos regarding composition and orchestration on YouTube... and it was 100% worth it :)
The course is structured really well (the process of always returning to already learned techniques is really good) and for me as a new composer, who just started this year, the content has such great value.
100% recommended
Ryan’s course is fantabulous! I’m a songwriter and composer of musical theater with 20-plus years of experience, and I can tell you that diving back with Ryan into the details of form, counterpoint, melodic construction, and harmony has proved invaluable.
What’s more, I find Ryan’s straightforward approach, as well as his no-nonsense, effortless decision-making process to be joyful and awe-inspiring.
The Legend Of Otoe was the first course I took on Master The Score.
It's a nice step-by-step process to write your first jrpg main theme with a solid harmony underneath. I enjoyed the different homework assignments that felt like small achievements before even completing the course.
Getting Melody, Harmony, Form and Counterpoint into one course might sound almost impossible, but this course manages to break down all these aspects of composition into small units and increases the complexity in little consecutive steps that can be easily followed.
The assignments after each chapter ensure that it’s never getting boring, and that the new know-how can be applied immediately.
The course did not only teach me the jrpg style, but also helped me to expand my harmonic vocabulary.
Every composition I wrote since finishing with Legends of Otoe benefited from this new knowledge. I am eagerly looking forward to Legends of Otoe part two!
I was looking for a shorter course to fit my available time and I am a big John Powell fan, so this offering fit the bill.
Ryan’s teaching style makes learning each new topic easy. I found the modules to be just the right length, introducing each topic and then following Ryan in real-time as he composes and arranges each theme. By the end of this course, I was able to compose and produce a complete suite in the style of the “Vikings and Dragons” trailer, which was my goal and is something I would not have been able to do before taking this course.
My composition skills were ok before I enrolled in this course. When I enrolled I began to see my compositional skills improve gradually over time.
Ryan's way of teaching is a great contributor to my overall improvement.
If writing eight bars and getting stuck sounds familiar, Ryan’s courses will help.
Ryan’s teaching style is clear and his methods can be used to structure your compositions, no matter what genre you are writing for. After completing Wizards & Witches I used some of the techniques to complete a couple of scores for a spaghetti western. I can honestly say Ryan has helped me structure and elevate my writing process…no more half finished ideas!!
As a software engineer during the week and a hobbyist composer on weekends, I've always loved creating music. Despite over a decade and a half of classical piano lessons as a student, I lacked the skills to orchestrate my ideas. Master the Score has been an invaluable resource in bridging that gap. Courses like "20th Century Orchestral Writing" and "Pillars of Composition" make complex topics approachable, helping me connect the dots with patterns I recognised but never fully understood. Courses like The Legend of Otoe and Composing Worlds also bring a special focus that adds sparkle to my compositions.
I now feel much more confident orchestrating my work, and I’ve even found greater enjoyment in films by discovering the same techniques and ideas from the courses and understanding their applications.
Remember all of those fun RPG's and Anime's from your childhood? Do Final Fantasy, Spirited Away, and Breath Of The Wild come to mind?
Now imagine for a second that you'll be able to make music for those games and media. Otoe Levels 1, and Otoe Levels 2&3 are a godsend to you if you'd like to learn how to write music for this genre. I highly recommend purchasing this course if you'd like to upgrade your harmonic palette as well as music theory!
Pillars of Composition II is a course devoted to making us write a piece in Sonata form.
It is in depth and modern. Ryan breaks down the form into smaller pieces so that we learn it. There is a discord forum devoted to Pillars of Composition II. In the discord forum we can post our works to get feedback. This is awesome because assessment is a key component to learning. I highly recommend this course to anyone that wants to write larger works. It's wonderful. If you like Ryan's YouTube channel, you'll love this course: Pillars of Composition II.
This course was a game changer for me. I wanted to improve my skills and get better at what has always been a hobby.
Now, I feel much more confident writing my own pieces and adding creative variation to them.
“20th Century Orchestral Writing” is an immediate purchase for anybody wanting to own a complete how-to for modern film scoring.
It offers a complete and detailed look at the most important aspects of the musical language needed to sound convincing in Hollywood and elsewhere. From the notes to the sound this covers it all. If you are serious about orchestral film scoring this is a must have.
I learned so much from watching your work and from the knowledge you shared.
Anyway, I submitted two pieces to the Film Scoring Academy of Europe's online Master's Degree Program and I got accepted into the program! So I just wanted to say thank you!
The truth is that I am delighted with this course because Mattia has a great ability to explain and turn a simple melody into a harmony of great interest.
Especially with this course, I am learning how to structure my musical sketches effectively and how to compose more efficiently. Without a doubt, I strongly recommend this course primarily to those people who need to continue improving their level of creating orchestral mockups with interesting harmonies.
Master The Score provides in-depth film scoring courses for aspiring and professional composers writing music for film, television, trailers and video games. These aren't generic theory classes; they're structured, skill-focused programs that teach you how to score picture in real production environments. Whether you are developing a theme for an emotional scene or building a cue that lands with the edit, every online film scoring course here is taught by working professionals.
Led by working composers like Ryan Leach and Mattia Chiappa, our courses cover the whole craft — from the first sketch at the piano to a finished orchestral cue. If you want to learn film scoring step by step rather than from scattered tutorials, this is where to start.
Whether you are scoring your first short film or refining your orchestral writing, our film scoring courses online are built to support every stage of your journey.
Explore our advanced and entry-level film scoring courses — each one packed with engaging video content, real-world assignments, and community support to help you produce polished, impactful scores.
Learn to score with clarity, emotion and purpose — no matter the genre or project. Each film scoring course is designed to deliver practical techniques you can apply to your next cue straight away.
Online education for media composers — orchestral writing, trailer music, mixing and more, taught by working professionals.
