
This is our video series Future Craft, where we profile creatives about how they’re adapting their craft and modernizing their technique for our evolving digital world.
Composer and producer Anthony Barfield has an entire orchestra at the tip of his fingers. With a laptop and the tap of mouse, he can cue up violins, trumpets, oboes or bassoons. With a few more clicks and movements on the keyboard, he can compose a entire musical score for an ensemble. Barfield, a graduate of The Juilliard School, has perfect pitch and plays the piano, but he admits he can’t imagine composing music without computer software like Finale or Logic Pro X.
“Those composers back then [like Mozart or Beethoven] were geniuses. They could hear every single instrument in their heads,” said Barfield. “Nowadays we don’t necessarily have to do that because we have these amazing instrumental libraries.”
Barfield says advances in music-composition software have given him creative freedom to write for instruments he doesn’t know how to physically play. Watch the video to also find out how music composition has evolved from candlelight and quill pens to software and laptops.
More in Media

As Patreon and Substack enter the mix, the livestreaming landscape is dividing creators
Platforms’ livestreaming push has highlighted an underlying divide in the community of livestreaming creators.

Digiday+ Research: Publishers were ready to depend more on first-party data. So, now what?
Publishers were ready for the move away from third-party data: the role of first-party data in generating ad revenue was set to grow significantly, and the percentage of ad impressions served by first-party data was set to increase.

Digiday+ Research Data Sheet: The state of subscription pricing
This infographic details how publishers are approaching subscription pricing and how subscriptions drive other revenue streams for publishers.