FAQ

A nonbinary person with a short buzz cut leans against a cinderblock wall. They are wearing a forest green shirt and a black leather biker jacket.
A nonbinary person looks at the camera with one eyebrow slightly raised. A hint of a smile, or perhaps a smirk, plays at eir lips. They wear stud earrings, a forest green shirt, and a black leather biker jacket. Their brown hair is shaved close to their head.
A nonbinary person smirks at the camera, an eyebrow slightly raised. Their hair is in a short buzzcut, and ey are wearing stud earrings, a forest green shirt, and an oversized jean jacket. They stand in front of a cinderblock wall with an inlaid brick archway and wooden gate.

Looking for some big answers? Chances are, I’ve got you covered.

how much does it cost to commission a piece?

It depends! Smaller projects (when not on a tight deadline) tend to cost less than bigger projects. My quotes are determined based on instrumentation, duration, and a few other parameters that drastically affect how much time and labor a piece will require. Regardless of budget or scope, I’m always happy to explore consortiums, grants, and other means of securing funding (and if you have a friend/colleague/rival who wants to co-commission with you for joint exclusivity, that can be a great option). I’m always happy to talk about a project, even if you don’t have what you think will be enough funding—especially if you’re a student or someone else with a super limited budget. Though I still do the occasional project for free, it’s rare (and always an offer I make personally).

I also offer a commission discount for certain Patreon tiers. If you’re interested, hop on over to my Patreon. For more information on the commissioning process generally, check out my Commission Information page.

If a commission isn’t in the cards for you right now but you’d still love something new, I sometimes have a stray piece or two looking for a good home and a world premiere. Look for them on my full works list or in my Works for Sale with “(unperformed!)” at the end of the title.

how can I buy your music?

I currently only deliver scores in PDF format and fixed media in WAV (though MP3 is available on request if you need it specifically). To order a work that’s already available, head on over to my Works for Sale page. Pieces are listed in alphabetical order (note some pieces are available for multiple instrumentations). As long as there’s an Add To Cart button, you can order it and get it delivered to your inbox as soon as your payment is processed! If you ever purchase a piece and have trouble opening a file (or need something delivered in another format!), let me know and I’ll be happy to assist. On occasion, I do offer hard copies of my work; however, this is generally only when I’m at a conference or visiting a commissioner. If you’d like to inquire about this, drop me a line.

Some works are unavailable for instant sale and download through my website. This usually means I’m cleaning/editing parts or I only offer the piece to performers with projects that align with its emotional content. Some of these will come available in time, but if you’re interested, I highly recommend filling out the form on that piece’s product page. It’ll let me know I need to prioritize cleaning those parts or start a conversation with you!

If you’re looking to just listen to recorded versions, I have formal releases available on my Bandcamp (which . . . y’know . . . 10/10 would recommend), and other recordings from concerts and recitals are available on my SoundCloud and YouTube.

can I hire you for other things?

Yes! Check out my Services page for information on lessons, lectures, workshops, clinics, studio recording, and other projects. For gigs and other things that require an answer pretty soon, the easiest way to reach me is by email: eris [at] erisdejarnett [dot] com.

I don’t, as a rule, field any requests on social media. If you hit me up there, just know I’m going to ask you to send me an email. It’s much easier to keep track of our conversation (and the specifics of your project) there!

can you come talk to my class/ensemble/org?

Most likely! I offer guest lectures, clinics, workshops, and presentations on a variety of topics related to queerness, music, working with living composers, power dynamics, and more. Check out the Services page to book some time to talk, or use my Contact page to pitch me an idea.

how do I navigate your pronouns?

Currently, I publicly use ey/they pronouns, meaning both ey/em/eir/eirs/emself* or eirself and they/them/their/theirs/themself or theirself should be used to refer to me. If you’re new to multipronoun sets, I recommend practicing as much as you can, even if that’s just talking with a friend. Some multipronoun users have a preference for one of the two or more pronouns they specify. Because I’m genderqueer, I find both of mine to be important ways I reflect my gender linguistically. (Actually, I use a lot more than these, but at this time this is what I’m comfortable using professionally/publicly.) Please use both ey and they when referring to me. Some folks alternate every other pronoun, but if that’s a difficult adjustment, every other sentence also works really well! (I do that in my bio, for the most part.) Bare minimum, I’d recommend shooting for swapping at least every other paragraph (or, if you’re really really unsure, please use they/them exclusively). Using any pronouns beyond ey and they (unless I’ve recently or conditionally given you permission otherwise) is misgendering.

One small note: if you’re reprinting my bio, please never rewrite it to only use one set of pronouns unless we have been in direct contact and I’ve given you specific instructions to do so. If you’re playing my work and talking about it, our shared audiences should be meeting me as I choose to represent myself, not some distorted, dishonest version. If you knowingly misgender me, I WILL put you on blast publicly, and I very likely won’t let you play my work again. Don’t do it.

*These are called Elverson pronouns, in case you’d like to do more reading on them.

what if I have to talk about your gender?

I’ve put longer explanations here before, but just use genderqueer. It’s accurate and usually (slightly) less likely to prompt follow-up questions than using more specific terms.

Yes, I am a trans composer, and trans is a word you can happily use to describe me, either in combination with or independently of genderqueer. Use one or both—either way works for me!

Please don’t put me on your all-women-composers concert. If you’d like to include my work in something like this, you’re actually having a gender-marginalized-composers concert (yay!), and you should also get rep from trans women, trans men, more (and different types of) genderqueer and nonbinary people, and folks using various demographic-specific genders! I am not a woman.

what if I have to talk about your orientation?

If you want (or need, I guess) to get the most specific, the correct term is angled aroace. That said, feel free to generalize out to bi aroace, aroace, or Not Straight(TM). Again, you can choose your own adventure through these, but please pick one and stick with it. Or, if you want to sum up gender and orientation things in one go, I’ve got a great word for you: queer.

what title should I use for you?

Mx. (pronounced “mix”) is a pretty commonly used gender-neutral honorific, and it’s the one I prefer. However, I only really lean on titles when students (generally my own) are involved, and anytime I sign off on an email with my first name—not my default signature, but the actual closing—you’re 100% good to first-name me from there on out unless we run into something situationally weird.

I messed up! what do I do?

Shit happens! As long as you’re not doing it maliciously, there’s really just two important things to do here: correct yourself (or accept correction if it’s offered by someone else) and continue working to get things right consistently. Ideally, that looks something like this:

You: “I talked with Eris today, and he—I mean, they told me about a new piece they’re writing!”
or
You: “I talked with Eris today, and he told me—”
Someone else: “ey!”
You: “Right, thanks! Ey told me about a new piece ey’re writing!”

If you’re misprinting my name in your program or presenting me on a women composers concert, that’s… a bigger, less fun thing. Most of y’all likely haven’t played me before, so getting it right the first time is going to be easier, but if you’re cut/pasting from old programs when you play my work again, please make sure the right name and pronouns exist anywhere they show up and that you’re paying attention to where you’re bringing my music. (If you pulled my bio off my website, remember to check that, too.)

where can I read your writing on queerness?

Here’s a list to get you started (hopefully I remember to update it):

I run the risk not only of dealing with queerphobic hate but also of people who have long looked to me as an advocate and authority on women in music deciding that maybe I don’t count anymore. . . . [but] this is who I am. This is who I’ve been as long as most of you have known me.

-from my coming-out post, May 16, 2020