# Finding care homes in LA



## Dyllan (Jan 5, 2019)

Hi there, as many of you may know, I have Cerebral Palsy. Also I live in Calgary, Canada. My question is, should I consider finding a care home somewhere more composer-friendly? I.E. Los Angeles? My special needs are minimal, but I do need assistance, hence why I'm in a care home currently.

This is my dream, and I want to maximize the chances of composing for media. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.


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## ag75 (Jan 6, 2019)

I’m sure it would be easy to find care there plus the weather is much better than Calgary! Do you have friends or family there? It’s not an easy city to live in terms of cost of living and all of the driving you have to do to get anywhere but it is a lovely city.


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## Dyllan (Jan 6, 2019)

I don't have family there (thank god), but I can easily zip around in my powerchair haha


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## ag75 (Jan 6, 2019)

I don't have family there (thank god),

HA! I hear ya!


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## Dyllan (Jan 6, 2019)

ag75 said:


> I don't have family there (thank god),
> 
> HA! I hear ya!


Lol true story


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## Desire Inspires (Jan 6, 2019)

Let’s hear your music.


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## Dyllan (Jan 6, 2019)




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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 6, 2019)

Your best bet would be to utilize your environment to minimize distraction/stressors and just produce as much music as you can. If your craft is good, you're likely to catch on. Moving to an area with a really high cost of living hoping you bump into the right person has a tragically low chance of making a difference. These days with the internet, and remote working - I can't imagine a scenario where I would suggest that.


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## Dyllan (Jan 6, 2019)

ProfoundSilence said:


> Your best bet would be to utilize your environment to minimize distraction/stressors and just produce as much music as you can. If your craft is good, you're likely to catch on. Moving to an area with a really high cost of living hoping you bump into the right person has a tragically low chance of making a difference. These days with the internet, and remote working - I can't imagine a scenario where I would suggest that.


I figured as such, after some research. Thank you for your input.


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## Desire Inspires (Jan 6, 2019)

EnabledLife said:


>




You need to work on your craft before you reach out to anyone about representation. 

There is a lot you can improve upon based on what I heard. A LOT of work to be done.

Focus on doing the hard work and getting up to a level where you can compete with the best. You are not at that level based on what I heard. 

You can only get better from here if you are willing and able to focus and dedicate yourself to improvement.


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 6, 2019)

and ofcourse there is no harm in getting yourself on something like pond5, tossing some tracks at some apps. That's probably where the market is.

Or just start a youtube/twitch.tv(sorry about that name, I didn't name it) channel and share the journey.


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## Dyllan (Jan 6, 2019)

Desire Inspires said:


> You need to work on your craft before you reach out to anyone about representation.
> 
> There is a lot you can improve upon based on what I heard. A LOT of work to be done.
> 
> ...


Fair enough, what do you think I need to work on?


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 7, 2019)

I personally struggled to grab onto a melody in most of the tracks I listened... If you change things up too much the listener never really "Feels" like its changing, because it never sat still(so it just sounds like chaos)

plenty of information out there on how to write well, some paid and some not. In this case I think it's more or less just being conscious that a listener hasn't had the song looping endlessly while they were working on it - so break it up into baby bites for them - and develop it throughout the piece.


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## Dyllan (Jan 7, 2019)

ProfoundSilence said:


> I personally struggled to grab onto a melody in most of the tracks I listened... If you change things up too much the listener never really "Feels" like its changing, because it never sat still(so it just sounds like chaos)
> 
> plenty of information out there on how to write well, some paid and some not. In this case I think it's more or less just being conscious that a listener hasn't had the song looping endlessly while they were working on it - so break it up into baby bites for them - and develop it throughout the piece.


While I do agree that I do have to work on my melody writing, I feel like a lot of modern film scores rely more on texture, and mood to set the scene. My goal in most of these were to practice creating an ambience, and once I get comfortable with that, I could then work on honing my tunesmithing (motivic development, sentence and period structure, etc.) That way I could marry the modern, with the tried and true.


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 7, 2019)

you're right on the part about textures becoming more and more common... however pitched instruments(especially rapid changes in pitch) are distracting, more than they are "ambient".

many of the texture based ambient work is either slow chords, monophonic, or not even pitched. 

that said though, rhythms are just as much a melodic tool when it comes to media work - and in both instances, you need a pattern that is interesting enough to hook a listener, but not too complicated that they just give up on it and think it's just a flurry of noise. 

regarding your specific situation, I don't know your personal life, but be cautious of yes-men. I had a good friend with CP whom made art - and he went so far with nobody taking the kid gloves off when it came to criticizing his work, that he never accepted criticism - blamed other people for having bad taste, and then wondered why he had a hard time selling his art. You seem like a level headed guy, so I don't want to project a problem you don't even have onto you - but I can't help but feel like our society tends to infantilize people who don't need to be infantilized, which often makes their already difficult way through life even more difficult. 

Obviously, art is subjective - but it has to appeal to the average person if you ever hope to make money making music. 

That said, I would focus on basic core writing skills - and fool around with ambient stuff on the side. Just pretend you're trying to write music a kindergardener could grasp, and get more complicated from there. If anything - that's actually a skill most of us don't even have yet


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## Dyllan (Jan 7, 2019)

I do get a lot of yes men, even my boss at the film company I'm involved in lol


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 7, 2019)

kinda silly isn't it? He was non verbal so dude's chilling out with a college degree at 40 years old while people talk to him in a baby voice lmao. 

Really though, some people don't know "nervous system kinda glitchy firmware" doesn't also mean "emotional age of 6, pat on the head and pin music up on the fridge"

I just hate when people do it, because it gives them unrealistic expectations - and those "yes men" wont be around when they ruin their life trying to make something work that never would have worked. 

And music is a good career(although depending on severity of conditions, I would advise against certain sectors) And that would be simply this: If you are severely hindered on time to completition - then you're going to lose the rat race if you're aiming for a field where quantity>quality. 

Jason Becker still makes albums and he's basically limited to his eyes.


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## Dyllan (Jan 7, 2019)

Well to be fair, my boss doesn't have an issue saying if I'm completely off base. It's more like if I nail it, then I'm "amazing". Although, I feel like I "nail it" a bit too often


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## MartinH. (Jan 7, 2019)

EnabledLife said:


> While I do agree that I do have to work on my melody writing, I feel like a lot of modern film scores rely more on texture, and mood to set the scene.



You should check out the Unleashed series by Mike Verta, here is the first video: 




He has given dozens of hours of feedback on pieces from composers of varying skill levels, and it will give you a good idea of common pitfalls.


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## Dyllan (Jan 7, 2019)

MartinH. said:


> You should check out the Unleashed series by Mike Verta, here is the first video:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I've watched all five lol


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