# 1 year until graduation - worried



## Andrajas (Jun 7, 2015)

Hello,
In 1 year, I will graduate from university. I currently study music for games and have done some projects during my school time. My recent work is a long documentary where I wrote 1,5 hour music, which I'm very happy and exited about! Hopefully this will lead to something more!

When studying at university, you are in this "safety net" and everything feels great. I have time to practice, writing and to work with what I love to do and want to work with in the future. What I'm scared about is the time after graduation, when you are not in this "safety net" and you need the money to survive...

When thinking of this, I get very nervous. What if I stand here in 1 year, and have nothing? 

There may have been a thread about this before, but I would love to get some of your experience about this and tips. One thing I would love to have is a mentor that I could have a intern ship at, and in that way get more into the business and learn a lot! I really have to make a plan now how I should tackle all this, so :

How would you make the plan?
Best ways to get a internship?
To get and find the gigs, how did you do it when you were starting out (I'm 22 years old btw)
All tips are welcomed!

cheers!


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## The Darris (Jun 7, 2015)

I'm not going to say that what I do is the only way. I am a year out as well but I've made some very good contacts with people that I can work with. I am good friends with a writer/director who graduated film school last year. We met through a friend of mine and hit things off. This relationship lead to a job writing for one of his short films which lead to another job writing for a short film of one of the crew members which lead to another gig..etc. Relationships are key in this industry. I have a long way to go but I've quickly learned that the relationships you build and maintain will lead you to success, what ever that may mean to you. Hang in there and good luck.

Best,

Chris


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## EastWest Lurker (Jun 7, 2015)

The Darris @ Sun Jun 07 said:


> I'm not going to say that what I do is the only way. I am a year out as well but I've made some very good contacts with people that I can work with. I am good friends with a writer/director who graduated film school last year. We met through a friend of mine and hit things off. This relationship lead to a job writing for one of his short films which lead to another job writing for a short film of one of the crew members which lead to another gig..etc. Relationships are key in this industry. I have a long way to go but I've quickly learned that the relationships you build and maintain will lead you to success, what ever that may mean to you. Hang in there and good luck.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Chris



I think Chris has given you some fine advice.


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## Lemmonz (Jun 7, 2015)

Being scared of what comes after graduation isn't uncommon, but you'll figure things out. You have to! That's part of 'growing up'.

If you want to intern somewhere, find out who's around you locally who is doing what you do and get in contact. Explain you're a recent graduate looking for some advice and ask if they wouldn't mind sharing their experience (like what you're post is doing). Offer to buy them lunch or a beer. Some people will be dicks and may not respond, others won't be and would be glad to speak with you. Some of those you meet with may allow you to intern, or might be to put you in touch with someone who is looking. Be polite, courteous, and respectful to those who meet with you because they don't need to help you out. Get in contact with as many people as you can to improve your odds. If your school has some connections, work those. Network!

Something to keep in mind, not all internships are great so it might be beneficial to think of that as an option along side others in making a plan. 

I don't know your situation but typically folks graduating into a music career don't have great jobs/work lined up for them. That might sound awful (because I guess it is!), but it takes the worry of "how am I going to make a good living from music right after college?" by answering it with "you're not". So, don't worry so much about that right now. 

You'll need to figure out how you can support yourself. Don't be afraid to get a job. If you can teach an instrument, play gigs, or something related to music that pays, do that. Think about what skills you have in music and how you can market those as a way to support yourself. Nothing wrong with getting a day job either. Getting one doesn't mean you've given up on music, it just means you need to support yourself which everyone has to do. When you're not working a day job, focus on how to get where you want to be. So you'll be working hard. Figuring out how to make a living in music takes time and some creative thinking/solutions. It will be hard, but surely you already knew that. 

Quick info on myself related to this: I taught guitar lessons and played some gigs during my undergrad to earn income. After graduation, I continued teaching, playing gigs, and picked up various day jobs. In the little available free time, I studied and practiced composing, prepping a portfolio to apply to grad schools for film composition, which took 3 or so years. I accepted to USC's course and moved to LA. After the course, it was more teaching, some gigs/sessions, interning/assisting, and freelance writing. I now do mostly freelance composing, session work, mixing and it took 5 years to get there. It gets a little better every year. 

So, don't worry so much right now. It's a long journey. Figure out how to support yourself, have a goal in mind of where you want to be, and work towards that realizing it will take time, which you've got plenty of at 22!

Hope that helps.

-Zach


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## José Herring (Jun 7, 2015)

Make as many contacts as you can. Work on anything at all whether paid or not, build your reel and credits first then worry about the money. If you have to work part time doing something else don't feel ashamed about it. Just keep working. 

If in a year you haven't committed suicide (and that's not a joking matter so I'm not joking) then you might have the amount of guts it takes to stick it out to some great successes. 

It's a wild ride, not for the timid at heart. If you're looking for security then look elsewhere. Thrive off of the insecurity of it all.


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## JT (Jun 7, 2015)

Nothing magical will change on the day you graduate. The world won't care that you're out of school. It's all up to you. In my experience, it's the contacts and friendships that are made in these school years, that blossom into career opportunities in the future. 

My advice is to not focus on one single goal, leave yourself open to any and all musical opportunities. Sometimes you can achieve your goal, by going through a back door. I believe having diverse talents is a major key to success.


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## bbunker (Jun 7, 2015)

There's no one way to do this music thing, so there's no "here's what you should do." Here's a few not-so-helpful music composer proverbs:

1. You'd rather write than work at McDonalds, right? That one's the easy question. And you'd rather write for awesome projects than teach piano, right? OK, we're still together. Would you rather teach piano or work at McDonalds? I'm using piano here because it's the most typical for composer types. Substitute guitar, bass, or didgeridoo as the case may be, but the idea is the same: this may come as a shock, but you'll probably need to 'supplement' your income at times with other income than writing. Sometimes that other stuff will be your whole income. And that's fine, too. But if you're in a position to prepare yourself to exploit those other avenues down the road by a little more work right now, then that might be a good idea. Moral of the story: if you aren't taking lessons on your primary instrument now and working your butt off (while you have the time, energy, and likely good instructors), why aren't you?

2. Are you performing? If not, why not? I'm just begging to have exceptions thrown at me, but most of the people whose writing I like the most are those who have that direct link with the audience which only comes by going in front of an unforgiving audience and "making music" for them. Let's say you play weddings as a pianist with some strings. Now, if you can write something for that situation capably, how well do you think that skill translates to other composing work? Or, put another (more sensational) way, if you can't make a wedding party swoon with something beautiful you've written, are you really a composer? The moral of this story is that the best way to get your music 'out there' sometimes is to just put it there yourself.

3. Hindemith wrote sonatas for just about every stupid instrument on the planet. He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of how to write for those instruments. And he gets played. My guess is that he didn't starve, either. I don't know that he actively pursued writing music to fill niches in the repertoire, but it worked. The moral of this story is to not forget about that poor heckelphone player on the corner looking for a piece to play. Because she's got a day job, and Euros in her pocket. 

4. You might be saying to yourself: "gosh, #3 doesn't apply to me...I don't write that sort of music." If the sort of music that you're writing is something even vaguely commercial, then congratulations: there's a whole world of people out there who couldn't care less about what you have to say 'artistically' (so long as you make GOOD product, of course), but care a great deal about what your music can do for their pocketbooks. Maybe some extensive research of how companies have put together :60's, :30's and :10's might be in order. Moral of this story: writing what you feel compelled to do artistically is great. But eating is better.

5. There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting out of school, hustling for some period of time, and realizing that trying to make writing a vocational pursuit isn't for you. There's a whole 'skill-set' (or, maybe it's a personality type, which is less of a conscious decision!) which involves keeping the crappy, business activities, the hustle, from getting in the way of you enjoying actually making your music. Moral of this story: Making a living making music is great. But sometimes living a fulfilling and happy life is mutually exclusive with that...and better.
 
Probably not helpful. Bottom line: Worry about what you'll do a lot - in terms of working your butt off on things that you can do to improve yourself. And don't worry about it at all - your odds of 'success' in terms of forging a good living in this business are terrible. So, since you know you probably won't make it, just go out there and give a good performance, eh? Don't worry about the other drivers on the track...just put in some good laps.


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## rgames (Jun 7, 2015)

Whatever you do MANAGE YOUR DEBT CAREFULLY. Except for a mortgage, you should have no more debt than 1/3 of your starting annual income when you get out of school. If you do, make it your #1 priority to get to that level and do the music on the side. Once you get to that level, get rid of the debt in 3-5 years.

Financial security will allow you the freedom to figure out everything else. Plus it will help the community within which you live and work.

As far as the "everything else" part, yeah, meet a lot of people. It's the same in any line of work.

rgames


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## Andrajas (Jun 7, 2015)

Thanks guys for your replies! 
I know this is a hard business and its something that may take time.
One thing I have been thinking about is to see if I can teach at the school I'm at now, since I personally think I have things to offer that my teachers haven't spoken about. 

I guess I can't get to attached with writing for film/games etc, Have to think about other ways I can use my knowledge and get a income from. 

What other income do you guys have, besides from writing (if you have one)?


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 1, 2015)

Andrajas said:


> What other income do you guys have, besides from writing (if you have one)?


Maybe you got some skills/tools that you can use to earn a little money on the side.

If you can mix, then mix other people's demo recordings. Maybe you can write/produce "orchestral/string overdubs" for smaller local recording studios. Or even stagehand work? Just start by doing some research and think about what kinds of music-related jobs exist in your area. You could also teach music lessons.


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## scottbuckley (Jul 1, 2015)

Lemmonz said:


> You'll need to figure out how you can support yourself. Don't be afraid to get a job. If you can teach an instrument, play gigs, or something related to music that pays, do that. Think about what skills you have in music and how you can market those as a way to support yourself. Nothing wrong with getting a day job either. Getting one doesn't mean you've given up on music, it just means you need to support yourself which everyone has to do. When you're not working a day job, focus on how to get where you want to be. So you'll be working hard. Figuring out how to make a living in music takes time and some creative thinking/solutions. It will be hard, but surely you already knew that.



Yes! Don't be ashamed to take a job that isn't music either. We all have to pay the rent, and it's pretty damn hard to do so with a music degree straight out of Uni. I'm sure we've all done it. I worked in retail for a while. 

I agree with all the 'make contacts!' suggestions too. I found my problem after finishing uni was that I had few professional contacts to continue working with. I got very lucky and was asked to write for a library on salary fairly quickly - but that wasn't because I tried to get the job. 

That said - make sure you put your music out there on the web as well. There's plenty of people just trolling around for composer websites - most of them are plebs, but some of them will have legitimate work for you!


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