# Why do you do this?



## JohnG (Nov 10, 2017)

Hi there,

Arguably, choosing to compose as a career, or even a serious side avocation, is bonkers. It is very demanding, even if one is not 100% committed; long hours, often low or uncertain pay, a need to prepare oneself with years of accumulating knowledge, instruments and other equipment, marketing / promotion skills.

Daunting.

Particularly since many who are able to compose complex music could quite easily enter a more predictable, lucrative career in engineering, finance, law or other tracks. (International modeling, in my case.)

I keep doing this out of some inchoate compulsion that I can't really even identify. It's like a gravitational pull -- invisible, directionally uncertain, but powerful.

How about you?


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## ColonelMarquand (Nov 10, 2017)

I got a degree in Music. 

I then worked in London as a session musician from around 1972 to 1981. I played in rock bands at the same time.

I left London to get married and eventually joined a brokerage/investment house.

I moved to several different companies over the years.

I wound up back in London.

I finished up with a good company there where I was paid £72 grand a month on a 3 year contract.

I retired and eventually got back into writing 2 to 3 minute pieces of music for a music library purely by accident and continue to do so more or less as a hobby.

Full circle.


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## John Busby (Nov 10, 2017)

i'm not sure i could cut it as a professional composer...
i mean sure, the passion would surely be the driving force but more power to you guys that are fighting the fight!


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## Maxime Luft (Nov 10, 2017)

Because I can't think of another job where I get paid for playing with toys. 

Even sampling is fun! Of course it's a lot of work until you get something consistent, but at the end of the day you're grateful to yourself for having built your own tool which may inspire other composers.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 10, 2017)

It's called passion. It's what drives you. If you were to just stop, you would be one grumpy, unfulfilled dude.


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## chrisr (Nov 10, 2017)

ColonelMarquand said:


> I finished up with a good company there where I was paid £72 grand a month on a 3 year contract.
> 
> Full circle.



Wow, are they hiring by any chance?


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## storyteller (Nov 10, 2017)

I went on a bit of a sabbatical nearly four years ago... I removed myself from people, places, jobs, and hobbies I knew. I woke up every day had a coffee on the beach and paddleboarded on the usually flat ocean. It was amazing. In many ways I wish I had those days again... but there was one thing that drove me bonkers. That was the absense of music. It took me a while to discover it while I unwound from the world. I had put my studio gear in storage during that time. I wanted to write books (I did... many actually). I wrote screenplays. I wrote poetry. I traveled to places I had never been. I traveled to Peru with no agenda, backpacked across the country and hiked up Macchu Picchu. The journey through self discovery was the most amazing part. But everytime I returned to the same mystery feeling. I wanted my guitar or a piano - even if for just tinkering - though I continued to be separated from it. I had just been so ruined by the world that it took me some time to see that it was the world silencing the music in me.

In many ways I’m still hoping to have pure ignition again. That’s been part of the process. But for now, I’m holding something akin to lightning in a bottle in one hand, and matches in the other hand... patiently waiting for that spark to ignite between the two. Everyday I wake up and tinker - a mechanic of sorts, music as my machine.

In many ways, this last clip sums it up very well for me:


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## PaulBrimstone (Nov 10, 2017)

Well, I gotta get these tunes out of my head somehow...


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## synthpunk (Nov 10, 2017)

As Lemmy Killmeister said "I have to do it because I'm not qualified to do anything else" 

But seriously, love and passion are two words that come to mind.


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## mac (Nov 10, 2017)

ColonelMarquand said:


> I got a degree in Music.
> 
> I then worked in London as a session musician from around 1972 to 1981. I played in rock bands at the same time.
> 
> ...



So almost £3,000,000 in 3 years? I think I'd retire too, well played. Were you the money launderer for the Cali Cartel by any chance?


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 10, 2017)

mac said:


> So almost £3,000,000 in 3 years? I think I'd retire too, well played. Were you the money launderer for the Cali Cartel by any chance?



It's over $5,000,000 CDN in 3 years, holy shmoly! I love how he said he retired ...eventually


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## jules (Nov 10, 2017)

Probably because it echoes with something in your chilhood you just can't get rid of once in your adult beeing. For the salacious/funny parallel, i still wonder why big titted women attract me that much, its a total non sense. But i just can't go against it.


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## Daryl (Nov 10, 2017)

JohnG said:


> How about you?


Beats getting a proper job.


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## CT (Nov 10, 2017)

Yeah, the usual cheeky (but not really untrue) answer I'd give is that I have nothing else to offer the world in any capacity.

Really though, looking back, as a kid I just loved movies (and a few video games) and I loved music. The experiences I had with them, especially when they were combined, were so enriching and defining.

Few things fulfilled or interested me as much then, and it's pretty much the same now. I want to be a part of providing those experiences for other people.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to put the pieces together. I was 19 when I finally realized what I should be doing. Luckily I had built up a fair foundation of musical awareness prior to that so I wasn't starting from zero, but I knew it'd be a tough road from a practical standpoint.

It still is, and probably will be for a while yet, but I have no complaints.


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## jmauz (Nov 10, 2017)

My career has been a lifelong passion, starting out when I was 5, professional pursuits starting around the age of 13. Put simply, I don't remember not being a musician. It's all I've ever known. Moreover, for a while in my early 20's I worked a full time 'day job' while working in the music indy part time. It sucked. I was miserable. 

So the short answer, as has been stated above, is passion. Passion for the art, for the technology, for the lifestyle. I think these days one must have passion to sustain a career in any artistic endeavor. Otherwise it's bonkers.


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## Rodney Money (Nov 10, 2017)

Because I am one of those crazy people who believe in God, and that he put me on this earth for the sole purpose of sharing music and teaching others how to share theirs.


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## C-Wave (Nov 10, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Because I am one of those crazy people who believe in God, and that he put me on this earth for the sole purpose of sharing music and teaching others how to share theirs.


Believing in God is never crazy.. it’s the smartest thing! God is so obvious that choosing the wrong god is what’s crazy.
Edited!


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## tack (Nov 10, 2017)

C-Wave said:


> God is so obvious that choosing the wrong god is what’s crazy.


Unfortunately the odds are not in our favor. I'm betting on Zeus. Check back in with me in 40 years to see how I did.


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## C-Wave (Nov 10, 2017)

tack said:


> Unfortunately the odds are not in our favor.


True, unless you actually put your mind to ask him to hold your hand all way to him.. a true God will do it, a false god won't. 
Ok back to music and how to make money in the stock market


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## ColonelMarquand (Nov 10, 2017)

mac said:


> So almost £3,000,000 in 3 years? I think I'd retire too, well played. Were you the money launderer for the Cali Cartel by any chance?



We wound up getting more for the house believe it or not, but it's all relative. It took 25 years to get there and when you see what some of the traders get paid you wouldn't believe it. And footballers!
I wasn't a trader. I was in charge of a large team and was more interested in annual bonuses than salary.

I think that I write music more as a mental problem solving exercise and I think some my tracks sound like it. The money aspect of music to me is just not a factor. It's just interesting but I don't get the pressure of real musicians/writers working with say directors and producers and it's just a novel way of doing your best and paying for a holiday or your disc brakes and pads for instance.


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## wbacer (Nov 10, 2017)

Put on your headphones or get into your studio's sweet spot, put on your favorite piece of music. If that just takes your breath away...how could you not do this. If you can make a living making music, good for you. If not yet, enjoy the creative process, it's what gets me out of bed in the morning.


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## synthpunk (Nov 10, 2017)

I do it so I can wear my favorite T-shirt....


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## JJP (Nov 10, 2017)

I just love the magical moments of bringing a bunch of people together to collectively create something special. Those beautiful shared moments keep me going.

I think I heard Scott Smalley once say that when you're in front of a group, and you feel a full brass section with four trombones blowing right at you, you'll buy whatever religion they're selling that day.  That pretty much sums it up.

This highs in this job are so high that it makes you willing to crawl though tons of dirt and pain to get to the next one.


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## MatFluor (Nov 12, 2017)

I'm not yet full-time composing - but strive to it.

Why? Because I love it. Back when I made Power Metal, to biggest benefit for me was seeing the audience cheer and have a good time. I was one who lived for live gigs. I was younger and more energetic 

Now, that love hasn't changed but my attitude towards it. I was never really an artist expressing himself, but merely a Craftsman providing a service to people - I didn't want to distribute a message (apart from that metal isn't just noise but respectable music). In shooting for a career in media composing, I can fulfill my purpose and the goal and what I always did in music - giving people a good time.
I'm still not much of an artist but more of a Craftsman, I know what a composer has to do and I'm willing to do it. I am not wanting to make my hobby my job which I would grow to hate, I want to do the job I have the most psychological and emotional benefit from. All-Nighters? 9-5? Conveyor belt composing? Unstable income? Sign me up - I want to be of service to others, I want to make someone's "baby" shine.

Again - why?
That's what I always did, that's what I want to be, that's what makes me get up in the morning. Composing music for others, making a product better by adding music to it.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 12, 2017)

I do it because it’s the greatest job in the world, for me. I think I was born to help people escape for a little while, perhaps to dream.


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## chibear (Nov 13, 2017)

After 2 degrees in music and more than 40+ yrs in free lancing and professional orchestras I wanted to approach music making from a totally different direction. It got down to composition or take up the guitar. My entire extended family vetoed the guitar.

More seriously, the fact I decided to hang up the horn did not mean I became less of a musician or did not need an outlet for that area of creative expression. A musician never ceases to be a musician. For now it's a hobby. If it goes beyond that, wonderful. If not, the local university or orchestra will inherit a pile of scores and DVDs


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## JohnG (Nov 13, 2017)

JJP said:


> This highs in this job are so high that it makes you willing to crawl though tons of dirt and pain to get to the next one.



so true. One day of music is worth a lot of days of yuch.


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## pixel (Nov 13, 2017)

synthpunk said:


> As Lemmy Killmeister said "I have to do it because I'm not qualified to do anything else"



Sounds like me. I can't do anything else. Also Prince said something similar to this in one interview.


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## InLight-Tone (Nov 13, 2017)

C-Wave said:


> Believing in God is never crazy.. it’s the smartest thing! God is so obvious that choosing the wrong god is what’s crazy.
> Edited!


"god" seems to be an absent alcoholic parent...


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## Saxer (Nov 14, 2017)

Teachers in school didn't get tired to say: "It's tough out there. Later in your life you will wish this school time back."
They were wrong.

I love doing things but I don't like just talking about doing things. Sitting under neon lights on chairs is a place I always wish to escape from. I couldn't stand a live full of word bubble conferences and form papers.
There's one big thing for me in making music: you don't work against someone. At least it's the way I feel it. And nobody tells you how things has to be done. I don't need to do famous jobs. Creating playbacks for singers or transcribing stuff. Arranging for bands/orchestras. Some movies as a co-worker from time to time. Live playing on commercial gigs. Fun with own work in between. I love to be independent. I love not to do the same things again and again. I love to work for people who enjoy the results. And I love to choose the people I spend my life with. Beautiful life!


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## JohnG (Nov 14, 2017)

made me smile reading your post, Saxer


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## gregh (Nov 14, 2017)

[too long, do not read]
I really just love making music and love listening - to music I love anyway 
I grew up in an environment utterly hostile to music, where there was no music in the house, the school did not allow boys to do art of any kind, including music (that changed slightly in my final two years). But I loved playing guitar (classical and electric) and did what I could and sat state music exams and failed. A few years later it was revealed there had been a scandal where a whole bunch of students had their papers lost so they got failed as part of a cover up. I was one of those.
Left school, traveled through outback Australia, went back to a school for adults and did extremely well (I was banned from attending all my high school functions and half my classes at the first school because of my political beliefs and activities in the student union).
I then renovated derelict houses whilst living in them whilst working in retail - made a bit of money that way. Became a visual artist, got grants, exhibited nationally, made no money. Had children and as one had a disability it became obvious we needed money. Went to a top 100 uni and studied cognitive science, was awarded the university medal, scholarship for a PhD in Psychiatry, did medical research, became an academic, hated it.
Always wanted to do music. Used some of my skills in nonlinear dynamics and time series analysis to write music.
Retired last year. Now making music as much as I want with no desire to make commercial music. Will take some time to get up to speed with confidence and skills.
Lately working with one of Australia's senior indigenous artists, doing general media design plus sound/music for video. Some of that was shown in Holland in a show opened by their King. I think there is an article in the NewYorker coming up on some of that work. The artist is a wonderful person and a great artist. You cannot overstate the importance of Australian Indigenous culture to the future - 60,000 years of continuous culture without completely fucking up or having massive campaigns of conquest. Better than us white euros.
Been working with a group at http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/projects/ (RMIT) on a project with Chamber Made Opera - they are very interesting and worth checking out.
Looking back I'm thinking this is not bad for a guy that was kicked out of school.
Been in hospital for a few days getting a bunch of tests. News is good, while i was in there I really missed music.
Looking forward to making more music and getting out bush. Gonna do the Larapinta Trail will take a while to build up the necessary fitness but I love that country. I'll take my field recorder and mics of course


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## Pixelee (Nov 15, 2017)

I simply want to buy a house with the money I make from music and to be able to work full time at home just doing music.


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Nov 15, 2017)

I was drawn, powerfully and inexplicably, to the piano at age 4, started taking lessons and composed my first pieces at 7 and kept going all through school and high-school. Even so, I never had the confidence to think I could make a living from music, so after high-school I took a computer science degree and continued on with programmer jobs for 5 years. I wasn't particularly happy, but for a long time I just couldn't imagine being able to live off music. When my SO and I started talking about having kids, I came to the realization that that would be the end of my musical hobby for a good many years. That jolted me out of my previous mindset, so I quit my job and started as a self employed composer and sound designer. 

Now, 7 years later, I'm making a comfortable living doing only music and sound related jobs, and in retrospect it has become clear that I was not just unhappy as a 9-5 worker - I was miserable. It's only after going all in on the music thing I've felt like my identity as a human being finally clicked into place.

I don't have safety or a predictable income, but I've never been happier about what I do. Being able to work without it feeling like work is worth all the uncertainty and occasional worries. So I'm definitely another case of "can't be happy doing anything else".


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## givemenoughrope (Nov 15, 2017)

Ennio Morricone


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## gregh (Nov 15, 2017)

givemenoughrope said:


> Ennio Morricone


 ... came into my house and offered a lifestyle I could not refuse


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 15, 2017)

Well Ennio is playing in my house, my house
I'll show you the ropes kid, show you the ropes 
Got a bus and a trailer at my house, my house 
I'll show you the ropes kid, show you the ropes


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## mrd777 (Nov 15, 2017)

I started the journey of making music. I only had limited knowledge of basic guitar chords, and a few years of experience playing drums. My ears were terrible. 
Had to do something to make extra income, literally for my family.
6-7 years later, to support my family is why I STILL do this. When I want to give up I just keep going for them, and it seems to be working


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