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.
Why do you do this?
- Thread starter JohnG
- Start date
JJP
Did you know Mike Greene owns a llama? 🦙
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.
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.
MatFluor
Senior Member
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.
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.
Ned Bouhalassa
Senior Member
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.
chibear
Active Member
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
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
pixel
Senior Member
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.
InLight-Tone
Senior Member
"god" seems to be an absent alcoholic parent...
Saxer
Senior Member
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!
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!
gregh
Senior Member
[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 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
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 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
Last edited:
Rasmus Hartvig
Senior Member
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".
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".
givemenoughrope
Senior Member
Ennio Morricone
gregh
Senior Member
... came into my house and offered a lifestyle I could not refuse
Ned Bouhalassa
Senior Member
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
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
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
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
