I've got to respond to what I think are a few misconceptions going
around this list about composers. (Someone should pass this on to the
Orchestralist. It sounds as if they could use a contrary opinion or
two.)
1) Composing is hard work and it rarely pays off financially.
I've never heard of anyone becoming a composer to get a cushy job in
a university or elsewhere. I do know a few university composers who
think they have a sweet situation, but it never started out that way
and they couldn't have predicted it.
I have had quite a few young musicians ask me how to get into movie
scoring (or video game scoring), assuming that it is fun, easy and
lucrative. (Unfortunately there is not usually the prerequisite love
of film that is also needed to succeed in that world.) Apart from
this exception, wanna-be composers are generally not blinded by false
hopes of financial gain and easy living.
2) Composers do it because they need to write.
This is why authors write and painters paint and so on. Who wants to
spend a lot of time with the work of an artist who has no intensive
force to create? The work just isn't that interesting or involving.
3) Music theory is more of a descriptive art while the teaching of
composition is more on the prescriptive side of things. Many
composers have to wear both hats, but that doesn't mean they make the
switch easily.
And one last thing:
John Eaton was an excellent composition teacher. His student's
compositional styles ranged from conservative to very experimental,
and most benefited and enjoyed their time working with him. His own
music is challenging to both performers and audience to be sure, but
his fans, and I consider myself one of them, are not just faking it.
-----------Randolph Peters
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