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"Oh sure, how hard could it be, writing some piece of music? It doesn't sound difficult. I'm sure anyone could do it."
Ah yes, the voice of the ignorant. The voice of the totally uninformed who think they know everything and yet don't. This is just another example of the ignorant people who know nothing. Music can be as hard or easy as you want it to be! Spend a lot of time on a certain piece, and with the exact amount of proper knowledge and skills, you can create a masterpiece.
Music is a way of expressing oneself. You can find a song that relates to any type of mood; therefore, you can listen to music no matter how you feel. Sad, happy, angry, excited, bored, vengeful, giddy, cold, mysterious, wistful, etc. This is why artistic expression has been around for millennia. When you see a painting, you're expressing yourself. When you read a book, you're expressing yourself. When you watch one of your tv series or favorite movie trilogies, when you play a video game, and yes, when you press play on your favorite song... you're expressing yourself. The point is, music is the universal language, and has been since the dawn of time. Music has existed since the dawn of time. When time dawned, music was there.
Here is the body of my report. I have decided to be writing my career report on composers. A composer is the name of the career that a person has who is responsible for creating the type of effect that music can have on you. It is within his or her mind that the myriad notes land on the score. Not anyone can be a composer. It takes “having an ear,” or being able to distinguish and discern the various sounds that a song conveys. This is important, because if you can't do that, then you can't be a composer.
Aside from artistic expression, which you must have, many composers write music for special occasions, such as commercials, movies, or concerts. The amount of genres available to the music culture contributes to the exorbitant amount of different songs that are possible. There are many. Classical, jazz, rock, pop, and country are just some of these genres. There are more too, such as modern genres, piano, and current ones.
A composer has to get his or her name out there to get hired for these special occasions. If you are just sitting in your house writing a song that no one will hear, you're not really a composer, because composers are hired to write music. If you're not, you just write for fun. Job outlook is an important factor in the mind of the person who wants to be a composer so you should try to figure out how to get hired. There are two types of composer jobs: State and National. State composers will find good employment opportunities. Nationally, however, competition is extremely brutal, and it may not be so easy to find employment, unless the composer is extremely gifted, like those who compose scores for movies. A National composer who wants to make film scores needs to move to Hollywood in order to get hired.
What are the benefits to getting your name out there? Composers who get their names out there generally are more successful, so it would be smart to do this at the beginning. State composers only have their names out in the state, while National composers are more nationally known.
Many colleges offer courses in the instruction of musical study, but not many actually do. Only two: Music University, in Bromerten, and the University of Teetmar in Teetmar. I'll be applying to both!
To be accepted at one of these schools, would-be composers must meet these minimum requirements: graduation from a secondary school. Passing of the GED test may also be accepted. High school credits should amount to 17, with the basic high school courses taken and passed. Class rank is very important when these schools are considering acceptance. If you rank low, you can't be a composer.
Composers who write purely for expression find it difficult to live on the incomes that they earn, so you can't be a composer if you want to do that. Most composers work on commissions or under contracts. For example, if they write music for a particular commercial, that composer gets paid each time that commercial is aired. Sometimes an orchestra around the country will hire a National composer to write a song for that particular orchestra. This is called a commission and can pay quite handsomely. This is what I meant earlier when I said composers work on commissions. They are "commissioned" to write that music. The music is also called "the commission." So you will often hear a composer talk about being commissioned to write a commission and if you don't know what that means, just read this paragraph again. Every composer has a commission so you sould get one as soon as possible.
Getting a commission involves using your network to get one. This can be basically anyone from your middle school band director to your high school band director. Unless you are a composer whose name rivals that of Jort Harver, Noer Boae IV or Steven Rar, a typical salary may range from $29,400 to $42,000 per year. This is not an exemplary salary, but hopefully the composer will take some consolation in hearing his opus performed. After that it goes in the archive and if music students want to hear it again they need to go to the computer lab and ask the person working for a recording of the opus. They should bring a blank CD-R ready for audio burning. The service is often free depending on where the process occurs.
This is the conclusion part of my report. After doing this report I have learned that becoming a composer is not as easy as I thought it was. With the competition being rough, I will probably not become famous for my music, and the likelihood of being hired is extremely low. It can't happen. I have learned that not many colleges offer many Music major classes. The basic Theory classes, of course, but not really abundant in Composition. This means new composers are not becoming composers due to the lack of schools teaching them.
So after reading this, ask yourself: do you still believe anyone can write a piece of music? I think by now I have convinced you:
no.