I Want To Be A Composer

If you are really serious about this or any other creative work, like being a playwright or a novelist, you will undoubtedly begin from a position of being immersed in the practice of your chosen art form. If you want to compose music you’d better start by making it, either on your own or with others in a choir, band or orchestra.

You have to decide what form will best suit your musical ideas – will you write for the human voice, for instruments, or for a combination of both? The best and perhaps the only advice to offer is to become involved in music-making in one form or other. Join a choir or learn to play an instrument; listen to music, find out what you like and don’t forget to explore what initially you don’t like, because music, like all the arts, makes demands.

If you have a musical talent, can play to a good standard and perhaps sing well, you can audition for a place at a music college for a three-year full time degree in performance. You could also chose a more academic approach and decide to read music at university. Many university courses allow you to combine the study of different performing arts, so you could, for example, combine studying music with theatre. Many of these courses also offer a special topic in composition.

Find out more about being a composer .