What Skills Does a Composer Need?

In this clip from www.artistshousemusic.org - Erica Muhl, a Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music, describes the qualities that she and her colleagues look for when considering prospective students of composition -- criteria which apply to anyone thinking about a career as a composer.

[@ElSmusso]

The melody pops into your head, you make a counterpoint, add voices, colour, and put in ideas... write it down when it's finished. How hard can it be. It's so much faster to work inside your head instead of in a studio or with an instrument. You can move things around in mind, faster than on any computer.

[@ΔημητρηςΚωνσταντινιδης-ο9ο]

@Cold German Beer thats smth u really dont say to a musician

[@AB-jt4rs]

I only started playing my first instrument at the age of 12(also the age which being a composer really started to apeal to me), and have been taking pretty much all the necessary classes to become one. I really aspire with all my heart to become one, but I do fear that perhaps I was too late. Is there still hope for me to compose music as my career?

[@drasticheart]

Sheesh, now imagine Mozart made a whole opera at the age of 12

[@Dovith]

She treats composition as something that only a few should be allowed to try rather than something that should be a tool of expression open to anyone wishing to use it.

[@redwithblackstripes]

No she doesn't. She treats composition as something to sustain your entire life, if you enlist in her course it is expected that you consider music as a lot more than a "tool to express yourself". Composing music is a tool of expression for amateurs, for professionals it is how they pay the bills.Making a living with music composition is probably in the top 10 most difficult thing to achieve for anyone in the world, if you approach it with a mindset of a hobbyist you are going to get absolutely crushed.Its a lot like high level pro sports, the level of dedication needed to maybe having a little chance to kind of living of it sort of simply doesn't make sense to pursue for the vast majority of people.Why do you think the cliché of the depressed suicidal musician on a ton of drugs is a thing?This elitist mindest is brutal, sometimes go overboard, yes, but in a way it is simply a way for a student to really understand what it's going to take, and as Nadia Boulanger said wether she reject students or not the one who truely are composers at heart will never stop trying because they can't do anything else with their lives, to them it isn't a tool of expression, its more like a curse they can't escape.

[@Dovith]

@@redwithblackstripes if you see composition only as a means of paying your bills I am sorry for you. It first should be a means of expresión, and second if you can pay the bills with it great. Regardless you obviously didn’t understand my first commentary.

[@itsmesteve1081]

I want to be a composer, not a judge about how other people compose. I think music is just a sound and no matter how you bend sound it will always be good AS LONG AS IT DOESNT HURT ANYONES EARS LOL

[@smoothsnailing2161]

Is it just me, or she looks like Hillary Clinton on the thumbnail? 💀

[@prithviraj6529]

Just you. Ganja man

[@ejmccombsmusic]

Composing is a art like karate

[@jtgoat9810]

This woman is a racket.

[@Scriabin_fan]

Idk why schools don’t just come out and say that they’re looking for smart and not dumb people. Like everyone knows that’s exactly what they mean when they’re rambling on about being “academics”

[@ArtistsHouseMusic]

@everadopgil - excellent! We hope you find what you need to further your success in the music biz.

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

we? who?

[@exception05]

It is helpful for me. I create music for 3 years and now I decided to find out the principles to create most professional and most saturated tracks in rock/metal styles.
It was good notice about serious intelligence because emotions always killing your control of the process.

[@evygil]

Heading to your site now> :)

[@veristring]

Can I be a composer? Pls advise me. Thanks in advance.

[@uhh4312]

if you have the ability to compose music and have the money to pay musicians the yes

[@biologicalstepdad9082]

@@uhh4312 virtual instruments, especially orchestral sounding technology has gotten so realistic, a lot of modern composers now do pretty much all their work and recording on DAWs; having the budget to pay musicians isn't exactly necessary anymore, for most people.