Composer

One of the big misconceptions of being a film composer is the amount of money somebody receives. When I first started back in the day, in the mid-1970s, composers were thought of as sort of a magical magician that can score music coming right out of their heads, and that's how I was treated. My first feature film was a contract that allowed me to record in London with the National Philharmonic. I was treated so well as a composer, and made a pretty good fee on my first one, and I loved it. Nowadays, it's tough to get that kind of a contract when you're just starting out, and people have to compose because they love it.

Good music doesn't always come in a flash, like a genie's giving you some kind of a musical idea. Usually, for me, it takes a lot of patience and a lot of searching in my own soul, maybe listening to music of the genre that I'm trying to score the film for, and sort of creating a mood. Then, I know that I'm going to receive some inspiration. I know that I'm going to get some ideas that will come. I know that as I flush it out, something really terrific will come to me that will allow me to write a beautiful score piece for that section of the film.

There are many misconceptions about being a film composer. One is that you write music in a general way as if you're playing a piano at a restaurant. And film scoring is not like that at all. You're hitting picture at that specific point. Hopefully the director's giving you indications about mood. So music, a long piece, say a two-minute cue, might consist of little snippets hitting picture that are tied together throughout that two-minute segment. And it takes a lot of time. It's laborious. It's thoughtful. You have to decide what the film's trying to say and what that scene specifically is trying to say. And then capture the mood musically and synchronize it with picture. It takes a lot of time to write music.

Hello, my name is Shawna Edwards and I am a composer. I actually think that I maybe would say I'm more of a songwriter because that's specifically what I do is write songs and I write mostly faith-based songs. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but I tell people I am a Christian songwriter because I try to write songs that appeal to the Christian audience. People say you can't make money being a songwriter or a composer and that is not true. You can but I will say you have to love it and you have to put out really quality material and you can make money.

One of the common misconceptions about being a composer is that, you know, I'm just sitting at a piano all day writing music on staff paper, when really it's a very technological field these days. We all use computers, we use software, notation programs like Sibelius or Finale, audio editing programs, sequencers. It's a very tech-driven industry nowadays.

A lot of young people that I've met write excellent music, but they can't read music, and it's really hard. Years ago I met a composer, Danny Elfman, who was in that same situation. He was in a rock group and just played guitar, and he had to learn how to write for woodwinds and brass and strings and percussion, and he was taking lessons in it. Now this composer, if you google him, is an amazing composer, but here again he had to learn to notate music and write for specific instruments. I hope that composers who can't read will learn how to read, because they need to adapt their music for a musician to play it.

Hi, my name is Gerald Simon. I'm a composer, and I think one of the main common misconceptions about being a composer is that people either think that music just instantly comes into your mind and you can instantly play anything, or they think that somehow you need to work forever to try and create a composition, and it's really not that difficult. There are often times when I am inspired and music just comes to me and it comes through me, and it's a very spiritual experience. There are other times when I actually need to sit down and noodle at the piano, play around, and start adding different instruments and sounds and see what I can come up with. So it's a process you need to work through to try and learn how to compose and create, and then share the music you create with others. Hope that helps.