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Angelo Pizarro

The Creation of a Masterpiece:

The Artistic Journey of the Composer

Mr. Steinhauser

5/14/14

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If you have ever watched a movie or a commercial, or listened to the radio on a drive

home, then you have listened to a composers masterpiece (The Art Career Project). A composer

is one who composes (creates), a musical piece (melody, or melody and lyrics). A composer is

one who takes notes that are very simple and can within a few minutes turn them into a melody

so complex only the best musicians in the word can play. Music is needed in human life and is

seen all around the world. Music might be created on a piano or guitar in some areas where in

others, it might be created on a didgeridoo. Music might take someone's really bad day and turn

it into one of the best of their life's. How is this possible? It's possible because someone took the

time to sit down and write a composition. Let's explore further what exactly a composer is and

what are some of the things required to become a composer.

Music has been created since 6000 BC, and has lived ever since providing relief to people since

then. But, why would anyone want to be a composer? Why would they want to spend their time

inside in front of a musical instrument working out melodies, chord structures, and lyrics? Well,

there are several benefits of being a composer. The first is that you get to be your own boss.

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When it comes down to it, if you are a composer you decide what you want the piece to sound

like and what you want the piece to convey to the listener. If you want the piece to add a

dramatic flare at the end, then you don't have to get anyone's approval. If you love to create

music in your spare time then this career allows you to do what you love for a living. Perhaps

though, the best reason to become a composer is that in this industry there are several sub-

options that you Being a composer pays very well, because people will always want music to

listen to. Also, there is plenty of need for composers everywhere in every genre of music, all the

way from rap to classical. Some famous artists don’t know how to write music but know how to

deliver it to an audience, so they hire a songwriter to write them a hit song that sells millions of

copies worldwide.

can choose from (The Catholic University Of America). For instance, you can become a film

composer, and write and sometimes arrange movies for feature films. Some famous film

composers are Alan Menken who has wrote music for such films as Aladdin, The Little

Mermaid, and Beauty & The Beast; and Hans Zimmer who has wrote music for movies such as

Inception, The Dark Night Rises, Man Of Steel, and The Da Vinci Code.

According to California Career Zone “In 2013, the average annual wage in California

was $59,470 with most people making between $24,780 and $92,240”. What is needed for you

to be a composer is quite minimal. Most composing jobs only require some sort of music

background (either singing or a playing of a music instrument), previous job experience, or to

have at least an associates degree (California Career Zone). Getting a job in this profession isn’t

hard since there are plenty of jobs expected in the near future. “During 2010, this occupation

employed approximately 6,800 people in California. It is projected that there will be 7,100

employed in 2020.”

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Let us take a look more into what exactly, a film composer (the most popular option) exactly

does. A film composer might seem like an easy task; but this job is no walk in the park (So You

Wanna Be A Film Composer?). A film composer might in fact have the hardest job in the whole

composing arena. There are several reasons for this assertion. The first being that, a film

composer has to know how to play all the instruments that he/she wants to have in the piece.

Some pieces can vary from only a few instruments all the way to a full piece orchestra. If they

are unaware of how to play that instrument then they will not be able to right it leaving a

musician to do nothing at all. The second reason for my assertion is that this composer has to

also listen to what the production company (ig. 20th Century Fox, Paramount) or Director wants

the music of their motion picture to convey to movie goers who need the music to blend with

what is happening on the screen seamlessly. They might want the whole music theme to be

uplifting and cheerful, such as in a musical. On the contrary, the director might want a slow

moving, sad song to really impact the movie goer. Probably the most difficult task though of a

film composer is to change with the coming scenes. Each scene of a movie might call for a

different song to not be monotonous. If this is the case the composer has to come up with a

different melody, and chord structure for all the instruments involved for every single piece.

Others might call for one piece to stretch out over a longer period of time. Whatever the case

might be trying to come up with the different inter-weaving melodies, harmonies, and chord

structures can be quite hard in such a short amount of time.

Whatever the composer option you choose, being a composer can be a very good and

very prosperous job not only in the money aspect but also in the collaboration aspect because

most of the time you will get to collaborate with other great musicians that share your love for

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the song. Composing music is a complicated and difficult job, but there is no other job quite like

it.

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Work Cited

"California CareerZone." Music Composers & Arrangers. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014.

“Don’t Just Listen, Create With A Music Composition Career”. The Art Career Project. Web. 4/14/14.

Lukas Kendall. “So You Want To Be A Film Composer?”. David Beard Music. Web. 4/15/14

“Music Composition”. The Catholic University of America. Web. 4/14/14.