Ten Tips for Getting Into the Composing Game
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No clue on how to get into this crazy composing game?
Here’s an article on Ten Tips for Getting Into the Composing Game I wrote for the fabulous Scorecast Online site.
I talk about finding your niche, networking and relationships, pitching and persistence, things that I’ve experienced and learned from ‘Getting the Gig’ – January’s topic on that site.
Any tips of your own? Do leave a comment on Scorecast Online or here. We’re all much stronger when we join forces and share knowledge 
.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Buy me a coffeeWhat I’m Lusting After: Luis and Clark Violin
This is what I’m lusting after right now. A Luis and Clark Carbon Fibre Violin.
Grrrrrr… 
At $5539 (or £3427) I’m saving up my pennies, and not holding hope for Santa to do the honours.
This sexy beast is made of a one-piece carbon fibre body and has gears in the pegbox. Save for the strings, it’s completely unaffected by heat, cold, sun, rain, snow, hail, no cracking, warping, peeling, woodworm or going out of tune at really inopportune moments.
You gotta love technology.
My current violin, of the plain old wooden variety, is lovely, and I do rather like it… but I struggle with the lack of ethics involved in its manufacture. The wood is over a hundred years old so I can pretty much cope with the lack of sustainable sourcing… but the glue is a hideous concoction of boiled down animal leftover bits. Ugh. Pretty grim.
The bow’s not much better. Most horsehair for bows is a slaughterhouse byproduct. The nylon fake stuff is pretty crud and sounds ropey. I do have an ‘Incredibow’ that’s completely synthetic though and it’s actually not all that bad considering the price, and I tend to chop and change between playing it and my normal wood bow.
You can also get ‘live’ horsehair. I’ve not tried it, but have been putting off rehairing my other bow for a few years now so saving up for that too…
The Incredibow is also much lighter and it’s soooo much easier on the right hand when I’ve got a touch of RSI from composing on the Mac for too long.
So if anyone’s feeling generous…
