As of writing, today is going to be a pretty typical day for me. As in hectic. And exactly the kind of work I like. 😉
Although composing is now my bread and butter, I also do some other work to keep the roof over my head. Today is a pretty good example of how I live day-to-day. It certainly wouldn’t suit everybody but it definitely beats sitting in an office 9 ’til 5, day-in-day-out.
Phone Calls
I’m following up on an email over the weekend about some potential work on a ridiculously exciting short film with a phone call this morning to chat about the project with the director-producer.
I’ll get straight on that as soon as this post is finished.
Composition
After phone calls, I’ll sit and compose (more science fiction stuff! yay!) in the studio until 3 pm with maybe a break here and there for food and clearing my head.
Violin Tuition
At 3 pm, I’ll stop and do any little admin tasks, pay bills, check emails, and then tidy the flat ready for teaching violin, one of my other lines of work. I’ve been teaching the instrument on and off for the last 10 years or so, both in schools as a ‘peripatetic’ teacher (travelling around to lots of different schools) and privately at home.
I decided during my last stint of peripatetic work that it was just too inflexible to work around my composition work, and was often actually pretty soul-destroying in some ways (though I won’t go into that in this post), so I stopped and concentrated on private lessons.
Flexibility
This suits my personality and career so much more – the flexibility, you’re your own boss, all the music you need is to hand, the working space is large enough and warm enough and bright enough, there’s immediate access to online resources – videos, sound files, forums, games – the people who come to you to lessons are always really keen – don’t stay very long! (I think maybe I’m giving a lot away about my problems with peri teaching…)
Sound Recording
Usually, lessons will go on until later, but tonight I’ve rescheduled (see the flexibility in action!) in order to allow for another line of work – sound recording. As a composer and sound designer, you soon learn the importance of well-recorded sound, and knowing how to record sound well is a bonus. Have a few decent recording tools to hand – microphone(s), stand, pop filter, hard drive recorder – just in case.
Slunglow
The project I’m recording dialogue and sync sound for is a film that will be included in an upcoming show for Slunglow, ‘They Only Come At Night: Resurrection’. Slung Low is a contemporary installation art and theatre company specialising in new work, and as a member of the core creative team I’m called upon not only to compose the music and put together sound design for the shows, but I will record a lot of the sound, including dialogue, edit it all together and mix it into the final soundscape.
And there’s more…
So I compose, teach and record, but since I also play violin, it’d be a waste not to earn a little bit of cash from that too.
Simply Strings is a string trio that I play with regularly for weddings and corporates and events of that ilk. That tends to be weekends and seasonal too, pays well and is often a lot of fun. Though it’s not included in today’s schedule, it’s also a significant part of my paycheck that allows me to do more creative and fun jobs as a film composer, so I thought I’d add it to give a full picture.
So, that’s a day-in-the-life of me. I suppose the moral of the story is… if you can make a living from composition, awesome, you’re doing what you love and getting paid for it… but if not, as a musician there are so many other skills you’ve developed that can supplement your addiction to making music, and keep you afloat in the meaner times between projects, why not exploit them. After all, variety is the spice of life. 🙂
And it’s day 7 of the 30-day challenge of a-post-a-day! I made it a whole week – that’s a first! Flippin’ ‘eck.
Edit 2017: This is very different to my life now, nearly 8 years later. I neither teach violin nor play in a String Trio. I’m not a sound recorder/engineer unless I’m recording my own compositions, and usually then if there’s the option I’ll have someone else take care of the technical work so I can listen to the performances. I can’t imagine the energy and organisation that went into living my life as I did back then. I was so busy! Perhaps a new post is in order to illustrate how life has changed?