Get a composition degree in a short-term solution

Hello, long time I don't get involved with this community, but I would like to ask you all, since you are in different places of this planet, you might help me to clear this out.

As you may already know, I'm self-taugh in musical composition, I have been writing music for long time, about 30 years, I like to write for orchestra a lot, and after all these years I have achieved some level at it, not too long ago I saw in facebook an advertising about some sort of crash-course in composition, it didn't sound very interesting to me BUT they said the course was in order to make you write a solid portafolio of works that you may later present into a University, and some people in that university would examinate the works and eventualy decide if they grant you a Bachelor degree in composition, or whatever you call it in your place, (we call it "Licenciatura" in my place) anyway, the attractive aspect of that advertising wasn't that they would suppose to "teach you" composition in a short period of time, (which is not possible if you know nothing) but they were suppose to "warante you" you were gonna surely get that Bachelor degree... as this "crash course" may sound just a hoax or not the important thing I would like to know, is not about courses, but about the fact that a serious University, Conservatory or a similar institution, actually do offer an option for people have developed a decent level in composition and they don't own a single piece of paper that can prove it to other people, all this in order to get a job, or something can actually help you in making a way of living, I mean get money somehow.

If someone knows, somewhere, of an option, a real option for people like me, that we didn't have the oportunity to study in a fancy music school, we didn't born in a "super artistic" place in this planet, but we have spent decades learning from the works of the very best masters in composition have ever existed and noone is willing to give us a chance to prove it unless we have a paper saying it, I would really appreciate any information, advise, link, or anything else, no matter the language, country or anything else.

Thank you very much.

Yes, a composition degree would be nice. You have the opportunity to have learn about the craft(tonal and 20th century harmony, history, and litature); and have your works performed, but...there are other options.

On 10/19/2023 at 11:57 AM, SYS65 said:

Hello, long time I don't get involved with this community, but I would like to ask you all, since you are in different places of this planet, you might help me to clear this out.

As you may already know, I'm self-taugh in musical composition, I have been writing music for long time, about 30 years, I like to write for orchestra a lot, and after all these years I have achieved some level at it, not too long ago I saw in facebook an advertising about some sort of crash-course in composition, it didn't sound very interesting to me BUT they said the course was in order to make you write a solid portafolio of works that you may later present into a University, and some people in that university would examinate the works and eventualy decide if they grant you a Bachelor degree in composition, or whatever you call it in your place, (we call it "Licenciatura" in my place) anyway, the attractive aspect of that advertising wasn't that they would suppose to "teach you" composition in a short period of time, (which is not possible if you know nothing) but they were suppose to "warante you" you were gonna surely get that Bachelor degree... as this "crash course" may sound just a hoax or not the important thing I would like to know, is not about courses, but about the fact that a serious University, Conservatory or a similar institution, actually do offer an option for people have developed a decent level in composition and they don't own a single piece of paper that can prove it to other people, all this in order to get a job, or something can actually help you in making a way of living, I mean get money somehow.

If someone knows, somewhere, of an option, a real option for people like me, that we didn't have the oportunity to study in a fancy music school, we didn't born in a "super artistic" place in this planet, but we have spent decades learning from the works of the very best masters in composition have ever existed and noone is willing to give us a chance to prove it unless we have a paper saying it, I would really appreciate any information, advise, link, or anything else, no matter the language, country or anything else.

Thank you very much.

 

I hate to say this, but:

A piece of paper from a university or whatever is not going to get you a job in music composition, as over the last 30 years, the field has become dominated by extreme nepotism and anti-intellectualism.

Further, many post-secondary institutes are no longer interested in teaching the craft of composition, but rather heavily-politicized post-modern, atonal approaches that are about as disconnected from the masters as you can get. They are much more concerned with playing trite games about what a piece "means" than whether or not it actually sounds like music. They do not value mastery of western music tradition and are increasingly hostile towards it.

One user who used to post here stated that when he went to school (majoring in composition!) they did not even study melody writing, which Mozart described as "The essence of music". This is something that would've been unthinkable back in John Williams' heyday. I wish I could say that was a rarity, but I am personally unaware of any post-secondary education in music that is worth pursuing today.

I myself had auditioned for college music study over ten years ago (when I was already making money with music), but refused. Not just due to the cost, but the fact that the first year would've been studying all the things I JUST PROVED I knew to them by challenging and passing one of their theory exams.

I only know of a handful of composers working professionally who have degrees, and I have never once been asked about education in any interview with a potential client.

A composer friend of mine in LA always says, and I agree with him: "The best business card or resume you can have is really great work."

However, know this: Even if you are doing really great work, it is now more difficult than ever to get into making serious, consistent money with music composition. The only areas to really make money are in film, TV, and video games.

• The film industry in Hollywood is only going to let you in if you have serious family ties to the industry at this point. The film industry outside of Hollywood or at least Hollywood-budget productions is generally not profitable: For film makers or composers.

• Television and advertising can still be lucrative, but they mainly deal in music licensed from libraries and competition is fierce; some composers make a great living at it, but it takes years of building a strong library of music.

• The video game industry is on course for a very serious crash and probably not advisable to get into right now. When I started (and primarily worked in) video games in the 2000s, games were easy to get into, indie gigs were plentiful even if most failed to make it to market. You used to be able to just find a gig online. Today, almost every hub for Indie Game Development is gone (long-running IndieGamer Forums actually shut down last week), the big players in the industry mostly hire big names and often from the film industry.

So what can you do?

Firstly, I would not necessarily seek to impress people who can GIVE you the job, but rather, people who can FIND you the job. Getting representation can seriously help. Most companies with serious cash in the aforementioned industries, if they are not already using the same person they have for years, will turn to a talent agency, music library company, etc. to find a composer who meets their needs. An agent makes money when his composers make money, and he already has industry connections. Thus, it is in his interest that you get work.

However, getting such representation if you haven't already done something noteworthy can be difficult.

Lastly: Keep making great music, travel, and make a lot of friends in various industries. If they know you do music, and you do a great job, you never know where that will lead.

True, funny story: Years ago, I was arguing with some older guy online about music. When I said I did video game music, he said "Oh! My son works for a game studio here in Croatia. I think they're looking for a guy to do music, I can forward your name and information if you like?" I said sure, thinking I'd hear nothing back and that it was probably just some indie studio.

Well, it turned out Damjan Mravunac wound up returning to the gig, but hey...closest I ever got to a shot at scoring Serious Sam 4 =)

Thank you for your comments,

I know a degree won't automatically open doors just like that, and I do know the issues you mention in the film industry and how they "teach" composition in these days, that is why I said I wasn't interested in the course itself, anyway, I found the advertisement I was talking about and it mentions the "University of West London", (https://www.uwl.ac.uk/) in case someone wants to make some research too, I will contact them and check if all this issue is actually true or not.

of course I will continue to write music always, but in my case that degree would help for sure, perhaps not as a composer itself but maybe to get other kind of music related jobs, like teacher or something else.

Thanks.