Making a Living

Hi all,

I'm a lot more active in all the forums now, which is a lot more fun and exciting :happy: Really enjoy talking to you all. This time I'm curious about to what extent people on the website have been trying to get their work published, sold, or performed at concerts where people have paid. I know its quite often the last thing any of us have on our mind here, but I'm still curious....curious enough to start a thread with the following question :P:

Have you ever tried to, or are you currently, making a living out of composing? I.e. receiving a commision, being in a formal (or even informal) contract for pecuniary reward, or being a benefiary of a scholarship and or trust fund, whereby you are able to support yourself, pay the rent, or live on a day to day basis?

An alternative question I wish to ask is:

Does anyone on these forums do full-time music, in the sense that they are paid either to conduct orchestras, arrange or orchestrate scores, or teach at a tertiary institution? Furthermore, does this position allow you to have both the time, energy and resources to compose on a regular basis, and by extension, have access to a real live orchestra, or choir, or ensemble, or any particular arrangement of performers? And even further, does this allow you to make a living, on a day to day basis, as well as satisfy (at least some) of your material needs?

I'm sure there are plenty of stories that people have to share so please appease my curiosity :P Be mindful that if you are under any kind of contractual obligation where you cannot discuss the names of companies and/or the type of financial relationship it is probably best to use an element of discretion when replying. My answer to these questions are - no, I haven't had anything formally published, but I have an opportunity to have some music played relatively soonish - and that's pretty exciting. Neverthless, I sincerely doubt I will be talented enough to make a living out of composing (I am currently a law student...go figure!), but if we had a choice of dream professions - I'd choose full time composer and conductor :P Well I looking forward to hearing from you all. All the best,

Regards

Pravin

P.S If you answer in the negatively, please also say what you actually do for a living for the purpose of comparison Thanks

I've never been paid for anything related to music... I received one commission in my life, for a wind quintet, but had to turn it down because I did not have time to add a musical project that I wasn't already working on. There have been two public performances of my music, both fairly successful, but neither was at a concert at which people paid for admission. I haven't attempted to contact publishers myself, but when my horn concerto was played, the soloist's teacher - a university professor - apparently mailed excerpts from the score along with my contact information to five small publishing houses in the Midwest. None of them contacted me.

As it is, while I'd love to be a full-time composer/conductor, I have very little chance to do that given my lack of formal musical training. I'm a medical student, which doesn't necessarily mean I won't be paid for music on the side in the future... I know of one person at Brown University who is both a professor of pathology at the medical school there and an associate professor of composition at the music school.

I know of one person at Brown University who is both a professor of pathology at the medical school there and an associate professor of composition at the music school.

Hi Caltech,

Yes, I know of one Australian Judge, Justice George Palmer, who is both a composer and a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. I have read a little about him and heard his music played on Australian Radio and it is quite lovely. From what I know he learnt the organ as a child and studied music all throughout his childhood and university life. I am particularly envious of his ability to cut it both ways - I find so often difficulty just sticking to one task at a time. :( Thanks for sharing,

Regards

Pravin