The Crucial Second Step

I write music for fun. Sometimes it's stupid and funny, like my 'Songs for Angry Pizza Guys' CD, containing such classics as 'King of the Road', 'Get Out of My loving Way, MGladman', 'You Call That A Tip, Imbecile?' and 'All I Want To Do (is speed a bit)'. Other times it's 'serious' music, like the project I'm working on at the moment, which is my first symphony. Yay!! :P

I know there are professional musicians here. I am stricktly an amateur, everything I know about music I taught myself. So perhaps not surprisingly there are some gaps in my knowledge. Like for example what the second step in this sequence is:

1. Write a symphony

2. ?????

3. Take my rightful place next to Beethoven in the world's collective memory

Don't bother answering with 'write more music', I am, the more I write the better it gets too, and I'm certainly not presuming to become world famous after one symphony. (that's what the second symphony is for)

But still, how does one get one's music in the international repotoire? I'm perfectly happy to wait until I'm dead and then have my music 'discovered' by my biographer and advocate in the future, but I'd like some assurances that this will happen. Otherwise, I might have to resort to mailing out my manuscripts to orchestras worldwide.

Simple.

Step 2. And then a miracle happens.

Hmm.

How does one go about performing miracles though?

But still, how does one get one's music in the international repotoire? I'm perfectly happy to wait until I'm dead and then have my music 'discovered' by my biographer and advocate in the future, but I'd like some assurances that this will happen. Otherwise, I might have to resort to mailing out my manuscripts to orchestras worldwide.

Having your works live for years after your death and enter the international repertory usually does take something of a miracle, so montpellier wasn't really all that far off.

Well, when I say a miracle, I mean being one of the very, very few people who achieve significant lasting fame as composers. There are a lot of composers around nowadays who are very gifted, yet they aren't widely known. Often, I sit and contemplate the injustice this may constitute for certain people. And when you consider how many talented people aren't famous, it makes you realise how damn good and/or lucky you have to be in order to become famous.

It's not luck. It's networking. There are so many ridiculously talented composers whose works will be performed a few times and then forever forgotten, and the reason is because they don't know how to network, to make connections, to get their works performed by new ensembles and hence have greater exposure. An old piano teacher told me that networking should be fifty percent of one's life as a musician. While that proportion seems a bit high to me (it doesn't leave enough time to improve your actual musical ability) the idea is right -- you've got to get yourself out there.

"But, Michael, great art is great art and it will always rise to the top!"

Wouldn't it be nice if that were the case? But whether you like it or not, even guys like Mozart spent huge tracts of time in their lives doing what we would today call networking.

And sure, luck is involved in this: it can never hurt to get a patron, or be spotted by a really important person. But you can take charge of your own fame. Just make sure you're a good musician first.

1. Write a symphony

2. ?????

3. Take my rightful place next to Beethoven in the world's collective memory

Haha, reminds me of the gnomes from South Park.

1. Collect underpants

2. ?

3. Profit!

I think getting recognized, even as a local composer, is highly dependent on who you know. Start trying to build up a network of contacts with other composers and people who could be of use to you. I think ultimately the deciding factor on fame isn't talent as much as who you know.

If your goal as a musician is to acquire fame, I can assure you you can and will not. Step 2 is: don't suck.

Perhaps if fame is the sole goal, the composer will not achieve it. But I think it's very naive to think that fame-seekers will not become famous. Assuming there is talent - and there likely is as the industry is overloaded with it - the desire to find fame is absolutely essential in achieving it. As has been said by those before me, networking is essential. Of course, make sure that you actually use your network as opposed to just setting it up. It doesn't matter how many people know you're a composer if they've never heard a note you've penned.

On the matter of being in the world's collective memory - you're going to need a lot of luck and work on that one. Even the most successful composers of our day aren't in the world's collective memory outside of the musical community; it'll take a lot of work to get yourself established even in that category.

Also - (sorry, so many dashes) point of advice. Wait until you're already established yourself a little bit to start writing symphonies. You'll be able to get your music performed more often and in more places if you write for smaller ensembles. Look at Eric Whitacre's success in writing band and choral repertoire.