At the beginning of 2014 I set out on my quest to become a film composer, having spent 5 previous years making films. I’ve put in a lot of hours learning to play the piano, understanding music theory, how to use Logic Pro X and much more. Over the past few months I’ve been doing less and less piano and theory practice and more and more composing. However, I feel as though in order to continue progressing I must keep a careful balance between learning new skills and composing. I find that both these elements are important, as each time I learn a new skill, I don’t feel I fully understand it unless I try applying what I’ve learnt to a new composition. But for each new skill that I learn, I feel it sparks even more compositional ideas in me.

My most recent composition took me around 11 hours to go from initial idea, to finished piece. And 9.5 of these hours where done in one day. However, really it has taken me the entire year to write, because of all the time I’ve spent learning the piano, learning music theory, and learning Logic Pro X. All of the skills I’ve gained in these areas have contributed towards the piece, and for me it marks a milestone, as it celebrates all the hard work I’ve put into my learning throughout 2014. My next blog post will showcase this piece and give a few more details as to how it came about. Until next week…