Brandon Nelson

I don’t remember ever “becoming” a composer. I’ve always felt the inner push to write down musical ideas and it’s an impulse I’ve always been happy to follow. It’s always seemed logical and natural to me, then, to invest the better part of my life in pursuit of the profession.  My young adulthood was spent getting two degrees in music in addition to the countless hours on my own spent pouring over scores, listening to recordings, perfecting drafts, begging for reading sessions, working with publishers and patrons, and all the other difficult but necessary things young composers do to hone their craft and build their careers. It’s a pursuit I doggedly continue into the present.

Yet, especially in light of troubling economic times, I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t  be more sensible to cast this all aside and pick up an additional job instead.  The question brings itself into sharp focus:  why compose?

Read the rest of this (and much more) in my book Writing and Living in the Real World: Advice for Young Composers