Yesterday the New York Times published a guest article written by British composer Terik O’Regan on his experience living in a world unfamiliar with the career path of a contemporary music composer.
O’Regan writes, “When I fly, I enjoy talking to fellow passengers. When I tell someone I’m a composer, a quite-often-repeated remark is, “Dude, do you make any money doing that?” Yes, I do. Another one is, “What’s your real job?” This is my real job.”
He adds, “I frequently write and edit music scores on planes using a music notation program on my laptop. The “golden rule” of never commenting to one’s seat partner about what one sees on a laptop screen goes completely out the window here. The minute they see those inviting little notes on the screen, the questions just keep coming. The most common is, “Can you just hear that in your head?” The answer is no, you’re talking to me. Once I was working on a brand-new piece and the guy next to me said, “Oh, I really love that piece.” So I deleted the entire section I was working on.”
After reading this, it made me wonder as to how other musicians feel about being asked what it is they “do”? Is it always the awkward conversation O’Regan makes it out to be?
I once had a composer friend confide that she always hated telling people what she did for a living. She said, no matter how she described her career to people, it always ended up in conversation about how many instruments she played and it drove her crazy. To avoid the inevitable, she eventually just told everybody she was a music professor (which was also true) – because it was just easier to talk to people about.
I suppose at the end of the day “musician” is a job like any other, but it can also come across as a romantic and exotic occupation for some.
But I wonder…
Do any professional musicians out there find difficult to tell people what you do for a living? If so, why?
Michael Vincent
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