Got to thinking about this today during my daily workout. A very large majority of my peers are very focused and being very good at scoring electronically and in a particular genre - film cues. Most them take to working with a synthesizer and a DAW (Sequencer). They do that well and that is OK. Thing is, they forget they are in the business of 'composing' and not merely 'film composing'. There is so little work for films and the competition is high. So when a composer is not scoring a film they need to be versatile enough to be able to work on other things. If they are wanting paid work, like here in Houston, the work ends up being on advertising/commercials or corporate work. And yet for those, they may still be able to use the same skills or tools to get their jobs done. But as composers, we learn from our teachers and mentors if you want to get 'commissions' (paid or unpaid work for live performances), for example, if the performers are a church choir, you don't write music for a string quartet (not my quote and not intended to be cute/funny). The point is, the more varied talent you have and the more tools you can use to create your music, the more valuable a composer you will be - to yourself and others. So if all you do are cues (which is a particular type of music), it is time for you to experiment and learn other genres. Perhaps you may only write one piece for a large church organ or a Christian song, you may learn to work with a lyricist or librettist for a play/show/opera - whatever you choose, you'll have experience and background in your back pocket which for us is part of our 'resume'. The more versatile we are, the more valuable we can be for filmmakers - whether it be multiple genres or whether the filmmaker tasks us with writing for live performers. We may not need that now, but it may be our 'competitive advantage'. He is one point I was thinking about today. We are all well aware of John Williams and Hans Zimmer - two of the top composers today. And they are certainly at the top of orchestral composing (both real and synthesized). But they are much more versatile than that. Consider two films - 1941 (from 1979) scored by John WIlliams. Watch the "Jitterbug Contest" in the film and listen to the score. Listen how he seamlessly mixes a big band with full orchestra. And then many people forget the 'earlier' work done by Hans Zimmer such as scoring "A League Of Their Own" - listen to the music behind the final game played near the end of the film (cue is called "The Final Game"). Both of these composers show us their versatility - an genre and any size ensemble (including Big Band or orchestra arranged to sound like a Big Band). And if you think, doing big band or jazz genres and/or arrangements is relegated to 1940s period pieces, check out some more of the contemporary material from other top scorers - whether it be Alan Silvestri's second half of the Father Of The Bride Theme (1991) or any number of Marc Shaiman's works (including musicals like Hairspray or TV series like Smash) or who knows how many cues and scores from animated films from various studios not just Disney. And then there's plain out small jazz ensemble pieces like the end titles to "Moonlight Seranade" (2009). You don't have to just go right off and get completely out of your comfort zone and write for something you may not have any idea what to do - you can start off small and do a 'transcription' (an arrangement of a piece of someone else) - that way you can concentrate first on writing for the instruments (without worrying first about to the composing part). To get a 'feel' - check my reel here for "Topsy", https://www.stage32.com/media/644309202969309144, (originally a hit for Cozie Cole in 1958) - I rearranged it for a local community college "Big Band". This was there first 'attempt'/'reading'. You may find many esembles at local schools willing to try out your pieces. Doing this allows you to learn many things - how to transcribe someone else's work, how to write for a large group of musicians who are not an orchestra but who pose similar composing and arranging 'challenges', and how to work with live performers.
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