Additionally, while my plan was strong, I failed to include contingencies and alternative pathways to help combat delays and complications. This term I need to plan with contingencies in mind.

I also plan to pay more mind to my professional opportunities. By identifying my possible income streams, branding options, and marketing capabilities, I will ground myself better to start earning through music alongside my prospective masters.

(Kenyon, 2018) recommends various workflow and creative tips to help with composers, based on his interviews with successful industry models. Two pieces of advice that stuck with me particularly were 'pick up a new instrument' and 'finish micro-tasks before moving on'.

I was already planning to learn the piano to improve efficiency, but I hadn't considered it's creative implications, so I will be starting piano lessons promptly to expand creative opportunity and composition skills as well as personal development.

A bad habit of mine when composing is trying to compose 'vertically'. Focusing on harmony, counterpoint, and ensemble before considering the melody, lenght, or form of a track. In my compositions this term I am going to make sure to complete 'task by task' work. E.G completing an A section melody before fleshing out the harmony of the A section.

I have attached the notes and practice points from my first lesson as evidence of practice and personal development.

Brantingham (2012) outlines a series of 5 points that define a professional composer over an amateur

1. You compose everyday, like it is your job. You just do it.

2. You learn about your craft. This means theory, instrumental technique, understanding yourself and how you work best. A lot goes into craft.

3. You put your music out there for the public to hear it.

4. You finish the pieces that are nagging you, because you know thats what you need to do. Don’t become too invested in the final product.

5. After you finish, you start the next one, and you always improve.

point 1 and 4 seem particularly important. Composing all the time, increasing output and just practicing as you would any instrument, and finishing pieces without stress of perfectionism. These are two major factors for me to work on to develop consistency and a professional work outlook/process.

RenegadeProducer.com, (n.d.) states that there are 3 different categories that define a professional producer. They break down a required proficiency in Music production Tools (Daws/Hardware/Instruments), Music Theory (Base Music Theory, Arangment theory, Production Theory), and Music Production Practice (Production Process, Listening and Creation exercises).

I feel confident with these currently but they provide a clear outline of areas to focus on continual development and imporvement. Particular areas of improvement for me are best production practices. Navigating mixing orchestra and ensemble works to a high level.

Brantingham, J. (2012). Becoming a Professional Composer. [online] Art of Composing. Available at: https://www.artofcomposing.com/becoming-professional-composer [Accessed 29 Apr. 2025].

RenegadeProducer.com. (n.d.). The Music Production Skills You Need as an Independent Producer. [online] Available at: https://www.renegadeproducer.com/music-production-skills.html [Accessed 29 Apr. 2025].

I have attached my practice points from the last two weeks. There is a large focus on scales and fluidity between hands, two things which I feel will help greatly going forward as a professional musician.

The other opportunity I would love to pursue with keys and piano playing is Musical Director (MD) work for Musical Theatre. Prior to research this feels like something of a pipe dream, but I will also research the opportunities in this field next week.

Being forced into a time crunch made me place my perfectionism to one side. I now have 3 strong tracks to work from, editing the sections I don't like, adding variations and closing sections to the tracks should take less time now than constructing new tracks from start to finish. I feel I have made a breakthrough in compositional process. I need to focus on creation first, and then refine the product later in the process.

Step 1

placement and panning - Panning all the instrumetns to their place in a traditional orchestra

Step 2

reverb + spacial - I send all the left side instruments through a reverb panned far right and vice versa to emulate sound directions and where it tends to bounce from, as well as using reverb amounts to place the instruments further forward and back by sending more or less through the send to the wet verb.

Step 3

Compress and EQ - Everything gets at least 2:1 compression and then. I further compress some instruments for volume purposes also. At the same time I EQ the instruments for clarity. I find compressing the instruments alters the frequency spectrum slightly so there was little value in EQing before

Step 4

tweaks and adjustments - Using my ear I just go back and forward through all the instruments until the mix feels well balanced an clarified