The Composer's Life

If you're looking to learn more about how to take yourself seriously as a musician, create a brand and business around what you do, and want the steps to get to there, you will find your answers in this episode. Amani Roberts is a coach for musicians, professor of music business, keynote speaker, global performer, renowned DJ, entrepreneur, and USA Today's best-selling author of "The Quiet Storm" and "DJs Mean Business". His experience in the hospitality and music industry have given him vast...

In this second part of my conversation with composer Daniel Asia, we move deeper into the practical and philosophical side of a composing career: how composers navigate opportunities, develop their voice, and sustain creative work across decades. Through sharing stories of real experiences and answering questions about how composers can best start, this episode is about the internal and external realities of a composing life, and how to stay focused while taking care of yourself in a realisti...

Releasing music as a composer isn’t just about finishing a track, but involves many forms of creativity in design, marketing, and more. In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I talk about the process of releasing music today: from where to start writing your music, to understanding distribution platforms, and getting your music onto streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Whether you’re releasing concert music, film cues, or independent work, this episode breaks down the practical a...

Erich Stem began composing for orchestras at just twelve years old — and has continued building a career around writing music ever since. In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I sit down with Erich to talk about his journey as a composer, how his approach to writing music has developed over time, and what it means to build a long-term creative life in orchestral composition. We also explore the balance between composing, teaching, and everyday life, along with the decisions and focus requir...

Some of the most famous composers in history had surprisingly strange routines when it came to creativity — from strict daily habits to unusual rituals and superstitions. In this episode of The Composer’s Life, we look at some of these quirks and creative behaviours and ask a simple question: did they actually make a difference to the music they wrote? More broadly, this episode explores the relationship between routine, mindset, and creativity — and whether structure helps composers, or whet...

In part two of my conversation with Sheldon Mirowitz, we move into the day-to-day reality of composing — how ideas are shaped, refined, and carried through to finished work. We talk about the balance between exploration and editing, how composers develop their instincts over time, and what it actually means to make creative choices when you’re working on real projects, and how remembering your purpose as a composer will help you keep focused on what matters. Berklee Interviews is a series of ...

Timothy Huling is a composer, conductor, and orchestrator whose work spans film, television, video games, and the concert hall. In this episode, I sit down with him to talk about what it means to work across all of those worlds. We explore how composing changes depending on the medium, from writing for screen to working with live orchestras, and how those different approaches connect. To hear some of Tim's works, click here Berklee Interviews is a series of interviews with professors,...

Claudio Ragazzi is an Emmy and Grammy award-winning composer, guitarist, and professor at Berklee College of Music — and in this episode, I sit down with him to talk about his work in the film and TV industry as a composer. We explore how his career has developed across composing, performing, and teaching, and what it means to build a long-term creative life in music. From scoring films and documentaries to working with some of the world’s leading musicians, learn from Claudio's rich experien...

Blair Mowat is a film and TV composer whose work spans drama, documentary, and large-scale productions — and in this first part of our conversation, we talk about how his career developed and what led him into composing for screen. We get into the early stages of becoming a composer, how opportunities begin to take shape, and what it actually looks like to move from learning into professional work. About Blair: Blair Mowat has composed over 200 scores for films, theater, and television, with ...

Locrian is the mode that doesn’t quite settle anywhere. It feels unstable from the very first note — not because something is wrong, but because of the way it refuses to resolve in a traditional western sense. In this final episode of The Composer’s Life modes series, I look at Locrian and what happens when you try to compose with a sound that doesn’t naturally want to feel like “home.” Rather than treating it as a limitation, this episode leans into what makes it unique: its tension, its amb...

There’s something immediately relaxed about Mixolydian, but not in a neutral way — it has attitude. A kind of laid-back tension that comes from that one note that shifts everything slightly out of “standard” major territory. In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I continue the modes series by looking at Mixolydian and how that subtle change in the scale creates a completely different energy when you start composing with it. This is the fifth of a seven part series where I break down each mu...

Phrygian has a very immediate sound — it doesn’t take long to recognize it once you hear that first half-step. There’s a tension built into it that feels unstable in a very specific way, which can produce incredibly unique sounding music. In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I continue the modes series by looking at Phrygian and how that distinctive flattened second changes the direction of musical ideas when you start composing with it. This is the third of a seven part series where I bre...

Ionian is the mode most people already know — even if they don’t realize it yet. It’s the sound behind a huge amount of familiar music, and in this episode I start a mini-series looking at each mode and how it can be used when composing. Instead of treating it as theory on paper, I look at Ionian as something you can actually write with — how it behaves, how it feels under your fingers, and what happens when you start treating it as a creative tool rather than just a scale. This is the first ...