Like many people, I’ve been reflecting on the year ahead and what I’d like to achieve in 2017. I love learning new skills and in the past I’ve pursued many different avenues: stone carving, wood carving, portrait photography, fashion photography, illustration, design, printing, painting to name a few but I have never really stuck at any of these long enough to get any good. This year I turn 40, so it is time to pick something and stick at it.
Having recently purchased Logic Pro on a whim (I was always intrigued with using the computer to make music) I started playing around using my iPad as a keyboard and couldn’t stop playing.
I’ve always had a passion for music as a listener but never considered myself a creator of music. Growing up, I didn’t have the opportunity to learn an instrument. I owned a Fender Jazz Bass for a few years, having the occasional lesson in my 20s, but that involved more dreaming than playing. So, I can say with confidence that when it comes to music, I’m a complete novice.
With this in mind and inspired by a conversation at work about how a journalist challenged themselves to learn piano in a year and had became quite proficient, I initially thought my goal for 2017 would be to learn the piano.
Over Christmas, however, I was discussing how I had read an interview with the composer Max Richter where he discussed how he often re-arranged or made up melodies in his head. He had thought everyone did this and when it turned out they didn’t it set him on his career as a composer. I don’t want to make any sort of claim that I’ve got some undiscovered talent but I’ve always found myself doing something similar. I certainly often play with melodies, re-arranging them in my head, or taking pieces I listen to in different directions. Maybe then, I should explore this? Maybe my goal for 2017 should be to not only learn to play the piano but to learn to write music too.
But what type of music? My taste is pretty varied: Jazz, Funk, Rock, Pop, Indie, EDM, House but the genre that seems to resonate with me most at the moment is contemporary classical and ambient music.
Can a novice with only a very rudimentary knowledge of music become a composer of contemporary classical / ambient music in 12 months? I need something tangible to aim for so to set the stakes a little higher, my goal is to compose and perform a piece of music I have written alongside other musicians.
I aim to use medium both as a journal for friends and family to follow but also as a record and notes on what I discover along the way. If you find any think I post useful or are interested in following my progress feel free to follow me here on Medium. If you have any advice, or have set your own goals or challenge for the new year, feel free to comment below and maybe we can encourage and support each other.
So let the challenge begin…
