That process by which you become a writer is a pretty lonely one. We don't have a group apprenticeship like a violinist might training for an orchestra.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
One of the things I learnt over the years is that there is a craft to writing, like there is a craft to acting. I hadn't done my apprenticeship as a writer. I did try to be a writer for hire but I'm not any good at it.
I run around so much that I finally reasoned that composing is the one musical endeavour which you can do anywhere, anytime.
I love working with an orchestra, but there are many ways to make music.
Most people won't realize that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.
Why write for the orchestra? For one thing it's a very challenging problem.
Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best.
I am not so complicated or intelligent a composer, nor am I very interested in becoming so. I am much more happy doing what I know I can do than what I am not sure I could do.
I've always wanted to make music like people write plays, so I was inspired by writers as much as musicians.
I began like all composers, writing for small groups. Chamber groups.
As a young pianist in Hollywood, I began orchestrating for others, and I just felt really comfortable doing that.