The Short-Order Composer

In the world of composers, I've found that there are two types: Type 1, "The Chef": The type that labors, suffers and sweats over their work as they hone and polish each little detail of the music which is very precious to them; and Type 2, The Short-Order Cook": the crank-out-the music--as-fast-as-I-can type. Neither method is proven to produce "better" music than the other because it's always going to come down to the composer, not the method. I've mostly written for myself or the bands/artists I've been involved with and have used "The Chef" method. But a recent job composing music for some television shows changed that for me.

In television-music, they need the music NOW!!!! and they'll send it back over and over and over again to have you re-write sections that they feel don't work for them. So there's no use slaving over it and using the "what-does-god-want-to-say-through-my-music?" technique that I tap into when composing music for myself and my CDs. It doesn't work for this gig. What works is the "how-do-you-like-your-eggs? comin'-right-up!" approach. It's very cool because it allows me to use a different muscle...it's a different and very cool process for me and I'm enjoying not feeling so attached to the music.

A couple of composer friends I spoke with told me it's most always the music tracks that they didn't spend a lot of time on that seems to get the most use. And the more the music is used, the more residual income the composer earns. So for this particular gig, I'm going to put on my short-order composer hat and crank this stuff out. I might post some of them another time. As for now, bon appétit!