Continued…

“It chose me =)” – Julie Giroux

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“Moving into music was a natural evolution in my younger life. My primary choices were between music and visual arts. Music won out in part because I got a good scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory. The pull to music was very strong. I was an excellent clarinetist in high school, played in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, loved listening to music, tried to compose. Once at Oberlin I discovered composing as a real possibility, and very early on began to identify myself as a composer. It took many years to become good at it, but it was the core thing that continually drew my attention. I went into university teaching as a way to support composing. After a number of years I found that I could support myself entirely with writing. There are two things which continue to drive my dedication to music. The first is that the push to compose has never left me alone, and it has turned out over the years to be the agent for a deep self discovery. The second is that music provides an amazing focus in people’s lives, particularly young people. My music seems to find an important place at the point in people’s lives when great change is happening, when they are discovering who they are and what they need to do. This has been extremely gratifying to me, and I see it as a very useful way to spend a life.” – David Maslanka

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“Well, firstly I have not ‘dedicated my life to music’. It’s my job. And like anyone else, you should choose a job that you are good at and satisfies you.

But I advise you not to set out to become a composer full time. That’s pretty rare. Get a job in teaching or playing and make composing your hobby. If it turns out that you become hugely successful, then by all means do it full time.” – Philip Sparke

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“Because it is what I love and what I love is what I do best.” – David Gillingham

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“To answer your question, the reason I chose to dedicate my life to music is that I found nothing in the world as exciting and as soul soothing as music.” – W. Francis McBeth

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“Because I love it.” – Fred Forney

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“I’m not sure how to answer this, Michael! I guess it never occurred to me to do anything else. I love music, and I love writing it. Do what you love, that kind of thing!” – Jonathan Newman