what kind of work is out there for a composer?

Hi I'm kinda new. I've been composing music for a long time as a side-time hobby. I'd really like to do this permanently, but I don't know where I could start. Any insights would be greatly appreciated :)

In all honesty, Composition isn't the sort of thing you can make a living off (doing just composition, I mean). Most composers seem to do a combination of composition for any orchestras willing to play their music (or for any that commission work) and teaching music. You should look into any local orchestras, see if any of them would be interested in playing your music - that's a good starting point for you :P and just generally getting your music around (uploading it onto places like youtube, for example).

Regardless of what you chose to do, you should still keep on composing even if it's just a hobby ;) One can 'permanantly' compose as a hobby... I'll probably keep composing for a hobby (definately not taking it further than that though, to be honest :P).

I hope that's all somewhat useful to you :P

If you catch QcCowboy or flint-wwr, they're both composers professionally.

Marius does a lot of work with videogames it seems.

I would say the best call would be to have an ensemble of your own, that way you know as much as possible about your players.

Well, as a composer, you'd probably make money off of commissions, but I'd assume that it would be hard to get a lot of money unless you're famous. I think most composers either teach or perform professionally.

A lot of composers tend to work as lecturers, teachers, conductors, performers etc in order to earn their living. For a lot of modern composers, composition is like a part time job now - unless you go into film and do several films a year.

If you're looking for avenues try searching on google for things like Call for Scores, you can find several things by doing that.

I would say the best call would be to have an ensemble of your own, that way you know as much as possible about your players.

True, but wouldn't that be somewhat of a faux pas? Especially in an educational setting. It just comes off as "I can't get anyone else to play my compositions, so I'll have my students/orchestra/etc. do it."

True, but wouldn't that be somewhat of a faux pas? Especially in an educational setting. It just comes off as "I can't get anyone else to play my compositions, so I'll have my students/orchestra/etc. do it."

Kind of... jazz players do it all the time.