MUSIC COMPOSITION AS A HOBBY

MUSIC COMPOSITION AS A HOBBY

Since the age of 16. I have always been interested in trying to compose music. In my early days, I composed a musical which I called Maytime. I sent one of my songs Everywhere that you are to the famous band leader Geraldo. He replied thanking me but said the song was not quite up to professional standard. I suppose that this reply inspired me not to give up and to try again.

In my retirement years, as a hobby, I have become more professional. In 2013, due to a personal contact which I had at Henley Business School. I had an introduction to Richard Niles in Los Angeles who is one one of the World's most famous music arrangers. You have probably never heard of him !

Richard Niles has had 40 World Hits arranging these hits for Kylie Minogue ( the song Locomotion from her recent Show Girl Tour ) , Mariah Carey, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones and many more. He has a studio in Hollywood Los Angeles California.

I contacted Richard Niles and for a fee, he did a modern arrangement of my ballad Everytime.

He said that The song is lovely and I think the arrangement is beautiful. I am very pleased with the outcome.

In 2013, I have also composed a classical Concerto – The Wild Flowers Concerto – A Tribute to the Wild Flowers of London Olympic Park. Our 50 Plus Club John Finnemore made the video and with his help – which I appreciate very much – I placed the Concerto on YouTube, So far this year 21,200 people have viewed the Video sample – 3 minutes. The full Concerto is 9 minutes 30 seconds and can be downloaded online from iTunes, Amazon, Virgin Megastores, Google Play, Spotify.

In order to help fellow budding composers, I have written a 17 pages article – The Online Music Revolution 2013. It can be viewed on my Blog – www.eurekys.blogspot.co.uk Scroll down to the article.

My song Cry Over You has been played 7,200 times on Global Radio stations in 2013. It won an Honour Award in the Great American Song Contest – coming Number 6 out of 660 entrants.

My Musical Ria Conchita contains 13 songs. It was a Semi- Finalist in the British New Musical Awards.. The National Operatic and Dramatic Association gave the Musical a full page write up in their National Magazine.

Am I making loads of money from my musical hobby ? No. Breaking into the Music Industry is like breaking into Fort Knox Gold Cellars ! If you are already famous, it can be easy. If you win X Factor on Television or you are runner-up like The One Direction Boy Band, it is easy to launch new songs.

Most of the time, a Record Producer will not even reply to your submission.

However, is money the only measurement of success in life ? I think not.

I gain a lot of pleasure from my compositions and I hope to continue composing for the rest of my days.

RAY WILLIAMS