The Composer's Life

In this episode, I sit down with songwriter, composer, and pianist Esther Ling to discuss her unconventional path from engineering to music.  Born in Malaysia and now based in Calgary, Esther spent years building a career outside the arts before rediscovering her passion for music while teaching piano to her daughter.  We talk about making a major career change as an adult, balancing creativity an...

If you're looking to learn more about how to take yourself seriously as a musician, create a brand and business around what you do, and want the steps to get to there, you will find your answers in this episode. Amani Roberts is a coach for musicians, professor of music business, keynote speaker, global performer, renowned DJ, entrepreneur, and USA Today's best-selling author of "Th...

Join me in interviewing Odaline de la Martinez — an award-winning composer, conductor, record producer, and event curator — as we speak about Afro-Cuban's influence in western music, her background, and why she chose to pursue music composition. Odaline moved from Cuba to the states at a very young age, growing up in the influential city of New Orleans, then moving to study music throughout E...

In this second part of my conversation with composer Daniel Asia, we move deeper into the practical and philosophical side of a composing career: how composers navigate opportunities, develop their voice, and sustain creative work across decades. Through sharing stories of real experiences and answering questions about how composers can best start, this episode is about the internal and external r...

In this first part of my conversation with composer Daniel Asia — a Yale graduate with a long-standing career in concert and contemporary composition — we explore his path into music and the foundations that shaped his approach to writing. Rather than focusing only on career milestones, this conversation looks at how a composer’s identity is formed over time: through education, influences, and the...

Releasing music as a composer isn’t just about finishing a track, but involves many forms of creativity in design, marketing, and more. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I talk about the process of releasing music today: from where to start writing your music, to understanding distribution platforms, and getting your music onto streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Whether you’re...

Video game music sits at the intersection of composition, sound design, and interactive storytelling, and in this episode, I sit down with composer and sound designer Michael Sweet to explore how those worlds come together in practice. We talk about his work in video games, how sound and music are built for interactivity rather than linear storytelling, and what it means to compose in an environme...

Erich Stem began composing for orchestras at just twelve years old — and has continued building a career around writing music ever since. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I sit down with Erich to talk about his journey as a composer, how his approach to writing music has developed over time, and what it means to build a long-term creative life in orchestral composition. We also explore the...

A career in composition doesn’t always follow a single path. Today I sit down with composer Richard Carrick to talk about his work across composition, performance, and academia, and how those different roles interact over time. We explore what it means to build a life in music that moves between creative practice and teaching, and how a composing career can evolve in unexpected directions dependin...

Some of the most famous composers in history had surprisingly strange routines when it came to creativity — from strict daily habits to unusual rituals and superstitions. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , we look at some of these quirks and creative behaviours and ask a simple question: did they actually make a difference to the music they wrote? More broadly, this episode explores the rela...

A quick update from The Composer’s Life — I’ve just launched a new newsletter. In this short episode, I share what it is, why I’ve started it, and what you can expect if you decide to join. If you’ve been enjoying the podcast and want something more ongoing, this is where I’ll be sharing it. Thanks for supporting the show, and if you'd like to sign up to the newsletter, you can do it here:  C...

In part two of my conversation with Sheldon Mirowitz, we move into the day-to-day reality of composing — how ideas are shaped, refined, and carried through to finished work. We talk about the balance between exploration and editing, how composers develop their instincts over time, and what it actually means to make creative choices when you’re working on real projects, and how remembering your pur...

Some composers talk about what they do. Others talk about how they think. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I sit down with film and television composer Sheldon Mirowitz to explore his perspective on creativity, composing, and the way ideas take shape over time. Our conversation moves beyond process into something more reflective — looking at how composers develop their thinking, how creati...

Timothy Huling is a composer, conductor, and orchestrator whose work spans film, television, video games, and the concert hall. In this episode, I sit down with him to talk about what it means to work across all of those worlds. We explore how composing changes depending on the medium, from writing for screen to working with live orchestras, and how those different approaches connect. To hear some...

Claes Nystrom is an Emmy-winning composer and sound designer, recognized for his work on what has been described as the first deepfake-related cybersecurity threat to a democracy.  In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I sit down with Claes to talk about his career across film, television, and sound design, and how his work has evolved within an industry that’s constantly changing. We explore b...

Claudio Ragazzi is an Emmy and Grammy award-winning composer, guitarist, and professor at Berklee College of Music — and in this episode, I sit down with him to talk about his work in the film and TV industry as a composer. We explore how his career has developed across composing, performing, and teaching, and what it means to build a long-term creative life in music. From scoring films and docume...

In part two of my conversation with film and TV composer Blair Mowat, we move further into the realities of working as a composer — from the day to day creative process to navigating the film and media industry. We talk about how projects develop in practice, how ideas are shaped under real deadlines, and what changes once composing becomes your profession rather than something you’re working towa...

Blair Mowat is a film and TV composer whose work spans drama, documentary, and large-scale productions — and in this first part of our conversation, we talk about how his career developed and what led him into composing for screen. We get into the early stages of becoming a composer, how opportunities begin to take shape, and what it actually looks like to move from learning into professional work...

Kevin Lax and Robert Lydecker are film composers whose work spans film, television, and media — and in this episode, I sit down with them to talk about their approach to composing and working in the film industry. We get into how they collaborate and how projects develop from idea to final score. Robert Lydecker: Robert Lydecker is an Emmy-winning, classically-trained composer who grew up playing...

Locrian is the mode that doesn’t quite settle anywhere. It feels unstable from the very first note — not because something is wrong, but because of the way it refuses to resolve in a traditional western sense. In this final episode of The Composer’s Life modes series, I look at Locrian and what happens when you try to compose with a sound that doesn’t naturally want to feel like “home.” Rather tha...

Aeolian is the sound most people associate with sadness in music — but it’s more subtle than that. It doesn’t push forward like some other modes. It sits a little lower, feels more internal, and tends to settle rather than resolve. Today, I continue the modes series by looking at Aeolian and how its natural minor sound shapes the emotional direction of a piece when you start composing with it. Wha...

There’s something immediately relaxed about Mixolydian, but not in a neutral way — it has attitude. A kind of laid-back tension that comes from that one note that shifts everything slightly out of “standard” major territory. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I continue the modes series by looking at Mixolydian and how that subtle change in the scale creates a completely different energy whe...

Lydian has a very immediate “lift” to it — like the sound is constantly moving upward. There’s something unusually bright and open about it, almost weightless. Today we continue the modes series by exploring how Lydian behaves when you actually start composing with it, and why that raised fourth changes the entire color of a musical idea. Instead of treating it like a variation of a major scale, t...

Phrygian has a very immediate sound — it doesn’t take long to recognize it once you hear that first half-step. There’s a tension built into it that feels unstable in a very specific way, which can produce incredibly unique sounding music. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I continue the modes series by looking at Phrygian and how that distinctive flattened second changes the direction of mu...

Dorian is one of those modes that sits in a really interesting place — it’s minor, but without the dark qualities you might expect. It has a sense of movement in it, something slightly open, slightly lifted, and the one note change is enough to completely shift the mood. In this episode of The Composer’s Life , I explore how the Dorian mode behaves when you start writing with it, and why it often...