I am curious, how many of you are 'serious' musicians? By serious, I mean you have been studying music or an instrument for years, and/or plan to go into the field for a career, and/or have/plan to major in something music-related in college. I say 'serious' because I know that there are a lot of home musicians that might play in a garage band or sequence a few MIDIs now and then, but have no intent on doing it professionally or even continuing it later into their life.

I, for one, have 8 years of experience with trumpet and am seriously considering studying music composition/theory in college and would very much like to make a career of composing music. I've been composing at an 'ameteur' level for maybe 4 or 5 years now, and would like to take it to the next level. If you're interested, some samples of my work can be found at:

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?AID=292875&T=8963

I've studied voice for 20 years, and piano for 5, I am currently in college studying for a Bachelor of Music degree in composition...I already support myself musically pretty well, and will definitely be fully supported by my art when I graduate from school.

-Wain

keyboards 11 years, guitar 5 years. 6 years composition. Studied 2 year National Diploma in Music Tech, 2 years Foundation Degree in Music Tech and Audio Engineering. Currently applying for audio related jobs as well as working freelance. Its a difficult career to get into!!!!

Zircon, out of interest, what is it you do or plan to do as your career?

I've been composing for 2.5 years now. I'm self-taught, and no lessons at all. I don't play in a band, although I do play drums and the piano (a little).

I've found that I really enjoy composing, and I'm considering majoring in it. ^^

So I guess you might say I'm a "serious musician".

Definitely serious, I played trombone for 3 years and am now hitting my 6th year of guitar. I've been composing since I was about 12, and I've studied endlessly to better my knowledge of orchestration and theory.

... and yes, I plan to study this in college.

Well.. I really love music. I've been playing the piano for 9 years (I'm currently 17), and I've been involved with digital music for about a year and a half. I've been composing for about that long. It doesn't sound like much, but I've learned a hell of a lot in that time; I consider myself to be very proficient with programming synthesizers, and my knowledge of sampling, recording, production and other elements of electronic music is fairly good. I continue to teach myself the art, and I like to think I'm learning new things on a regular basis.

My plans have been to major in business and information technology in college, rather than music, because this aspect of music has not been a part of my life for long, in relative terms. However, every single person I've talked to of repute on the subject has advised me to go into it, including several professional composers, so I'm reconsidering. It IS a difficult field to get into, but I'm working very hard to get my foot in the door; my current resume includes a commercial videogame sound track, and I'm working on some tracks for the Weather Channel for their Local on the 8s segment.

Very interesting to hear from you guys.

well, piano for around 6 years, playin in sch band for 2 years already and im playin the euphonium. composing? i would say 1 year? i'm not that good at it but i really enjoy composing music. And i really do not know what's in studying of music? how do they teach u to compose? o.O.. im self taught ;).. and i might take up composing as my profession when i get higher quality samples like GPO ;).. for now.. free soundfont ..
btw im only 14 :)

Well, I played piano for about 15 years (for the first 7 or so it was for hours each day every day), performed in several bands (some actually paid), took courses in theory, performance, composition and arranging. I eventually gave it up because I decided that I was too emotional about it and that I needed a more intellectual career. I wanted to be like Chick Corea.

By the way, composition is a skill that CAN be developed in school. If you take classes in theory, you'll get ideas about music that you can work into your compositions. For example, before I took a course in jazz theory, I had no idea what a MAJ6/9(#11) chord was, but now it's one of my favorites, and I often work it into my songs.

C.