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 musical ideas when you start composing with it.

This is the third of a seven part series where I break down each musical mode so you can use in your own composing.

To get more help with the concept, here's an article that contains music examples, video explanations, and a pdf with all the Phrygian scales:

Click Here

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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 feels both melancholic and strangely hopeful at the same time.

This is the second of a seven part series where I break down each musical mode so you can use in your own composing.

To get more help with the concept, here's an article that contains music examples, video explanations, and a pdf with all the Dorian scales:

Click Here

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Ionian is the mode most people already know — even if they don’t realize it yet. It’s the sound behind a huge amount of familiar music, and in this episode I start a mini-series looking at each mode and how it can be used when composing.

Instead of treating it as theory on paper, I look at Ionian as something you can actually write with — how it behaves, how it feels under your fingers, and what happens when you start treating it as a creative tool rather than just a scale.

This is the first of a seven part series where I break down each musical mode so you can use in your own composing.

To get more help with the concept, here's an article that contains visuals, music examples, video explanations, and a pdf of all the Ionian scales:

Click Here

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Composing for a client changes the way you think about music. Instead of writing purely for yourself, you’re responding to a brief, a story, or someone else’s creative vision — and learning how to balance your own instincts with external expectations.

In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I talk about what shifts when you start writing music for other people, and how the process of composing becomes more collaborative and responsive.

It’s not just about delivering music, but understanding communication, feedback, and how to shape ideas in a way that serves the project.

For anyone interested in media composing, film music, or working professionally as a composer, this is where creative practice starts to meet real-world expectations.

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All composers have it- an endless supply of ideas and projects in their heads, starting everything but finishing very little of it. However, when working, more does not always mean more success. 

How do you decide what's most important to work on, and what helps you see a project through? Join me in talking about how to figure out for yourself what you should say "no" and "yes" to, and how to work on what's essential!

The book in reference is Essentialism by Greg McKeown.

It's a great one, and I'd definitely suggest reading it to help you navigate your creative ideas!

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By the time you’ve written a musical idea and started developing it, the real challenge becomes knowing when to stop changing things — and when to let the music speak for itself.

In this final part of the series, I continue working with the material from previous episodes and focus on how musical ideas settle into their final shape through repetition, contrast, and small adjustments.

Sometimes composing isn’t about adding more, but about recognising what already works and refining it until it feels complete.

This episode is about stepping back from the material you’ve built and learning to hear when a piece has found its direction.

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Once you’ve written a musical idea, the next question is always: what now?

This episode continues from Part 1 and explores what happens after the first phrase is down on the page. We look at how small changes can create variation, how motifs begin to take shape, and how phrases naturally evolve.

This is less about starting from scratch, and more about learning what to do once something already exists — and how composing often begins to feel like responding to your own material.

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Music theory often gets treated like something separate from composing — as if you learn it first, and then apply it later. But in reality, most composers use theory in a much more fluid way, often without even thinking about it consciously.

In this episode of The Composer’s Life, I talk about how music theory actually shows up in the composing process, and how it can support ideas rather than restrict them.

Instead of thinking of theory as rules to follow, this is about using it as a way to understand what you’re hearing and guide your creative decisions when you write music. It’s less about knowing everything, and more about recognizing what’s already happening in your music as you compose.

The book Fundamentals of Musical Composition by Arnold Schoenberg is referenced along with the following pieces:
Symphony No. 5, 3rd Movement by Beethoven
Skylark by Glinka
Marriage of Figaro (Ouverture) K. 492 by Mozart

Drum loop samples were used from Dale, YouTube channel dalesnale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm0hN3Z5Jxc 

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Networking is one of those things nobody really teaches you as a composer — but it often ends up being the thing that leads to actual work.

Today I talk about what networking looks like in practice and how composers tend to find opportunities in the real world. It’s less about “selling yourself” and more about being part of a community where work naturally comes through people you know and trust.

I also explore how finding work in music composition often happens indirectly — through collaborations, recommendations, and long-term relationships rather than direct applications or cold outreach.

If you’re trying to build a career as a media composer, this episode is about understanding how the industry actually works behind the scenes, and what tends to make a difference over time.

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This episode is a conversation with video game composer and sound designer Virginia Leo, whose work also includes adaptive & interactive media, VR, and film.

We talk about how she approaches writing music for games and what it’s like working as a media composer in a fast-moving industry.

She's a graduate from dBs Sound & Music Institute in Bristol with a Bachelor's Honours Degree in Sound for Games and Apps. She's been widely recognized for her achievements in composing at the yearly Global Game Jam, scoring the nature documentary Peregrine Coast  by Andrew Salter, and for her score of the game The Baby in Yellow.

To find out more about Virginia, you can go to: https://www.virginia-leo.com/ 

And you can check out her YouTube channel: click here

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