Since studying music composition at a Bachelor level, I’ve supported my craft by working with other composers, musicians and music publishers as a music copyist. Otherwise known as a music typesetter or engraver, this entails preparing the final copy of a musical composition in sheet music format, either for performance or publication. Often for works with more than one instrument, individual parts for each instrument are also prepared. Traditionally this was done by hand, or with mechanical engraving, but now it is usually undertaken with music notation software. In my experience, the main players are the programs Sibelius and Finale, but there are numerous alternatives.

My work over the past 11 years has been mostly home-studio-based, and in the past 2 years it has been complemented with motherhood. I was fortunate to take 5 months of parental leave following the birth of my daughter, then resume work in a part-time capacity, gradually ramping up to her enrolment in 2 days a week of childcare at 15 months. The combination of work and motherhood has been intense and at times challenging, but somehow, despite the tiredness, I am the most productive I’ve ever been, with a big 2015 ahead. The years of gradually setting up my freelance business, and learning from seasoned professionals, have meant that I’m now in a position to really streamline my work, reflect on and improve my practice, and share my arts journey with others: ideas about music and sound, creativity, tools, techniques, time-management, business.

My passion for composed music has an Australian leaning, a conceptual leaning, a technology leaning, and a productivity and professional/survival/business leaning. I hope to blog here in order to sharpen and share my writing, and to collect some thoughts about aspects of my industry. I’m keen to discover the work of other creative and performing artists and how they incorporate their practice into their overall working career, whether they are able to focus exclusively on their artform, or more likely, it is combined with some sort of “day job.”