Education · 1 of 5

The path

No license, no exam. What you need is the skill, the portfolio and the people.

1. 1

   Play an instrument and read music

   Ongoing

   You do not have to be a virtuoso, but you must be fluent on the page. Start in high school.

2. 2

   Write constantly and get it performed

   High school onward

   School ensembles, friends' films, game jams. A recording of a real performance is worth more than a perfect file nobody played.

3. 3

   A music degree, or the self taught route

   4 years

   A bachelor of music in composition is the common path and gives you four years of ensembles who will play your work. Plenty of screen and game composers skipped it and built a reel instead.

4. 4

   Assist somebody

   1 to 3 years

   Orchestrating, copying parts or running sessions for a working composer is how most people learn the film and game side.

5. 5

   Your own commissions

   Ongoing

   Small projects first, then bigger ones on the strength of what you already delivered on time.