Everyday, each one of us faces about 10,375,238 things to do. You have to exercise, feed the cat, make breakfast, shower, brush your teeth, go to work, take the car to the shop, buy a new pair of shoes, etc…

So it is as a composer, you probably feel the need, as I do, that you have to compose. But have you ever taken a count of your finished compositions? You may end up being surprise.

My Count

Prior to starting this site, I was not very deliberate in my composing. It was a passion, but I didn’t approach it as a professional. I had started a lot of compositions. But when I sat down to count how many were actually finished, I was dismayed.

Started:

Finished:

Composer’s Manifesto Point 1

I Will Finish Every Composition I Start

The reason I put this in my manifesto, above everything else, is because an unfinished composition isn’t worth anything. This is both in the sense of you couldn’t sell it, because it’s not complete (unless your Mahler). But also in the sense that you haven’t gone through the entire process of composition. You have practiced starting, but not finishing.

And if we are deliberately practicing our composition, shouldn’t we be practice finishing as much as anything else. If you start compositions, and then don’t finish them, you will end up having that ingrained. And before you know it, you be on your deathbed with a handful of compositions finished and ask, “Where did all my time go?”

So here is your task: Count how many compositions you’ve started in your entire life, and how many you have finished. Keep a running count from that point on, and just make sure, every time you add 1 to the start number, you end up adding 1 to the finished number.