Becoming a Composer

by Errollyn Wallen

I am a composer. A composer of classical music. Quite honestly I am not quite sure how that happened to a girl born in Belize and brought up in Tottenham . . . It is clear that composing found me. It crept up on me and wouldn’t let me out of its grasp. Now a leading international composer and a singer-songwriter, Errollyn Warren is as much at home in jazz and pop as in the classical world. Part memoir, Becoming a Composer offers an intriguing glimpse into the mind and motivation of a composer and covers aspects of Wallen’s sometimes troubled childhood, and her experiences of growing up as a black composer in the UK. It includes a collection of observations, diaries following the progress of new works and essays and seeks to shed light on the way a composer sees and hears the world.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Hardcover

Published March 12, 2024

Reviews

[Wayne Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book weeks ago now and was struck by how circuitous and winding Wallen's journey has been while also being so in tune with her inner compass. She wandered but was never lost....for long. Wallen's creative outlook on life made it so that she synthesized a wide spectrum of info and used it to make meaning- incredibly beautiful music along the way. There were so many resonances with my own experience and story as a Belizean-American classical musician. The honesty and grace with which she shared the pains and joys of life struck me deeply. The way that Wallen kept her antennae operational and receptive is a model of possibilities of ways of being creative in a world that throws so many limiting beliefs at us. Would love to hear her read the audiobook version in her own voice!

[Jonty Watt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of reassuring insights into a successful composer’s life (although mildly distressed to discover that deadline panic never seems to go away). This is eminently human and Wallen is admirable in the extent to which she de-reifies creation and composition - although for me it stripped away the magic a little too much… Also a touch self-indulgent at times (duh!!), but probably much less than you’d expect from a composer’s autobiography. But the prevailing impressions are hope and optimism and joy and music, which are, after all, the point.

[Cath Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Errollyn Wallen writes with such honesty about her life. Who can fail to respond to her writing, as to her music, with warmth and gratitude.

[Witoldzio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read and charmingly chaotic. It is a "salad bar" of a book and the author herself recommends jumping around it as one pleases. However, the drawback of this structure was that very time I went back to reading it if felt like I was starting from the beginning. The recurring motive is her childhood and the process of composing. It is a some kind of a rondo, and the coda is very short. The book ends abruptly. Is this book simply a byproduct of long evenings during the pandemic? The one word that can describe this otherwise very interesting book is "unfocused"

[Sue Nosworthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I SO loved this book for its honesty, insight, integrity, inspiration and modesty. It is human, sad, scary (hitch hiking as a teenager and surviving - as I did) lots of ‘sliding-door’ moments….and sheer tenacity and passion for her subject. Every young person should read, learn and take notes of all the highs and lows whatever career discipline one pursues!