Elige lo que quieres ser / Choose what you want to be

Contribution published in the 2007–2008 edition of the Complete Guide to University Degrees and Vocational Training Choose what you want to be (Jdej Editors, March 2007)


Choosing musical composition as my primary professional activity was not, in my case, the result of an early vocation pointing in that direction, but rather the outcome -half fortuitous, half deliberate- of the impossibility of pursuing a career as a performer (specifically, a violinist). Having started at a relatively late age (seventeen years old), my development soon reached its peak -far short of what would have been desirable. With my musical vocation already firmly decided, I was forced to turn toward disciplines less reliant on physical effort. Among composition, musicology, and conducting, I soon leaned toward the first, in which -even in my earliest, albeit late, steps in music- I had already found a more than evident sense of enjoyment.
Thirty years after having chosen this professional path, I must admit that I see a composer's journey as a fascinating one, as it offers the fullest expression of various artistic and personal concerns. Yet it is also so harsh and solitary that I would advise against it unless supported not only by some basic abilities, but by a true vocational calling -one strong enough to endure the many hours of creative solitude it entails.
The creation of a musical work can stretch over many weeks, months, or even years, depending on its scope, and demands the highest level of concentration, which comes at the cost of many sacrifices. Work on a piece doesn't happen only in the act of writing itself -which may follow a more or less regular schedule and discipline- but much more so in the constant act of conceiving it, which knows no timetable and often leads to breakthroughs at the most unexpected moments.
It is, in any case, a thrilling pursuit -one whose joys are worth experiencing to the fullest, but always with the faith required to withstand its many disappointments and setbacks, because its rewards come, if at all and with luck and dedication, only in the medium or long term.

José Luis Turina
Composer. National Music Award 1996
Artistic Director of the Spanish National Youth Orchestra since 2001

March 2006