A Path That Found Its Own Shape (1)
- Arın Aykut
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Most people meet their future careers somewhere between adolescence and early adulthood. They make a choice in high school, walk through university, and step into life at around twenty-two with a title attached to their name. It is a tidy, predictable narrative. Mine was a bit more complicated.
I grew up in a world where music was not an interest but a daily language. Conservatory corridors, practice rooms, pages of sheet music that never stayed neatly stacked. By the time I was eleven, the piano had already become more than an instrument. It felt like a destination. I never questioned it and never needed to; it was as natural as gravity itself.
Years later, near the end of my twelve-year conservatory path, life introduced a quiet twist. I was in Prague then, immersed in study, when I attended a The Lord of the Rings symphonic concert. I remember the lights dimming, the brass taking over the hall, the first deep rumble of the orchestra. What I felt in that moment is something I still cannot fully name. It was not inspiration. It was recognition. A sense that the musical world I knew was only one part of a larger landscape I had never allowed myself to see.
Over time, that moment revealed its meaning. I wasn’t simply drawn to music; I was shaped by the union of music and image. Scenes stayed with me long after they ended. Melodies connected themselves to memories. The classes I had loved the most, choir, harmony, score reading, art history, suddenly formed a clear pattern. I didn’t just enjoy them. I belonged in the place where music served a story.
This realization slowly made something else clear. The life of a concert pianist, a dream I once held so firmly, no longer felt wide enough. Not wrong, not disappointing, just too narrow for the stories I wanted to tell. In 2012, I finally said it plainly to myself. I wanted to compose for film. The clarity was liberating. The path wasn’t. Film scoring education didn’t exist in Türkiye at the time (I’m still not sure it does). The industry was young, opportunities limited. I needed another way forward. Orchestral conducting became that bridge. It wasn’t a detour but a way to strengthen the foundation I would eventually build on.
And then came the moment where every direction pointed to the same place. If I wanted to learn this craft for real, my life had to shift to where the heartbeat of the industry lived. London or Los Angeles. No other option made sense. Eventually London became home. I completed my second master’s degree in film scoring, began my PhD, and started composing for projects from many parts of the world. At the same time, I joined Hans Zimmer's Bleeding Fingers Music as a freelance composer, something that had once lived only in a distant corner of my imagination.
People sometimes ask whether I arrived late or early or exactly on time. I’m not sure those words belong to journeys like this. All I know is that I am continuing the path that began in Prague, on an evening when a symphonic concert quietly rearranged the way I understood myself.
So, hello, I’m Arın. This space is where I share the road behind me, the one ahead, and everything music has taught me in between.
Next topic: “Can you become a score composer through education?”