Having arranged for my collegiate a cappella group, I feel your pain. Arranging and composing are difficult tasks, and they require so much back knowledge in theory that (to be honest, even most musicians) take for granted. I've gotten into arranging commercially for a few local groups (and adopting a "don't ask don't tell" policy on copyrights...), and it's hard to explain what a difficult process it is.
I have an ex-girlfriend who currently arranges for a partial living in addition to gigging as a classical and pop vocalist, who would pop out a cappella arrangements of anything you can think of in under 10 hours. She frankly averaged 5-6 for most of the tunes she did. The weren't simple arrangements, they were complicated music. She has an insanely skilled ear.
With regards to working for the in-laws, I've been there. I can't count the number of unpaid gigs I've played for in-laws.
Long story short, composing and arranging suck to live on. They're ridiculous amounts of fun, but I've gotten to a point of composing exclusively for fun (I write string quartet when I've had a bad day).
__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
|