Articles by admin

I was recently asked for advice on how to be successful as a media composer.  Now, while I am a working full-time composer/producer,  I’m still pretty new to the game so I’m not answering from the vantage point of a grizzled veteran.  However, the question did force me to congeal what I’ve learned so far into a neat ten points.  I sourced my creative friends online to help me fill it out, and I’m pretty happy with this final list, which I think could be applied to any career in the creative field.  What would you add?

1. Do it because you love it. If you love it more than anyone else*, that will be the fuel that keeps you going.
2. Accept that you have to be in it for the long haul.
3. Learn the business and apply your knowledge. Write down your goals and visualize your success clearly.  Plan your work and work your plan
   
4. Learn to recognize oblique and veiled but valuable opportunities.
5. Know yourself – limitations and strengths.  Work on finding and nurturing your voice, in all areas (writing, relationships – develop your true expression of yourself).
   
6. Create something unique – don’t follow the trends. Compete on that ground + your value as a true professional.
7. Get out there and meet and network as much as possible. Consider that networking is about you giving before you receive. Build goodwill, and you will be amply rewarded.
8. Be humble, temper your ego, and never stop learning and working to improve your craft.
9. Consider the value of collaborations vs. going it alone.
10. Have fun, work hard, and just keep doing it!

(* When I posted this listed, a friend asked “don’t you mean ‘anything‘?”.  This idea is from a book by Sam Sheridan called “A Fighter’s Mind”. In it, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player Marcelo Garcia is profiled. He’s one of these people that is almost like a Jedi in his mastery and domination in the sport… he just flattens divisions, and then goes on to take out almost everyone in the Opens… When pressed on the reasons for his success, he believes that it’s not because he works FAR harder than anyone (which is possible) or that he knows more (which he may) or has natural gifts or talent (he’s not the biggest or fastest player), but simply that he knows in his heart that he loves BJJ more than anyone else. I like that idea… that his love is for his work is so vast that it’s the thing driving everything else – the endless learning and training, working through the pain and obstacles towards success.)

Photo by umjanedoan – http://www.flickr.co…tos/umjanedoan/

Themes. They are what give a musical work it’s signature. They’re what people hum when they exit the theatre, and they can help give your score structure unity. Whether abundant or few, simple or complex, themes can add a compelling layer of meaning to music for moving pictures. (Read my full guest article at ComposerFocus.com)

Sculptor by http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1rwb/

When learning new skills, our basic mindset is usually “I cannot yet do this, but in time and with practice I will be able to do this.”

What if, instead, your attitude was “I can already do this” – a conviction that you already possess any skill or ability, but you just have to do the work to bring it out?

Painting vs. Sculpting

In painting, one starts with a blank canvas and applies paint, building up layers of color and texture in order to bring forth the image.  In sculpting, you have a hunk of material, and you begin to carve away at all that is not the thing you want to represent.  Our primary mode of learning seems to be like  painting – you start with nothing (no skill – the blank canvas) and you begin to apply layer upon layer (learning and practicing new sets of skill) until you have an image.  What if, instead, you acted as a sculptor?  In this mode, you imagine that, hidden within the block of unformed stone, is a skill waiting to be revealed.  What you are doing, then, is carving away all that is unnecessary for that skill to be realized.  So, not only do you improve, but you are sloughing off the unwanted, getting lighter and lighter as your increasing skill makes things easier and easier.

What’s the diff?

It seems such an insignificant difference in perception that could almost be relegated to being an inconsequential matter of semantics, yet I would argue the simple act of saying “I can” vs. “I can’t yet” could have a huge effect on how quickly we can learn new skills.  The mind is our conduit to interacting with the world, and all things must go through it.  More specifically, all things are interpreted by it.  The world is subject to our perception of it (and perhaps even is our perception of it), so how we judge an event has an effect on how we deal with it.  Feelings of inadequacy, fear, and ideas about ability vs non ability translate directly into action or failed action/poor results, and the result of those actions create feedback loop which informs our expectations of future events, and thus how quickly we can move ahead.

The sculptor doesn’t look at the unformed stone as a hindrance!  It’s simply the work that has to be done.

To put it more simply, focus less on what you cannot do, and more on just doing stuff without impeding yourself mentally with negative thoughts.  Hold loosely in your mind the idea that you are sloughing off all that is not the natural state of an ability you already possess.  As a neophyte drummer, I often find myself feeling very self conscious of all that I can’t do, especially in rehearsal with other musicians who are competent on their instruments.  But this hinders my ability to move forward and improve, because I’m clamping up.  I worry about mistakes and in focusing on them, make them.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  Focus on mistakes = replicate them perfectly.

Instead, I try to rid myself of these thoughts (carving away at the unnecessary) and just connect to a sense of natural flow (aka no-mind, aka “thinking less about stuff”).  I find myself doing very surprising things – there is a more direct path from my mind to my muscles, and fills, patterns, and ornaments spring forth easily and with good accuracy.  This in turns creates a positive feedback loop, and helps me improve even faster – the next time I sit down to play or practice, I have that “I can do this!” feeling.   I am using the sculptor’s mind – I am moving towards that vision, that thing that I know is held within the stone.  Inside of me is a great drummer waiting to get out – all I have to do is GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Monkey visualize, Monkey do

Often, I find myself in situations where I cannot practice certain things due to circumstance – (say, Karate forms because of space restrictions, or drumming because of noise restrictions), I simply imagine myself performing/rehearsing/practicing in my mind – going through the moves, patterns, exercises, etc. If I do this mental work diligently, the next time I sit at the kit or perform Kata I recognize a marked improvement, as if I had done the physical work.

If the brain controls the muscles, then train the brain to the right action, and the result should be a measurable improvement.  To even further facilitate this brain training, start with the sculptors mind – imagine that the ability is already there – you just have to uncover it.

Relax, and start carving away!

Living on the Edge by Giant Ginkgo

If you are suddenly charged with landing a plane after the pilot collapses, and you are talked through the process by air traffic control, I’ll bet those fast-learned skills will be permanently burned into your psyche.  Not to mention, a successful landing would give you a tremendous confidence.  Well, alright, maybe you’d have to throw out your pants and never fly again.  (Boy, extreme metaphors can get you into trouble!)  At any rate, this would be an example of learning on ‘the Edge’, where you learn by doing, jumping in, getting your feet (and probably most of your body) wet.

Step a little closer… closer…

‘The Edge’ is a situation where you barely know enough to make it by.  It’s where you are trying to keep up and learn from those vastly better, faster, smarter, and more advanced than you.  The Edge is jumping in the deep end of the pool, sink or swim.  These can be situations find yourself in, but even better, situations you cultivate and covet.

In some ways, you are requiring yourself to move faster than thought.  You don’t have time for self-doubt – roadblocks and restrictions have to be lifted by necessity, and sometimes, you just have to drive right through them.  You take chances without over-thinking outcomes – there is no choice, and you ignore fears which might hold you back because fear is not a luxury you can entertain.  Your brain can operate in some surprising ways when forced to, where no other option exists.

Okay, brain. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you, but let’s get through this thing and …

I have a story of my own that illustrates this idea.  I’m a guitar player, and as the cliche goes, a horrible sight reader (I’m in a 12 step program).  I was invited, last minute, to sit in on a recording session where the bass player was suddenly unavailable.  I figured they knew me and my shortcomings (and this was on bass, not my main instrument!) and I thought it would be a session with simple charts and improvisation – no problem.  The “charts” turned out to be quick grand-staff print off’s from a sequencer, and required me to sight-read in the bass clef (WHAT?).   I was surrounded by some incredible musicians, true veteran session players – it was a nightmare situation!   Because it was on a tight deadline for a TV show, there was no time to ‘figure it out’…  it just had to get done, now!  I tried to stay calm, but I felt like a dump truck had parked on my chest.  At some point, I realized I was either going to play, or run out of the studio screaming, wreck any reputation I had, and forget a career in music.  The choice was not really a choice after all – I grimly focused on the sheet music sitting on the stand before me and accepted my fate.  It was pretty embarrassing, but something quite remarkable happened after a few cues – I just ’started’ reading in the bass clef.  It was as if by accepting and letting go, my brain said ‘Ok, let’s just learn this bloody fast then!’.  It was by no means a heroic turn, but once I was able to think back on the event without cringing so hard I’d hurt myself, I marveled at this sudden ‘ability’.

I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where we were on the Edge.  We committed to doing something that we perhaps weren’t quite ready for, where you had to learn on your feet, where you got by just by the skin of your teeth.

And now for a contradiction…

Sometimes, you want to avoid the Edge.  There are times when you have to perform perfectly, and where a mistep could result in disaster.  However, the one thing the Edge makes you prepare for is – anything.  You get good at being agile, flexible, adaptable.  Thinking creatively on your feet, making hard decisions fast.  It also makes you build and maintain your ‘lifelines’ – those you can call on when you know you are up against the wall and you need saving.

This is perhaps the best lesson you can get from the Edge – that you need to prepare for the Moment.  If you arrive somewhere and your big chance arrives unexpectedly, and you aren’t ready, that might be the last chance you get.  Imagine yourself at the place you want to be, and that place being the Edge – will you survive?  Succeed?

The Spotting/Cue Sheet in progress...

Being organized is glamorous and sexy!

… well, maybe if you wear a sequined dress while filing (remember to shave your pits if it’s strapless, gentlemen)…

The spotting session is one of the first things a director and/or producer will do with the composer on a project. During this session, which usually lasts 3 – 8 hours, you watch a fine cut of the film. Scene by scene, frame by frame, the filmmaker will talk about what they want in terms of music – the style, genre, mood, emotion, dynamic, and importantly the function of the music in a scene. The composer takes detailed notes, usually saying quite little, unless asked for input.

Whadda I do with this chicken scratch??

Something I learned while apprenticing was the value of creating a Spotting Notes/Cue Sheet document. This document is the distillation of your notes and lays out the detail of every cue: for each act, for each reel. It contains all the ‘vitals’ including timecode IN and OUT points, length of the cue, format and output notes, and notes on what the director wanted, as well as your ideas. When you are finished, it is your Holy Bible for your score on this project; at any point, you will know EXACTLY where you are at, and what you need to do. You’ll even know, pretty much exactly, how much music you need to write.

Spotting notes should be transcribed as soon as possible, while still fresh in the mind. If left too long, there may be trouble interpreting ones own notes, and one doesn’t want to appear flakey by calling and asking what the director wanted over the speedboat chase with the explosions again? Solo oboe?

Here are some things you’ll find on this type of Spotting/Cue sheet:

Cue Number – more details on this in a moment

Cue Name – something that will bring to mind what is happening and what the cue is for. Some composers are famous for their hilarious cue names.

IN and OUT points – when you review the film, make sure you tighten up your IN points to the frame!

Time - the total length of the cue

Notes – what the director said… what you thought of – your brilliant musical ideas. The scene – what’s happening? Function – what is the music supposed to do – from the mundane to sublime.

Other things – A/B reel indications, Stereo/5.1 etc., and Type – source, library, location, song, etc.

When you are in the heat of creating music under a deadline, this little bit of non-creative housekeeping can save you time and mental strain. You can forget about keeping any data on how a cue relates to something two acts down the road, because you already made detailed notes on this. You know that you have finished 12 cues and 23 and 1/2 minutes of music, and have 7 cues and 16 minutes of music left to write. You made a note that cue 2m06 will be mirrored in 3m01, so you should write that now which shouldn’t take long since it’s just a slight variation. The cue sheet is key to freeing your mind to do the creative work of writing music, while making you efficient and organized. I personally believe it will make your score better, because you’ll have laid out the framework of the WHOLE score, and can see it from a distance. This helps you keep track of how the score fits together as one musical thing, as opposed to a procession of unrelated cues written without a solid plan which was thought out in advance.

Do you use something like this when you work?   Any other time-saving, insanity-offsetting practices you employ?