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I wanted to share some of my thoughts on mentors and internships, as my own experiences have been very powerful and rewarding.  Looking back, I was surprised by how little I knew about the value and process of mentoring and having a mentor.

I was very fortunate to take part in the Guild of Canadian Film Composers Apprentice/Mentor Program, and to have been matched with a mentor (the singular Donald Quan) who challenged me in all the right ways.  I spent most of my six week internship in a state of constant terror – I was repeatedly thrown into the deep end of the pool and expected to swim, but had a chance to ‘crash and burn’ in relatively safe environment.  The amount that I learned and the things I experienced in that time could not have been gained any other way, and certainly nowhere as quickly.  It was learning and doing on the edge!  I learned some hard lessons very fast, and discovered holes in my game.  I also learned my strengths, and found out how far I could push myself and the depth of my endurance and perseverance.

My experiences showed me that some of the most important elements in building a career in a creative field are time spent interning, and establishing and building relationships with mentors.  These are certainly very important in industries which require a tremendous amount of time and luck to ‘break in’, and where a single introduction can mean the difference between having a career or not.  If you look at the careers of most accomplished creative people, the odds are very high that they had a mentor (in many cases, more than one) who played a big role in that success.

So -  what are mentors and mentees, what is their relationship, and what is the function of an internship?

A mentor is typically described as a person with considerable experience in a field, who acts as a guide, counselor, and trusted friend.  In many ways, a mentor can also be a coach.  To what degree a mentor is any one or combination of these things depends largely on their personality and style, and what they think they should be providing.  The internship process is very intimate, and the experience can vary quite a bit from situation to situation.  A mentor may give advice, counsel on career direction and big decisions, and help during challenging times.  During the internship they can provide opportunities to see behind the scenes and even to get one’s hands wet doing work at their level.  They can open doors by introducing a mentee to people in their network, and (if one is very lucky!) provide work.

An intern or protege’s role can be as varied as the mentor’s, and again depends on the mentor and what their expectations are.  During an internship, a mentee is there to be a human sponge, soaking up as much information and getting as much experience as possible, while at the same time doing whatever asked of them by their mentor.  How much one gets out of the deal is largely up to the mentee – one has to be willing to trust their mentor and accept what they are shown, and find value in every bit of advice and every task given, no matter how seemingly mundane.  What a mentee provides a mentor might be as simple as assistance in some area (read – grunt work!), anything from clerical to organization to actual creative work.  Further, for anyone that has worked in any capacity as a coach or teacher, you already know there is great reward in helping someone and fostering a career, especially if they are eager and passionate, open, and willing to learn and try new things.

Here are what I believe are some important traits of a successful mentor/mentee relationship:

Trust and openness

One must trust one’s mentor, and believe in them.  One also has to be open to what they have to say and show you.  Some of it may shock you, some of it may seem “irrelevant”, and may even run counter to what you thought was true about the industry.  Be open to a different point of view – you can evaluate your experiences afterward, but if you don’t allow yourself to be open, you won’t learn.  Don’t go into it thinking you ‘know better’.

A passionate desire to get involved in anything

Jump in!  Don’t hesitate!  Say yes!  This is a time to learn and try things out.  You are still in a place where you can make mistakes without terrible consequence.  Don’t say no to things because you don’t think they aren’t valuable or you’ve “done it before” (you might just learn something new!) and definitely don’t let fear guide you.  If you feel overwhelmed, scared, and just a little out of your depth, you’re doing it right!

Active seeking

Show you are looking to learn, looking to improve.  Don’t sit and wait for stuff to happen – get involved and create opportunities.  Think of ways to give back even as you are being given so much.

Awareness

Make leaps of thinking and faith, see how things connect, and be on the lookout for any opportunity.  Don’t let your brain sit idly while someone leads you by the hand.  Things that may escape the notice of someone not aware and processing their experiences may turn into wonderful things down the road.

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If you have the chance to experience an internship or you have met someone who is willing to be a mentor, I think you’ll get much more out of your time if endeavor to be the best protege possible, and develop and show the above mentioned traits.  It will also show your level of committment and that you respect and value the opportunity.

Do you have any happy or horror stories to share about mentors, mentoring, and internships?

Photo by Craig Elliott

Don’t be ashamed of your own ideas. Most musicians get applauded for sounding like someone else. People try something out that they think is exciting, and everyone looks a little unsure. Then they play an old James Brown riff and everyone’s saying: ‘Wow! That’s what we want!’ Most of the time musicians are being encouraged to sound recognizable. What I’m doing [as a producer] is encouraging them at the points when they’re not.
- Brian Eno

Who Are You?

An aspect of being an artist is the path to finding your voice. Your ‘voice’ is your signature, your ‘thing’, that which you get known for, something to which you become associated. Sometimes, even, it’s a schtick. If you think of any successful artist, someone who stood the test of time, you’ll note one particular trait – they had a unique voice. They did something no-one else did, or they did something far better than anyone else. This is something you want to cultivate, for a number of reasons.

Karma Chameleon

Composers working for media have a special challenge in this area. Generally, you are expected to be aware of, and be able to compose in, any style imaginable – NOW. I’ve scored an episodic show where I went from comic opera to Joe Pass jazz, then to purposely cheesy PSA music to porn, 50’s bubblegum pop, to copping Prokofiev ballet, then to afro-cuban, and even more. To have these styles in your arsenal, and to be able to say ‘yes’ when asked to genre-hop, is a necessary skill especially when you are getting established.

It’s your thing – do what you want to do

Being versed in many styles is great for your musicianship and breadth. However, this is not your ‘voice’. It’s unlikely you’ll get very far specializing in ALL styles – it’s a bit of a contradiction in terms! What you want is for people to think of you as the person who is the go-to for “X” , but also a capable and professional expert who is also able to adapt and stretch to meet any demand.

You need to differentiate yourself from all those people who are doing the stuff everyone else is doing!

Right now, there are thousands of emerging composers out there, who are trying to emulate the heroes du jour – John Williams, John Powell, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer, to name a few. Some argue that if a producer or director want John Williams, they’ll call him. WELL… yes, and no. No, if they don’t have 1/2 a million in their budget for John’s fee. So yes, the guys who can do ‘that sound’ will get calls.

However, there are two problems with this scenario:

1. The only way to compete in this area is to be THE BEST at it.

2. This is a limiting way to build a career. You might become known as the person who can do Zimmer, and when that goes out of vogue, or worse, when someone wants something original, you could lose.

It’s a short term career move.

Don’t imitate it, don’t abandon it – FILTER IT

This will happen naturally anyways – but try to cultivate your sound when you work. Create a mental environment condusive to this – this means that you have to stop judging your work when it really starts to SOUND LIKE YOU, and instead, recognize it as a good thing and push forward in those crazy directions! You have to develop an awareness of what you do that makes you unique. It doesn’t have to be the most insane thing ever, either – it can be simple. My thing is the guitar – I want to create scores using the guitar in unusual ways. Even if no guitar sounds appear in the final recording, I will use the guitar to compose – and THAT will end up helping to give the score it’s signature – because it’ll be different had I done it another way. I ‘own’ the guitar as a tool, it is part of me and my process.

Do Something Different

Be a little more daring. Try something you think might not work. Pick up a new instrument. I’m getting into instruments from around the world – the Bansuri is my current favorite. This year I plan to learn how to play violin, and eventually I’m going to get a Guzheng. Getting into a different way of playing can really open some doors to different ways of working, new ideas, and a unique path. Study a different style of music, study different composers. Open up – and filter what you learn. Don’t get too bogged down in details – it’s not an academic excercise. Even if you can’t play well, you will come up with some ideas that are unlike what you’d normally develop. Learn fast and take what you learn and make it your own. Each instrument seems to naturally lend itself to doing different things, which is why sometimes you can break out of a rut by composing on an instrument different than what you usually use.

The Devil is in the Sampler

One of the weird things about being a composer these days is watching a film or TV show, and hearing a sample you recognize. I KNOW that one “Thunder Ensemble” hit with the singing bowl ringing overtone from StormDrum2. I even know what velocity level it was triggered at. It’s a damn good sample, too. That’s a little disconcerting when I’m using it for another project – makes it feel a little… cheap. Like cheating. Now, I’m not against samplers, libraries, sounds, and effects, etc. But it’s worthwhile to invest some time into how you can differentiate, even in this area. How your sound, is… well, your SOUND – like a guitar player has their particular sound. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimie Hendrix, Al Di Meola – these guys play different and they also SOUND different – it’s the TONE. Experiment with your samples. Tweak them. Use them “incorrectly” – play instruments out of their compass or pitch range. Use effects.

A Balancing Act

The one caveat in all of this, of course, is that it is important to stay current. Like the ability to compose in any style, you will be asked to sound en vogue. But it is possible to balance this with a striving to be unique, different… memorable. One of a kind. A Go-To.

All things under the Sun

This kind of thinking naturally extends to your whole music business, aka your BRAND. How you present yourself – visually, personally, the myth or legend, or story you create about yourself. This all gives a context to the music and how it is perceived, and can add to your value as a composer. It’s how well you can sell yourself and your ideas, the kind of music you produce. If you build yourself to be a special kind of composer, then people will see you that way and will look to you to deliver your specialty. I will be looking at the idea of ‘myth building’ in a later blog.

Speakeasy

How do you differentiate? Do you have some great examples of artists making it work for them? (one of my favorites is Carter Burwell). How do you strike a balance between doing it all V.S. doing one thing?

Photo by Roger Do Minh used under CC liscence

In a recent article, I detailed the journey I took with a director, crafting a cue through several versions to arrive at the final product which worked with the scene just the right way. More than knowledge of music, talent, or ability on an instrument, very important is your ability to effectively communicate with the director, and your ability to analyze, understand, and translate their vision and story into musical ideas which work to picture.

Don’t even say ‘crescendo’!

You should be able to do this without speaking one word of musical jargon.

The language of film music is primarily the language of emotion, and when speaking about how the music can/should work in a scene, you want to use these terms as descriptors – laymans terms, non-academic speak. Words like afraid, stubborn, furious, joyful, mysterious, distant, dark, hopeful, etc. Words that describe the film, the themes, actions, characters… not the music.

This isn’t a dumbing down of musical concepts for someone with no knowledge of music – the director may well be versed in music, even to a high degree. The point is that you are there to serve the vision of the director, and the director is telling a STORY. You have to set up a framework for talking about the story, and I have found it makes it easier, more efficient and consistent, and pleases directors, if you speak in their language – the language of emotion, character, themes, and story. It’s your job (and happy challenge) as a composer to turn those ideas into music.

“He really GETS me, you know?”

The other aspect to this complex relationship is trust. If you can watch the film, read the script, and accurately analyze it with an attention to detail and passion that shows you really GET the film and care about the project, you will be on your way to earning the trust of the director. Try to see it from their point of view – it’s their baby – they love the characters, they believe in the story, the message, the themes. They know the work inside out. If you demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the themes, make connections between a characters actions and what that means to scene 237, if you see how a camera angle or a prop has a deeper meaning that connects the film together, they will be more apt to trust your musical instincts and ideas.

Sorry, what was that again? I said, learn to be a GREAT listener

I try to get directors to talk about the film, their motives for making it, what they love about it, and the characters, themes, and story, before anything else. I want to discuss and analyse their film, to make sure I really understand their vision. Only after this, once I have established some basic trust and rapport, do I say, ok, let’s talk about the music. What did YOU have in mind? What my ideas are, what I want to have happen, this comes pretty much dead last. Again, this is a part of the business that you have to be ok with – I love the collaborative process, and I love having parameters, a framework within which to work. I absolutely ADORE analyzing films and literature. And, I almost always find a way to satisfy my own artistic desires within this process. But don’t forget, you are there to serve someone elses vision – it’s not a servile position – you are an expert, but your own desires take a back seat.

Literally speaking…

Knowing the story, the themes, the characters and their motivations inside out can be a great help to actually writing the score, especially in terms of overall structure. Shorter forms are easy to deal with, but the score to a feature film can be likened to a symphony, where as much as 60 minutes of music and more might be required. How do you ensure a consistent, balanced, and thematically connected work emerges? One thing I like to do is look at what is happening in the film and apply it quite literally to musical ideas. There is a micro and macro aspect to this – scene by scene, in moments, and also in terms of the story as a whole, the arc. Once you have written a theme for a character, for instance, it may be that the character becomes more broken, alienated, hollow as the film progresses. Think of the musical theme – can you write a variation that will sound this way? Can you ‘break’ the theme, and alienate it from it’s harmony? Can you orchestrate something which sound hollow? Of course! Now you have a simple framework for creating something quite quickly, which will give the audience a subliminal insight, a deeper emotional understanding. This particular example might not work in all cases – sometimes, you play counter to the action or theme, so a different tack might be needed. But consider it – work out some descriptors for characters, themes, storylines, and see if you can’t find a sophisticated way to incorporate those.

Capisce?

When you return with your first cues in hand, you can impress a director and solidify their trust by actively demonstrating that you’ve been listening, that you understand what they are doing – especially if you talk in their language. It’s the same as when you visit a foreign country – the people that are native will be very impressed and happy when you demonstrate a knowledge of their language and customs – it’s simple – it shows respect and a desire to communicate.

Do you have some interesting ways of working with directors? Do you use the story in interesting ways?