In August of 2009, I finished "Helena," the best piece of music I had ever written. After
weeks of writing, producing, recording live musicians, and mixing the track,
I finally sent it off to the director of an indie feature as my demo. The response I got was:
"Not sure if it's what we're going for. What else have you got?" So,
what did I do? There's a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge for being a composer.
There's also a whole psychological side to it, too. There are times when I'm giving a private
lesson in composition when I'm less like a music teacher and more like a therapist because people
come to me with problems like writer's block, not being happy with their work,
being good at getting started but then getting stuck, relationship problems, and so on.
In this video, I'm going to share with you three mindset shifts that I've gone through
that have helped me be more productive, write faster, and counter-intuitively
write better because of that, and ultimately made me a better composer than I used to be.
So back to that indie film when the director's response was lukewarm. I was devastated, angry,
and shocked. I thought: "Are you crazy? This is the best thing I've ever written!"
I ended up not following it up with another track,
and of course not getting the gig. This is because at the time, I hadn't yet
gone through the first important realization, which is that there will always be more music.
In the years since I finished that piece, I've written hours and hours of music. So,
my love some, I hate most of it. Is fine, but none of it is irreplaceable. At the time,
I felt like I had poured so much of myself into that track that it was like a piece of me was
lost when it got rejected. I didn't really have the right perspective that there will always be
more music. I think we should probably just keep going. If I was in that situation now
and the director said "meh, what else have you got?", I'd say "You how about this?" I don't
attach my sense of self to the music I write, which I'll get more into in the third point.
There's a reason that I'm able to say "no problem" and just knock out something else, which is the
second mindset shift I make. Decisions quickly when you think about it, writing music is just
making a string of decisions: what chord comes next, what instruments will I use, should I
add more layers (which, if you've seen my Thomas Bergerson video, you know the answer is probably
yes), and if all we're doing is making decisions, there are really only two things that we need to
focus on: the quality of our decisions and how quickly we make them. The quality of decisions
is where that whole craft side of things comes in, but there are a lot of decisions where one way or
the other is not really going to make a difference at least not until you've tried something.
If you're writing for entirely virtual instruments, does it really matter what key
you're writing in? Most of the time, no! Just pick one and move on. G minor, there you have a key.
You have to make a decision, sir. It's not like any of these decisions are unchangeable. Anything
can be changed, that's why we're composing and not improvising. Elaine Maran from score Club shares
this philosophy. I had already come to this on my own, but felt validated when watching one of
his courses and hearing him say "make a decision and go with it. Just do it already." It's so much
easier to evaluate music on the page or screen and consider if it's the right choice for the moment
than it is to fill in a blank from infinite possibilities. And if you're taking hours and
hours to move ahead eight bars, you're probably just wasting your time in indecision. I mentioned
that I don't invest myself personally in my music, and that's because of the last mindset shift,
which might be a bit controversial. I'll get ready for the comments, but it's about what
works for me, not about what I think of you. I think of myself as a craftsman, not an artist.
A true craftsman, like a furniture maker for example, can put exquisite care and pride into
their work. The distinction between craftsmen and artists is about purpose. At the end of the day,
across assessment, is producing something that needs to serve a function. They can craft the
most beautiful chair in the world, but you still have to be able to sit in it for the work to be
a success. In the same way, I can write the most beautiful music in the world, but if it doesn't
serve the story or the director's vision, then it's as good as a chair that you can't sit in.
A lot of this obviously comes from the fact that I'm a media composer, so I'm writing music based
on someone else's requirements. But making this distinction is huge on a psychological level.
It's like a certain burden of pretentiousness is lifted and I'm just responsible for doing my best
work with the tools and skills available to me. If you're struggling to get perspective on your
own writing and you don't feel like you have a good way to get honest feedback, then you can't
miss this video here where you'll learn how to assess the quality of your own music and get the
perspective you need to become a better writer. Thanks for watching, I'll see you in the next one!