Dealing effectively with criticism is vital to a successful freelance career. Regardless of how great your work is, it will be criticized. It’s hard not to get attached to something you’ve poured yourself into for hours on end but that attachment can be your worst enemy when someone offers up a less than flattering critique. For me the process goes something like this: I play some music for a client, they don’t think it’s right and let me know in no uncertain terms, I feel deflated. Now here’s where things get interesting. My immediate impulse is to defend my work and make the case for why it is right and the client is just not getting it. In my experience that has never gone well, as ultimately you are under contract by them to create something that fulfills their vision. If it’s not happening for them now, it probably won’t after you’ve made your case for why they should love it. If you are able to talk or even bully them into accepting it you’ll most likely find that when the client has had some time to reflect, they’ll be left with a feeling that they really didn’t get what they wanted. That won’t bode well for you getting a call on the next project.  What works for me is to immediately start asking questions. What about it don’t you like? What feels wrong about it? This is the point where you need to detach yourself from the work and join with the client in tearing it down so that your next stab at it will be much closer if not right on the mark. If you can do this you’ll find that rather than being in an adversarial relationship with them you will be in a collaborative one. This act of joining in the criticism of your own work produces growth and takes you to the next level. It stings at first but once you’ve made the leap you’ll find that the next stab you take at it will be much closer if not right on the mark. After taking this approach for awhile, you’ll begin to appreciate those clients that don’t pull punches when it comes to criticism. They’re making you a better artist and that’s always a good thing.

Every artist has their own special way of making something from nothing and in some ways, the process of creation can be just as interesting as the thing created. You’ve all heard the stories of the songwriter who dreams a song that becomes a major hit or the brilliant novelist who goes through a tortuous year of writers block before realizing a masterpiece. We find these stories fascinating because they offer us some insight into how the stuff we find so intriguing, beautiful, disturbing, moving (the list goes on) comes into being. But I think on an even deeper level, we’re interested in the process because it is so fundamental to everything we do in our own lives, whether we’re making Paintings, Music, Grocery lists, Babies, Dinner, Love, War, Peace (again, the list goes on), the process of creativity is inescapable. It’s also a struggle. Why is that? I know that there are times when the work just flows out of us effortlessly but more than likely that was preceded by a struggle to get started and actually become interested in the work. I think the difficulty lies in getting to a place where your attention is focused fully on that which you are doing. Effortless creativity requires your whole being and that’s not ever an easy thing to surrender. It means losing an awareness of self, giving up control and allowing the work to take over. Once “you” are out of the way, your mind is freed from the arduos task of maintaining the construct of “your name here” . That loss of self is liberating and opens you up to a world of possibility which is the ideal place to begin the work of making something wonderful. 

I’m getting very close to starting work on a new film score for a documentary called The Eyes Of Thailand . Rather than tell you what it’s about, I’ll let you click the link and find out. The story conveyed in this film is a powerful one so that will allow me to let it takeover and drive the creative process. It’s a beautiful thing when the story turns a light on that illuminates a new musical idea that leads to another, that leads to another and so on. Making that connection with the film while composing and in my case digitally realizing the music is the gold ring I’m always reaching for. When it happens, the music becomes an indistinguishable component of the Art that everyone is engaged in creating. For me, the best scores are the ones that belong to a film that I walk away from realizing I had no awareness of the music. The story was so compellingly delivered that I had no desire to focus on any one element in particular. Of course I will sometimes revisit the film and zero in on the score so I can attempt to understand why it served it’s master so well. Maybe it’s best though to just let the Art be wonderful, realize that synchronicity happens, and always remember to let the story take charge.

I recently participated as a panel member in an event hosted by the Minnesota School Of Business called “The Art Of Freelancing”. The audience consisted mostly of students and the discussion centered around what it takes to be successful as a freelancer. It’s always fun and and a bit of an ego boost to be able to discuss what you love to do in front of an interested audience. However, the thing that really struck me after the Q&A had finished and we were milling about, meeting new people, exchanging ideas, was that this is really fun and exhilarating. Networking, often seen as a means to an end, was feeling like an end in itself. Compare it to the process of creating a piece of music. Getting lost in my work is one of the best things I experience in life. Looking up at the clock and seeing that 2 hrs has gone by when it feels like just a moment has passed is pretty cool. Obviously the practical goal is to complete the music, get it approved by the client, send the bill and collect the money. That is definitely a good thing. For me though, the most rewarding part of the process is the creating. I’m convinced that networking can be just like that. If I can bring that same energy and focus on the present to my interactions with other people and not worry so much about what they can do for me or what I can do for them, maybe the rest will just take care of itself.