5 Essential Tips for Succeeding as a Composer in 2024
As an award-winning public artist and professor at Berklee College of Music, I've navigated the path from aspiring composer to successful creative entrepreneur. Here are five key lessons that have been crucial to my journey:
Get Inspired by Diverse Genres: Draw inspiration from a wide range of musical styles beyond your primary focus. Listening to pop, hip-hop, jazz, experimental, and avant-garde music can infuse your compositions with fresh, contemporary elements. This diversity allows your music to reflect the world around you, making it more relevant and dynamic.
Embrace Self-Iteration: Don't feel the need to reinvent yourself with every project. Great composers often revisit and refine their previous work, building upon established melodies, rhythms, and harmonies. This iterative process helps you develop a unique and recognizable voice over time.
Create a Sonic Vision Board: Before starting a new project, compile a playlist of pieces and artists that inspire you. This "sonic vision board" serves as a creative foundation, allowing you to immerse yourself in the sounds and rhythms that excite you. It's a practical way to ground your creative process in tangible references.
Write with Performers in Mind: Visualize the musicians who will bring your compositions to life. Whether you know the specific performers or not, imagining how they will play your music helps ground your work in the human experience. This approach is particularly vital for percussionists and other movement-based performers.
Perfect Your Pitch: Learn to articulate your artistic vision clearly and compellingly. Being able to pitch your projects effectively is crucial for securing commissions, collaborations, and support. To help with this, I've created a free resource called "Perfect the Pitch," a workbook designed to guide you through the process of connecting with your audience and landing big opportunities.
Download the free "Perfect the Pitch" workbook here to enhance your pitching skills and achieve greater success as a composer
Curious to learn more? Watch the full video where I dive deeper into these concepts and share real-world examples
