Success
is often compared to a journey leading to a destination. People are said to
have “made it to the top” and business plans cite “milestones” to mark
progress. However, I don’t think about success in terms of a journey or a goal.
Rather, I tend to think of success as a companion with whom I have a
relationship. Like any healthy relationship, a significant amount of work is
necessary to make the connection last.
The
problem is that success is only an infrequent guest. My true artistic companions
– the roommates of my creative life – seem to be disappointment and rejection.
There
are, of course, many definitions of “success” that go beyond an artistic career.
Outside my calling as a composer, I do feel very successful in my personal life.
However, within the context of a professional career in the Arts, it is simply
a truth that all artists must come to terms with rejection and disappointment at
various points in their lives. All artists, especially composers, are well
aware of their frequent visits. They show up so frequently for me that I have
stopped thinking of them as “visits” altogether. Artistic disappointment and rejection
have moved into my creative life as roommates. Yet, I am not alone in sharing
my life with these unwanted housemates. Many artists have them hanging around,
taking up space and using up valuable energy. After a certain amount of time,
dealing with disappointment and rejection ceases to be “romantic” or a weirdly
narcissistic badge of honor for the martyred artist.
After
awhile, it just gets old.
I
believe I am safe in assuming that there are thousands of composers within the
United States with more being churned out of conservatories and music schools every
year. I’m also not going out on much of a limb to note that contemporary
classical music is not very high on anyone’s list of music streams, download
purchases or even physical CD sales (if that is even a thing anymore). We can’t
even agree on what to call our genre! Is it “Alternative Classical?”; “Art Music?”;
“Contemporary Classical?” With so many composers, so few outlets for
expression, no clearly defined genre and – at best – societal indifference to
our work, there is no way success will simply show up on a composer’s doorstep,
much less remain for an extended period of time.
The Clibber Jones Ensemble premiering my piece Zero Hour. Part of the inaugural SoundNOW Festival! |
The
initial way a composer goes about courting success in such an environment is by
submitting work to external opportunities such as contests, festivals and
conference score calls with the hope of attracting the desired housemate. I am
a big advocate of this and even highly encourage my students to engage in such
submissions. However, relying exclusively
on these kinds of opportunities can paradoxically be just the sort of energy
that feeds unwanted guests. The odds are usually long against winning a contest
or having work selected for a festival and invites rejection into the creative
life. Unsuccessful submissions also richly feed disappointment. In order to nudge
these roommates out the door, it’s best not to provide too much hospitality.
Chamber Cartel premiering my piece So Small Against The Stars. Part of the inaugural SoundNOW Festival! |
The
artist who tires of disappointment and rejection faces three options: redefine
“success”; make a life so barren of creative activity that disappointment and
rejection leave out of sheer boredom; or actively refuse to serve these lousy roommates
and make their environment inhospitable in order to force them out. For me, the
first option seems like a cop-out and the second option is essentially a form
of artistic suicide. The third option, while certainly more work, not only
keeps unwanted roomies at bay but actively courts the very roommate I desire:
success. Yet there’s more to simply refusing to serve rejection and
disappointment. Should these undesirable guests finally leave but the “creative
house” remains empty, they will return with greater ferocity. Their absence
must be replaced. It is important for an artist to therefore actively pursue success. While courting
success will still involve submitting work to outside score calls, there is an
additional, and more pro-active, way
to attract this more appealing roommate: a
composer must create his or her own opportunities.
Not
getting your music performed as much as you would like? Organize your own
concert! Conductors and performers are unaware of your work? Promote yourself
tirelessly online and in social media! No one is commissioning you to compose a
new piece? Make friends with performers and write for them! Sometimes, substantive
opportunities are nothing more than a flash of inspiration that one is not afraid to pursue. This is precisely
how the SoundNOW Contemporary Music Festival, a brand new festival I am involved with, got off the ground. Click
HERE to read more about the creation
of this endeavor.
Creating
a successful contemporary music festival certainly kept disappointment and
rejection away this past spring. What really attracted the more desirable
companion of success, however, was maintaining control over my own creative
life. The success of SoundNOW was
not dependent upon the subjective whims of an adjudication panel but rather
through hard work. The same can be said of the group I founded back in 1996, the neoPhonia New Music Ensemble. Both activities have yielded
success in my personal artistic career. Of course, engaging in these types of
activities is risky and a bit daunting at first. It also takes lots of work to
create a robust presence on the web and in social media; another very
pro-active way to create opportunities. However, these types of actions nurture
a relationship with success. Any healthy relationship always involves risk and
hard work.
Disappointment
and rejection will always be a part of my life as a composer. Selection panels
will always be subjective and there are always better composers out there that
will edge me out of opportunities. However, creating my own opportunities goes
a long way to flipping my roommate paradigm. By taking control of my own
artistic career, I should only need to put up with occasional visits from
disappointment and rejection while enjoying the companionship of success.
It’s
really up to me.