Happy New Year and welcome back to the Northern Film Orchestra blog. In todays article we wanted to share a few simple new years resolutions to set yourself up for success as a composer in 2023.
Forming good habits around how you manage your time is one of the smartest moves you can make in the long run. With the New Year upon us, we can reflect on any bad habits we have picked up, and think about how we want to use our time more positively moving forward.
Read on below to discover the tips!
Using your time more effectively will help you to maximise your progress as a composer.
Use your time wisely
If you don't have a schedule, you should try your best to implement one. Having a schedule allows you to spread your time evenly across the multiple different areas of your business. Decide on where you want to focus your time each week and base your schedule around this. For example some weeks you will want to spend more time working on compositions or finishing a project, whilst other weeks will allow for more time spent networking or building your social media.
In an increasingly online world, don't overlook the importance of getting out there and making connections.
Make connections
Collaboration is the foundation of our industry, and so it’s essential that we invest in nurturing our existing professional relationships, and allow time for getting out there and making new connections.
If you live in a city, chances are there will be film/music industry networking events and meetups happening, so try and see what events are taking place in your local area. Many of these are pretty low-key events, and give you the perfect chance to make connections with talented filmmakers in your city.
Whilst the idea of networking can be off-putting to some people, its an essential part of developing your career as a composer, so you’ve got to find a way of networking that works for you.
Staying active will help you to perform better and stave of any issues caused from too much sitting down.
Invest in your health
When we prioritise our health, we can work more effectively and have a better quality of life. As composers, we rely on our creative energy to produce our best work, so by maintaining our mental and physical health we are putting ourselves in the best place for success.
Better health will mean less time lost through sickness, as well as more energy and focus when working long hours. Here are a few ideas to try this year to help stay in top health:
- Join a local sports or exercise club
- Take a 30 minute walk each day
- Do regular stretches
- Practice yoga/meditation
Study the scores of composers you admire and discover hidden details that you can emulate in your own work.
Study the work of composers you admire
Studying the works of those who have come before you is one of the best ways to help you improve as a composer, and we are fortunate to live in a time where we have many great film composers whose work we can study and learn from.
If you have a favourite film/game score then do some research and find out its backstory. Why does it sound so good? Where was it recorded and who were the people involved. What gear were they using? Etc.
Some full scores are available for purchase online, so consider buying a copy and listening along with the score in hand as well.
Give yourself room to be playful in your work and experiment with new creative methods.
Allow room for experimentation
As a composer, your own unique voice and originality will always be your strongest asset, so allow yourself space for pure experimentation and playing with new ideas.
Don't be too rigid in your methods; always be looking to introduce new sounds or instruments into your work and mix things up. Take influences from across the spectrum, combine things together, and follow the ideas that excite you as an individual.
Conclusion
If you made it to the end of this post then congrats, with this new found knowledge you shall be in prime position to make 2023 the best year yet for your journey as a composer.
We hope you enjoyed checking out this article and found the tips to be useful. Have fun using these tips over the next few weeks and we wish you all a wonderful start to the year.
Stay tuned for more content like this, as well as more info on our upcomming shared orchestra sessions
Contact - jack@northernfilmorchestra.com
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