Hey, Stage-32-ers!
As you may know, next month is typically known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), but here on Stage 32, we do a "November Write Club" where YOU set a goal for the month and then check in each week with your progress. Keep your eyes out for Jason's blog post launching the event this Monday!
In the meantime, let's help each other (and ourselves) by discussing possible goals! Okay, okay, so you're not necessarily a writer, but as a Musician, Sound Designer, or Composer, you can set a goal for yourself as well! Comment below with daily, weekly, and monthly goal suggestions! These can be ones that have worked for you in the past, ones that you've thought about doing but never tried, or something you've heard and want to give it a go!
***If you suggest an exercise or assignment from somewhere, be sure to let us know where you got the prompt so we can acknowledge the good work of others! For example, I really enjoyed this blog by Navid Lancaster about presenting yourself and your brand online: https://www.stage32.com/blog/How-to-Market-Yourself-as-a-Film-Composer or if you want to sharpen a craft, I loved this webinar from Terrance Blanchard, the Oscar-nominated composer who I know and love from Inside Man (2006), a Spike Lee Joint: https://www.stage32.com/blog/How-to-Market-Yourself-as-a-Film-Composer
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Let me chime in with my personal approach. Having a 'deadline' has for me always been a reasonable motivator for writing original material. I have accomplished it for the last 17 years by attending classes in Houston Community College (HCC). I know its a 2 year school but there are many like me who are 'lifetime learners'. So not only does it help me to learn new things and ways to write music, it also gives me real world opportunities to get my music played 'live' (whereas here locally my film material is generally electronic delivery). So after the first few years taking the same music courses as music majors (like theory, ear training, orchestration, etc.), I have been attending the Jazz program and taking improvisation and composition classes. I play occasionally but my main emphasis is to write material that the class plays live.
This fall semester, as we are zooming, there is no live performance and the two classes are combined into a single Zoom. Now the performers are using software tools to combine their performances of "Real Book" standards into a single MP3. However, I am writing jazz lead sheets (of both original and 'transcribed' material) for them to try out and for next semester should we go live then. I am also writing film tracks that are played in class for critique and feedback. Done 13 of them since class stopped in March. Now I don't have a track or chart for every week, but classes are deadlines and they motivate me to write, arrange, and tweak either charts or electronic material for each Thu night class.
Here are two examples:
Luna was the last live performance of a jazz chart before school shutdown in March:
https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/luna
Memories is the film track I wrote last week (in about 10 days) for last Thu night's class:
https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/memories