Having your own musical voice that represents you and your ‘musical ambitions’ makes the process a whole lot easier.

Throughout your studies, it is easy to get swept up in the expectations of your institution or even that of the industry, without giving much thought to your own creative needs. Nowadays, there are so many composers and creative people to be inspired by and want to imitate. However, it is important to remember that what makes these artists so fascinating is their individual approach and unique sound that only they can create.

I found within my degree I would have two sides to my work: the first being the music I felt I had to make, and the second being the music that I wanted to make. Navigating myself between the two was stressful and tiring. When the music I felt I had to make was performed, no matter how much praise I received, I would always feel somewhat ashamed or embarrassed by it and simply never want to hear it again. Not to mention how desperately bored I was creating it. Therefore, I switched my approach in my final two years. I started to focus as much as I could on what I wanted to do, how I wanted the music to sound and how it would reflect me.

Now in doing this, I made a lot of sacrifices, marks lowered and criticism increased. I found that those first two years focusing on the music I felt I had to make, caused me to strengthen a muscle that I didn’t want, while allowing the other to get weaker. Therefore, initially when making this switch, my music was somewhat ‘worse’ because I was starting a few paces back. However, pushing through this stage and strengthening this new 'muscle' made all the difference. As I was more committed to its creation, my music exceeded everything it had ever been before, my marks went up again* and the criticism disappeared.

And then… the process became a lot easier. I was able to rehearse pieces better as I knew exactly what I wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it, ultimately leading to better performances. I was proud after a performance and could accept praise a lot easier. I was content in the catalogue of work I was growing. And lastly (probably most importantly), I could see a future in music that was without the fear of other people’s opinion as I was confident in my own personal approach and ambition, even if it did differ to everyone that I knew.

If you like what you do, you are more likely to believe in it, giving it a greater potential to succeed.

*(N.B. marks are not everything, but that is a message for another time).