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THE CHART DOCTOR
by RON HESS
rhess@filmmusicweekly.com
When Great Is The Enemy Of Good
There is a well-known but seldom-discussed
truism in philosophical circles
concerning when headlong pursuit of the
optimum is a barrier to the successful
achievement of even the minimum. In some
quarters it’s called “analysis paralysis,” the
mental block built out of oppressive expectations,
perhaps traceable to our traditional institutions
which cradled our career training.
They fill our minds with awe for the achievements
of past giants (and dreams of following
in their lofty footsteps) without first drilling
into our psyches the wiser reverence for successfully
(even if less brilliantly) getting a job
done at all.
This is particularly a problem for those
in the “musical-industrial complex” which,
if we’re honest with ourselves, takes in
practically all of us. How many of us honestly
march in the footsteps of Charles Ives,
perhaps America’s greatest compositional
iconoclast, a man and an artist so fiercely
independent that he turned his considerable
mental powers to pioneering the development
and marketing of life insurance in its early
years, both out of reverence and concern for
his fellow citizens as well as to underwrite
his freedom to compose the music he craved.
All of us to some degree must march to
another’s drumbeat (in order to receive another’s
paycheck,) so we have to get comfortable
with the cadence. Simply put, unlike
the aforementioned Ives, we almost always
have to knuckle under to some external
timetable, direction, style, marketing plan,
etc. Some of us discover too late that the
“freedom” we perceived in the recordings of
our heroes was, in actuality, an illusion, and
consequently sew discontent and unhappiness
in our own careers.
The wise citizen-musician, whose real
contentment depends on freedom from worries
about mortgage payments, health insurance,
retirement plans, etc., knows that in
order to be a hero to “the butcher, the baker,
and the candlestick maker,” he must first and
foremost, over and over and over again, meet
a deadline. Brilliance is optional; competence
is not. Your clients (and your reputation) will
not appreciate your genius if you fail to get
all the cues sketched, written, orchestrated,
recorded, mixed, and/or archived.
How does one ensure that his job gets
done, on budget and within deadlines? A
good strategy involves the following: 1)
Organization: Arrange all the details of your
project as details (spreadsheets are great)
and think art only when you tackle them
individually) 2) Intuit, then polish. Get in
the habit of quickly throwing all your ideas,
snippets, motifs, melodic or rhythmic inspirations,
etc., onto the paper, sequence, sketch,
score, what-have-you, and then polish them
with the short strokes; don’t fine-tune as you
go, 3) Plan your work and then work your
plan (self-discipline, pure and simple) This
includes the wisdom to give yourself temporal
and mental escape routes like self-imposed
deadlines in advance of the real ones,
helpful associates on call, in advance, (just
in case,) backup and contingent hardware
and software strategies (extra storage media,
printer paper, toner cartridges, Internet connections,
alternate printer service bureaus,
actually-implemented backup strategies, etc.).
Aside from the practical benefits, think how
much more clearly your mind will create
when it isn’t turning to Jell-O due to stress.
Now, unless you are a seasoned professional
who has done this many times, you
might want to skip right through the above
strategies and get right to being brilliant.
Bad idea. He who looks too far ahead or too
high up eventually trips on his own shoelaces.
The histories of Hollywood, Nashville,
and New York are littered with the aborted
careers of people who did just that and had
important projects fail. (Funny how they
never teach that stuff back in music school...)
Put yourself in your client’s shoes. With
a client of your own to satisfy, when given
a choice between a subordinate’s job done
competently and thoroughly or one done
brilliantly but incompletely, which would you
choose? If you picked the former, “ding!” You
live to work again. If you chose the latter, go
home, you’re fired.
The bottom line for all of this is simple:
don’t ever let “great” get in the way of “good.”
They don’t give prizes for being way ahead
of the pack if you don’t finish the race. And
when you do get in the comfortable habit of
delivering “good,” eventually “great” comes
along for the ride.
n Ron Hess works as a studio conductor, orchestrator,
copyist and score supervisor in Los Angeles, where he’s
well-known for his quick ability to ferret out the most hidden
performance problems and spot score glitches rapidly.
He holds a Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory,
and is considered one of the top Finale experts
in Los Angeles. Email your questions to Ron at
rhess@filmmusicweekly.com
10 ISSUE 47 • JANUARY 22, 2008 FILM MUSICweekly