Some advice from an elder
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I wrote this message to a talented young singer/songwriter of my acquaintance after they posted an agonized message on Facebook this morning about their struggle to find a wider audience:
Good morning! I just read your post about being told you don’t have the ‘it’ factor, and I’d like to share something personal with you.
I’ve been composing for nearly 50 years, and the number of times my music has been performed by someone who was not actually under my direction at the theatre or in choir I can count on one hand.
As I get older that fact — that no one plays my music — has begun to weigh on me, to the extent that I’ve told my wife that I don’t want a funeral service or celebration of life — I want a concert of my music. I joke with people that they wouldn’t play it while I was alive, but they’re damn sure going to play it after I’m dead.
Here’s what I want to say to you. In my book, I talk about how every creative person has three audiences:
Those people out there: the people who are going to buy your book, come to your concert, etc. [N.B.: What is not and never will be your audience: New York Times best seller list, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tony Awards committee, etc.]
Those people right here: your support system, your scenius
Yourself
Last fall, at the burn, I was in a pretty mopey mood, and my lack of “success” in getting my music played was a big part of that mood. And then, in the middle of all that light and noise and art and play, it dawned on me: I wrote that music for me. And I’ve had enough compliments about it from people who know what they’re talking about that I believe I’ve done pretty well, especially for someone who never had the training. If “those people out there” can’t be hacked, that’s on them. I’ve written what I’ve written. And it’s for me.
Yes, I would still love to stand on a stage and accept a Pulitzer or Tony for my score to William Blake's Inn, but that’s not important. Your music is beautiful and you perform it beautifully. That should be the bedrock of how you think about your work. Audience? You have one already. It’s you.
Keep going.
[This post has been slightly edited and expanded from my original text]
