The Service Industry

Writing songs for any sort of theatrical project is an act of service. Service towards the story, service towards the character, and service towards the project as a whole. Beautiful things get cut, that’s just how it is. There’s any number of reasons a song could be cut that has nothing to do with its… Continue reading The Service Industry

Batting Averages

In baseball a batting average of .300 is considered great, and it is great. But everything has a batting average, and in many areas .300 is unacceptable. What’s a great batting average for showing up to work when you don’t want to? .800? If someone doesn’t work a fifth of the days they don’t feel… Continue reading Batting Averages

Professionalism

Professionalism has the most value when everything is burning down around you. It’s not hard to be professional when things are going well.  

Incompetence

All skills are born out of incompetence, we’ve all heard adages about how the professional has made more mistakes than the amateur. But there’s a caveat.   Someone who is very skilled likely doesn’t repeat mistakes, because the tension between the mistakes they’ve made and  the standard they set for themselves is so painful they… Continue reading Incompetence

Hyper-informed

Is there a benefit to being well-informed? Sometimes, it depends. A maxillofacial surgeon who is well-informed beyond the point of what is required to earn his title has, by necessity, divested time from their specialization. I don’t care if my surgeon is well-informed; that’s a GP’s job. A specialist’s job is to be myopically hyper-informed.… Continue reading Hyper-informed

Backups

If you don’t have a system for cloud backups of your ongoing work you either have terrible risk assessment or you don’t care that much—both are a bad look. Life will come to kick you in the teeth at some point. Just buy the mouthguard and be done with it.      

Leading

When you’re doing vocal production for a project it’s easy to feel pressure. But the performers are under pressure too, and understanding that (and the position you’re in respective to them) is why it’s so important to be kind and not present any of the internal stress you’re dealing with. Showing performers you’re stressed serves… Continue reading Leading

Actions

I am currently on a 5 hour layover in Seattle to get to Atlanta to then get to Jacksonville so I can meet a singer who’s on board for A Dog’s Life. He’s based in New York but currently touring with Jesus Christ Superstar, and since I felt like I needed to hear him in… Continue reading Actions