“Own Your Voice”: Quiz Results

The “Own Your Voice” Self-Assessment analyzes all four parts within Your Artistic Chorale: stories, process, technique, and relationships. When each of these four parts are in tune, you become “The Empowered Composer,” capable of achieving your loftiest career dreams. 

Your raw scores are listed below.

In Your Artistic Chorale, some parts may:

• Speak strongly (scores > 8).
• Speak well but could be more compellingly harmonized (scores ≥5 and ≤8).
• Require deeper work to bring into harmony (scores <5).

For each part in Your Artistic Chorale, we’ll share some specific insights and practical next steps on how you can more fully Own or Hone Your Voice.

Analyzing Your Scores

Stories are the soprano of Your Artistic Chorale. They are the focal point of your work and the most direct entry point for people to appreciate it. But just as trained musicians can easily get lost in the inner voices of a Bach chorale, it can be easy for you to forget how important your stories are.

With a stories score between 5 and 8, Your Artistic Chorale embraces a growing collection supports of “behind the scenes” and “worldview” stories. With some regularity, you share the stories behind and about the music you create. Meanwhile, you have an increasing awareness of how changing your internal stories might empower you to forge powerful relationships and make a lasting impact. Owning Your Voice means sharing your “behind the scenes” stories with greater frequency and courage and working to ensure your “worldview” stories help rather than hinder you.

At this level of storytelling, your stories have the power to make or break your career. They are powerful and compelling enough that you have a shot at your dreams, but they are unfocused and potentially debilitating enough that you might hesitate to make the leaps necessary.

Start by examining your “worldview” stories: What does success look like to you? What do you think it takes to find that success? In asking yourself these questions, you may find it help to read my NewMusicBox article, “In Praise of Unremarkable Music” (Part 1, Part 2).

Coaching can help you get over this hump in a matter of months and years, whereas it might otherwise take decades, if ever, to own your stories.

Stories are the soprano of Your Artistic Chorale. They are the focal point of your work and the most direct entry point for people to appreciate it. But just as trained musicians can easily get lost in the inner voices of a Bach chorale, it can be easy for you to forget how important your stories are.

With a stories score of 8 or more, Your Artistic Chorale supports a vivid collection of “behind the scenes” stories and a powerful stable of “worldview” stories. You regularly and comfortably share the stories behind and about the music you create. Meanwhile, your internal stories of how you fit into the world enable you to forge powerful relationships and make a lasting impact. Honing Your Voice means leveraging these stories to make an even greater impact than you have so far accomplished.

At this level of storytelling, your stories become a great resource not just to guide your technical explorations, but to highlight your unique contributions to the world. This could particularly come in the form of innovating in the way art is delivered—to create experiences that surprise and delight. This could also mean increasingly collaborating with other disciplines to create these experiences.

Coaching can have a significant impact in this area. As Seth Godin explained to the students at Juilliard, most people—that is, NOT the highly musically literate, but the general music lovers whose imaginations you’ll have to capture if you want to make any kind of noise outside the insular classical and new music worlds—cannot tell the difference between a good graduate cellist and Yo-Yo Ma. Beyond a certain level of competence, comparisons become increasingly meaningless and the unique experience of your work becomes increasingly precious. Coaching can help you unlock new ways of telling your stories in order to connect with these people.

Stories are the soprano of Your Artistic Chorale. They are the focal point of your work and the most direct entry point for people to appreciate it. But just as trained musicians can easily get lost in the inner voices of a Bach chorale, it can be easy for you to forget how important your stories are.

With a stories score below 5, Your Artistic Chorale lacks a clear set of “behind the scenes” stories and is likely plagued by debilitating “worldview” stories. If you have some clarity on your inspiration stories, you don’t often share them and you haven’t yet taken the time to refine and multiply them. Meanwhile, you likely are not yet aware just how powerfully your mindset stories prevent you from building relationships and making an artistic impact.

At this level of storytelling, you struggle to have a successful career. You might sometimes catch yourself making excuses for why “no one appreciates” your music and telling yourself “it’s okay if my music never amounts to anything.” If there is any ember of hope for your career, that flame begins or ends with your ability to tell powerful stories that transform your outlook and influence others.

Start by identifying your “behind the scenes” stories: What inspires you? What kinds of musical experiences excite you? What anecdotes would be in your musical autobiography? In answering these questions, you may find it helpful to read Jonathan Harvey’s book Music and Inspiration.

Coaching can help kindle the flame into inspiration and mindset stories that inspire you to do more than you so far have—and eventually nurture that flame into a roaring fire by which you can change the world. You might not believe that’s possible, but as Tony Robbins says, “A powerful story leads to a life of opportunity—change your story, change your life.”

In many chorales, the alto part is often the most thankless and overlooked. Its frequent repeated notes can feel tedious and uninspiring. But if you were to remove it, listeners would immediately feel discomfort that “something is missing.” Your creative process is the alto part of Your Artistic Chorale.

With a process score of 8 or higher, Your Artistic Chorale incorporates solid processes and systems that bring to life all other aspects of Your Voice. You have developed habits and routines that reliably keep you working efficiently even when you don’t feel it. These processes enable you to keep your word and show up regularly in your marketing and distribution channels. 

Still, at this level of process refinement, you could probably rattle off three or four tasks that you just dread doing. Honing Your Voice could mean identifying and replacing the stories behind this dread. It could also mean identifying ways to simplify or outsource these tasks.

Just like the alto line in a chorale, these thorns may not seem like much, but removing them will make an immediate and dramatic difference. Much of the coaching that elite athletes and CEOs receive consists of addressing such process issues, because they can make the difference between qualifying and medaling in the Olympics. Likewise, creative coaching can help you spot and fix your “little” process problems that prevent your career from taking the leap from good to great—and from great to exceptional.

In many chorales, the alto part is often the most thankless and overlooked. Its frequent repeated notes can feel tedious and uninspiring. But if you were to remove it, listeners would immediately feel discomfort that “something is missing.” Your creative process is the alto part of Your Artistic Chorale.

With a process score between 5 and 8, Your Artistic Chorale includes some processes and systems that buzz and hum—but others that grind and jam. Though you might not yet appreciate it, this inefficiency creates a significant drag on your ability to amplify Your Voice.

At this level of process refinement, the most helpful thing you can do is conduct a top-to-bottom inventory of your composing tasks and processes. By getting a big-picture view of what’s working and what’s not, you can focus your attention on shoring up the out-of-tune parts of your process.

Coaching can help you conduct a more searching review than you otherwise might be able to. An outside pair of eyes can notice aspects of your process you take for granted and, if needed, suggest fixes. These process issues can be difficult to spot because they often hide in your unconscious “framing” stories. By speaking to both these stories and your processes, coaching enables you to make much more rapid progress than you could on your own.

In many chorales, the alto part is often the most thankless and overlooked. Its frequent repeated notes can feel tedious and uninspiring. But if you were to remove it, listeners would immediately feel discomfort that “something is missing.” Your creative process is the alto part of Your Artistic Chorale.

With a process score less than 5, your processes and systems are not working. In young composers, this weakness goes hand in hand with not yet having mastered a broad enough of musical techniques. For composers who do have a solid technical mastery (the equivalent of a master’s degree or more), these process problems—procrastination being foremost among them—are often symptomatic of deeper mindset story issues.

At this level of process refinement, regardless of your accomplishments, you are not showing up as a “professional,” in Steven Pressfield’s terms. Instead, you show up like an “amateur,” content (or resigned) to work only “when inspiration strikes.” (Read more in Pressfield’s book Turning Pro.) Particularly when working for national- and international-level institutions, broken processes lead to broken promises, which over time can severely damage your reputation.

Coaching is particularly powerful in helping you get out of your head. It can help you bring your imposter syndrome under control, overcome entrenched habits of procrastination, and establish systems that make composing something you look forward to rather than avoid.

Composers and musicologists often talk about stylistic innovations as if they’re the focus of Your Artistic Chorale. Like the tenor part in a chorale, technique tends to get an outsized amount of attention, but both the tenor line and your technique are still fundamentally inner voices.

With a technique score of 8 or more, your technique harmonizes well within Your Voice. Overall, you feel confident in creating the musical and expressive effects you imagine, and you feel competent in using your tools—both practical (instruments, software, etc.) and theoretical (the elements of music). Still, you probably could identify new techniques you hope to master as you expand your artistic horizons. Honing Your Voice means pursuing these techniques even as you confidently own the mastery you’ve already worked hard to achieve.

At this level of technical mastery, your stories become a great resource to guide your technical explorations. This can come in the form of using them as metaphors for novel  approaches to texture, form, harmony, or other musical elements. It could also mean increasingly drawing from other disciplines to help you understand music and creativity with fresh eyes. 

Coaching can help you unlock these and other avenues by giving you a sounding board for your ideas and to help you see possibilities that you otherwise would not notice.

Composers and musicologists often talk about stylistic innovations as if they’re the focus of Your Artistic Chorale. Although technique tends to get an outsized amount of attention, like the tenor part in a chorale, it is still fundamentally an inner voice. Its purpose is to add nuance and richness to the chorale’s true focal points: your stories and your relationships.

With a technique score between 5 and 8, your technique generally harmonizes to Your Voice, but some areas of your technical arsenal be more in tune. Owning Your Voice means mastering these techniques even as you confidently own the parts that already speak well.

At this level of technical mastery, your stories can act as a guide to help you discern your musical truth and avoid what for you personally would be stylistic dead ends. That could mean analyzing the music you’ve written to identify what passages most resonate with you and why.

Coaching can help you better discern your musical truth by helping you see patterns your music you otherwise might not have noticed.

Composers and musicologists often talk about stylistic innovations as if they’re the focus of Your Artistic Chorale. Although technique tends to get an outsized amount of attention, like the tenor part in a chorale, it is still fundamentally an inner voice.

With a technique score of 5 or less, your composition and production technique not yet harmonized with Your Voice. Owning Your Voice means mastering these techniques even as you confidently own the parts of your voice (especially your inspiring stories) to keep you motivated and progressing on your journey to becoming the Empowered Composer.

At this level of technical mastery, it is important to hold your stories loosely. Until you feel comfortable with conventional music theory (roughly equivalent to what undergraduate musicians learn), you won’t have developed your inner ear enough to hear your music clearly.

Your time is best spent by internalizing theory and writing as much music as possible. Quantity overwhelming trumps quality at this stage. (See this excerpt from the book Art and Fear, p. 29.) 

The internet also has a wealth of resources to help beginning and intermediate-level composers. These include YouTube Channels (e.g., Alan Belkin, David Bruce, Listening In), online courses (e.g., Thomas Goss’s Orchestration Online, Marc Jovani’s Cinematic Composing, Alain Mayrand’s ScoreClub), and other sites (e.g., IU’s Instrument Studies for Eyes and Ears, Open Music Theory).

Coaching would focus on helping you see the big picture of theory and analysis and how to effectively incorporate them into your processes and stories.

Relationships form the bass of Your Artistic Chorale. They supply the foundation on which all the other parts rest and to which they all harmonize. As John Donne says, we are most fully ourselves only in connection with other people—both in music and in the rest of our lives.

With a relationship score of 8 or more, Your Artistic Chorale resonates strongly with and is amplified by a strong, network of meaningful relationships. You not only have the people in your life that help you achieve your artistic goals, but also regularly serve others in their artistic pursuits. Still, you probably recognize that your sphere of influence has room for growth. Honing Your Voice means deepening and broadening your relationships and your impact even as you confidently nurture the relationships you’ve created.

At this level of relationship building, your stories have become a tool by which you can effectively “find your tribe,” as Seth Godin put it. To unlock greater levels of impact, you will have to dig into your attitudes and mindset. Take the time to seriously consider what you believe about the world, your place in it, and your possible impact on it.

Out of all the areas of Your Artistic Chorale, coaching can perhaps make the greatest difference in this one. Much of the coaching that elite athletes and CEOs receive revolves on these mindset issues—the unlocking of which allows them to create world-level impact.

Relationships form the bass of Your Artistic Chorale. They supply the foundation on which all the other parts rest and to which they all harmonize. As John Donne says, we are most fully ourselves only in connection with other people—both in music and in the rest of our lives.

With a relationship score between 5 and 8, Your Artistic Chorale generally resonates and is amplified by a growing network of institutional and personal relationships. However, some aspects of that network could still be better harmonized. Owning Your Voice means deepening your relationships in order to maximize not only your ability to achieve your artistic goals, but also your capacity to serve others in their artistic pursuits.

At this level of relationship building, the most crucial part of Owning Your Voice is allowing yourself to be seen. Your stories are the greatest tool by which you can effectively “find your tribe,” as Seth Godin put it. Put a special effort into writing and talking about your influences and inspirations. Share these stories with as many people as you can. Equally important, find as many opportunities as you can to listen to others’ stories. This will not only help you connect with them, but also give you ideas and insights into your own stories.

Coaching is especially well-suited to help you own these stories. An unfortunate byproduct of classical training (and of public schooling generally) is that we often learn to undervalue and hide what makes us unique and what lights us up inside. In a matter of weeks or months, coaching can help you reconnect with these stories and give you the courage to share them with others in a way that would otherwise take years.

Relationships form the bass of Your Artistic Chorale. They supply the foundation on which all the other parts rest and to which they all harmonize. As John Donne says, we are most fully ourselves only in connection with other people—both in music and in the rest of our lives.

With a relationships score of 5 or less, Your Artistic Chorale is generally missing the network of institutional and personal relationships that would empower you to share your music and your story. Owning Your Voice means gathering and nurturing these relationships even as you confidently own the parts of your voice (especially your inspiring stories) to keep you motivated and progressing on your journey to becoming the Empowered Composer.

At this level of relationship building, the most important part of Owning Your Voice is developing connections with others. As much as you have time, look for opportunities to connect with your mentors, peers, and dream collaborators. This can mean congratulating them after a concert or inviting them to get coffee. As with any new relationship, you rarely know which of these connections will become significant. Instead, take a sincere interest in everyone. Give them your focused attention and detach your conversation from any desired outcome. Over the course of a decade (yes, it always takes this long), you will develop a broad network of meaningful musical connections.

Coaching can be especially helpful in this process. Early career composers often do not realize how strong of a network they already have. They also often have “worldview” stories that inhibit them from reaching out to people who would otherwise want to develop professional relationships with them. (This, as it turns out, is most musicians. Most musicians will want to have a professional relationship with you, provided you treat them well.) Coaching can cut straight through these worldview issues and help you see how strong of a network you likely already have and how powerful your “behind the scenes” stories are in attracting like-minded patrons, collaborators, and audiences.