In his brilliant book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell aims to prove that those who rise to the top don’t always get there alone. Here’s what composers can learn from his revelations.
“The tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn; it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured.”
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
The majority of famous Canadian hockey players are born in the first few months of the calendar year.
Why’s that?
Well, in a nutshell, it’s because the cutoff date for each age group is January 1st. So if you’re born in January, you’re the oldest in the group.
If you’re the oldest in the group (particularly at young ages) you’ll have a lot more control over your body movements than kids almost an entire year younger than you.
If you have more control over your body movements, you’re more likely to be noticed as a better player.
If you’re noticed as a better player, you’ll be placed into better groups.
If you’re placed in better groups, you’ll get better (and more) training.
If you’re getting better (and more) training, the ability gap between you and that kid born almost an entire year later than you is going to keep on increasing, and increasing.
It’s your typical “self fulfilling prophecy”
And we see the same story when we look at other sports, and even education – where there’s a cutoff date for enrolment, those born earlier in the year make it into better groups, and in turn receive better (and more) education/training.
Okay, so that’s pretty fascinating. But what can we learn from this as composers?
Well, if that one “lucky break” (being born in a particular month) can have such a dramatic impact on the course of someone’s life, think about how one small action from you as a composer could impact yours.
Meeting that one right person at an event.
Composing that one piece of music that hits just the right spot.
Ask yourself:
“What’s one thing I could do today that could trigger the start of my own self fulfilling prophecy?”
And then do it!
People think going back in time and changing one small thing could dramatically alter the course of history, but they don’t think that changing one small thing in the present could dramatically change the future.
What if it could?
What could be that thing you could do today just before ”and then do it” ? Seems asking ones self the question isn’t quite enough to guarantee getting the right answer, if any ? .. Maybe to wonder about it all the time while doing the right thing alongside has a chance 😉
Oh yeah, nothing’s guaranteed, and I think part of the problem is that there isn’t a “right answer” – just a load of random choices one can make ???? As long as people make an educated guess about what might be a sensible next step (i.e. reaching out to a filmmaker), and then go ahead and take that next step, they’re giving themselves an infinitely greater opportunity than if they do nothing at all 🙂
Hi Jonny, thanx for your reply = makes good sense 😉
My son is very interested in making movies, just beginning, but working at it ! … Inspired by this, I’ve had this crazy idea for some time, thinking that maybe certain kinds of movies could be made based on soundtracks instead of the opposite.
Of course, no big name in movies would do a thing like this, and sorry if I’m off topic, but music itself often tells a somewhat abstract story and adding a visual aspect, or should I say, making a final audio-visual product as an entity could be an interesting approach, not meaning to be obnoxious = just wondering what you think as a person who has been dealing with both aspects for quite a while ?
Definitely interesting! There are a few examples of movies that have been approached in that kind of way (here’s a short article with some examples/stories: https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2014/11/05/film-score-picture – “Only Lovers Left” is possibly the closest example to what you’re describing) – often music is either composed specifically or compiled together to help add rhythm/pace/mood during filming/editing. Of course, usually the story for the movie already exists at that point.
And, of course, if you go further back in time we have opera, where the entire story is built upon music
Most of the big symphonic works are based on underlying stories too, so you’re totally right about music telling its own story. The film “Amadeus” played with that idea – taking Mozart’s works and using them as film score.
So there’s definitely a lot to explore on the idea!