They say that the only thing worse than being busy is not being busy.
As a freelance worker in an uncertain industry, I can certainly understand that sentiment and I always feel privileged to have a steady stream of projects to work on.
With that said, I do seem to have an awful lot on my plate at the moment and the challenge is to be effective at using time wisely.
This is certainly not a skill that comes naturally to me as it does to some.
I’m currently working on the fourth Voices of The Valley album with The Fron Male Voice Choir (the previous three having clocked up well over a million sales- not bad for an amateur choir from a small village in North Wales).
I’ve also recorded an album’s worth of material with the very fine band of the Coldstream Guards. Both of these records need to be delivered within the next couple of months and I’m walking a tightrope of planning and prioritizing in order to make sure everything happens when it needs to.
Making an album is a little like cooking a complicated dish.
The compositions and arrangements are the recipe(a kind of blueprint for the finished product), the musicians provide the ingredients by way of their performances and then the producer (chef) has to put everything together in the right proportions and at the right times.
For example, I’m working on vocal arrangements for the choir at the moment. Our first recording sessions are in a little over two weeks and we will be doing four titles over four days. I therefore know that the choir need arrangements from me, and they need them in time to learn and rehearse them in time for the sessions.
But I also know that the record label (Decca) need finished mixes of a few of the key tracks from the Coldstream Guards record so that they can get the wheels of promotion turning even before the album is finished.
In addition to this, the Choir album will have eight orchestral tracks and the recording session for that (with the Royal Philharmonic) is in the first week of July. This means that all the orchestral arrangements need to be done and parts prepared in time for that.
Some of the tasks above are for me alone, whilst others involve coordinating other people (engineer, orchestral copyist, choir MD etc).
If I’m not careful, I could get caught with my pants down, with some essential element not being ready in time for a big(expensive) session or something promised to the label not being delivered on time.
For this reason, I have become obsessed with time management. My life is now a constant stream of to do lists, prioritized and ever changing. I am living for the sublime shiver of pleasure that comes from ticking things off lists.
I may even start making lists of the lists I have to make.
There are currently rumblings about doing some more tracks with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for another CD in time for the end of the year. This would mean throwing in a third project to manage.
Someone asked me last week if I was going anywhere nice for the holidays.
Holidays?……
