Many people ask me what a composer’s assistant really is, what Bente and I do together, and what I do for Bente. One of the tasks I’ve been given is to write a blog post about exactly this!
(BLT note: I applied for a composition assistant in the spring of 2022 and hired the one and only Astrid Solberg. She’s a composer, a bit earlier in her career than I am, and we’ve known each other a little from my dark past as a teacher at the Norwegian Academy of Music.)
Bente lives on Nesodden and has an office right above a grocery store, between two gyms, a dentist’s office, and a piano school. About every other week, I take the boat out to Nesodden to work with her at her office. I thought this would be the boring part of the job since I lose so much time and have to travel so far. But it’s actually the highlight of the month because I get to sit alone for half an hour. There, I’m only allowed to do a few things: listen to an audiobook, knit, sit in the smell of sausages from the café (by the way, I think it’s crazy that Ruter decided to have a café on such a short stretch—it’s almost like Nesodden became a cruise destination?), study the birds that have wandered in and don’t understand how to get out, and NOT do any work, emails, phone calls, or last-minute tasks for assistant duties (although one time I had to call TONO to sort something out and test their patience, and another time I actually had to do some last-minute tasks for BLT).
Aside from the obvious idyllic boat trip, we’re in the office taking care of a lot of things. I’m not entirely sure how else to explain it, but here are a few examples:
A large part of the job has been fixing things on BLT’s website and translating it into English. Neither of us really understands how WordPress works, but I understand absolutely nothing about it. But still, I’ve been responsible for sorting things out there. Mostly because, well, then it actually gets done (which I believe is a big part of the point of having an assistant).
There’s also been some transcription work, sorting through Sibelius files (the notation software, for those of you lucky enough to not know what that is), reviewing scores and parts, figuring out which version of a work is actually the most up-to-date, digitizing handwritten works, dealing with MIDI data that tries to create a score image, checking for good calls for scores, making lists and overviews of works, performance dates, instrumentations, revisions that have been made, when things were done, and so on. Lots of lists!
There are also some practical tasks at the office, like vacuuming and taking out the trash, but coffee brewing and hospitality are handled by BLT! When I’m on Nesodden, and ONLY then, I eat the combo of Østavind cheese from Tine and Jalapeno tube cheese on rolls (not sponsored). BLT doesn’t know this, but I started doing it because I’m addicted to butter, and for some reason, BLT doesn’t put butter on bread (¿¿), so there was no butter in the office. As a desperate attempt to replace butter, I put the tube cheese under the slice of cheese. It quickly became a hit, and it’s the only time I eat bread that works without butter. (I tried eating this when I visited someone else, but it didn’t taste as good?)
Even though I’m an assistant, part of Bente’s approach is that she also provides help to the assistant. Not in the form of “I’ll fix these notes for you” or “Let me go through 150 calls for scores to see if any fit for you,” but as an experienced composer who has a wealth of knowledge and tips. I’ve often discussed what I’m doing in my life as a composer and the problems and challenges that arise with her, and Bente is great at listening, humanizing, and normalizing issues, and saying the right things. For a relatively new composer like me, it can also be quite daunting (or at least challenging) to write applications for funding to create music. Bente has also helped me several times by reviewing my applications and motivated me to apply in the first place. (As you can tell, I probably have the best assistant relationship in the world!) It was very inspiring when Bente recently said that we couldn’t spend more than an hour on an application and that we needed to spend our working time writing music. I probably spent a little more than an hour on my previous application, but actually not much more—maybe 3 hours total? It was incredibly relieving. Bente reviewed it, wrote comments, and finally said it was good to send, and that she had to leave because she needed to “make food for the kids” (as she often says). I find it so beautiful when she says that because it reminds me that we’re all human, with people we love, and we need to take care of ourselves—even in a busy everyday life.
A lot of what we do in the office could be done individually. But I think I can speak for both of us when I say that it’s nice to go to a workplace, meet people, discuss things, have structure, and have a body double. I have feeling that much of my job is just being there and holding BLT accountable for her plans—by giving me tasks she needs to follow up on later, she indirectly forces herself to work more.
I’ve often told BLT that she could do much of this much faster herself, and I’ve often felt like I’m “wasting” time getting to grips with things she can do in a flash. But maybe this is more about me taking care of the small things that people tend to procrastinate on, so if I hadn’t done it, BLT might never have gotten around to it? (Because I’m an assistant, not because I have superpowers.)
Having an assistant is such a common thing in many other professions, but composers have historically been known as lone geniuses who do everything themselves (though let’s not forget the copyists!). The truth is, being a composer involves a lot of administrative work, and many tasks related to producing and writing music can be delegated to others.
“When I grow up,” I want an assistant too!