I come into contact with A LOT of composers. Some through their music, some in person, some via social media.
I will share my basic, initial non-musical filter:
I gravitate towards engaging, big-hearted, generous, joyful people.
Unless, I have gotten to know you well-enough to factor in greater complexities, my initial filter is fairly binary:
LIKABLE/UNLIKABLE
I have encountered both types on this forum.
There are composers here I barely know or have never even met that I look forward to their observations and comments.
Whether agreeing or disagreeing about something, they bring fresh, positive and enlightening perspectives into the conversation.
My hunch is they are the most likely to forge ahead towards expanded careers because of those attractive communication skills.
Then there are the others to whom I tend to roll my eyes and sorta dread when they chime in.
They become, in my opinion, energy vampires draining the joy out of the conversations with off-topic contributions, single-minded focus on outlying factors, laziness (not even bothering to search for previous conversations on the subject here or Googling for easily answered inquiries), and a nit-pickingness or literalism that misses the intended points of others.
They have not mastered the art of making their point (including ones of disagreement) without being joyless.
Unless there are rare and compelling reasons for others to bother to get past their first impressions, it is often very difficult to create a second.
Social media forums are as good as any others in practicing the art of likable, engaging conversation.
I suggest, as an exercise that everyone here reviews their last dozen replies on any threads on this forum. No need to share with anyone. Just soak it in for yourself.
How do you think other people, based solely on your contributions to this forum and sharing my viewpoint would filter you:
LIKABLE/UNLIKABLE?
