THE PATH OF PASSION AND PERSEVERANCE

Two “p” words come to mind when you talk about creative tasks: passion and perseverance. Although the final call on success may be out of your hands, passion and perseverance are the way you set yourself up for the possibility of success.
The TEST core creative team of Jakob, the composer, and Clemens, the musical director and conductor, joined Krista and Jamie, the authors, in Basel for a weekend of the two p’s. The team has been on this p-lined path before. The meeting this time was to nail down the final song for TEST, to agree on the form the finale would take. It sounds easy enough, but the team has already written multiple versions of the ending, in various styles. Rewriting is a typical process in the creation of an opera or musical. It’s called tenacity — that’s passion and perseverance in a nutshell.
The team also decided on the type of music we want to have between the songs of TEST, along with the music to back the spoken dialogue, the so-called underscoring. And finally, we determined those moments when silence will be the best solution between songs.
Working on a creative product has to grab you at all times. That’s passion. Not only are you happy to wake up to it. You can’t wait to get at it. You thrive on it. Over the weekend of June 20-21 we immersed ourselves in TEST, from the first clink of the wine glass on Friday evening to the last coffee before going our separate ways on Sunday.
The other “p” word is less glamorous. It makes you think of a person trudging along a well-worn path at a slow pace. Or maybe an animal trudging along, like a turtle? That’s what this procedure is like. You methodically go over the difficult parts with a thick-skinned toughness. No option is deemed unworthy of a close look. Most options are discarded. It’s the reverse of passion. You don’t want to get up again in the morning and face the hard stuff. But a tiny engine inside you says: You shall not take rest. You shall persevere.
There wasn’t much rest for the core TEST creative team. The relief came later in the form of the satisfaction that comes from working together on the path of passion and perseverance.