BYU Music Alum Lance Montgomery Speaks on the Divinity of a Career in the Arts
Sometimes, veering from your expectations and plans leads you to a new passion — or to where you were always supposed to be. This is true for Lance Montgomery, an aspiring film composer who decided to switch to the gaming industry.
When asked about his time at BYU, Montgomery spoke fondly of his experience: “I would have never done it differently. I would not have gone anywhere else. My teachers were just spectacular, and they cared for me as an individual. Everything I learned there has helped me be a smarter, wiser, more creative and more quality composer.”
As a student, Montgomery was the recipient of the Student Emmy award for music in 2011.“In my last year at BYU I scored the animated film ‘Dreamgiver.’ I won the student Emmy for it,” he said. “It was the first score for a student film that had been recorded by the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra. It completely ignited my passion for film scoring.”
Even with his successful student experience, Montgomery struggled to make it in the film industry. “I won this award, and I was sure that I was going to make the film industry work,” he said. “I tried it for a few years, and it was tough. If you really want to make money, you have to go to L.A. I really did not want to move my family to L.A.”
After switching to the gaming industry, Montgomery spoke of the struggles he still faced while pursuing a career in the arts. “I was trying to do contract work, and it was difficult. It is a volatile industry. You are battling against thousands of other people who have the same dream as you do.” In times of doubt, he finds strength in his patriarchal blessing. “It talks a lot about looking back on my accomplishments, and I have frequently found myself wondering when these accomplishments were going to happen,” he said. “But looking back, I can see these little stepping stones along the way. My patriarchal blessing has been one of the few things that has kept me from just giving up and finding another nine-to-five.”
Since graduating from Brigham Young University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in music, Lance Montgomery has become the man behind both music and sound for more than a dozen titles. He has a passion for audio technologies and a conviction for making a positive impact in the community of sound professionals and gamers.
Because of the ups and downs of his career, Montgomery aims to be a mentor for young aspiring composers. “I am over-the-moon happy to help them navigate the technical process and also give them a heads up on what it is going to be like.” He does not shy away from the ugly side of the industry, stressing the importance of understanding the whole picture before diving in. Montgomery also encourages students to seek Heavenly Father’s guidance.
Montgomery shares some of the wisdom he has learned when it comes to life after graduation: “You are not just an artist, you are now a business person, a marketer and your own agent,” Montgomery said. “The busywork is necessary, even though it often feels like it is ripping you away from what you want to do: create. But there is something way beyond the busywork that is required to be an artist in this life. And that thing is a relentless fight to know, again and again, that your art matters.”
If you are discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts, Montgomery gives this advice: “We artists are all linked together in this way — vocationally, we do not get reinforcement from the world the same way other professions do. The world might call it a frivolous pursuit, a poor or unrealistic career choice or even a self-serving one. But I know that to God, it is not. To me, this swim against the current, the norm, is deeply personal between me and God, and among other creatives. We are in the same boat, and we all have an unspoken fellowship with each other to keep doing what inspires us and will hopefully inspire others. We have been asked to beautify this world, to beautify the kingdom of God. If you have art and creativity in your blood, it is for a reason — it is divine.”