The Individuality of Change

Photo: Alex Barth

We’re in the midst of some pretty big changes.

Multiple orchestras across the US are facing huge deficits and are putting the pressure on their musicians to make enormous sacrifices while hoping to preserve the artistic integrity of these organizations. It is not my intent to discuss or debate the current issues, but instead address how individual musicians may respond to these changes.

The future of classical music has been a breeding ground for infighting in the ranks. Gary Sandow’s blog eloquently discusses these challenges and reading the comments to his blog posts have expanded my horizons since sometimes, the arguments are ones I haven’t necessarily considered. It baffles me how some don’t appear to believe that things are shifting, or they believe that we’re merely in a chaotic part of the cycle and things will return to “normal” soon enough. I think the concept of normal is changing, and we’re beginning to see shifts and artists who are no longer satisfied with what once was.

It’s no secret that I’ve begun creating a new path for myself. I’m shunning the audition circuit and seeking creative freedom. I’ve never felt happier or more liberated. I’m now able to more easily deal with criticism. Rather than doing what everyone else is doing, I’m doing my own thing. Because I’ve done so much soul-searching and have arrived at a musical philosophy that works for me, I feel that I’m better able to look at these issues from a balanced mindset since I have no self-preserving interests in the matter. This is what works for me, and this is where the beauty of these changes lies. Musicians will be empowered to begin making individual choices about their careers, and I believe they will become more able to sustain careers while making a living.

Did I see the current lockouts coming? No. I’m not involved in the orchestral world; however, I am a trained musician. I’m aware of how music schools and conservatories place emphasis on orchestral training. When I think back to my college days, I think about all the time I spent working on excerpts. That training took precedence over the various chamber music experiences or solo performances. I trained to become an orchestral musician. I believed for many years that getting into an orchestra was the pinnacle of a serious music career (that, or making it as a soloist…the orchestral career seemed more likely).

Because I was so involved in this training, my ears were closed to pearls of wisdom that I may have received about doing things my own way. It’s not like I wasn’t interested in entrepreneurial ventures. I even researched taking some business classes, but I wasn’t able to enroll in any due to various issues.

We had a “Business of Music” class that was offered for a few semesters but by the time my schedule allowed me to take the course, the person teaching it had moved on to a different school and no one replaced her since it was an elective. More and more schools are adding essential courses to their curriculum to expand students’ skill sets, but the question still remains of, “What is academia emphasizing? Are students being encouraged to become free-thinking individuals with creative dreams or are they simply being trained in a system that better fits what used to be?”

I’ve instead spent my own time expanding my horizons. I knew what my options were and I faced reality. Every musician’s circumstances are different; however, one thing remains the same. Every musician must take personal responsibility for their career. We’re lucky, you know. We can and should be able to adapt as artists when something happens that knocks us off kilter.

The changes that are coming and that are currently happening will affect everyone individually. I am inclined to believe that funding will begin shifting to smaller groups and individuals. I believe that audiences want to be personally connected to artists and they want to know exactly where their money is going and for what project. Crowd funding successes through platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe confirm this. Audiences will have to be cultivated on an individual basis. No audience is the same.

Perhaps the orchestral audience is diminishing, but I don’t believe the audience for the larger art form is diminishing. Be brave, be courageous and above all, find your audience. Be creative in your artistic endeavors, but also approach your art with an entrepreneurial mindset. If a concept or idea doesn’t work, then try something else.

The shifting winds have the potential to either harm or help the parties involved. I want all the musicians to come through these storms unscathed, but I know that won’t be the case.

I’m pretty excited about these changes. If you allow the changes to happen and forget what you thought you knew about classical music, then the future becomes a collective of individual change. Let’s keep it going and support each other.

©Alexis Del Palazzo, 2012

Music Teacher’s Helper – Your Studio Assistant

Having just moved to a new area, I now have a studio of about 24 students and growing – come from an area where getting students was like pulling teeth, being inundated with this many students is not only wonderful but can also be a little overwhelming with trying to keep track of all the finances.   To any other music teacher who understands the frustration and confusion of having a large studio (or heck, of having a studio period) keeping track of student’s information, their payment status, who owes what when, who’s working on what, what school is out for fall or spring break at what time, etc. can be exhausting work.

I have found a lifesaving solution. Seriously,it’s taken the hassle out of running a studio and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you owe it to yourself to give it a look over.  It even comes with a 30 day Free trial!  After one week I was sold, you just might be, too.
The site is called Music Teacher’s Helper.com

The site seriously does it all…

Image via CrunchBase

The Quest for Identity

Identity.

Who Am I?  Who do I want to be? What do I want to be “when I grow up”?

Do I have to know?

It’s a tough thought and one I thought I had figured out.  Well, “pride comes before a fall” so says the Good Book, and while I wouldn’t say I’ve fallen, I could definitely say identity is something I”ve been struggling with as of late and could be in the considerable throes of “who am I” syndrome currently.

I don’t mean “who am I” in the hippie, new-agey,  be-one-with-the-universe type way  (though if you are, by all means, rock the identity quest!), but  more in the sense of defining my career, my life, giving myself a solid path, instead of feeling like I’m sliding on marbles going in a thousand directions.

This last year has been a year of upheaval, in a good way.  About February, we made the decision for me to move from Panama City, FL to Nashville, TN.  I have wanted to do this for so long and to keep from going into messy details, I’m thrilled it happened.  I have spent the past five years in PC with my hubby, trying to forge a music career and then a fitness career in a tourist city.

It failed.

Or did it?

Honestly, that’s a bit harsh, I DIDN’T fail.  In fact, I succeeded in the sense that I found out that even in areas where there isn’t a lot of culture, education or desire for healthy living, that I can succeed.  I succeeded in that I really learned the meaning of hard work, of entrepreneurship and in the struggles of trying to make ends meet, in a new city, with a new husband, with no family or friends nearby, in a tourist city where the most popular careers are bartender, restaurant owner, charterboat captain  or selling beach umbrellas to half-naked, completely drunk Spring Breakers, that I did what I could and I find an identity for myself.  Living there forced me to figure out what I wanted to do because performing in an area like that was not a viable option, the demand wasn’t there.  I succeeded by finding a way to merge a second passion into my first passion and create a career.

The road less traveled

When I graduated from grad school with my second degree in flute performance I really had no idea what I was going to do. In fact, I didn’t care.  I got married 6 days after graduation and I said “I’m going to take a break. I’m going to rest and be a housewife for awhile”.  I did.  I was also bored to death within 6 weeks.  Living in a tiny city with nothing to do and no friends, I had nothing to do and you can only clean an apartment so many times. Don’t get  me wrong, I LOVED being married and being domestic, but this girl was born to move, to work, to keep busy and I HAD to find some work.

Hubby was cool with it, but I guess he didn’t realize HOW bored I was, because within 6 months I was working two retail jobs.  The extra money allowed us to go on an anniversary cruise with my parents (1-year for us, 25 years or so for them) which was great, but it also meant I wasn’t getting enough sleep, the hubs and I barely saw each other and practicing? Why? Forget it, no time, and honestly, no reason.  I had joined the local community orchestra which, to give credit, is better than a normal community orchestra, but coming from one of the top 5 public music schools in the nation, it wouldn’t have mattered what I had done, I would have been bored, everything was too easy.  I was able to get a job teaching adjunct at the local college, and I thought “great, I can give a recital!” which I did, and it was nice to have a goal again.  However, when I went back to the dean to talk about doing another recital she told me “I don’t think you realize the level of work that’s involved.  Recitals have to be staffed.” I’m sorry, isn’t that your JOB?  Needless to say, another recital didn’t happen.

During all of this, I let my passion for fitness take over.  I started training much more frequently and doing a lot of research. I decided to get my first personal training certification. Things really came together at the Florida Flute Association convention. I gave my first presentation titled: “From the practice room to the weight room: weightlifting for flutists”.  I found that quite a few people were interested in what I had to say and one woman asked me “do you travel to teach your workshops?”  She was the one who inspired me to create a brochure, design more workshops and really get the ball rolling on fusing my loves of fitness and music together.

Music Strong was born.

Long story short, I’ve presented several more times at both the FFA conventions and at the National Flute Association Convention, each time people coming up to me amazed at what I’m doing, with questions, concerns and wanting information. I decided this WAS something I wanted to do and put more into so I got a better certification, this time through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.  At the same time, I just couldn’t get clients or students in Panama City.  I told the hubby enough was enough, we had to go where the money is, and where I had connections already, so we agreed that I would come up to Nashville after the NFA convention in Las Vegas.

 

I did, and now I am here, LOVING every minute of it, swathed in myriads of opportunities, and I find that I’m back in the same boat of identity confusion: what do I want to do? What direction to I want to go? What’s my ultimate goal?  Only now it’s different, because I’m attacking the subject of identity from a place of too many opportunities than of too few.

I’m so blessed now to have a growing flute studio, I’ve been asked to give my workshops at some universities across the state and in addition to that, I’ve been asked to be a part of a company called the “University of Change” – a program seeking to reach out to Nashville (and eventually nation-wide) office workers and the obese.  Those with poor posture, with weight problems, people who for one reason or another have not been able to change though they desperately want to, and Music Strong has been asked to be a part of this: speaking at seminars, training clients, leading foam rolling and beginner boot camps.  It’s wonderful, it really is!

Now, I’ve been here a grand total of three weeks and I’m covered in opportunities – here the chance to play a well-attended recital is numerous, I can record that piccolo CD I’ve always wanted to do! I could this, that, over there, that too….

Too much.

So the question for me comes up: what do I want to do? What’s my ultimate goal?

I started life as a musician knowing I had to play in order to be happy, and that’s still true.  But the time it takes to be incredibly good is so encompassing, so time consuming, to be on the level to be able to take auditions with confidence that I could get the job, while not out of reach, recent auditions have re-shown me just how much dedication to the music it takes to get to that level.  It’s a level that is good to maintain, great to be at and easy to let slide if you don’t have a superior outlet for which to continue honing it.

Am I ok with not playing at that level?  Am I ok with not being in an orchestra?

What about teaching, do I want to teach forever?

And what about my beloved company Music Strong? Now that I have all these students it would be so easy to stop investing time in it, but I find myself lighting up anytime a musician (or anyone for that matter) asks me a fitness related question.  No, I want it to grow, it’s too important, I can’t let it die.

So the question remains: what is my ultimate goal? I think when I figure this out, I will have my mission statement.

Yes, I want to perform, I want to teach and I want to train. Can I do it all, I think I can.  Can I do it at a very high level? Yes, I can.  Am I willing to pay the price it takes to get there?  The person in me who strives for excellence says “YES!” but thinking about it, how much time would I have to sacrifice away from my husband, my marriage, my friends and family because I have to practice, study, research, blog, train, etc. etc. etc?

The good news is there is no absolute right or wrong answer to this and each journey is unique. What is the right decision today might not be the right decision at a point in time later down the road.  You can change, your goals can change, and that’s ok.

My identity:

I think for now I’m content to say this: I am a musician, a flutist, a teacher, an encourager, a motivator, a trainer, a person of high integrity and moral values and a passionate person.  Job wise: I’m a musician, a trainer and a soldier.

That’s just fine for now.

 

 

Your identity:

The question comes to you: who are you? What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your ultimate goal? It’s ok to change it, but I can tell you this, when you have an ultimate goal and you can make your path clear, taking away distractions is that much easier. Knowing how to answer challenges in life is that much easier  Take some time to think about it.  Who are you now? Who will you always be?

Fundraising and Development

Going through my Google reader this morning I came across this gem from Arts Enterprise:

I was thoroughly inspired by class and decided to research different fundraising and development styles. I came across this website from the Texas Commission on the Arts – Fundraising. It lists links to articles on the fundamentals of fundraising and development, the ten principles of fundraising, as well as links to sample donor letters, thank you letters, sample budgets and many other fantastic tools.

If you are looking for a good resource on fundraising and it aspects, this is a good place to start and bookmark!  Being someone who enjoys lists (and the satisfaction of checking things off that list) what I thoroughly enjoyed about this website are the Mistakes to Avoid, Basics, 10 Principles and ESPECIALLY the templates.  You can tell me something all day, but until I see it, it’s difficult for me to visualize.

The Fundraising Website is here.

What Interests You?

So as you all know, I have two main passions when it comes to career: Music and Fitness. I’ve gone into mostly uncharted territory with promoting myself as a Musician Health Coach, or a personal trainer for musicians. What does that mean to you, though? What does that mean and what do I do and how does that actually benefit you?

• I am a NASM certified personal trainer. This is one of the top rated personal training certifications in the country and, along with the NSCA, is considered the gold standard. In addition to this, this particular certification agency focuses on addressing the different muscle imbalances that everyone tends to develop – especially those who do repetitive motions like driving, sitting at a desk or computer, practicing an instrument, etc.
• I am a classically trainer professional flutist. I have studied music performance for a long time, ending (so far) with getting my Masters in Music Performance from FSU. What does this mean? It means that I LOVE to play my flute and perform for people. It means that I am one of those people in the above categories, practicing my instrument for hours, sitting in front of a computer (typing this), and I understand the demands that are placed on a musician’s body. We are unique in what our discipline requires from us. I get it, because I’m just like you.

So what the heck is a Musician Health Coach?

Besides my anatomy/kinesiology knowledge that came along with the personal training certification, I also have studied the Alexander Technique (taking classes/lessons at Interlochen Arts Camp, Appalachian State University and Alexander Murray), Body Mapping (taking the “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body” class from Barbara Conable, and several other classes and presentations) and taking 2 years of Dynamic Integration with Eva Amsler at FSU. All three of these different modalities focus on the body; learning about the actual layout and how the body works, understanding how we move, remapping our idea of what we look like on the inside, learning to move with only the amount of tension that is necessary, UNLEARNING how to move in some ways, and most of all becoming hyper AWARE of my body and how it functions/moves.

As a musician health coach, what I do is to help musicians make that connection between their brains and their bodies. Huh? Playing the flute involves more than just your lips, arms, fingers and lungs. You use your entire body to play the flute, trombone, drums, etc. Do you ever think about these things while playing?

• When I breathe in my spine compresses and when I breathe out, my spine lengthens
• I am conscious of the space in-between my shoulder blades, and there is no tension there
• I feel my feet while playing
• When a difficult passage comes up, I consciously shift my weight to my right foot to make it easier
• While breathing, I notice whether it is my chest or abdomen moving
• During times of nervousness (either playing or about to play) I notice what my different symptoms are in all areas of my body, I can feel them, and I accept them instead of ignoring them.
• Most times while playing, my attention is on my big toe, the back of my knees or noticing if my shoulders are holding excess tension rather than notes and phrases
• I’m playing, but I’m feeling my feet
• While playing, I check in with my body and notice where I have pain and am able to connect that pain (or not) to how I play my instrument
• I can get up and down out of a chair without tensing my neck
• When I sit to play I’m aware of how my body is balanced between my sit-bones
• I feel strong/weak in certain areas of my body when I play

Ever thought any of those thoughts? I think of that stuff ALL THE TIME. Whether playing, practicing, preparing to play, weightlifting, driving, etc. As a musician health coach I see it as my job to help other musicians get out of their heads and into their bodies. Meaning that I use several methods to “coach” other musicians into being the best musicians they can be. I teach flute lessons but in these lessons the focus isn’t just on notes and phrases. A lot of the time we focus on body awareness, feeling your feet while playing, understanding how to sit in a chair and get in and out of it, noticing our emotions; how it feels to play with the different emotions and learning how to accept them instead of hide from them (including nervousness!).

If a musician or student complains about playing in pain, I begin to cross into the strength training aspect of my career. After learning how to “check in” with our bodies, I ask them to pinpoint the pain. I might show them some stretches to do before, during and after playing to combat the tightness that might be there.

Among musicians, especially those who have not been taught body awareness, there can be some pretty severe cases of muscle imbalances, and most often these imbalances lead to pain when playing. Most flutists I’ve surveyed complain of pain in and around the shoulder and neck area. A lot of this has to do with not being strong enough to hold our instruments in their proper positions for long amounts of time without compensation. Compensation is what happens when a muscle or body part is too tired or weak to be able to perform its intended function so other assistant muscles start taking over. We call this “synergistic dominance”. For example, if your shoulder and rotator cuff muscles are weak and other muscles are tight (especially your chest muscles), after awhile of playing you might start noticing pain under, around or between your shoulder blades (left, for flutists). The muscles you were asking to hold up your flute are not strong enough to continue, so other muscles like your chest and trapezius muscles have started to take over the job. This pulls on your already weak rhomboids and shoulder girdle which causes you to lean over to take the weight off the shoulder.

Now you are slouching to the right, your spine is out of alignment and your core muscles are not engaged to keep you upright. Most likely they were weak too, or else you would be able to hold up your flute. Now that the core is weak, other muscles of the hips have to take over which can cause your hamstrings to be weak, your hips to hurt, calves to be tight and possibly knees to hurt.

Now you’re a mess. Do you see how the body works together to play the instrument? We didn’t even talk about breathing!!! 🙂

So, here is my question to you. In the still relatively uncharted waters of musician health and strength training, what interests you? As a musician, what would you like to read about? What are you specific health concerns? What kinds of articles do you want to read about that you think might help you? Go outside the box here. Do you want to read about stretches? Weight training? Body Awareness? Travel tips? Overall health and well-being relating to the body and playing? There are a ton of topics, but I want to write about what interests YOU because I want to help YOU.

What interests you?

Feel free to post a comment on my Facebook page, hit me up on , leave a message below or take the poll below. Love to hear from you!

Click here to take survey

Related Articles

• What Interests You? (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• NFA Convention Brochure (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• De-Mystifying Support and the Diaphragm (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• Developing Body Awareness and Self-Trust (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• 3 Exercises + 1 for Core Strength and Stability (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• Lessons in Body Mapping and Alexander Technique (innovativeperformanceandpedagogy.wordpress.com)
• Are You Ready To Change? (innovativeperformanceandpedagogy.wordpress.com)

The Skills You Didn’t Learn in Grad School

Image via Wikipedia

How many of us musicians have gone to school for 4, 6 or even 10 years to get those advanced degrees only to graduate into the real world and not be prepared? Today’s institutions of higher education for musicians are sadly lacking in preparing students for a life outside either performing or teaching. There’s more to it, folks…

I have gained two degrees, a Bachelor’s and a Master’s, both in music performance. I was told several times to not do this because I “won’t get a job”. I beg to differ…and I agree. I said no way, I will get this degree because this is what I want to do, I want to perform! I was told over and over again “get your Bachelor’s degree in Music Education so you have something to fall back on.”

Get a degree you can fall back on…

How many of you have heard this? I think it’s pathetic. Why offer a degree that the faculty don’t even have faith in it to do the students any good? If I want to go to school to learn how to play my instrument better than others and be the best flutist and performer I can possibly be, why is that not enough? I have ZERO desire to be a band director or choral conductor. If I did, I would have majored in those disciplines and that is EXACTLY what I told the faculty. I have also told my students interested in going into a performance based degree “do not go to school for music performance unless you can see yourself doing nothing else.” No offense to band directors and choral conductors (of which I have many friends), I applaud you and support what you do, but God designed us all with different talents and desires and those were not mine. And I feel it is a HUGE disservice to those who love the teaching profession that others are being told that their profession is a “fall back” which, when they realize they will not be an international solo performing artist, find themselves teaching band to a bunch of kids. They hate their job, hate what they’re doing, but hey,at least they have a job to fall back on now, right?

I think it is incredibly sad that we relegate a performance degree to a piece of paper that says “I CAN PLAY GOOD!” I mean, really? There’s more to it than that, and as I am finding out as an entrepreneur, carving my own path through the career jungle, most of what I learned in school did not teach me how to establish my own career.

What graduate schools teach performance majors today does not prepare you for much outside of performing or professorship

Most of what I learned in graduate school, when it came to preparing me to “get a job” was not how to become an international performing soloist star, it was on how to apply and land a college professorship. I would be THRILLED to have this job *sadly, since I do not have a Dr. in front of my name, I have been passed over for those who do at every job I have thus applied for*, but there are only so many professorships to go around. Most of my fellow musicians who get performing or even professorship/teaching jobs have to have “day jobs” on the side because their musical jobs do not support them.

What musicians are desperately in need of today is entrepreneurship training. Most musicians who go to grad school have a burning desire to play for others, but almost no idea how to market themselves as individuals beyond writing a resume. In fact, there are many graduate students who just “continue to go to school” earning a doctorate because they haven’t landed any gigs, jobs, had any interviews and don’t know what to do once they get out, so really it’s just a way of procrastinating getting into the real world.

Knowing how to build a great resume, c.v., interview well and of course, play your instrument outstandingly are all great qualities, but if you don’t get an interview and you don’t have a regular performing gig and you’re NOT that international superstar performer, they will only take you so far.

You need SKILLS – the things business majors learn.

Skill 1: Present yourself well:

You have to be more than just a pretty face and a shiny instrument, you have to present yourself well. That means smiling, being personable, dressing well, shaking every hand you can and learning names. Treat everyone as your most important prospect, a future friend and a future employer – show them respect and leave your own ego at the door. No one likes to talk to a person with a sour face and an attitude that says “you should pay me because I play well, but don’t expect me to like you”. No. YOU are the one needing the job and therefore, YOU have to be the one they want to hire. In fact, the best advice I got when I was young was “Be someone YOU would want to hire”. Be friendly, look professional, speak professionally and start as many relationships as you can with people. By the way, presenting yourself well applies to social media as well. Don’t post drinking photos all over your Facebook page and swear on twitter and in general, give anyone the opportunity to have a bad impression of you. Having a personal Facebook page is fine, but make sure your professional “fan” page stays just that, professional.

Skill 2: Create a niche

Ok, we know you can play, but what else? There is usually some aspect of your playing or your life about which you are equally fascinated and you hold the key to sharing that with other people. Maybe you have a knack with kids and see a hole in the market for beginning flute books (hint hint…..there is a hole there). Well, your niche might be marketing yourself as a pedagogue who focuses on beginners. My niche is marrying my careers as a personal trainer and a musician into one – training musicians and teaching musicians the benefits of strength training. Whatever it is, you have something else you are interested in and an area in which you can contribute to the musical world at large.

Skill 3: Make friends with those in your niche area

This is HUGELY important. Right now, you are probably a nobody. No one knows your name and you’re just another one of the 10,000 flutists who graduate every year. There’s truth to the saying “It’s who you know”. When you find out what your niche is, go find others who are in a similar pursuit with you and make friends with them. Start conversations, ask questions, pick their brains. These are the people you want to know your name because when they mention your name to someone else, what THEY say carries weight.

Skill 4: Market yourself via social media and the internet

If you don’t have a webpage, get a webpage. This is the first and most basic rule of promoting yourself. How do you ever expect people to hire you if they can’t find you? And don’t just write a bunch of stuff down on a page. Spend the money to get a nice template somewhere and just plug in the information. Better yet, if you can afford it, have someone else design your webpage for you. You want something that catches the eye and makes people want to look around to find out more about you. On that webpage make sure you put down ways people can contact you – make it easy for them to find. Remember, people are lazy. They won’t look for things so don’t make them search for it.

Get a Facebook FAN page and put up RELEVANT content. See below. Also, don’t just put up links you think are interesting. Make comments, socialize, put up pictures, videos, music clips of yourself – look around at people you admire and look at their fan pages. Model yours after theirs.

Get a blog and start writing about the things that interest you and write it in such a way that other people will be interested. The blog puts out good content so that when people want the information you have, they find you first. Remember, you are writing blogs about stuff that interests you – but it shouldn’t necessarily be about you. Go find other blogs about stuff that interests you and make comments down below (again, relevent comments). While on the subject of blogs, I highly recommend you get an RSS reader like Google Reader. Why? Well, you really want to read a lot of content and it’s more difficult to read content from lots of blogs taking all day to surf around and find them. With a reader you just drop the address in the reader (or click on the little orange RSS image on the blog – see mine at the top?) and subscribe. This way, all you have to do is open the reader and you can check out blogs from all over, see what other people are writing about, get ideas, leave comments, etc.

Get a twitter account and learn how to use it. No one wants to read about “it’s been a long day and now I’m watching Scrubs in my PJ’s.” No one cares. Find something relevant to your niche on the web? Tweet about it – link it. TALK to people on Twitter who have the same interests you do. It’s amazing how relationships can spring up that way.

Get a LinkedIN account – not entirely necessary, but why not? There are groups there that you can join and contribute to – these groups are full of other people who share your interests. Contribute to the groups with relevant content – don’t spam them and just throw links to your stuff around. No one likes that person. Link your blog to LinkedIN and everytime you blog, people can see it on your account.

Link EVERYTHING! Seriously. Link your twitter account to Facebook and your blog to Twitter and Facebook and put links to your website everywhere you are. Everything should lead back to your website. You want to make yourself as visible as possible and when you link things, it shows up multiple places at once – this prevents you from having to copy/paste it 100 times.

Skill 5: Market yourself in real life

Presentation I did this year

Again, this goes back to that niche area, but start giving presentations anywhere and everywhere you can. Draw up a presentation about something that interests you and then adapt it to fit different age groups. Give your presentations in every school in the county and then start talking to college professors near you and see if they would let you give it at their school. More often than not, if you offer a free presentation, they will say yes and you will have made an invaluable contact. Give presentations and recitals in your town, county, at conventions, anywhere you can. The more people see your name and recognize you for something, the more they’ll remember you when they need your particular service or product.

Skill 6: Put out a newsletter

This is a great way to get people more information about you and what you do. Every time you go to a presentation, pass around a sign up sheet and have people put down their email address if they would like to receive your newsletter. On your website and/or blog you should have something that allows people to sign up for your newsletter fairly easily. Now – you’ve got subscribers, what to write about? Write about YOU, what you do in the music/business world. Give them information they want. For example, in my newsletter, I put out playing/practicing tips, workout tips, answer questions, give links to where they can find me, put up information about what’s going on in my world – where they can find me performing and what performances are coming up in the area (if you have a local newsletter). Basically, the sky is the limit. If you need ideas, subscribe to other people’s newsletters and see what content they have that you would like and model after them. I suggest MailChimp for an easy, free newsletter service.

Hope! Where to Look! What to Do!

My friends, I am here to give you hope and show you that there are so many other places from where you can gain knowledge on how to carve out your OWN career!

First of all, if you are going to be an entrepreneur (and this is more geared to those of you who are NOT born with that gene) you are going to have to put in a lot of work on your own and be prepared for nothing to happen for awhile. It will take a good bit of trial and error before you figure out what works for you, but be patient. You aren’t just putting your resume out there and hoping for the best. You have to be proactive and go FIND things, go DO things, contribute. It’s hard work, but it’s very much so worth it.

Happily, there ARE some schools hoping on the entrepreneurial bandwagon.

The University of Colorado has an Entrepreneurship Center for Music!

Berklee College of Music has a Music Industury Entrepreneurship class

Other schools also offer degrees in Arts Administration – this could be a really good degree to get while also getting your primary degree.

My friend Jonathan Nation has been a wealth of help to me. His job is to help small businesses and entrepreneurs learn how to navigate the waters of success. You can visit his webpages at http://www.allynation.com and his business site at http://www.startingcube.com which is also a podcast. Some of the sites he’s hooked me onto are:

Smart Passive Income.com

Savvy Musician

Angela Beeching – a career consultant for musicians

– 4 Tips to Jumpstart Your Career

The National Flute Association has put out a great list of sites with their new group: the Career and Artistic Development Committee

Got links to share? Share below! Come tell me what you thought of this on my Facebook page, via twitter or make a comment below!

Related Articles

• Spring is Coming, What are you Going to Do? (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• Pre-Graduation Speech (horninsights.com/2011/03/04/pre-graduation-speech/)
• Life After the Degree (gogetthejob.wordpress.com)
• Social Entrepreneurship+Schools= A Self Sufficient Training/Income Model (dwbdg.wordpress.com)
• Developing Body Awareness and Self-Trust (fluteangel.wordpress.com)

Do You Have the Courage to Succeed?

Part 3 ( you can see Part 2 and Part 1 here)

It sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? The courage to SUCCEED? Who would ever be afraid of success? Well, maybe you. I know I have been at times.

Take a weakness and turn it into a strength. If you are dedicated to overcoming failure and achieving lasting success, then you need to be willing to do the same. Work on the weakness that weakens you, and there’s no telling how far you will go. – John C Maxwell

I think it takes real courage (on top of talent) to be able to do this:

How many people put down Project Trio and beat boxing before they made it?

But this post is not just about having the courage to persevere in the face of failure to ultimately succeed, this post is more so about having the courage to ALLOW yourself to succeed. That, can take just as much courage as it takes to fail.

Why would people be afraid to do well? Honestly, for lots of reasons, and it is more common than you think and I am finding that this is the most difficult blog post I have written, to date. I found this post to define it better than I:

Fear of success is the following:

* Fear that you will accomplish all that you set out to accomplish, but that you still won’t be happy, content or satisfied once you reach your goal.

* Belief that you are undeserving of all the good things and recognition that come your way as a result of your accomplishments and successes

* Opposite of fear of failure, in that fear of failure is the fear of making mistakes and losing approval–Fear of success is the fear of accomplishment and being recognized and honored.

* Lack of belief in your own ability to sustain your progress, and the accomplishments you have achieved in your life

* Fear that your accomplishments can self-destruct at anytime

* Belief that no matter how much you are able to achieve or accomplish, it will never be enough to sustain success

* Belief that there are others out there who are better than you, who will replace or displace you if you do not maintain your performance record

* Belief that success is an end in itself; yet that end is not enough to sustain your interest and/or commitment

* Fear that once you have achieved the goals you have worked diligently for, the motivation to continue will fade

* Fear that you will find no happiness in your accomplishments–that you will be perpetually dissatisfied with life.

These fears ring true for me in many areas of life -though they were most brought to life as I was finishing grad school. It had never occured to me that I was afraid of success, I thought I was merely afraid to fail. It was during a time of intense preparation and I was feeling overwhelmed in life and began to have feelings of not being able to live up to other’s expectations. I had actually begun putting my validation into what others said of me instead of what I knew of me. I was becoming a “human doing” instead of a “human being” and it was tearing me apart.

One part of me desperately wanted to succeed, and go into the fear of conquering the unknown, doing well in the future without guidance from a teacher, and one part was deathly terrified.

Please excuse the swear word

What are the negative consequences of the fear of success?

Fear of success can result in:

* A lack of effort to achieve goals you have set for yourself in school, on the job, at home, in relationships, or in your personal growth

* Self-destructive behavior, such as tripping yourself up to make sure that you do not sustain a certain level of success or achievement you once had in school, on the job, at home, in relationships or in your personal growth.

* Problems making decisions, being unable to solve problems

* Losing the motivation or the desire to grow, achieve and succeed

* Chronic underachievement

* Feeling guilt, confusion and anxiety when you do achieve success–this leads you to falter, waver and eventually lose your momentum.

* Sabotaging any gains that you have made in your personal growth and mental health, because once you become healthier, a better problem solver, and more “together,” you fear that no one will pay attention to you. You are habituated to receiving help, sympathy and compassionate support.

* Your choosing to do just the opposite of what you need to do to be happy, healthy and successful

* Reinforcing your chronic negativity, chronic pessimism and chronic lack of achievement since you cannot, visualize yourself in a contented, successful life

* Denouncing your achievements and accomplishments, or seeking ways in which you can denigrate yourself enough to lose what you’ve gained

Do you do any of these things or have any of these beliefs? Do you find yourself being very negative towards yourself and putting yourself down regularly – unable to accept compliments? It could be that truly you are not afraid to fail, you are actually afraid of success and using the mask of considering yourself a failure to prevent yourself from actually succeeding.

What do those who fear success believe?

* I have worked so hard to get this far, yet I need to keep on working hard; I’m not sure the effort is worth it.

* I know people care about me when I am down and out, but will they like me when I am on top and successful?

* I’ve never been happy before, so how can I be sure I’ll be happy once I achieve my goals?

* I am nothing, and I deserve nothing.

* How can people like me if I succeed in reaching my goals in life?

* I can’t sustain the momentum I would need to achieve my goals.

* How can I be sure that my good fortunes won’t go sour and be destroyed?

* There are always more demands and more needs that have to be met in order for me to be successful, no matter what I do it will never be enough.

* They are all better, brighter, smarter, and more talented than I am. I really don’t deserve to be successful.

* It’s hard to be at the top.

* Everyone is out to shoot down the head man.

* No one really likes a winner.

* Everyone goes for the underdog.

* I am happiest when I am under pressure and challenged.

* Hard work, no play and constant effort make me happy. What would I do if it were different?

* I feel so guilty when I realize how much I have been given in my life.

* I’m always afraid I’m going to lose it all.

* Starting over again gives me meaning and a sense of mission and purpose.

* I’m so bored with what I’ve accomplished. What’s left to do?

* Everyone has the right to fail in life, and I have the right to choose to fail if I want to.

I find this happens in a lot of different areas in life: we can be all gung-ho about losing weight, learning our instrument, doing well at our jobs, etc. that when we suddenly realize either how much work it will take and we get discouraged or realize that we are actually good at what we do and if we do allow ourselves to be as good as we can be…

we can end up going a lot further than we’ve ever gone, and not only is that scary, it will grow and change us as a person and you might not be ready for that. The people around you might not be ready for that. THAT can give you a fear of success. If you have a desire to stay in your comfort bubble, be honest with yourself and ask WHY? Are you afraid to fail, afraid to let others down and fear judgement? Or are you afraid to succeed, afraid to really fly and let yourself grow, and let the people around you either grow with you or leave?

What new behavior patterns can help in overcoming your fear of success?

* Learning to reinforce yourself for the hard work, effort and sacrifices you have made to achieve success

* Being able to honestly appraise your level of achievement, success and accomplishment

* Accepting yourself as being healthy, “together,” happy, successful, prosperous and accomplished

* Not giving yourself any excuses for being unsuccessful

* Giving others in your life permission to give you honest, open, candid feedback when they see you self-destructing or backsliding

* Monitoring your level of commitment and motivation to reach your goals

* Visualizing your life when you are successful

* Giving others credit, recognition, and support for their personal achievements, successes and accomplishments

* Honest, open, realistic self-talk that encourages you to work your hardest to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself

* Accepting the compliments and recognition of others with an open heart and mind

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/14659-handling-fear-of-success/#ixzz1KfrAnJwj

There is a wonderful book called “The Success Principles: Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” by Jack Canfield

If you are struggling with either allowing yourself to succeed OR fail, I highly recommend this book. He breaks it down into manageable sections that you can tackle one at a time and these principles will translate to all areas of your life. If you are struggling with allowing yourself to be the best musician you can be, the best father/mother you can be, the best architect/manager/plumber/writer/etc. you can be, struggling with allowing yourself to believe enough in yourself that you CAN lose weight and it’s really not the impossible obstacle you thought it was, etc. this book will help you learn to accept and achieve success in whatever area of life.

Trust – maybe the reason behind it all

You can see that a lot of these fears of success stem from a fear of trusting yourself. You could lack trust in yourself to make decisions, follow through, know what’s best for you, whatever. We all deal with a lack of trust in ourselves at some point, but in order to live life to the fullest, we must learn not only why we distrust ourselves, but learn to overcome it.

Did you dress yourself this morning? You demonstrated that you know how to take care of yourself.

Did you eat today? You demonstrated taking care of your basic needs – you trusted your hunger signals.

Let me leave you with a quote that I posted on my bathroom door while I was dealing with my own fear of success. I read it every day and let it sink in. I hope it gives you the empowerment you need to empower yourself to allow success into your life!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Related Articles

• Are You Ready to Change? (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• Do You Have The Courage To Fail? (fluteangel.wordpress.com)
• Courage – what is it? (jimf.wordpress.com)
• Success: do you have it in you? (successful-blog.com)
• 11 Inspirational Quotes That Will Supercharge Your Day (businessinsider.com)

The Art-Career Tango

Dear Readers,

If you haven’t discovered Gerald Klickstein’s blog and website (companions to his marvelous book, The Musician’s Way) please go right now to sift through his wonderful blog entries on a variety of topics, and also visit his website which has a plethora of resources of interest to all musicians.  His website and blog are both listed on our blogroll.

His latest post, the Art-Career Tango,  is worth mentioning here since readers to the IPAP blog will find it of interest, but also because it is a great post that discusses the not so easy balance between our artistic-side and entrepreneur-side. I think some of it may come from how we are trained — with the focus usually being on the artistic side of ourselves as musicians. We must as musicians train and build our skills to the highest level, but this is not enough. Training programs must consider that more musicians are carving their own ways these days, searching for more meaning and different opportunities as musicians…and with this comes a need for developing our entrepreneur-side as equally as our artistic-side.

I love the tango reference!

http://musiciansway.com/blog/?p=3249&cpage=1#comment-2773