Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts

4 Reasons Why Musicians Fail

Let's face it, being a musician isn't the easiest route to go. There's no security, usually very little money and a high risk of failure. Yet the market is more crowded now than it has ever been. With all those people out there reaching for the same goals, the chances of failure are even greater. Here are the 4 biggest reasons why most musicians fail at making music their career.

How Musicians Can Deal With Stress

It's not a secret that the life of a musician isn't easy. There are tons of things to deal with, lots of ups and downs and always unexpected things cropping up. The hardest part of all of this is the fact that you're pretty much alone most of the time. You're trying to get things going in your career as well as trying to be creative the rest of the time. It's important that you learn how to deal with the daily grind of trying to get your music career going (as well as keeping it going!). There are a few things that you can do to keep your focus thereby saving yourself some stress.


How To Find Your Musical Goals

There was a comment recently about tips for trying to figure out your goals. This seems to be a tough thing for most people, especially musicians. There are tons of articles out there about how to get things done and succeed. They start off with you making a list of your goals and then move on from there. Unfortunately, figuring out your goals is usually difficult and timing consuming. Some people go through their entire life not knowing what they're goals are. Yet you're supposed to figure this out in a short time and then move on from there. Figuring out what your goals are like asking you what your favorite color is. It's all personal and one person's answers are going to be different than another. The key to figuring out what your goals are is all about asking questions; tons of them. Once you start asking yourself the right questions it will become easier figuring out what direction you should take.


How To Learn Music

As we went through school, we realized that there were good ways to learn and bad ways to learn. We discovered some shortcuts and methods that helped us through the rough spots. As we get older and leave school we forget some of these and the effectiveness in learning. We're going to look at the different ways we learn and how we use certain techniques to improve our progress.

Practicing On Purpose

We seem to set out with the best of intentions. We try and practice everyday. We make sure we're covering the basics. We're trying to improve. Like we've talked about here before, it's important that you set apart some time to try and assess what your goals are. You try to figure out what you want to accomplish on your instrument and what you want to accomplish with music overall. But there's so much to learn. So much to practice. Every new skill seems to take forever to master. How do you know what you're supposed to practice and what not to? Of course having a great teacher is invaluable for this because that should be a prime consideration of theirs every time they see you. But how to do you figure this out on your own? How do you practice with purpose?

Working Solo: Problems & Solutions

In a past post we talked about some of the problems with goals setting and planning. As a musician most of the time you're going to be on your own when it comes to trying to get things done. It's tough trying to get things done at the best of times but being on your own makes it that much harder.

What To Do

The toughest part of planning is trying to figure out what's important and what needs to be done. There isn't just one way to the top in the music industry; there are many ways of getting there. So what do you need to do? What's your first step? What's your next step? What needs to be done first? Of course the answer to any of these questions has a lot to do with where you are now and what you want to accomplish. You're going to have to do some research and development. Most companies allot a certain amount of time in research and development and as a business, you're going to have to do the same. That means spending time everyday doing some research in figuring out what people in your industry are doing to make it.

Yoga for Musicians

I have to admit, I love yoga. But before you think I'm going to get all new-agey on you let me point out some practical applications and conventions from yoga that we can apply to our art.

Getting Into It

Yoga practice is a lot like music practice; its a set of exercises to set the mind and body in a specific direction. It's done everyday, it follows a regimen, and it can be done practically anywhere.  With every yoga practice, there is a mind/spirit connection. You try and be in the moment. Focusing all of your energy on the matter at hand. You take time to notice how your body feels while trying to quiet the mind. There is the constant 'practice' of working on something, keeping focused, working hard and getting better everyday. It becomes a ritual but not automatic. It becomes an important part of your day. It becomes part of you.

Perfectionism for Musicians

Something that a lot of musicians and artists often deal with is perfectionism. I know this first hand because it's something that I have to fight everyday. Perfectionism is debilitating in the fact that it can stop you from doing the thing that you love the most. It causes stress and undue friction within your own life. And, can actually cause the opposite effect of it's 'purpose' in the first place. While there is a place for high artistic standards, when your standards become so high that nobody can live up to them, how are you supposed to create your art?

Managing Your Daily Practice

Every musician knows how important it is to practice. It's drilled into our brain from the first time we pick up the instrument. For good reason; we all know that the path to mastery is consistent, focused practice. Problems arise when you want to practice but somehow it just doesn't get done. Or, you may be putting in the hours, but not getting any results. In effect either you aren't practicing as much as you like, or you aren't practicing properly.

The What and How

We are all told how important it is to practice but nobody ever goes into the 'what and how'. It's important to keep on track of what we want to do and what we are actually achieving. Make notes on what what you want to achieve but also what you've done. It's important to make daily notes so that when you sit down to practice, you don't have to sit and think about what to work on. You can continue from what were working on last session. This helps maintain your focus and may do more for your progress than anything else. 

Ready, Set...

I try to have everything ready to go as soon as I sit down. Don't put your instrument away if you don't have to. Have a corner of your space just dedicated to your practice. Have all of the materials out on your music stand ready to go. Have all materials that you may need right there ready to use: your metronome (or drum machine), your computer (if you use it), extra parts, all reference materials and your practice schedule.

The List

I'm going to summarize with a list of things that you should be doing everyday. These exercises should only take a small amount of time. That way, even on your busiest day, there is the chance that you will still get in some quality practice time. I've listed the name of the exercise and the amount of time allotted to that particular exercise.
  1. The warm-up (about 1 minute): warm ups are an extremely important part of your practice sessions but very few people do them consistently. Most vocalists know how important it is to warm up but instrumentalists are bad for not doing these. Warm ups should be simple. They should be something that is relatively easy to do (i.e. not complicated, too fast or involving really hard technique). They should be done slowly and deliberately. For example, if you're an instrumentalist, try exercises that include all of the fingers. Start at a point that is easy to execute and then gradually go higher or harder. It's all about warming up your fingers (or vocals) and getting focused. Like the beginning of a yoga session; you're trying to get into the right frame of mind. It's about shutting everything else down, forgetting about all of the days' problems and focusing on the music.
  2. Technique (5 minutes): this would include any technical exercises written specifically for your instrument. This would include picking. bowing, tonguing and fingering exercises. It may also include working on your intervals (3rds, octaves), arpeggios, and awkward leaps. It may also include such things as articulations, dynamics and rhythms.
  3. Chords (5 minutes): these are exercises that would include adding more chords to your repertoire or learning to use the ones you know more effectively. That means learning the new chord, different fingerings (or inversions) and and the theory behind it (it's function and uses). It would also include chord progressions. Learning chord progressions used in various musical styles but also how to play the chords in that style. An integral part of learning chords is learning to comp. This means different things in different styles. These exercises should be part of every players practice regimen, not just rhythm section players.
  4. Scales (5 minutes): everybody know how important it is to learn your scales. It's important that you don't just 'go through the motions'; don't spend all of your time just going up and down through your scales. Learn how to use them. Go through different patterns and doing ear training to learn them inside and out. Learning how to effectively use a couple of scales (and chords) is much more important than learning a ton of scales (and chords) and not knowing what to do with them.
  5. Improv/writing (10 minutes): I usually put improvisation and writing together when it comes to short practice sessions. I'll work on whatever is the most important at the time. This is what I call the application of theory. I use the chords, scales, licks, cliches or whatever I've learned that week and put it into actual practice. It's good to try ideas in a variety of keys, tempos, and styles. It easy to get carried away with this portion. If you're short on time, make sure  you go over the relevant material and not spend half an hour 'jamming'...which is wonderful when you have the extra time!
  6. Song/repertoire (10 minutes): this is learning new songs/material and reviewing your song list. Too many musicians learn tunes but don't review them on a regular basis. Reviewing songs regularly gets them into your fingers and helps in improvising and writing because the changes and parts are pretty much ingrained into your psyche. By organizing the way you learn songs and memorize them (we'll go over this in a future post), your repertoire can grow in no time at all. If you're a jazz or session musician, having a huge repertoire is paramount.
If you only have time for a short session, then these are good guidelines to get it all done in about half an hour. If you have more time, you can spend more time on the individual exercises. If you're learning a new tune for example, you may want to spend a whole session just going through the chord changes. Then you can use the next session going through the melody or bass line.

Pace Yourself

It's better to not spend too much time on one exercise or one practice session. There is a point of diminishing returns when you've repeatedly gone over the same material. It's better to spend less time and be completely focused. If you have extra time, try breaking up your practice schedule into smaller sessions*. This gives your brain some time to assimilate all of the information that you've thrown at it.  

*There are exceptions to this...one being getting ready for a show. To prepare you want to go through the entire set in one session to make sure that everything flows.


Just Do It

Try to get it into your brain that your practice sessions don't have to be a long drawn out affair. It's great when you have the time to sit down and get right into it but don't put off practicing just because you don't have a spare hour. If you have a spare 15 or 20, that may be enough to get in a great practice. Remember to have the list in front of you and go through all of the exercises. Don't spend too much time on any one exercise. Sure it's more fun to get right into each exercise but you may not always have that time. This way you can still get something done. It takes away an excuse and allows you to keep motivated and on course without stressing about losing days. It makes it easier to remember what you've done, what  you're supposed to work on, and what needs work. Most of all, you'll see better results because you are practicing more often, you're working on essential skills everyday, and you're staying focused.

Master your instrument, master the music, and then forget all that crap and just play. - Charlie Parker

Practice Doesn't Make Perfect



It's pretty much a universal truth; practice makes perfect. Musicians know all too well that if you want to master your art, there is no substitute for practice. The problem is that this statement is much too vague.

The Blind Leading...

Just blindly practicing without thought can do more damage than good. Thinking that you can just show up and go through the motions can install false hope and produce unrealistic expectations. It also may cause doubt and pain after a huge investment in time and money is made and there are no results or improvement. There are right ways to practice and wrong ways to practice. There are wrong ways to learn and wrong ways to work. You can actually practice hard everyday and not accomplish very much at all. The student who practices wrong may be doing more damage than good; wasting years of time and effort practicing the wrong things over and over. Or, they may be going through the motions of practicing without making any effort or challenging themselves at all. Essentially, it's not enough to just sit down and practice, you must make sure that you are going about it the right way.

Why Are We Here?

While this may seem obvious at the outset, a lot of students will go about practicing without thought to why they are doing it in the first place. Some musicians have the really bad habit of practicing certain skills without too much thought about proper fingering or technique. People like to practice the same material and skills over and over. Learning new skills and keeping yourself challenged takes some discipline. Keeping on track with planning, execution and periodic self assessment is hard. It seems so much easier just to get to it; even when we know better. If may be as simple as not looking forward enough to see how much could be gained by some planning and discipline.


The Two Finger Approach

A lot of the time, making that initial investment seems like more trouble than its worth,. We're simply too lazy, can't be bothered and just want to get down to the task at hand. There are some skills that people don't take the time to learn even though the investment would be quite small in comparison to the time and money saved. The best analogy of this is the simple task of typing. Many people spend most of their day on their computer yet never learn to type. Even though it will save them a huge amount of time in the long run, they never take the time to learn and practice the skill properly. Some people go through an entire lifetime typing with two fingers. If they took the time to learn the skill in the first place, with regular practice they could double their typing speed in a relatively short time. The best part is that this is a skill that will stick with you the rest of your life. With a little concentrated effort and planning you may achieve much more in a significantly less amount of time. When you take the time to learn the proper technique, you will only get better with time. It's a good idea to think about this when planning your practice regimen. Think about what it is you want to learn and how (or who to go to) would be the best way to go about it.

Do You Have One?

First of all, how many musicians do you think actually have a practice regimen? By that I mean a specific time set apart where the musician will sit down and follow a charted course of lessons and exercises. How many musicians a) practice simply when they have a spare moment or just whenever they feel like it? b) actually take notes during their practice sessions? c) record their practice sessions and periodically review their progress? Working at something without actually charting your progress seems ludicrous. Can you imagine practicing a sport without taking the time to measure your progress and results? Yet how many musicians do this? How many musicians take a haphazard approach to practicing, writing, technique and their overall progress? As a student of any other activity, you would never do this.


General Rules

I'm going to go over some general rules to always keep in mind when sitting down to practice. These principles can also be applied to any endeavor which takes daily, regimented action.

Always do the following when sitting down to practice.
  • relax and focus on the task at hand
  • be mindful about what you're doing and why 
  • review what you did in the last session
  • plan for the practice session
  • work on problem areas
  • work on new skills and ideas
  • take notes
  • stretch and challenge yourself daily
  • use a timer
  • include warm ups and fundamental exercises
  • make notes for next session
While this may seem like it would be a chore to do and hard to implement, it's actually like most other learned behaviours. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes easier to do. After an extended period of time it will become automatic. It actually saves a lot of time and takes a lot of the guess work out of what you're trying to do. It's easier to stay on track because it's all right in front of you. There is little guess work. It may be hard for a lot of easy going, artistic personalities to get into such a regimen but once you stick with it for a while and start seeing results quite quickly, your attitude may change.

The Big Review

You're going to have to sit down periodically and do an overall review. These reviews serve two purposes. First of all it gives you a good idea of what you've done and what you want to accomplish. That way you can make sure that you're working on things that are going to get you where you want to go. With music, there are so many skills and things to learn that it becomes easy to work on many different things. It's easy to get into a whole set of skills that aren't related to what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. It gives you something to measure as far as seeing if you are actually moving toward your goal.

Secondly it also helps in motivation and keeping on track. It's all too easy to lose your place or even worst, lose your motivation when practicing. This after all, is just you. You have to try and be objective about what you've learned and if you're making any progress. If you've taken the time to write down what you want to accomplish, you can later go back and see if you've done what you've set out. A lot of the students I have taught get excited when they see the results in their playing. Sometimes, it's as simply as recognizing a chord progression on the radio, but once there are measurable results, it gives up the motivation to stick with it. There are always periods of what seems like no growth at all but then there are always moments of a-ha where you realize that have improved or accomplished something significant.

The Big Plan

One of the things that's important to do before you even start a practice regimen is figure out what it is you want to accomplish. Write down what specific skills you'd like to learn and what the big plan is. It should be within a given time frame. This could be a year or 6 months or even 3 months. Don't worry about being too accurate with your time frame if you're just starting out with a new skill. For a beginner this would include learning to play an instrument for an intermediate musician, it may be earning to write a symphony. You won't know how long this is going to take. As you get going with your regimen though, you should do a review after a couple of months. From this you will be able to tell if you're improving and it may give you a better idea of your time frame and how long it may take to learn a new skill.

Check, Check

You must make sure that you are checking your results and always striving to get better. It's possible to keep going over the same things and think that you are practicing but you're not. This is when people seem to hit that 'ceiling' and can't seem to improve. When learning new skills you may have to get 'worst' before you get better. There's the idea that mastering a skill takes 10 years but it's possible that you could work on something for a decade or more and see very little results. It's also possible for someone with a set plan, with the right materials and work ethic, to master something in a fraction of that time.

Working Solo: R&D


Last time we talked about some of the problems with goals setting and planning when working on your own. When you're a musician most of the time you're going to be on your own which makes it that much harder trying to get it all done.


What to Do…What to Do

Planning is simply figuring out what’s important, what needs to be done, and how it’s going to get done. The problem with the music industry is that there isn't one way to the top. There are as many ways of getting there as there are musicians. So what do you need to do? What's your first step? What's your next step? What needs to be done first? Of course the answer to any of these questions has a lot to do with where you are now and what you want to accomplish. There is no set approach for artists and musicians; more now than ever since the turn in music industry in recent years.


R&D

You are going to have to spend a part of everyday on career development. Most companies spend a good deal of time (and money) in research and development. As a business, you're going to have to do the same. It’s said that in business that you should be reinvesting a certain percentage of your profits back into R&D; otherwise you become obsolete and die. You need to be doing the same. That means spending time everyday doing some research in figuring out what people in your industry are doing to make it. Much like practicing and working at your craft, this is one of the things that you should be thinking about and working on everyday. How do you go about this? What do you do first? If you’re just starting out, you’re going to have to do quite a bit of research and a lot of trial and error.


This process of research and trial and error never actually ends; you just get better at it.


The ‘R’ Part

For a starting musician (or even if you’re not), you will need to do some research first. Go to your library and take out books. There are tons, pick a couple but don’t just read them, make notes and put some of the ideas into action. This will be the beginning of your master plan. Don’t worry if you’re doing the ‘right’ thing yet. It will become apparent what works and what doesn’t soon enough. Do some research online. Don’t spend too much time on this. You could spend years going through all of the stuff online and end up wasting a lot of time. Do the same process as you did with the books. Take some of the good ideas, print them out on a separate sheet so you can access them anytime. This will get rid of any temptation to do any extra surfing while trying to work on your goals. Make a list of some actionable goals from the ideas you got online and then get out there and do them.


People, Places

Get out there and talk with musicians. This may be your greatest resource. Even if they aren’t ‘rockstars’ yet, that doesn’t matter. Every musician has stories and lessons learned. Remember to take it all with a grain of salt. See what ideas you like and try them out. If you hear one piece of advice over and over; memorize it and learn from it. It may save you a lot of pain later. There is no substitute for real experience but with a little research there won’t be as many surprises. Make no mistake though, there will be surprises!


Always have research and development as part of your to do list. No matter where you are in your path, this always needs to be on your list. This must be an ongoing thing.


The ‘D’ Part

The development part has a couple of areas that needs to be considered. Just putting your research into action is part of your development. Tweaking that research and you master plan is another. Remember we’re talking about career development here and not about your art; development of your art goes is another article entirely. Development in your career also involves networking, administration and of course finances. If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent years working on your craft, leaving the business largely alone. There is no place for this anymore. Just as you work on songwriting everyday, you must work on the development of your career. This means that once the research has been done and you’ve written down some goals, it’s time to see what’s working. Most businesses have a method of measuring if something is successful or not. They measure if it was worth their while and check to see if they can replicate that process. If you can do this, it’s a good idea but a lot of the things that you do in your development wouldn’t be so clear-cut. Sometimes the most unexpected things happen as a result of something that seemed arbitrary at the time. Sometimes upon closer inspection, there things don’t turn out to be as arbitrary as you think. It’s all part of the process.


Anything Happening Yet?

There will be times that you can see a direct result of something that you had done as part of your R&D. This may be getting contacts at a networking event, meeting other musicians at a jam night or simply getting sales from a local gig. When you achieve some success, it’s important to take a second and figure out why. If you can trace your steps back and see what you did and how it resulted in that particular success, you’re more likely to do that again in the future. It simply means that this process or goal works for you and it’s always a good idea to build on successes. A lot of very famous musicians have built a career on making the most out of one or two ‘small’ successes.


Your Career Workbook

One of things that you may want to do right from the outset is put together a career workbook. I have one of these for my practice sessions as well but having one solely for your business, planning, career and PR is a good idea. Once you’ve made a list, put it in there. Any marketing ideas? Put it in there. CD release checklists, networking events, etc. Put it all in there. Some people like to have their workbook on their computer. I personally find a binder much better. I carry it anywhere, doesn’t need any batteries or back up, and I have a hard copy of all of the most important items. This workbook should be opened at least once a day and checked. It’s important that this is a vehicle for action and results; not another system that you spend all of your time on tweaking and updating. It’s a WORK book.


Try and Try Again

If you’re just starting out don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. Check out some of ideas that you’ve found in your research and get started. Keep a list of what you want to do and what you’ve done. If something works, make a note of it. Rework the research and the plan. It’s a work in process.

Working Solo: Staying Motivated


There’s been a ton written about the importance of planning your goals. It's common knowledge that one of the best things you can do to make your dreams a reality is to put together a list of goals and then take steps to get those goals done. This is rarely as simple as it seems. Take a trip online and see all of the websites, programs and applications that are supposed to make this process simple and painless. The problem with goal setting (and achieving) is that we all have different goals (approaches and applications) and different personalities (methods and motivators). There doesn't seem to be one system for all. What we're going to discuss today is a good starting point in putting together some lists so that you have a strong foundation. We'll look at some of the universal problems in achieving your goals. From here you may try any one of the systems out there and see what works for you. In any case, you'll have set the ground work and not matter which system you end up using, you will be heading toward your goals along the way.

You're Special

One thing that most systems don't take into consideration is the fact that no two people work the same. There are provisions in most time management systems that allow for folks to try and discern the most productive time of day and try to work around that but there's a lot more to it than just the time of day. People have different ways of working and different motivators. Some people like to work under pressure, some hate it. Some people need to work in a neat and orderly place, some people thrive on chaos. Most people need structure, though the amount varies a lot between individuals. Some people need a lot of supervision and feedback, some very little. You get the point here. There are a lot of other variables that most systems don't take into consideration. Some just leave these questions wide open and leave it up to the individual to figure them out for themselves. The problem is that these issues are really important and may make the difference between a system working for you or not. Let's look at a couple.


One is the Loneliest Number

One of the major issues people have today in getting things done is that most things have to be done on your own. This means that not only do you have to get the job done, but you also have to figure out what’s important and what needs to be done. Just as important you have to try and find the motivation to get do these things on a daily basis. The fact is that a lot of people don't work well completely on their own. Most people work best within a system with some structure. Working with other people, it's easier to stay motivated and on course. It's all too easy to let things slide when you don't have any one waiting on results. It's easier to think that an item isn't as important when it's your own responsibility and no-one's reputation or job on the line. The problem is that if you have an important item on your list that must be done, you must find a way in make sure that it gets done. If you boss tells you that he needs that report by Friday morning by 9, it's a lot easier to put much more importance on it because somebody is waiting for it. It seems easier for most people to get things done when there are other people waiting on it and you're reputation is at stake. That's why when people are trying to lose weight and going on an exercise regimen, they are encouraged to tell somebody they trust about their plans. When there is somebody waiting on a particular project, there is a huge built in motivator for you to get that done. When you're on your own, that external motivator isn’t there.


Feedback and Community

Along the same lines, another big motivator that keeps you on goal is feedback and community. When you have a community of people that know about your goals, you can turn to them for advice and motivation. Sometimes just being able to have a conversation about what you're working on and what you plan to do in the future may provide enough motivation to last for weeks. It certainly can help when you're not sure what to do next or if you're questioning the goal in the first place. There is also that built in motivator that we talked about in the last point. Suddenly there are other people that know about what you're doing and you may feel pressure to get things done just to keep up with the community. Community is also great when things aren’t going well. It’s comforting to know that there are others out there going through the same kinds of things that you are. It may also give you an idea of what the trouble is and finding a solution.


Welcome to the Show

It’s no longer enough these days to just be a musician. You need to be able to run your music career like a business. That means that most of the time you’re going to be doing a lot of things at once. Most of these things won’t be your area of expertise. You are literally a one person show. Even if you join a band, these same principles of running a business still apply. You won’t have the money to get all of the help you need so you’re going to have to do a lot of things on your own. You will have to start working your music career like a business.

As a business you’re going to have to set apart some time to make some plans. Knowing how you work, how to keep motivated and on course is critical for your success. At the end of the day, you’re on your own and it’ll be up to you to make sure that you get all that needs to be done…well, done.

Next we’ll take a look of some specific examples from the problems listed above and find some solutions.

10 Years or 10,000 Hours


There has been a lot of talk lately about the latest book for Malcolm Gladwell called ‘Outliers’. The basic premise of the book is that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky." One of the most memorable parts of the book is where he goes on to talk about how these people had achieved success. Not only did they have certain advantages but they also put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort. The figure he comes up with as far as the time that needs to be put into an endeavor is about ’10 years or 10,000 hours’. He cites that this is the necessary amount of time needed to achieve that level of success.

How Long??

As an artist and a teacher I can see the validity of this point even if I don’t agree with the specifics. I look back at my own journey and see the value of sticking to a certain program and keeping focused on the music. I can also see the same thing in the students I teach. Whenever I get a new student I can already visualize all of the steps that he/she will have to go through to obtain some measure of artistic success. The problem I have is the notion that there is a certain time frame that we all need to adhere to. I have had too many experiences with too many people to magically throw a number at how long it will take for them to master a certain technique. Moreover, different disciplines require different approaches and completely different time frames. For example if a student comes in and tells me that he wants to become a concert pianist I can honestly say that the 10 year mark is pretty close. The level of proficiency for that kind of career is so high that even the brightest and most talented students will take many years of concentrated effort to get to a professional level. The same goes for a student wishing to become a master jazz improviser. For a young player to attain the level of playing necessary to compete, he/she will have to put in much more time on their instrument to achieve any kind of success. The difference between these disciplines and for example being in a rock band is that there is a certain prerequisite of playing ability just to get started. Arguably the bar isn’t as high when playing in a rock band where you’re look and performance has just as much importance. Most rock music is built on attitude and great songs and not chops and virtuosity. Although there is no reason why you’re rock band can’t be musically tight and put on a great virtuoso performance. The levels though are simply not the same.

Focus

One of the first things that I discuss with a student or somebody I’m working with is what we’re trying to accomplish. For most artists this is a hard thing to describe. Mostly because artists want to think that they have something completely original that can’t be described. Or, they’re not exactly sure what they want to do and are just hoping to get to work and see what happens. This is ok when first starting out or beginning on a new project. Just letting things happen can be a great way to start because you’re open to everything and you’ll just try things to ‘see what works’. In the beginning, defining yourself may not be necessary. There does come a point however, that it becomes absolutely necessary that you define yourself and your band. This is the best way to make sure that you are all on the same page and gives you an idea of what to strive for. Even if you don’t sit down to define who you are and what you sound like, it will happen anyway. There will be a point where you’ll be working on something and realize that it’s not you and that it doesn’t go with your sound. The point is that you will eventually have figure out what exactly your plans are and how you’re going to go about achieving them. Even now, when I get a new student or I start working with a new writer or vocalist the first question I ask is ‘what are we here for?’ This may be a generic idea like ‘we’re going to write a pop song’ or ‘we’re going to try some demos of our new material’. Either way, you have an idea why you’re there. Most projects, like most songs start out with a basic idea. After working on the project for a while, things become more defined. There will have to be a point where you see a general direction and will want to continue with that. Every individual in the Outliers book had focus. It was one of the things that separated them from the rest. They were willing to put in an extraordinary amount of time, and they had some external forces that helped them get that valuable experience. Were the external forces that the individuals in the book a result of the fact that they were so focused? Is one factor reliant on the other? We may never be absolutely sure about that but one this is certain: you absolutely need focus! Extraordinary opportunities may arise from simply keeping with the program.

Just Plain Lucky

There are a couple of examples from the book where Malcolm outlines circumstances in the individuals’ lives that gave them an edge over other people. The fact that Bill Gates had access to computer equipment when most people at the time didn’t was one of the reasons why he had an unfair advantage over others. I’ve written about being lucky a couple of times in this blog. My notion of luck is that it does have some force over things happening in your life but this isn’t something that you can depend on. I’m a big proponent of making your own luck. One of the examples Malcolm cites in the book is about how the Beatles had the chance to hone their skills by playing numerous shows a day in a club in Hamburg, Germany. I agree with the notion that this did have an effect on their abilities as musicians and as a band. The part I have trouble with is the fact that this was extraordinary luck. There have been other bands that have come and gone which had the same chance as far as honing their chops onstage. The Beatles had made an effort to go out and get the gig in the first place. The point is that they made the effort in the first place and made sure that when the opportunity came up, they were there to take advantage of it.

Some Deserved

There is no question that the life of artist can be hard. There are times when some people seem to fall by the waste side while others achieve incredible success. There have been times when it seems like the cream doesn’t always rise to the top. Sometimes it seems that there is no reason why some people succeed and some don’t. There is the notion in the book that some people gain an unfair advantage by simple blind luck. Some of the people had extraordinary circumstances that allowed them to achieve what they did. He mentions timing, environment and cultural advantages among others. My favorite examples are the extraordinary number of the richest people in history born within the same 10 year period. If they had been born 5 years either way, they would have been too young or too old to take advantage of the circumstances of the time. As far as artists go I have to agree with this. I mean could Bob Dylan have been as successful at any other time as he was during the 60’s? If he emerged as an artist today, would have he had been as successful? I doubt it. The problem I have with this is the fact that most people are a result of the time that they live in. If Bob was born in the 80’s would he have been a folk singer? We’re getting into some grey areas here that probably could never be answered but the fact remains that it’s impossible to separate the people from the time they were alive. There have also been artists who were relatively unknown in their own time, to be discovered long after they died. Bach immediately comes to mind here. They say that you can’t plan on becoming an icon. These things happen without your control whether you like it or not. Some people work hard and do everything right. Some people don’t. Some people will achieve an incredible amount of success in their lives. Some people will only achieve marginal success. The question of whether it was deserved is built upon preconceived notions of right and wrong and do’s and don’t within each society. There is the notion in our society that some people deserve success more than others. We have this idea that if you play by the rules and do everything right, then you deserve some measure of success. While I hold the same ideals most of the time, it simply doesn’t work like this.

Increase the Odds

Whether someone has unfair advantages is some thing you cannot control. Whether someone deserves it is neither here nor there when it comes to your own personal success. Your definition of success is just as personal as your goals in life. Some people work their entire lives to obtain some success. Some people reach most of their goals by the time they’re 30. What you want to do is take care of business and take control of what you can. Leave the legends and the acts of God to the cosmos. You have no control over that. You have no control over how long it will take or even how much talent you were given in the first place. Art is about self expression. You can be 10 years old and express yourself like a true genius. You may write your masterpiece after only a couple of tries or it may take you a decade. The only thing you know for sure is that you’ll never know until you sit down and get to it. The genius is in the doing and not the succeeding. You never know what’s going to happen in the end but you can enjoy the process. You can spend your life creating things that only you can create. There are better ways of doing things. Learn and utilize. That’s what this blog is all about. Figure out what you want to do and how you’re going to do it. Leave the luck and the rest to the gods. They have their own agenda.

How to Be Lucky In Your Music Career

The Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect: 8th...Image via Wikipedia

There is a basic idea in the music industry that a lot of your success relies on luck. Sometimes when you look at the career at some of the superstars out there, it may seem that they had a lot of luck to get where they are. This is true in some respects; success in this industry does have a lot to do with luck. But, it may not have as much influence as you may think. I looked at some of the careers of some successful musicians and found something very interesting. A lot of what I had dismissed as luck actually was as a direct result of what the musician was doing. It was a direct result of effort more than anything sort of help from some outside force.

Bad Luck

Since we're on the topic of luck, let's talk a bit about bad luck. We've all had those days where nothing seemed to go right. If something could go wrong, it would. There is no doubt that sometimes things just aren't working in your favor. Bad luck, like good luck, has a lot to do with what you do and don't do. It also has a lot to do with cause and effect. For example, if you've bought a used car and that car breaks down on you, it's not so much a situation of bad luck as it is probability. Most often when you buy something that's used, odds are that it has some defects. In fact, if you get something used and it doesn't have any major defects, you may consider yourself lucky.

An Ounce of Prevention

We've all heard the saying: 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'? Well this is true of bad luck too. How much is something bad happening as a result of prevention as it is just an accident. A lot of times, without prevention, an accident is just waiting to happen. If you have a vehicle that you don't upkeep, then it's just a matter of time before something breaks down. It has nothing to do with bad luck. Have you ever noticed some people's lives seem to be in perpetual turmoil? Things seem to break down and go wrong on a regular basis. On closer inspection you find that a lot of times they're just unorganized or simply failed to take care of something when the time was right. For example, I don't know how many times something went wrong in my life and I immediately chalked it up to bad luck. More often than not though, looking back over the sequence of events I usually find something that I could have done to have prevented the problem in the first place. There are also examples where the odds may be stacked against you and you deny the fact that they are there. If buy a house in the Midwest and you have your house destroyed from a tornado, it's not as much bad luck as it is bad planning.

The basic point of this is that a lot of bad luck may be the simple result of not taking the necessary actions to prevent the problem in the first place. And, in the same way, you may experience 'good luck' as a result of taking positive action. If you extend this type of thinking to other area of your life, you start to see some patterns.

The Plan

Then there are the conclusions people draw when things don't go their way or not according to plans. Sometimes when things go slightly off, people make it worse by abandoning their efforts or rebelling against the process. For example, you may miss your bus on your way to a really important meeting, dismiss it as bad luck and abandon the opportunity all together. I know that I've done this. I attempt to achieve something only to give up at the last moment because of some unforeseen circumstances or unplanned interruptions. I'll get frustrated at my 'bad luck' and drop the whole affair. Things getting in the way and not going according to plan are simply a part of life. The army, who is famous for taking on monumental tasks has a saying that says 'a plan is simply a guideline to getting started'. Meaning once you get started on a project or toward an objective, things will go 'wrong' and not according to plan. Having the plan there is simply a guideline to make sure that everybody keeps the objective in mind. Things are always going to go wrong. It's not bad luck; it's simply the way of the universe.

So when things go wrong you're simply going to have to fix the error or find another way. In keeping with the ounce of prevention theme, there are things that will go wrong no matter what precautions you've taken. This can be back luck or it can be something that was going to happen and you just didn't see the signs. Sometimes things will happen as a result of things that are beyond your control. If you've worked in the forest industry and then the bottom falls out of the industry is this bad luck? Or is it just a natural part of our changing economy?

People People

Have you ever met somebody who has no problem meeting people? They seem to attract people wherever they go and always seem to know somebody. I've known a few people like this and not only are they popular; they also seem to be very lucky. I knew a guy who seemed to be really lucky at getting things done, getting jobs and getting help from other people. I always chalked this up to good luck until I noticed how good he was with people. He was outgoing, genuine and people never had any misgivings about going out of their way for him. The funny thing is that most of the time, the people helping never asked for anything in return. In short, he had charisma. Is this guy really lucky or is it as result of a developed skill? Some people are born with great people skills but this also one area that can be improved with practice. Nowhere is this skill more important than the music industry. You'll be surprised at how many opportunities arise simply from knowing somebody. Actually it goes beyond knowing somebody; it's a result of good relationships. These like most things, need to be cultivated.

Having the ability to get to know people and develop good relationships is one of the most important skills to have as a musician. For some well known musicians, this is the secret to their success; they were simply great at meeting the right people and getting those people to help them out with their career. It's amazing how much luck you draw when you are surrounded with great people.

Hard Workers

Then there are the 'lucky' people who just seem to get a lot done. You know the type, they don't seem to do a lot yet seem to get a lot done. They seem to be lucky and have success even though they seem to have limited skills. Here the luck comes from simply playing the odds and focusing on the one thing that matters. Some people in the music industry seem to be really lucky at their career while they seem to be a mess in other areas of their life. The fact of the matter is that they make sure that they get the essentials done. There is the 80/20 rule in business where 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort. In other words, there a couple of things that you do that accounts for 80% of your success. These people seem to have found that 80% and get that done. It's amazing how much success you can have by doing this. It may seem to other people that you don't work hard or that it comes easy for you. The fact of the matter is that once you take care of the essentials, most of the other 80% will either take care of itself or won't matter half as much as you may think.

The Right Attitude

Sometimes having good luck is simply a matter of having the right attitude. If you do consider yourself lucky, you may be more willing to do things that other people won't. You may be open to new ideas or just try things without preconceived notions. Or you may simply try again where most people would give up. Some people in the music industry got lucky simply because they 'got out there'. You may try things that others would consider too risky or daring. You may walk into situations and ask for what you want where most people would consider it too pushy. In short, you are expecting the best from situations. If you have a good attitude and are willing to try things, not take things too seriously and just get out there, you may end up with more luck than other people.

Being Open

There is an element of simply being open to being lucky. If you're open to trying things, to meeting new people and learning new skills, you may find yourself getting more opportunities than most people. There is the attitude of simply trying things and getting it out there. According to Derek Sivers, some of the most successful artists on CDBaby were the ones that simply tried many things. They got things done and tried many avenues of promotion without worrying about making 'the right moves'. If you're out there, getting things done and making things happen, you may end up getting really lucky.


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The Wisdom of a Music Education

A teacher writing on a blackboard.Image from WikipediaMore and more I hear students telling me that they don’t have music at their school or that it’s been delegated as an extra-curricular activity. It’s a shame because in my opinion a musical education can teach us much more than we ever thought about learning and succeeding. It’s much like sports where the lessons we learn have far reaching effects over all areas of our life. Sometimes the effects aren’t as tangible as say learning how to add or write a proper paragraph but it teaches us how to learn, work on our own and overcome difficulties on a weekly basis.

The Lesson
A music lesson usually consists of a weekly visit to a teacher who hopefully has a lot of real world experience in the craft. The teacher will review what was covered last week and make sure that the student practiced the necessary exercises. If the student didn’t practice, or didn’t improve enough in that particular exercise, then it’s left again for the next week. If the exercise is too difficult, it’s broken down or simplified and practiced until the student can complete the exercise to the teacher’s approval. While the student has a number of exercises in a couple of different areas, they all point to a common goal. Hopefully, the basic techniques will be covered and ingrained before moving on. Week by week the student goes through this, slowly building skills while the teacher ensures that the student improves and keeps focused on the material at hand. While this system may seem simple at first glance, it’s brilliant in its simplicity and very effective in getting the desired results. It’s the same method that is used in sports with the coach/athlete relationship and is now used in mainstream teaching on everything from math to social skills. Basically its learning one thing at a time, in incremental steps, while keeping focused on the big picture.

Big Dreams…What Are We Doing Here?

Whenever I start working with people and/or students, we usually begin with discussing all of the things that they want to accomplish and/or learn in the coming months. Somebody may just be there to get the basics and learn something about their instrument and how music works. Others have visions of mastering the instrument and playing in front of thousands of people. It doesn’t matter, it’s a personal thing: there is no right answer for this initial stage. I know that when I sit down and figure out my goals for the upcoming months I usually go over the top to begin with. While it’s easy to go over the top with what you’d like to do, I usually don’t put any limitations on this…initially. Whenever I discuss the same things with fellow musicians, it’s the same thing and I try not to put any damper on what they want to do. Initially, I’m just trying to decipher what their most important goals are and what we need to do/learn to get them to their goals. It’s not until I have a grasp of who they are and what they want that I start to make some decisions about what to do next and make some definite plans about what we may be able to accomplish and what we may have to put off until later. What students don’t know is that as soon as I figure out what they want and where they are now, I immediately start putting together a plan. What the plan is and what the next couple of steps are depends on the student and the situation.

For Example

If I get a student who really wants to learn how to improvise, I try to figure out what their musical knowledge is and what level they are at right now. If they are a beginner and have no knowledge of music theory, and they tell me that they want to learn how to improvise over jazz standards, I know exactly what has to be done and a basic estimate of how long that will take. It’s only experience of many years of teaching and playing that gives me this knowledge. If the student is a beginner, I know that we’re going to have to go through the basics before we get into any heavy improvising. I want to make sure that they have a certain amount of technique and knowledge of some basic music theory such as time and form before we even start memorizing any scales. The point here is that as soon as they start, whether they know it or not, there is a plan in place. Now, every student/musician is different and although there is a plan, the exact plan isn’t concrete because it isn’t clear immediately where the student’s strengths and weaknesses lie and that every student is at a different place as far as knowledge and ability. What most students don’t realize is that when learning a new skill, the skill is broken down into small, manageable steps. The harder the skill, the more steps are involved. For example, if a student wants to be able to sing a major scale, I have to make sure that they initially can sing any given note. That means just singing one note when I play it to them. If they can’t do this, then I give them exercises to master this. Once that’s done, we work on two notes and so on. Every student has his/her challenges and what may be difficult for one, will be easy for another.

One at a Time…a Little at a Time
The point of all of this is to learn a musical instrument but it can be applied to any skill. If you look at it, it’s really how we learn in the first place. We almost always learn from a teacher, be it your parents, a formal teaching situation or ad hock from multiple sources, a small piece at a time. We then acquire one small skill at a time until we master the thing that we set out to do. There may be times that we seem to learn on our own and master things quickly but they’re usually based on already acquired skills. We may find that we are gifted in some areas where others are difficult. A lot of the time these exist within that same skill set. For example you may be gifted musically but can’t dance to save your life. Or, you’re a great singer but have a hard time writing a song. The point I want to make here is not about what you’re good or bad at, but how we go about learning new skills and how we can use that knowledge to acquire new skills faster and easier.


A good teacher will a) be able to fully assess where you are and where you want to go b) figure out your strengths and weaknesses and figure out ways to work on these areas c) be able to devise a plan that allows you to complete your goals and d) be able to regularly review your progress and change the plan of attack according to your individual needs. This is the true value of a music education but we can apply this methodology to all other areas of your life.

Let’s look at these one at a time:


a) Assess where you are and where you want to go. Two of the biggest problems I’ve had in becoming a success are failure to plan and trying to do too many things at once. So it was either failure to plan, or failure to plan effectively. I know that this is a problem for most people and I think that in this day and age, it’s all too easy to multitask our way into ineffectiveness. When I look at how I teach and how I learned to master my instrument, I realize that the answer was there all along: one thing at a time. The great thing about having a teacher is that they have the wisdom to see where you are and your weaknesses. They have experience and know what steps are need to accomplish your goals, and they will focus on one area at a time until all of the needed skills are acquired. Like I mentioned before, most of the time, the student isn’t even aware of this.

b) Identify your strengths and weaknesses and figure out how to work with them and around them. We all have strengths and weaknesses. To succeed these days in the music industry you’re going to have to be able to do a number of different skills at any given time. This may include being a songwriter, an engineer, a producer, a computer specialist. Or you may have to some public relations, marketing, finances, and tour promotion if you’re releasing your own stuff etc. This is just a small list but you get the idea. There are a lot of different skills involved in each of these activities and I don’t know of anybody who can do it all. I wrote a post in here before about trying to do it all, and it’s not only hard but very counterproductive. The point is that whenever you take on any plan, it’s a good idea to figure out what you can do, what you can’t, and what you may be able to delegate to somebody else.

c) Devise a plan. It’s only after we’ve figure out what we want to do and what we can do that we can set down some possible plans. By knowing what it is we can be certain about where it is that we want to go. By knowing our strengths and weakness, we can assign certain objectives to ourselves and set out to get help on the ones that we can’t. When we get a basic plan together, we need a plan of action and deadlines to make those actions a reality. In a music education, the deadlines aren’t always written in stone since one objective usually relies on the completion of the one before it. But so it goes in life; especially a career in the music industry. Keep in mind that a plan is always a work in progress and that changes will have to be made. It’s simply a general road map, the exact directions have to be written en-route.

d) Review and revise. This is especially important and is never given enough thought. As soon as you get going with your plans, it’s essential that you sit down on a regular basis and figure out what worked, what didn’t and if you are still on course. This is where the wisdom of the music education approach really kicks in. The student and teacher get together once a week to review. Anytime you have a lesson, the first thing you do is review what you did last week and assess to see if you can move on to the next step. There are two important points here. First of all there is the weekly review. It tells the teacher if the student has worked on the material, if there any problems with the material or the student and if they are still on course. If the material was too tough, there may have be a change in plans. The second lesson is that whether the student knows it or not, the teacher has made the student focus on one single lesson and didn’t allow the student to go one without completion of that lesson. This is where the one pointed focus comes in. In a music education there are just too many things for a student to learn. They all must be taken one step at a time. When the student becomes proficient in one area, s/he can then move on into more advanced techniques. If the student was to take it all on at once, it would just be overwhelming and the chances of success would be greatly reduced.

One More Time...From the Top
The lesson here is that within getting a musical education, we learn certain things that we can apply to all other areas of our life. I’ve focused mostly on music and the music industry but these lessons can apply to almost anything. When we learn to play a music instrument, it’s imperative that we learn in incremental steps and use what we’ve learned to build upon. It’s also important to note that when learning an instrument, most of the work is done on your own. Most of the development happens when you take the time to work on the task at hand, on a regular basis. There are no shortcuts. It’s this regular, incremental work ethic that allows us to achieve things that in themselves seem impossible. If you’re unsure, just check out a great artist who has really learned their craft. It almost seems magical when seen live yet realize that that magic was the result of the ongoing daily work and learning ethic that we learned about here.
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So You Want A Record Deal

Photograph of American Idol video games for the PlayStation 2.Image via WikipediaOne of the things that I come across a lot is people who really want to make it in the music industry and think that if they're just standing in the right spot at the right time, then they'll get discovered and all of their dreams will come true. They dream of the day when they turn a corner and there is a music industry bigwig there to make them a star. We all know they story, it's permeated into our brains and then reinforced by the media and shows like 'American Idol'. The premise being that 'we will make you a star'. While this does happen it's rarely the case. Most of the time you hear of people 'getting discovered', they've spent many years working at their craft and were completely prepared when their time came. Part of the success of 'American Idol' is that it feeds this desire may people have to be a star, while taking away the personal responsibility to make your own career. It never ceases to amaze me when I see people with obvious talent subscribing to the thought that a record company will come along one day and make all of their dreams come true. I know because I held these very same viewpoints myself. I used to feel that 'it was going to happen anytime soon'; that this was going to be the year that I finally make a success in the music industry. The problem was that I didn't know exactly how I was going to do that; I didn't have a clue about what I wanted to achieve in the first place. I didn't even know the genre of music I wanted to be successful in because I had spent time touring with rock, country and jazz bands. All I knew was that I wanted to make music for a living and didn't really care in what capacity or exactly how I was going to do that. Is it any surprise to you that I never really had that much success in those years? It wasn't until I sat down and make some concrete goals that I started to see some success. The funny thing was that when I did finally sit down to make plans, the goal to get signed to a record company, something I thought would be the number one item on the list, was about number 20. I realized that if I wanted to become successful in what I wanted to do, I'd have to decide on exactly what it was that I wanted to do and then take responsibility to get it done. Although the thought that I was ultimately responsible for my entire career was scary, it was also very liberating.

The List
Once I had figured out my music career goals, I was surprised to find that getting a recording contract was quite far down the list. Don't get me wrong, it was important to me and it was one of the things that I wanted to accomplish but it was only after I had accomplished a few other things that a recording contract was even a consideration. After I knew what I wanted and had written it down, I got quite a bit done. I set up my own company, starting making money with my studio and put together a great band all within a year and a half. I started writing and producing tracks on a daily basis and made plans to get some gigs for my band. It was hard and a lot of work but it got done. In the end the band disbanded after a couple of years but it was one of the best bands I had ever played with. While I had the studio going I would spend a lot of time working and getting better at producing tracks. You see, to get the attention of the big record companies, I wanted to have a demo done, I wanted to have some shows under my belt and I wanted to have some credits as far as writing and producing. These were all things that I wanted to accomplish before I even contacted the record company. After a while, I wondered if I even wanted a record deal since I had done so many things myself. I had worked as a musician, a producer and a writer and wondered if I would have that kind of freedom if I worked at a record company. I realized that if you go out and make a career of it one your own, record companies will stand in line to sign you. You see, you've done all of the work and they can make money from that. Don't kid yourself, that's the extent of it. If they didn't think that they could make any money, or if they probably couldn't get a return on their investment within a reasonable amount of time, then they simply won't care. I wanted to write and produce, so I had to make sure that I had the chops before I put myself out there. So before you think that you're going to become a star but don't have a clue how you're going to get there, you may want to sit down and reassess where you are and where you want to go. Once you figure that out, you can take steps to make sure that when that music industry bigwig does cross your path one day; that you're good and ready to take on anything.

Paying Dues
There's the adage in the industry of one paying their dues; an artist who has spent time working at their craft through thick and thin. There's the image we have of a talented artist singing to an unsympathetic crowd in some run down club. If you get out there at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The truth is that no matter where you are there are always times where you will have to pay your dues. There is going to be a time when things are going badly and it seems everything is going wrong. This may be when you're just starting out, when you've finally had some success and realize that it's not all roses, or if you're just going through a difficult time in your career. The truth is that these things are all part of the music business and a lot of times the mark of a great artist is one that makes it through these times and still continues to make great art. I'm not here to discuss the darker side of the music business. I'm just putting it to you that if you want a lasting career in the music industry that there are a lot of things that you're going to have to deal with that aren't that pleasant. I would like to focus on how to still keep going and not lose focus when those hard times do come around.

Part of the Program
The sad part of the paradigm of paying your dues is that somehow we've come to think that this is a necessary part of the process. We've come to believe that being a poor, unappreciated musician is part of the program. This simply isn't true. Having to pay the bills and deal with everyday problems is part of life. There is the notion that great artists shouldn't have to deal with the everyday mundane things; that somehow, they're beyond this. I've held the notion that I didn't deserve to be waiting on tables; that I was a great artist and deserved to be treated so. The truth is that until you've gone out and made the way for yourself, you deserve to be treated like everybody else. Most musicians I knew never seemed to have any money; including myself. But then there were always those guys who seemed to have it together. These were the guys who were working hard at getting things going with the band but still kept their finances in order. A lot of musicians act irresponsible, like its part of being creative. The truth is that not paying your bills has nothing to do with creativity. Once you're a star and making millions, then you can be as much of a big diva as you like. You can be irresponsible and a pain, not because you're a great artist, but because you can afford to. It's a simply as that; it has nothing to do with who deserves what. You'll also find that if you're out there getting things done, some people will appreciate what you're trying to do and even show some support. You'll also find a lot of resistance, and I'll talk about this more in another article.

Walking the Path
A lot of what I've talked about in this blog actually deals with the 'paying your dues' part of the process. I put it to you that it's not so much paying dues as simply walking the path. And that's what this blog is about, helping you walk the path. If you've sat down and figured out what it is that you want to accomplish, and how you're going to go about doing that, it makes it a lot easier when hard times come around. If you've made a plan and are getting things done and something goes badly, you can deal with things better because having the plans there allows you to look at the bigger picture and see how everything fits in. It also makes you take stock of where you are and figure out if there's a better way to do things, or if you have to take a different approach. Most of all, when things go bad, you know that this is just a temporary situation and that you'll find some solution. A couple of times when things started to go badly and I had to take a different course or had to drop my current plans to deal with the emergency at hand, since I had sat down and made some concrete plans, I knew that this way just a temporary situation. This helped me deal with things in so many ways. If I had to take a part time job to pay some bills, I knew why I was doing it and that it was just something that had to be done for me to reach my goal. I wasn't any happier about it, but I knew why I was doing it.

The Choice
The thing I came to realize was that since there was so much I wanted to accomplish with my career, I simply had to work twice as hard as 'normal' people. I had the part time job to pay my bills, and I had my music. I came to view my music as my main job; simply to make it the most important thing that I spent my time on. For people who aren't musicians, they can have their job and then come home and have that free time. For artists, that free time is time to work on their craft. I never viewed this as a bad thing; I always loved what I do. There were times when I wasn't motivated of course, and I talk about this in other articles in this blog. If you have to have another job or you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get where you want to go, that's simply something that you have to do. Some people don't go through as much to get there, most go through a lot. Whether you're one or the other doesn't matter as long as you stick to the program. When it comes to finances you really have only two choices; have a full time job and carefully budget your time or have a part time job and carefully budget your money. Remember that in the initial stages, becoming an artist can be a costly affair. So even if you're making enough to pay your bills, you'll need extra to pay for gear, gas, web space etc.

No Time
Another misconception I find people have is that they have all the time in the world. When you're twenty years old you may feel like you have tons of time to get things done and try things out. Well, yes and no. This is the perfect time to try things and see what works for you. You probably won't have that many responsibilities and your cost of living may be lower than older folks. The problem is though, that you really don't have that much time. If you're playing in a pop or rock band, or are looking to become the next Gwen Stefani, these are the years were you want to take advantage of your time. Most recording acts these days are signed while relatively young and they're getting younger all the time. It's not unusual to see a teenager getting signed to a multi-million dollar deal. If you show promise at a young age, you're more likely to look appealing to a major label. A lot of the biggest acts we know today started out at a very young age and kept at it; usually with the guidance of an older person. So if you're in your twenties and think that you have tons of time to waste, you don't. I don't want to scare you or put older musicians out, I just want to put it to you that time, no matter how old you are, is always a consideration. If you've already decided on what you want to do and are getting it done, you are more likely to find yourself in the right spot at the right time.

It Can Be Tough…But
Sometimes when things aren't going well, it's easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself. The goal to become an artist can become incredibly hard at times. It's so easy to feel helpless and lose sight of your goal or give up. If you've done some of the things that I've written about in this blog and written down exactly what it is that you want to accomplish, it'll be easier to deal with and keep track of where you are. Don't let old tired misconceptions like the ones I've talked about here get you down or get in your way. Whether it takes you 5 months or 5 years to get there isn't important; just get it done. Once you start you'll find that even with all of the downs, it's all worth it in the end. I love making music. Nothing else gives me the same satisfaction that I get when I'm writing a song or playing my guitar. If you've ever done a great show in front of an appreciative audience, or just written your latest masterpiece, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
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The Big Plan

One of the hardest things that I've had to wrap my head around as far as managing my career as musician is the whole process of planning. A lot of things about being a musician I felt couldn't be planned. I had gotten to the point where I was pretty proficient at my instrument, gone to college and university, had been in a couple of bands and toured yet never sat down to make any sort of plan. I figured that if I had made it this far without a plan, why should I start now? I also felt that planning might take away some opportunities that I might miss or would take away all of the spontaneity and fun of being a musician. Most of all I really felt like being a musician was nothing that you could plan and I might turn the corner tomorrow with a new opportunity that I could have never planned in my wildest dreams. I really felt like as a musician, you basically had to ride by the seat of your pants.

No Plan At All
I'm sure that you've heard the story; a young band starts out, does a couple of shows, and in no time at all end up getting signed and selling a ton of records. It's the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of. It almost seems like some people seem to do much better without putting too much thought into it. I read an article by one of the members of the Grateful Dead who said that anytime they made a conscious effort to do anything and sat down to make some concrete plans, it would usually fail. Whereas when they just went ahead and did what they felt like, without much planning and forethought, they were successful. Some people, not just musicians, also seem to get far with this mindset; succeeding in life without taking any time out to make specific plans. The fact is that most successful people plan. Studies have shown that a critical factor in highly successful people is that they write down their goals.They focus on one thing and make the effort to get that one thing done.They do things intuitively that most of use have to learn and take time out to do. We are usually unsure about what it is that we want to accomplish how to go about making our dreams a reality. You simply have to write down what it is that you want to accomplish and then take action everyday to realize those goals. With music, art and life, there are also things that you could never predict; you can only prepare and plan and see how things turn out. The Grateful Dead were an incredibly successful group that sold millions of records and were one of the most popular touring groups of all time. Ultimately, you could never plan that. You may find that you can still get a lot done if you are motivated to get out there and do it.
Highly successful people write down their goals; the key here is the word 'write'.

The Problem With Problems
So can't I just take things as they come up? Why do I need a plan ? The problem arises when problems arise. Let me explain that. Anytime you take on any endeavor, you are inevitably going to come across some problems. You are also going to get to the point where you don't know what to do next. You may also be at the point where you realize that what you're doing isn't working and you either need a new plan of attack or a completely new plan. The point is that it becomes necessary at this point to make some sort of plan and make some decisions. Even though the Grateful Dead were never successful at making any grand business plans, they were successful in creating one of the most successful live bands of all time. You're going to come across a situation where you're going to have to sit down and make some decisions and figure out what the best things for you to do next. We all know the value of making plans. So how do we apply this to being a musician and mapping out the best way to become a success?

Looking at the Big Picture
There a couple of ways that you can create a plan that will ultimately help you get where you want to go. The key here is figuring out where it is that you want to go. Sitting down and making plans makes you start to look at the big picture and makes you ask yourself some serious questions. You want to sit down and figure out where it is that you are right now and where it is that you want to go. It's a good idea to be specific here. Saying that you want to be a superstar in the next 2 years just doesn't cut it. If you can describe exactly what you want to accomplish, you will be much better off in making those goals a reality. If you are a singer, you want to describe the style of music that you'd like to do, if you're going to write the material or get other writers, if you're going to have a band, etc. Some people start off and they have no idea what it is that they want to do; they just go in every direction hoping that something will click. Some people don't even care; they just want to be a star. I'm putting it to you here that if you want to take control of your career and have a greater chance for success, then you should have an idea of what you want and how to get there. You'll find that as soon as you get out there and start getting things done, you'll learn more about what to do next and you may find things happening as a result of your efforts.


The basic formula:
1) Figure out who you are
2) Figure out what is it you want to do
3) Create a plan to achieve your goals
4) Put that plan in action


Simple yet tough.


What Next?
If you're one of these people who isn't sure of exactly what it is that they want to do or are confused about what it is that they should be doing don't worry, make the plans anyway. The biggest point here about making plans for a career in music is that these plans aren't written in stone and they will change. We do want to sit down though and figure out what it is that we want to do and have some sort of direction. Just grabbing anything that comes your way may result in some success but you're really just playing the lottery and we all know what those odds are. Once you sit down and start making plans and getting things done, even if you're not sure of exactly what to do, it will become a little clearer of what it is you should be doing. You're usually much better off deciding on some sort of direction and making plans to see that plan to completion. Your plans may change but once you've accomplished something by planning and making it happen, it becomes easier the second time around. It's also helps in keeping focused on achieving what you want to do and not just reaching for anything that comes your way. That way, you are in control of the direction of your career and when something unexpected does come up (as they usually do) you'll be better equipped to deal with it more effectively.
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