Comments for The Musician's Way Blog

Comment on Do Musicians Often Resemble Underpants Gnomes? by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:06:11 +0000

You’re welcome, Sam. It’s gratifying for me to know that you and others find my work helpful.

Comment on Do Musicians Often Resemble Underpants Gnomes? by Sam

Sam — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:56:49 +0000

Great stuff again, it’s so true that people don’t have a plan and just ‘hope’ for success. It almost never works like that! It’s great to have guys like you helping musicians along that path, it used to be that we would have to learn that through trial and error. It would definitely be wise to follow this advice! Thanks again Gerald

Comment on Do Musicians Often Resemble Underpants Gnomes? by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:23:55 +0000

Mat – Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you’re doing the sort of exploring that will enable you to distill your vision and make it a reality.

Astrid – Wonderful advice! Attainable action steps that support big-picture aims energize us to advance as both artists and professionals.

Comment on Do Musicians Often Resemble Underpants Gnomes? by Astrid Baumgardner

Astrid Baumgardner — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:37:01 +0000

Great post, Gerald!
Musicians need to be industrious about their art as well as their business side. I would add to you Step 2 that musicians convert their artistic vision into long-terms career goals and then break those goals down further into short-terms goals and action steps. The act of translating the dream into a goal and then into an action step makes it a lot easier to stay focused and motivated.

Comment on Do Musicians Often Resemble Underpants Gnomes? by Mat (The Laughing Bard)

Mat (The Laughing Bard) — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:51:21 +0000

You like South Park? Me too…

You’ve made me feel sort of sheepish here, as I’m afraid my ‘plan’ is awfully similar to the first one you described. I’m not terribly worried about that AT THIS STAGE, as I’m still developing what you would call an ‘artistic vision’, which is to say I don’t know exactly what I want to do with music yet. And I’m sloooowly learning about the music industry as I make small inroads into it.

Comment on Stage Power by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:13:20 +0000

Thanks for the inspiring story, Helen. I always enjoy and appreciate your contributions.
Yes, it’s curious how so many children fearlessly engage in artistic expression of all sorts and then morph over time into fearful adults.
Nonetheless, as we know, there’s a big difference between the responsibilities that adult vs. child performers bear.
I’ve learned that adults who acquire comprehensive performance skills are equipped to be secure & artistic on stage; those who lack certain skills – whether those skills are personal, task-related, or situational – are primed for insecurity.
Problem is, all too many music educators focus on how to play instruments or sing and neglect the holistic processes of performing music.
As a result, vast numbers of students become adept at technical and artistic aspects of musical execution but don’t develop essential performance skills.
And when music educators omit essential instruction in those skills, they unwittingly teach performance anxiety.

Comment on Stage Power by Helen Spielman

Helen Spielman — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:51:27 +0000

Isn’t it interesting how adults “learn” to deliver spellbinding performances, often having to deal with the fears that Jacques Darville delineates. As I read your as-always great piece, Jerry, I instantly remembered a performance of my nine-year-old flute student, Rachel, about 18 years ago. During my student flute recital, she got on stage to play the Arab Dance from the Nutcracker, and cast a profound spell. You could hear it in her music, see it in her face and body. You could feel it in the energy of the room, and sense it in the members of the audience. You were shaken during the moments of silence at the end of her piece, just prior to the applause. After 40+ student recitals, I still remember this performance of almost two decades ago. Rachel knew instinctively how to cast that spell.

Comment on The No. 1 Mistake Interviewees Make by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:43:33 +0000

Well said, Astrid – as always. Thanks for contributing!

Comment on The No. 1 Mistake Interviewees Make by Astrid Baumgardner

Astrid Baumgardner — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:37:59 +0000

Great points! One other preparation tip is to know about the organization with whom you are interviewing. Study the organization’s mission and think about how you can contribute to furthering that mission. Often, that ties into passion and helps to make a genuine connection.

Comment on Psychic Income by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:59:03 +0000

Indeed. But psychic income is also crucial for us to keep on creating, regardless of whether we earn our livings in the music biz or not. And when we persist, we can find avenues via which to earn monetary income from our music – e.g., see my post “Competitive Advantages.” http://musiciansway.com/blog/2012/02/competitive-advantages

Comment on Psychic Income by Mat (The Laughing Bard)

Mat (The Laughing Bard) — Sun, 06 May 2012 07:04:13 +0000

Psychic income is certainly a cheery concept if you’re not making any monetary income from your music!

Comment on Psychic Income by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:12:31 +0000

Thanks, Matt. Hope you’ll visit often.

Comment on Psychic Income by Matt

Matt — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:42:47 +0000

Psychic Income, haven’t heard that before, nice one.

#6 always seems like the most important, at least to spurn new ideas, new tune and song inspirations. ie writing something new much easier after experiencing something new, maybe birds of a feather, but in a good way, .

Comment on Psychic Income by Gerald Klickstein

Gerald Klickstein — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:36:21 +0000

Kristine: Very glad to know you found this post helpful – thanks for commenting!
mrG: Beautifully said – a genuine contribution for which I’m most appreciative.

Comment on Psychic Income by mrG

mrG — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:25:56 +0000

There is an eighth that I think trumps all the rest: strive to make a connection with your audience.

This is essential even when the audience may not be quite ready for your particular innovation, as was the case in the last few compositions of Beethoven. Nonetheless, you need to communicate out to other humans, even if it may sometimes be a fine line:

“Anyone who says that they’re great at communicating but ‘people are bad at listening’ is confused about how communications works” (http://xkcd.com/1028)

One good exercise is to write your own epitaph, write your own obituary as you imagine it will be seen in the newspapers after you have vacated the planet. What will it say? Who will it cite? What FUNCTION did your music serve in its community? These are essential psychic dividends.

I’d add a ninth too, only it’s not from me, but from Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapt in awe, is as good as dead.”

Exactly how you get there, I leave as an exercise for the reader