This year, one of my biggest discoveries was Quadrant 2 time management, the strategy that has you focusing on what is really important to you as opposed to what is urgent, and realigning your time to honor and commit to Quadrant 2 activities each week (for more on this, see tips 2 and 3 below). Q2 time management is helping …
Creating Success in a DIY World: 4 YSM Music Entrepreneurs Share Their Insights
One of the highlights of my semester is when I invite recent alumni from the Yale School of Music to speak to our students about how they created their career success. My students are consistently impressed and amazed that musicians who are a mere 5-8 years ahead of them are already successfully wending their way through the world of music. …
Crafting a Great Speech to Engage Today’s Audiences: How Musicians Can Become Ambassadors for Music
I am passionate about the importance of speaking to audiences about music because it is an opportunity to bring our audiences into our world and let them discover the transformative power of music. Over the past few weeks, I have been addressing this topic both with my students at the Yale School of Music, as well as at a wonderful …
Conflict Management for Emotionally Intelligent Musicians: How to Run a Conflict Meeting
In my last post on how to prepare for a conflict meeting, we took a look at how the members of a string quartet could prepare for a brewing ensemble conflict stemming from a perception that one of the members of the quartet was not fully committed to the ensemble and was engaging in behaviors that undermined the rehearsal process, threatened …
Conflict Resolution for Emotionally-Intelligent Musicians: How To Prepare for a Conflict Meeting
Working successfully with other musicians in an ensemble or another collaborative project involves not only an exquisite blend of musical styles and skills but also a high degree of emotional intelligence to manage the relationships with your fellow musicians. Inevitably, when creative people come together, there will be varying ideas on how to approach the music as well as how …
Time Management for Musicians: 4 Strategies To Help You Power Through Time
Musicians need a lot of help with time management since they have so much going on and they have to manage multiple professional activities, not to mention all that goes on in their personal lives! Last time, I introduced Steven Covey’s model of Quadrant II Time Management which helps musicians achieve their goals by focusing on what is really important. This …
Quadrant II Time Management for Musicians: Achieve Your Goals by Focusing on What’s Important
The life of professional musicians is complicated! Professionally, musicians engage in a wide variety of activities both for creative stimulation and financial stability: Rehearsals Performances Tours Running concert series and festivals Teaching Collaborations Creating new ensembles and ventures Tending to the business side of being a successful musicians That’s just on the professional side. They also have families and friends, …
Conversation with David Lang: Creativity, Entrepreneurship and What it Means to be an Artist in the 21st Century
Last week, I initiated a new program at the Yale School of Music featuring important thought leaders around Yale to open up a conversation on the arts in the 21st Century. For our first program, I had the pleasure to interviewing my friend and colleague, composer David Lang, along with 3 students at the Yale School of Music, for …
Conflict Management for Musicians and Arts Leaders: 4 Tools to Diffuse Conflict and Build Stronger Relationships
This week, I had the pleasure and privilege of working with the Fellows of Ensemble ACJW/The Academy, the preeminent teaching artist program and ensemble collective of young top-level musicians, on the fascinating topic of conflict management. Conflict is inherent in the work of musicians and arts leaders who are passionate and have strong ideas about and high standards of excellence …
Relationship Management for Musicians and Arts Leaders : 3 Strategies for Making an Effective Connection with Others
My last post on developing your emotional intelligence focused on how to build successful relationships by mastering 3 communication skills. Relationship management also means that you know what to say in order to make others feel understood and be seen as a trustworthy person. You can start by mastering 3 strategies for making an effective connection with others: Compliments Showing …