Playing to Strengths Part 2: What do I do about my weaknesses?

I’m working away at some great pieces on the piano—Shostakovich Piano Trio, Bach Toccata in E Minor, Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 2.   Yes, I play challenging repertoire and eventually do it well.  And when I put my time and focus on learning and mastering these pieces, the results are wonderful.  Yet it takes me a LOT of time to …

Playing To Strengths Part 1: Do I Have To Be Good At Everything In Order To Succeed?

My class at Yale this semester is my most diverse group to date, mixing opera singers, early music voice majors, composers, string and orchestra players, one guitar major and a conducting student.  The result is a rich sharing experience from many points of view.  And they are highly motivated to find out what it takes to create success in today’s …

Entrepreneurial Projects: How Today’s Musicians Are Changing Classical Music

One of the signature features of my class at the Yale School of Music is the entrepreneurial semester project where my students have an opportunity to create and experiment with something that they have not previously done in order to apply the skills that we learn in class. The projects from my fall semester’s class were full of new ideas …

Top 10 Networking Tips for Music Entrepreneurs

With year-end top 10 lists abounding,  I would like to contribute my top 10 tips for effortless and effective networking since the successful musicians I know have all figured out a way to create supportive and effective networks.  And networking has a double advantage:  not only is it an effective career-building tool but it can also be fun!
My definition of networking is very simple:

Share + Connect + Remain Relevant

In other words, networking is an opportunity to connect with other people, share and learn something new and expand your community by remaining relevant to people with whom you feel a personal connection. Think of it as a way to make life-long business friends!

Here’s how:

Public Speaking for Music Entrepreneurs: Overcome Your Fears by Using Emotional Intelligence

Speaking about music is a great audience engagement tool  since it is a way for musicians to share their passion and draw audiences into the wonders of classical music.   That is why I include a public speaking unit in my class at Yale. To quote one of my students, 

“The energy changes when you speak about a piece and then perform it.  The audience is more interested and you are personally more involved.”

 

Many musicians are self-conscious about speaking and dread having to speak to audiences.   My students tell me that one of the reasons they perform is to avoid speaking!  Yet public speaking is essential for the 21st Century musician and increasingly, musicians are being asked to speak to audiences.   

 

Public speaking is an exchange between the performer and the audience.  To be successful, not only do you need to be in control of yourself but you also have to figure out what your audience needs and then deliver a speech that will resonate with them.  What can help?

 

Your emotional intelligence.

Engaging Today’s Audience: 3 Things That Can Make A Difference to Classical Music

One of the “buzzwords” in today’s classical music scene is audience engagement:  how to create a meaningful experience in a live performance between the artist and the audience in order to attract new audiences to classical music, especially the elusive “young adult” audience.   This is a challenge in the era of the Internet where people can access music anytime and anywhere.  Therefore, it takes something special to get people to leave the comfort of their homes or unplug their earbuds and venture into the concert space in order to experience live music.  

Herein lies the irony:  as easy as it is to access music 24/7,  it’s lonely out there on the Internet and today’s audiences crave special and unique experiences. Thus, today’s musicians have an opportunity to create that unique and special experience for today’s audiences.

Financial Management for Musicians Part II: How To Create a Financial Plan

In my previous blog post on financial management for musicians, I outlined the basics of acquiring financial literacy.  The next step is to put this information together and to make a financial plan.

When we did this exercise in my class, my students were encouraged by this process since it enabled them to take the amorphous concept of “How do I make money as a musician????” and break it down into manageable action steps that they could begin working on right now. Not only did this seem doable but my students were actually excited about engaging in the process.  Armed with this knowledge, they felt ready to take themselves seriously as professionals by adopting the mindset of a business owner.

So let’s take a look at the process in greater detail.

Case Studies of 4 Yale Music Entrepreneurs: Achieving The Impossible

As I sit in my warm, light-filled apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River, I am filled with enormous gratitude that I was spared the wrath of the hurricane, especially when I look across the river to New Jersey or downtown to Lower Manhattan where so much devastation took place. I couldn’t get to New …

Financial Management for Musicians Part I: How To Take Charge of Your Finances

Financial planning is an essential skill for musicians so for the past few weeks, my class has been focused on helping my students to learn the basics of financial management and create their personal financial plans. Once again my friend Jim Remis, partner in a boutique accounting firm and Chairman of the Board of the Hartford Symphony, visited our class and together we provided my students with the kind of information that they need in order to have a comfort level around their finances:  earning revenue creatively and from a variety of sources, budgeting, saving, avoiding debt and basic tax planning.

Here are some basic pointers in order to get started.