My last two posts on happiness practices showed how to cultivate optimism and build social support. Here’s another great way to build long-term happiness: meditation. This week, I am happy to share an infographic on the benefits of meditation called The Skeptics’ Guide to Meditation, created by the website happify.com and Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier. I have flirted …
Building Social Support: 3 More Happiness Strategies for Musicians
I am fascinated by the research showing that happiness breeds success and have been sharing information with the students at the Yale School of Music on how to create life-long happiness. In my last post, we examined how to create the happiness habit by cultivating optimism. This week, I would like to share 3 happiness strategies that strengthen your ties …
Cultivating Optimism: How Musicians Can Create Life-Long Happiness
I had the privilege of participating in the Community Day at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music this past weekend, a day-long celebration of transformation through the arts, where I spoke about how musicians and artists can create long-lasting happiness. I am fascinated with this topic since research shows that happiness and optimism generate the positive emotions that make it possible to …
Community Engagement and The Future of Music: Lessons from Mozart in the Jungle and the NEA Report
I think a lot about the future of music and the arts. It’s my calling and my passion to help today’s musicians use their art in order to make their mark and have an impact on society in our changing landscape. It is also my job at Yale to inspire and empower our students to take their artistic training and …
Developing The Growth Mindset: How Yale Music Entrepreneurs Embrace Growth and Change
This past semester, my students at Yale experimented with the growth mindset in order to learn how to approach challenges in the spirit of growth and experimentation, as opposed to perfectionism and fear of failure. The growth mindset is premised on the belief that talent and intelligence are just the starting points of success and that success happens through hard work, …
Entrepreneurial Projects: Expanding the Reach of Classical Music in Today’s World
As part of my class at Yale, my students create a project in order to experience entrepreneurship in action. I am thrilled at how my students delved into the unknown and created a wide variety of creative and innovative projects that opened up new vistas for them. My ground rules were as follows: Do something you never done before; and …
Top 10 Confidence Boosters for Arts Entrepreneurs
Just think of how often confidence comes up in the course of your life, whether it is in rehearsal, in performance, speaking in public, making presentations or pitches, networking or interviewing for a job. Confidence is at the heart of your personal motivation and self-esteem to put you at ease. It is also essential when you interact with others in order …
Insights from 4 Yale Music Entrepreneurs: How To Create Success in The Changing Classical Music World
This year, I once again invited four enterprising recent alumni of the Yale School of Music to speak to our students about how they created their career success, as well as to hear how they are navigating the possibilities and opportunities in today’s ever-changing world. This year’s panel provided pithy insights and encouraging advice on how to create success in …
Networking for Music Entrepreneurs: Using Emotional Intelligence to Connect and Build Your Network
I enjoy teaching networking because it involves complex relationship building skills and requires a high degree of emotional intelligence. Rather than thinking of networking as trying to “get” something from others, it is, instead, a powerful way to make new business friends and expand your circle so that you can create a mutually-supportive community. At the heart of networking is …
Videos
Interviews 1. Conversation with David Lang on Creativity, Entrepreneurship and What it Means to be an Artist in the 21st Century View video Read blog post 2. Conversation with David Shifrin on Creating Opportunities Throughout One’s Career View video Read blog post 3. Money for Lunch Radio Show: 4 Happiness Strategies for Coping with Challenge Passion and Career Success New York …