In the past week, several musicians asked me about setting goals in an uncertain world. It’s a fair question—because in challenging times when everything seems in flux, it’s tempting to hit pause. To wait for things to “settle down.” But here’s the truth: uncertainty...
Think about all that you’ve put into your music career: the time, the money, the sweat, the love. What’s the ROI, the return on that investment? I’m asking about the work you’ve put into advancing your career: your self-promotion, networking, booking efforts, and...
Do you ever wonder about the impact you make on others—as a musician and as a person? One thing that living in these challenging times has brought me is the realization that we each have far more influence and impact than we realize. Case in point: last week I...
For musicians, writing your bio can feel like "standing naked in front of a mirror—excruciating." That’s how one of my brilliant clients described the experience—and I couldn’t agree more. Because writing your Bio brings up every creative insecurity: the gremlins of...
As busy freelance musicians, we go from rehearsals and teaching, to squeezing in the practice time, admin work, and errands.All while trying to cram in a social life and taking care of our health. How can you manage transitioning from task to task so that you’re not...
Kim Leeds, mezzo-soprano Networking got you down? Ever feel so awkward about sending "cold" emails that you avoid them all together? Then this one's for you. Here's The Musicians' Networking System that got Kim Leeds More Work. It's the 5-step process I taught her to...
Finding the magic: as performers, we spend our whole careers striving to bring magic to audiences. We chase after our ideal imagined performances and hope to approximate these in our delivery. The "magic," of course, isn't about having a perfect technique or sound....
Making tough decisions can be a nightmare, right? Here's why and then what can help make it easier for musicians (including a Puccini aria). First, the decisions we delay or avoid making are the ones that require taking action. They’re the decisions we find daunting...
Many early-career musicians have internal deadlines for achieving their goals. They think they have to win an orchestral position or get a college teaching job by a certain age in order to have "made it." And if they fail, they plan to quit music and go to law...
That subject line may remind you of your Uncle Verol’s sense of humor, god bless him, but he’s not here and I’m not joking. There really was an author, a band, and a witch. Here’s the story of this surprising collaborative project. It’s about an album—a collaboration...
