This past week I was away from home to give a couple of workshops and a talk. I had all the usual angst, the self-doubt and fear. It got me noticing my own process and I found myself reflecting on Public speaking for musicians — what's really worth talking about as a...
In the past few weeks I've been talking with a number of musicians about the workshops, residencies, and other teaching artist (AKA "outreach") work they offer. It's worth fine-tuning yours because having real teaching artist skills can make you more marketable to...
Surprise: Here are the three unexpected things I learned last week about change. The three are all about how we process change and why it's such a challenge. Even when we're motivated, many of us struggle to make change happen and we often get in our own way (think of...
In this, the final part 4 of our mini series on speaking from the stage, we're covering mindgames + perfectionism + your audience. If you missed the earlier installments, find them here: parts 1, 2, 3). A few nagging question remain: "I have a hard time transitioning...
Welcome to teaching artist skills part 3—tools for solving the problem of what to say when speaking with audiences. (If you missed them, here are parts 1 and 2.) This past week I heard two terrific performances in Cambridge: the Escher String Quartet played at the...
In working with musicians on teaching artist skills, the most frequent response is that people hate public speaking. I get it. But still, musicians need to be able to communicate with audiences. To help, here is the "I hate public speaking" solution for musicians...
Have you ever had that nightmare of walking out on stage and being completely unprepared? I know I have! (And I'm always relieved to wake up and realize it was simply an anxiety dream.) Of course it's absurd to think we'd ever walk into an actual performance...
