Listen in on this excerpt from a live training with Stephen P Brown, conductor, composer, and founder of Concert University, an online coaching program dedicated to helping classical musicians build profitable performing careers.
Want to learn more? Check out Stephen’s next online presentation outlining 5 strategies you can implement today that successful classical musicians use to build a profitable performing career at http://spb.buzz/CUSPBonline.
Listen in on this excerpt from a live training with Stephen P Brown, conductor, composer, and founder of Concert University, an online coaching program dedicated to helping classical musicians build profitable performing careers.
Want to learn more? Check out Stephen’s next online presentation outlining 5 strategies you can implement today that successful classical musicians use to build a profitable performing career at http://spb.buzz/CUSPBonline.
Because it’s actually one of the most common complaints I hear from musicians… one of the biggest causes of false optimism and hope I hear performers convince themselves they love doing.
And many actually do!
I still love helping those who ask for my help. Really love it. After all, I’m a Conductor, a.k.a. Maestro, translated: teacher.
But I did not enjoy it when my primary income was from teaching whatever percussion students I could get, or teaching every teenager in a school as part of their weekly curriculum.
And now I see myself in thousands of budding classical musicians who get diverted and distracted from their dreams and their goals and end up teaching not because they really want to (I am truly grateful to those whose primary passion IS teaching), but because bills have to be paid and it’s not coming from performing.
People ask me all the time how to make the most of teaching. Specifically, how to attract the very dedicated and advanced students that would make teaching a more rewarding activity.
Well, I used to teach. Peripatetically at first (and had the highest ratio of students go to music college among some 3,000 teachers in the regional music school I worked for), and then in the classroom for a while.
In fact, in one school we took 600 inner city kids from rebellious outcasts to choral singing on the radio, and even helped a small group release an original song, and later I took two years to turn a music department that failed government inspection to being one of the four strengths of the college.
So, I have experience teaching.
But it failed to fill a void.
In the same way teaching High School mathematics was not enough for Art Garfunkel, or elementary school teaching was not enough for Gordon Sumner (Sting), Sheryl Crow, or Gene Simmons (of KISS!).
And now I hear the same questions from classical musicians today that I was asking myself: How do I find the best, most dedicated students so I can make teaching more altruistic and rewarding for me? Here are four thoughts in response:
If your true passion is performing then why are you not focused on developing that career? Don’t divert your limited energy and effort to anything other than your primary purpose. The more you perform, the more dedicated and interested students will ask you to teach them, and then you can choose.
Music teachers are a dime a dozen. You don’t want the reputation of being just another starving artist trying to make it. If performing is your passion, then become the performer who teaches. You are not a servant who jumps when your customers tell you do – you simply serve your community and choose to make people’s lives better.
Students and their parents must clearly see the benefits of learning to play or sing with you as opposed to anyone else. That means you must be practicing what you preach, i.e. perform. That’s what they’re interested in, so isn’t that the teacher they are looking for?
Consider this: For every hour you are teaching, how much could you be earning as a performer? If implementing my Captivating Concert™ system then it’s quite a difference! Which would better serve your soul and your lifestyle? FOCUS on THAT.
Be very careful where you are putting your precious time, energy and resources. Is it focused on the right activities – the things that drive you, that make you excited, that you dream about?
Let me show you how to choose when, where, and what you perform, with who, and for how much, so that the really dedicated and advanced students seek you out and you can choose who you teach and how often. Give us a call and let’s see if I can help you.
My career coaching programs might feel like another semester in college, but they are way more practical, based on real-world experience and trial & error, and designed to get you results: booking gigs and earning a good living as a classical music performer.
As social creatures, relationship and community are at the heart of our survival and success. Throughout history and even today, those without a tribe don’t tend to farewell. Building relationships is the process of developing critical social connections. It’s a fundamental skill and the basis of reputation and influence. Being good at relationship building is not only important for living a happy fulfilled life, but also what enables us to close deals, get the gig, and move our careers forward.
The Lifecycle of
Relationships
There are many types of relationships – family, romantic,
friendly, professional – but with the exception of our first family
relationships, nearly all of them begin as transactional agreements.
Transactional relationships, the “I’ll scratch your back if
you’ll scratch mine” type, get a bad rap. We think of these as insincere, maybe
even selfish, versus what we consider to be “real relationships” – those based
on intimacy, and emotional connection. But really, the transactional portion is
just the beginning of the relationship life-cycle.
We connect with others in a give-and-get agreement (which is
almost always unspoken) and the relationship grows or fizzles from there. The
things we are giving and getting aren’t always quantifiable. In personal
relationships, they may be things like a sense of belonging, emotional support,
excitement. But the truth is, we don’t or at least shouldn’t stay in relationships
where there is no give and take. As an example, think of how many times people
say of estranged family members, “I can’t be around him anymore. I don’t get
anything out of the relationship.”
Often, relationships that begin as very transactional grow into something deeper. We should aim for developing these deeper relationships, otherwise, we end up with a network that is a mile wide and an inch deep. But not every connection we make is destined to become close and lifelong.
Why do some relationships grow, and others die on the vine? It’s complicated and different every time, but Will Smith has great advice: “Don’t chase people. Be yourself, do your thing, work hard, and the right people, the ones who really belong in your life will come. And they will stay.”
Analyzing
Relationships
There are already hundreds of personal development books
written about how to build relationships and grow your network. But a good
place to start is to look carefully at the relationships you already have.
These three steps can help:
1. Make a list
We all have multiple networks. Make a list of all the people
in each of your circles of influence. These may be fellow musicians, people
from church, school friends, workout buddies. List everyone with whom you have
a relationship.
2. Identify the basis of the relationship
For each person, or group of people, write down what your
relationship is based upon – is it a common interest, a common goal, mere
proximity? What do you give in these relationships? What are you getting?
3. Focus on service
Now, for each group or individual, think about how you can
best serve. Maybe you need to do more to foster those relationships, maybe
nothing is needed, or perhaps you need to do less. Sometimes, we discover that
we cannot serve people in any meaningful way, in which case you might want to
consider how much energy the relationship is requiring, perhaps the best thing
to do is to walk away.
We all have limited time, energy, and effort. To build truly successful relationships, we must make sure that we are focusing those resources on the places which will do the most good for ourselves and others.
Why waste your precious energy on relationships where all you do is give and give and get nothing – not even the satisfaction of making a difference? Likewise, why bother with relationships where you take and take and nothing you have to give is wanted or needed?
This is part of our series on the pillars of success. If you would like to hear the live discussion about this characteristic, head on over to ClassicJabber.com now.
If you are ready to learn more about how to build a profitable, fulfilling career as a performing classical musician, check out Concert University, and the free webinar that outlines 5 strategies for success.
Listen in on this excerpt from a live training with Stephen P Brown, conductor, composer, and founder of Concert University, an online coaching program dedicated to helping classical musicians build profitable performing careers.
Want to learn more? Check out Stephen’s next online presentation outlining 5 strategies you can implement today that successful classical musicians use to build a profitable performing career at http://spb.buzz/CUSPBonline.
Listen in on this excerpt from a live training with Stephen P Brown, conductor, composer, and founder of Concert University, an online coaching program dedicated to helping classical musicians build profitable performing careers.
Want to learn more? Check out Stephen’s next online presentation outlining 5 strategies you can implement today that successful classical musicians use to build a profitable performing career at http://spb.buzz/CUSPBonline.
This week we wanted to do something a bit different.
Here are five little excerpts from our live weekly training sessions inside Concert University.
Seriously – they are little! Just a few minutes each and we’ve created them just for you. The snippets we’ve listed below from our most popular live trainings are all under 8 mins so you can digest them right now.
Yes, they are ALL about helping you build a profitable performing career.
Get a sneak peek into the transformational insight we share in my coaching programs, and you can have them now for free! They are my gift to you.
And I’ll tell you what:
If you like them, subscribe to my Youtube channel and I’ll send you a snippet even shorter than these every day to help your career development motivation…
Go on – take a few minutes and be a fly on the wall of what really goes on inside CU!
Thanks for making our world a better place through live classical music.
Some people are more skilled at providing value than others, but we seem to find people who provide value as more attractive than those who do not! Why is that, and how do classical musicians come across in society? Click the link above to hear SPB in conversation with his friends and learn more about this.
Listen in on this excerpt from a live training with Stephen P Brown, conductor, composer, and founder of Concert University, an online coaching program dedicated to helping classical musicians build profitable performing careers.
Want to learn more? Check out Stephen’s next online presentation outlining 5 strategies you can implement today that successful classical musicians use to build a profitable performing career at http://spb.buzz/CUSPBonline.
Some people seem to be more inviting than others, but we seem to find people who are inviting as more attractive than those who are not! Why is that, and how do classical musicians come across in society? Click the link above to hear SPB in conversation with his friends and learn more about this.
Some people are more skilled at providing value than others, but we seem to find people who provide value as more attractive than those who do not! Why is that, and how do classical musicians come across in society? Click the link above to hear SPB in conversation with his friends and learn more about this.