Less thinking, more doing

I've been quiet lately after having my most prolific year on The Sensible Flutist. One of my goals had been to have two new posts up a week but after a while, these began to feel contrived and forced. One of my favorite aspects of this blog is how I can write based on inspiration. If I don't want to write, I don't have to. Readers keep coming and I appreciate them greatly.

When I was in the throes of moving in the summertime, I was writing a lot on various life and musical lessons I was discovering in the process. I learned a lot about myself in those tumultuous months when my husband needed a job and we suddenly needed to find a new place to live. I felt I had something to share as I had to scramble to meet basic needs. Life wasn't comfortable.

Now that life is somewhat comfortable again, I'm trying to do a little more. I'm trying to better utilize the time I have available to make some other projects come to fruition. My output may be small, but I'm proud of it.

I have a project list tacked onto my corkboard that I look at daily. I purposely kept it simple. Life is a moving target and I know that I have to keep my number of projects small. This is easier said than done.

For the time being, I'm spending less time thinking about issues and more time putting my ideas into motion. Writing is an incredibly important tool for me, but I feel an innate need for concrete action.

Let's all do more, shall we?

The Individuality of Change

Photo: Alex Barth

We're in the midst of some pretty big changes.

Multiple orchestras across the US are facing huge deficits and are putting the pressure on their musicians to make enormous sacrifices while hoping to preserve the artistic integrity of these organizations. It is not my intent to discuss or debate the current issues, but instead address how individual musicians may respond to these changes.

The future of classical music has been a breeding ground for infighting in the ranks. Gary Sandow's blog eloquently discusses these challenges and reading the comments to his blog posts have expanded my horizons since sometimes, the arguments are ones I haven't necessarily considered. It baffles me how some don't appear to believe that things are shifting, or they believe that we're merely in a chaotic part of the cycle and things will return to "normal" soon enough. I think the concept of normal is changing, and we're beginning to see shifts and artists who are no longer satisfied with what once was.

It's no secret that I've begun creating a new path for myself. I'm shunning the audition circuit and seeking creative freedom. I've never felt happier or more liberated. I'm now able to more easily deal with criticism. Rather than doing what everyone else is doing, I'm doing my own thing. Because I've done so much soul-searching and have arrived at a musical philosophy that works for me, I feel that I'm better able to look at these issues from a balanced mindset since I have no self-preserving interests in the matter. This is what works for me, and this is where the beauty of these changes lies. Musicians will be empowered to begin making individual choices about their careers, and I believe they will become more able to sustain careers while making a living.

Did I see the current lockouts coming? No. I'm not involved in the orchestral world; however, I am a trained musician. I'm aware of how music schools and conservatories place emphasis on orchestral training. When I think back to my college days, I think about all the time I spent working on excerpts. That training took precedence over the various chamber music experiences or solo performances. I trained to become an orchestral musician. I believed for many years that getting into an orchestra was the pinnacle of a serious music career (that, or making it as a soloist...the orchestral career seemed more likely).

Because I was so involved in this training, my ears were closed to pearls of wisdom that I may have received about doing things my own way. It's not like I wasn't interested in entrepreneurial ventures. I even researched taking some business classes, but I wasn't able to enroll in any due to various issues.

We had a "Business of Music" class that was offered for a few semesters but by the time my schedule allowed me to take the course, the person teaching it had moved on to a different school and no one replaced her since it was an elective. More and more schools are adding essential courses to their curriculum to expand students' skill sets, but the question still remains of, "What is academia emphasizing? Are students being encouraged to become free-thinking individuals with creative dreams or are they simply being trained in a system that better fits what used to be?"

I've instead spent my own time expanding my horizons. I knew what my options were and I faced reality. Every musician's circumstances are different; however, one thing remains the same. Every musician must take personal responsibility for their career. We're lucky, you know. We can and should be able to adapt as artists when something happens that knocks us off kilter.

The changes that are coming and that are currently happening will affect everyone individually. I am inclined to believe that funding will begin shifting to smaller groups and individuals. I believe that audiences want to be personally connected to artists and they want to know exactly where their money is going and for what project. Crowd funding successes through platforms like Kickstarter and GoFundMe confirm this. Audiences will have to be cultivated on an individual basis. No audience is the same.

Perhaps the orchestral audience is diminishing, but I don't believe the audience for the larger art form is diminishing. Be brave, be courageous and above all, find your audience. Be creative in your artistic endeavors, but also approach your art with an entrepreneurial mindset. If a concept or idea doesn't work, then try something else.

The shifting winds have the potential to either harm or help the parties involved. I want all the musicians to come through these storms unscathed, but I know that won't be the case.

I'm pretty excited about these changes. If you allow the changes to happen and forget what you thought you knew about classical music, then the future becomes a collective of individual change. Let's keep it going and support each other.

When is enough enough?

Graduation Day

I've spent the past three years finding my way. In the five years since college, I spent the first two years as a burned out musician in a full time day job, and the following three as an evolving musical masterpiece. When I started this blog in 2010, I had resumed serious playing and teaching to facilitate a return to school for a master's degree in flute. Boy, have things changed.

I'm still hopelessly addicted to music. I have really made strides in successfully overcoming the psychological and physiological effects of performance anxiety which reared its ugly head as a result of my hiatus. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together more fully for me and in a way that has been making me incredibly happy. I don't want to be known as just a flutist. My life has always indicated otherwise. It was when I stopped pushing forward in what I thought I should be doing was when I realized what I was meant to be doing.

Through this evolution and my incessant curiosity, I find myself questioning academia more and more. I admire and respect all my colleagues who have struck out on their own with only a bachelor's degree in music. While opportunities to perform and teach are limited with just this level of education, the real world experience gained is instrumental in shaping future life decisions. If you choose to stay in school and further your education to include graduate and post-graduate work, you could essentially be living in cloistered academic conditions for a period of upwards of 25 years before you even enter what I consider to be the real world.

When I think about these numbers, I cringe. How many talented musicians stay in school simply because it's what they're told they should be doing? If I had stayed in school to obtain my master's degree, I would have continued on my idealistic, naive path of dreaming of nothing more than playing the flute full time. This would have changed my path dramatically. Chances are I'd have wound up working a miserable day job anyway. The promise of returning to school was what ultimately drew me out of my burned out funk. What if I had already obtained that and then entered the workforce like a dejected nobody?

Perhaps it's the transitional times we live in where I'm growing increasingly distrustful of all large organizations whether it's a corporation or government bureaucracy. Academia is no different. I don't think academic institutions have students' interests at heart. There's too many other competing factors (hello, money!), and this is a reality that many don't think about. I am speaking from a purely institutional perspective. On an individual level, I know many professors who are aware of the realities of the outside world and are honest with their students. We need more faculty members like that.

I wouldn't give up these past 5 years of my life for anything. I've never done things the normal way. While I may have resented it at the time, I'm grateful for it now. When do the hordes of talented musicians making their way through loads of degrees say "enough is enough!" and find the courage to strike out on their own? I want my life to be an example to those who may be questioning their path. Anything is possible.

We are creatives. We have the ability to be free thinkers. If years of schooling is what you feel you need, then that's OK but think about the life waiting for you beyond the academic confines. What possibilities exist for you as you are? The beauty of life is our freedom to choose, even if it's the path less traveled.

What and how many income streams should you pursue?

In my last post, I asked you some pointed questions to help you identify potential income streams. As musicians, teaching and performing are primary income streams for most of us. What if that isn't enough? What if you have additional interests that still relate to music, but you would like to expand your list of income generating activities?

While some people may not have enough income streams, others may have too many ideas that they can't focus on one long enough to get any real work done. While my last article was meant to get you thinking about any additional skills you could bring to the table (including the possibility of getting a day job to help you build skills), this is going to be a post to help you focus and refine the income streams.

1) What do you value? Time with family? Fame? Money? You can determine the number of income streams you can handle answering this question first. As I refine my own streams at this time, I'm discovering that I must preserve a work/life balance and this is my current priority. My goal is to eventually be able to work no more than 4-6 hours a day, so I cannot handle more than 3 or 4 different streams. A great site to help you figure out your strengths is the VIA Character Strengths Profile which you can take for free. My profile says my best character strengths are curiosity, gratitude, judgment, appreciation of beauty and excellence, and honesty. All my current income streams of performance, teaching and writing play to these strengths.

2) Do you thrive on multiple projects or would you rather work on just one or two? Again, this goes back to determining your strengths and values. I'd argue that no one is able to multitask too much. Our brain simply can't function at its optimum level. Instead, determine your work preference and choose your streams from there.

I would also point out here that this question is important to consider when you get calls for gigs or new students. It's so easy to take any opportunity that comes through the door when we don't have a full performance schedule or teaching roster. I don't believe that it's necessary to take every opportunity. If it doesn't align with your values, don't do it. Instead, spend your time on efforts that play to your strengths. Long term financial security is much more important than the short term.

3) Do you have an idea for a new business but don't know how to get started? I discovered Lea Woodward through colleague Marion Harrington. Lea has now begun offering free e-courses to help you establish your path. Consider her latest offerings from her Path Finding for Pioneers site.

I am currently working through Path Finding for Idea Pioneers and working through it task by task (which come to you every other day in an e-mail so you can work on the course when it's convenient) has left me focused and energized. I see great value in what Lea is offering and I'm happy to be able to take these courses to determine whether I want to invest in her paid options down the road.

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When we're working on our own, the hardest thing to do sometimes is to maintain laser focus when you don't have a separate office outside of your home. If you can discipline yourself to set work boundaries for yourself to preserve focus and concentration, I believe the payoff is worth it. If you begin laying the groundwork by answering these guided questions, finding your strengths and taking advantage of the resources available online, you can begin working in a new way that doesn't take every waking minute.

Regardless of whether people understand what you do, the key is to communicating what you do to prospective clients and customers so that they understand the benefit to them. Focus your income streams for maximum results.