Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music

A common mission runs through the stories of this new generation of musicians: they are finding new ways to connect music with audiences. Musicians are no longer content to perform only in traditional, formal venues, disconnected from audiences and from communities. Musicians today explore ways to find a sense of immediacy, connection, and relevanc

The majority of today’s professional musicians create satisfying “portfolio” careers, braiding together part-time work and entrepreneurial ventures to capitalize on their talents, interests, and experience.

Networking is investing in our own artistic community. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to build a music career. Nobody does it alone.

Goals are dreams with deadlines. Planning ahead drives you toward your goal.

The challenge for all ensemble musicians is to be able to “get over ourselves,” our habitual thinking and behavioral patterns, so that we can see things from our colleagues’ perspectives.

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thinking of a bio as a “call to action—

on paper. These levels of relationship can be represented graphically: draw a set of four concentric circles, like the rings of a tree, with you at the center. Consider your existing relationships, the people in your life. Where would you place them on the chart?

Goals are dreams with deadlines.