We are finally reemerging from COVID isolation and the world of the arts is beginning to open up! The past year has seen tremendous change in our field. The pandemic shut down the ability to perform for live audiences. On top of that crisis, we had a collective reckoning with race. Moving forward, today’s arts leaders and professionals are facing …
Creative Success Now: Writing the Book I Wanted to Read
My new book, Creative Success Now, was just published! It’s a roadmap on how to ignite creativity and inspire creatives of all stripes to get their ideas out into the world and thrive in today’s world. I was inspired to write my new book thanks to my experience with hundreds of creatives, teaching at Yale University’s School of Music and coaching …
Creative Success Now: Overcome the Creativity Killers
It has been a busy summer for me! I finished up my book, Creative Success Now, which will be published in a few weeks. I traveled, did some fun guest teaching and performed at my annual piano retreat in California, pianoSonoma. It was here that I learned a valuable lesson in what to do when your creative pursuits butt heads with …
Top Tips for Managing Your Portfolio Career: Embrace the 4 P’s of the Entrepreneurial Mindset
I have been collaborating with iCadenza, a fantastic resource that helps musicians think like business people and grow as artists. I am honored to have been included in iCadenza’s most recent blog post on “How to Manage a Portfolio Career: 7 Arts Entrepreneurs Share Their Tips.” My advice to successfully manage your music portfolio career? Start with adopting the mindset …
The Mindset of Today’s Music Entrepreneur: The 4 Elements of Success
What’s the starting point for creating a successful career in today’s music world? To me, it’s having the mindset of success. I define mindset as your attitude and how you perceive the world based on your experiences: how you feel about your ability to translate your musical talent into a successful career as opposed to the FACT of what instrument …
Networking and the Growth Mindset: How Music Entrepreneurs Can Learn to Love Networking
Summer is a great time to network! Chances are that you are touring, at a festival or engaged in a new teaching or performance venues where you are likely to be meeting a lot of new people. Yet for so many people, networking brings up a lot of negativity. I have heard the following: Networking feels sleazy activity but musicians have to …
The Power of Yet: How Music Entrepreneurs Are Inspired to Create Long-Term Success
I greatly admire the groundbreaking work of Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University, who lays out her research on the type of mindset that leads to success in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Dr. Dweck identifies two mindsets: the growth mindset and the fixed mindset. Those with a growth mindset do not simply rely on “talent” …
Top Picks from My Bookshelf: Inspiration on How To Create Success
As an inveterate life-long learner, I constantly read in order to get new ideas and refresh my learning. I still love books: e-books for convenience, hardback and paperbacks for marking up and filling with notes! And I love to share my resources with friends, colleagues, clients and students. If you are an arts entrepreneur or leader looking for some new inspiration …
Living “in the Zone”: How Music Entrepreneurs Optimize Their Flow Experiences
Creative people know the feeling of being “in the zone”, the state of effortless concentration and joy where your skill level meets the challenge at hand, you know what you want to achieve and you are receiving the feedback on how well you are doing, time whizzes by because you are doing something that you love, and you are thus inspired …