What is the first thing that comes up for you when you think about addressing a group of people, whether it is a wedding toast, a speech to a live audience at a music performance or a presentation at your local charity? If the answer is “fear” or “dread”, you are not alone! Fear of public speaking or glossophobia is …
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 …
Informational Interviews for Musicians: How to Get the Inside Scoop and Expand Your Network in 7 Steps
The informational interview is an excellent career building strategy for musicians since you can find out from an insider what it takes to build your career path, discover new and different career options and learn about the realities of working in the world of the arts. In addition to being a source of first-hand information that is not otherwise available, …
Playing to Strengths Part 2: What do I do about my weaknesses?
I’m working away at some great pieces on the piano—Shostakovich Piano Trio, Bach Toccata in E Minor, Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 2. Yes, I play challenging repertoire and eventually do it well. And when I put my time and focus on learning and mastering these pieces, the results are wonderful. Yet it takes me a LOT of time to …
5 Yale Music Entrepreneures Share Their Insights on Success: Follow Your Passions and Trust Your Gift
I love organizing the career panel for my class at the Yale School of Music so that my students can hear from successful musicians just what it takes to create success in this environment. Last week, I hosted yet another amazing group of 5 Yale alumni as part of my class, representing a wide range of interests and backgrounds:Melvin Chen who …
Case Studies of 4 Yale Music Entrepreneurs: Achieving The Impossible
As I sit in my warm, light-filled apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River, I am filled with enormous gratitude that I was spared the wrath of the hurricane, especially when I look across the river to New Jersey or downtown to Lower Manhattan where so much devastation took place. I couldn’t get to New …
Conflict Management for Musicians Part I: Take Charge by Using the Right Conflict Management Strategy
This week, I had the privilege and the pleasure of leading Professional Development training on conflict management with alumni of The Academy—one of the country’s leading teaching artist program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education.
The 9 nine outstanding musicians who participated in the training are serving as Advisors to the current 20 Fellows of the Academy and the training was designed to provide them with skills and processes to help the Fellows manage conflict in the course of their work.
It is not surprising that conflict arises between musicians. Indeed, musician-leaders—the music entrepreneurs of the 21st Century– are passionate about their work and their ideas, have high standards of excellence, and are deeply committed to your cause. And when they meet up with others who have the same depth and level of commitment to their ideas, it is going to cause friction.
In essence, that is what conflict is: a discomforting difference with someone where the two of you have incompatible issues, principles, behaviors or goals.
Conflict management is an essential leadership skill for the music entrepreneur of the 21st Century since it can help you to face challenges and look for opportunities in your conflict situations and our training provided these talented musician leaders with some great skills for handling the inevitable conflicts that arise in the music world.
Conflict Management Styles: The Start of Effective Conflict Management
Conflict is part of life. Conflict is any situation in which people have incompatible interests, goals, principles or feelings and experience. In other words, conflict means that two people experience discomforting differences.
Despite our best efforts, we find ourselves in disagreements with other people in all aspects of our lives: at work, in our relationships, in our volunteer activities. How we respond to provocation can determine if conflict moves in a beneficial or a harmful direction. The good news is that we can learn skills, strategies and processes to manage conflict.
The Great New World of Opportunity: Classical Music in the 21st Century
Last week, I had the privilege of speaking at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale School of Music about the state of classical music in the 21st century with a focus on the opportunities for today’s musicians to create successful careers. Yes, my friends, we are living in a world full of possibilities and great opportunities for classical musicians! So let’s look at what the nay-sayers are saying and then view our world through the lens of opportunity.
Making Musical Dreams a Reality: A Tale of 3 Concerts and a Poet
This is a tale of one week in New York city involving 3 concerts, a 19th Century visionary poet and the importance of making dreams a reality. In today’s world where the paradigms of classical music are changing and we are experimenting with different models of success, these concerts make me feel a lot better about the state of our art.
Let’s start with the concerts.