Chops Beyond the Practice Room: Survival and Career-Building skills every musician should know
While spending the past decade building my event music business (Venus Ensembles), developing the new-music collective counter)induction, and working as a teaching artist throughout the NYC area, I have developed skills that I wish I could have been armed with earlier in my career. I have designed the following workshops for current students or recent alumni so they can plant the seeds for a successful career as early as possible.
Networking & Communication 101
Young musicians entering the professional world are finding out more and more that they are mostly responsible for their own careers – not managers, not local orchestras, associations or contractors.
To have a successful and satisfying musical life, performers and composers must be armed with at least the same skills any other business person has. In my experiential workshops, you will learn:
1. How to develop your “elevator speech” : how you can best explain what you do and capture your passion about it in 30 seconds
2. How to maximize the potential of every post-concert reception : this is where you will connect with those who will hire you next
3. Basic networking skills : recognize that every new person you meet can be an opportunity to connect with others who appreciate the passion for what you do or want to do - and will pay you for it
4. Keys to better communication skills: even if you are truly uncomfortable in social situations – these can be learned and need to be practiced as much your music
5. Building relationships over time : this takes patience, but can also can yield the most satisfying opportunities...start them ASAP
6. Visualization skills: we use them all the time to prepare for a performance...how can we use them to both network and communicate effectively while creating the artistic lives we truly want?
Engage every audience: Interactive Performance Workshops for Individuals and Ensembles
It is often acknowledged that a presenter is more likely to hire the group that has the ability to present successful interactive performances, than the one who is great simply because they won a certain competition. Whether your audiences are local or widespread, these are skills that are invaluable to anyone who wants to make performing on their instrument part of their lives.
In these workshops, you or your ensemble will learn tried and true strategies for creating and presenting an engaging and successful interactive performance – whether it is a community concert, school assembly performance, or recital. This series of sessions also includes opportunities where ensembles and individuals can “test-drive” their interactive performances in front of others to learn how to make them better.
Teaching Artist Laboratory
The more musicians who are equipped to effectively communicate their passion for music, the greater the chance concertizing will survive the next generation.
In these workshops, you will learn basic teaching artist skills that will equip you to lead pre and post-performance workshops for any kind of concert – or sharpen the ones you have already acquired.
These skills will not only build future audiences, but also create truly engaged concertgoers. Teaching Artistry can be a well-paid and artistically satisfying field, and these skills should be part of every musician’s tool kit.
PRIVATE COACHING SESSIONS
You have done it – survived the rigors of a Conservatory or University education...but now what? What if you were not able to enroll in your particular “business of music” class or did not have the opportunity to practice teaching artist skills while you were in school? How do you pay the bills while you are developing your own performance opportunities and commissions? What if you don’t even know where to start?
In lieu of spending money for an extra private lesson on your instrument here and there, consider what you could gain from a private coaching. It was not too long ago that my husband and I graduated with our Masters degrees in Music Performance from Juilliard (along with a rather large pile of student loans) and wondered...how are we going to do this? We knew that the traditional soloist vs. orchestral job options did not appeal to us, so we had to go on a quest to find out what did.
I am very invested in assisting others with their quest, especially after my years of mentoring and coaching work with the Lincoln Center Institute and the Academy Fellows at Carnegie Hall. Whether you are a recent graduate about to pave your own career path, a seasoned professional looking for ways to create a more satisfying career, or an ensemble about to embark on a series of school or community concerts, I would love to share my knowledge with you, help sharpen your skills, and brainstorm how you can be the best advocate for your own career.
Coaching topics can include:
Chamber music performance
Contemporary music performance
Interactive concert presentation skills
Age-appropriate educational strategies
Basic networking and communication skills
Entrepreneurial strategies to develop projects that support and create a satisfying artistic life
Please contact me for a free phone consultation and rates for individual coachings.
Please visit http://www.chopsbeyondthepracticeroom.com for a complete list of workshops
