How to make it as a composer

Composer Annie Gosfield realized that she had made it as a composer when she was asked if she had any advice for young composers. And then she thought about it and turned her ideas into an article in the New York Times, as part of The Score (where composers talk about their works and the issues involved in creating music nowadways).

Some of the advice she gives are mainstream knowledge:

• take your work seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously
• don't fear rejection
• details count

Some tend to be forgotten or not always emphasized:

• never discount the power of the library
• allow yourself to be led down the garden path
• don't assume you know what's accessible to the audience and what isn't

Some can be transferable to playwrights:

• Make sure you you're always doing some work that is yours and yours alone- not for the approval of teachers or colleagues

Check out the article here. Which advice do you agree or disagree with?

Interview with composer and Chamber Music America Membership Manager to come!

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How to practice dealing with stage fright

There is nothing more annoying as a performer than being super ready for a performance and get so nervous at the performance itself that we either get too much in our heads and miss the experience, or worst we actually screw it up.

If that happens once, then just thinking of the next performance gets even scarier.
So what to do? Can we practice being nervous to learn how to deal with it?

The first idea we get of course is to get some people to watch us perform, but that can sometimes backfire because if it goes too well with them, we may take it for granted and be even less ready to handle nervousness when we perform for real.

So then what?

Well, what happens when we get nervous is that our heart rate goes faster and that we can't think as clearly. So it's best to recreate that when we practice performing. And the best way to get our heart rate to go faster and our minds to not think clearly is to... run!

Yes, literally run around your block, or go up and down a few flights of stair and then give your performance.
Now, this fake nervous feeling we get with running doesn't last as long as the performance will , so we've got to run again every so often, but besides that it's a pretty good technique.

Have you ever tried practicing being nervous? What are your solutions for handling stage fright?

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It's Broadway Week people!

Broadway week starts today on Live with Regis and Kelly!

They'll have guests and they'll do special features on a bunch of new Broadway shows, including American Idiot, Promises Promises and Come Fly Away.

If you're living the life of a professional artist, you might not be available to watch Regis and Kelly, but do not despair! They have all the videos of the previous years here, and they're awesome!

Happy Broadway week everyone!

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Who says you can't wear nail polish?

The weather is so beautiful outside, which makes for a perfect Saturday, and for light(er) topics.
Namely: Nails.

For so long I took for granted that as a musician I would never be able to wear nail polish. Not that anyone told me that I couldn't,  but no musician I knew ever had nail polish on, so I figured it was a no-no.

Well, it turns out it's OK. Yes! It's O. K!

I've now been coloring my nails for ten years, and the only downside of wearing nail polish as a musician is that my priority has to be about keeping my nails short, which chips the nail polish. Oh well, chipped nail polish, who cares?!

 My playing has improved the same, and my painted nails have made no difference to the world of music whatsoever. And I think that my piano loves it (and no, no color goes on it)!

So women instrumentalists, there you go!

You get to do whatever you want with your nails, like all the non-musicians out there!

Extra tip (from my grand-father):
To avoid cuticles, never cut your nails on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I don't know why, but it does work.

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How to push through in a performance

David Blaine is definitely one amazing performer!
What makes his success? Brilliant ideas, intense preparation and pushing through the pain of the performance (literally in his case). Sounds to me like skills that we need in music and theater too!


How do you push through in a performance?

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3 performing struggles

I came home yesterday and found that my boyfriend had been reading the wonderful book The Art of Practicing by Madeline Bruser, which was given to me years ago by the wonderful department of music of Kalamazoo College. I read through the book again and came across the part where the author explains the different types of struggles that performers can go through. Here they are.

1.  Overstated Passion: That's when we over do it, when we want to prove how great we are and how inspired we are. We turn any subtlety into cheesy stuff. We just have to remember that we are the link that allows a silent sheet of music to turn into sound, and that it's about the art, not us.
2. Avoidance: Bruser writes: "Sometimes we try to play it cool. We say to ourselves, "Hey, it's no big deal. Just lie back and play the notes." And that's about all that comes out. Notes." That's when we turn into robots, and become a machine of technique. We don't even like it ourselves, so why would anyone else?!
3. Aggression: That's when we want to do well so much that we tense up just at the idea of playing and taking the risk to make a mistake, and that's just what happens. We tense up, get scared of making a mistake and make a mistake. Then we decide that we really know what we are doing and that we are really going to play with no mistake, so we tense up and get scared about making mistakes, and.... It's a vicious circle. The interesting thing is that after that happened a few times we do the exact opposite, which is to focus on breathing and being relaxed, and that still takes us away from the performance.

Awareness of who we are is truly what is needed in order to be a good performer, so that we can catch ourselves when we are struggling in any of the ways described above.

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How to sell the most expensive tickets

I subscribe to the best mailing list ever concerning all things theater, called You've Cott Mail (the name of the writer is Cott), and that's where I saw the link to this wonderful article on 2 am theatre.

Dennis Baker offers this ground breaking idea on how a theatre can make the most money and sell the most tickets, and no it is not by offering many discounts at the end of a run. 

Baker's idea is to offer the best discounts to people who buy tickets much in advance, and to make tickets more expensive for people who buy at the door and for people who come at the end of the run.



Click here to read how that would work and why it's a great idea for everyone.

Do you think it would work or do you think that it's a terrible idea?

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