Tuesday, October 5, 2010

New Music Career Mentoring Program Almost in Place


This has been a really crazy, stressful, interesting few weeks. In addition to maintaining a really intense gigging schedule recently, my behind-the-scenes team has been working day and night to put together my new Music Career Mentoring program.

It’s an exciting new step for all the people who are part of my team. I’m going to be able to offer my elite level career mentoring as part of a fully planned-out program that I’m ready to implement. 

It’s been the natural next step for me. I’m really enjoying helping talented musicians with their careers, and I love the idea of working with musicians to get them to their next career level. It’s amazing to give someone some of the insights I’ve received over the years, and watch them use it to their advantage.

I really think this is a big part of my calling, and I’m glad to be able to make it work for so many amazing students. I’m ready to bring more people to their success, and am looking forward to all the opportunities the new site brings.

So stay tuned! This is going to be a really action-filled next two weeks. I’ll be announcing my new site and doing some formal press releases next week once everything is in place. I would love your feedback on what we’re currently doing, and am looking forward to sharing music career mentoring with anyone who’s interested  - even some seasoned folks out there who are looking to improve on their existing methods.


Monday, September 20, 2010

GUEST POST: Karate-Chop Your Music and Your Life

The following is a guest post by Mark Powers. Mark is a world percussionist and world traveler who blogs for creative-types at PowersPercussion.com . In addition to performing and teaching, Mark has released Ritimista , a world percussion play-along CD and is former co-holder of the Guinness World Record for Longest Drum Roll by a Group.


 I don’t know that James Wing Woo has ever strummed a guitar or tapped a drum. But I do know that the legendary Kenpo Karate Master (who just turned 88 years old two days ago) has often spoken words that can prove valuable to all of us, in both musical and non-musical areas of our lives. Let’s begin by meditating on this simple, yet powerful, gem:

“Not speed, control. Not power, accuracy.”



Stop and really think about that for a second. What does mean to you?

Not speed . . .

Admit it, we all want to be able to perform with at least some level of speed. Perhaps some more than others- but who doesn’t think it would be great to bust out a flourish of flashy notes when the right moment calls for it? But how do we achieve sheer speed? In my years of practicing and teaching, I’ve learned that it’s certainly not attained by simply trying to play as fast as you’d like to play.

A) That isn’t usually possible in the first place; and

B) Just simply going “flat-out balls-to-the-walls” inevitably creates tension. Tension in the fingers, hands, wrists, arms, neck, shoulders . . . all working against, rather than for, us. The result is quite opposite our desired outcome. We tighten up, our notes gradually become slower and slower, and we ultimately do our bodies physical harm.

Perfect practice makes perfect. And makes you fast! Slow, repetitive practice over an extended period of time brings about muscle memory. Once a motion (be it the major scale or a paradiddle-diddle) has fully “set-in,” it becomes so deeply ingrained, that very little conscious thought is involved in starting or continuing it. When you reach the point that you can stop thinking about it, you’ll be playing with all the speed you’ll ever need/want! But, rob yourself of that opportunity by practicing with ill-focus, poor technique and tension, and you undermine your own growth and goals. It’s your call. What’s it gonna be?

. . . control

Does the lesson learned here apply to our non-musical lives? Most definitely. We’ve all heard the idiom, “haste makes waste.” Why? Because it’s true. While I’m a huge proponent of the Ready, Fire, Aim approach to life, it’s also necessary to breathe, retain control, avoid being spastic, and make intelligent decisions that with help us, not hurt us.

We live in a society that’s constantly changing and moving at the speed of light. Media outlets and advertisers begging for our time, attention and money everywhere we turn. Instant gratification is king- we want what we want, and we want it NOW.

Stop for a moment before saying yes to that big purchase; before adding yet another lame, time-sucking appointment to your calendar; before taking on that project just because it’ll make you look like Mr. Big Shot to your co-workers. Think about what you really want. Think short term. Think long term. What are your goals? You most likely want to “get ahead.” Are the decisions you’re making getting you ahead? Or are they just keeping you busy . . . and actually slowing you down? Remember, “busy” does NOT necessarily mean “productive.” Control, Daniel-san. Control.

Not power . . .

As a percussionist, there is no method of getting a huge, punchy sound out of my drums that can trump very precisely striking at one specific location on the instrument. That location might vary from drum to drum, but there is always a “magic spot” that allows me to create maximum sound (and tone) with minimal effort. Not unlike our “speed” discussion above, slowly and intently focusing on targeting that spot with pinpoint accuracy begets all the power I’d need for any reasonable gig. Anything louder than that, and somebody’d better have some mics on-hand! I’ve also heard string players and pianists talk of this same concept. I would imagine it applies to nearly every instrument.

. . . accuracy

Again, a non-musical application? Maybe you’ve already thought of one.

A word that jumps to mind for me is clarity. I believe that, in order for our words (and the ideas we present to others) to be powerful and carry weight and influence, it is absolutely imperative that they are conveyed with accuracy and clarity. If you’ve ever sat through a keynote address given by someone who seemed unrehearsed, insecure or unclear how his/her ideas fit the conference objectives, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t care what he was presenting, his ideas probably didn’t sink in too well.

I was reminded of this earlier this month, when I had to stand and give my Best Man speech at a friend’s wedding reception. I was nervous, but really wanted to say something touching, something funny, something powerful. In order to do that, it was essential for me to be accurate. That meant bouncing ideas around in my head well in advance of the date, carefully crafting the content and flow, writing an outline on notecards, and rehearsing it over-and-over the day of the event.

Have more thoughts on how to incorporate “Not speed, control . . . not power, accuracy” into our musical and non-musical lives? Steve and I would love to hear ‘em.

Comment below and share with the rest of us!


(Many thanks to Steve for inviting me to guest post!)

Friday, September 17, 2010

Music Career Longevity


Many people make the mistake of stopping their search for music work once their students or gigs reach their peak. Even if you have enough income coming in, it can’t hurt to continue trying to expand your music work for the future. The business side of music never stops and growth is essential.

Think of your music career as a flower.  Even if your flower is in full bloom you must continue to water it every day.  No matter how beautiful the flower currently may be if you don’t water it consistently it will wither away and die.

You must apply the same approach to your music business.  Work to nurture your relationships and expand your music business reach and connections on a daily basis.

   Having longevity as a full-time musician can be difficult.  This is true if you’re a teacher, performer, or any other music professional. If you know what you’re up against and plan accordingly, you can succeed. Many other people have – why not be the next?


For more music career mentoring tips and tricks, please drop me a line at my career mentoring page at Steve Nixon Music.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Left Hand Blues Patterns

I am going to spend the next few weeks discussing some of the left hand blues piano patterns I teach in my new piano blues DVD. The first pattern I discuss in my video is just a simple quarter note boogie woogie pattern. It's a great pattern to play in both rock and blues settings. Simple and really effective.

I go into much greater detail and explanation in the video but for right now keep this in mind: On beats 1 and 3 you're playing root and fifth together. On beats 2 and 4 you're playing root and 6th together. A good example of this pattern can be found here. Scroll down on the page to the "Blues Keys" section and click on "Sunny Day Solo Blues". I actually recorded this track specifically for my piano students to learn from.

Remember to keep it in the pocket and swinging. Your rhythmic inflection is just as important as your note selection. Let me know how it works for you and enjoy!!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

How a Mindmap Can Help You Become A Better Musician

I've experienced some really dramatic changes in my music business over the last month. I released a new blues piano instructional DVD, I accepted a new gig with a band that has approx. 150-200 gigs per year, and I started playing more solo piano gigs around Chicago. Couple that in with all my music career consulting I've been doing and the piano lessons I am teaching and it's become a really full schedule.

With all this change happening and less free time I knew I needed to come up with a system of organization. It was important that I had a "map" to help me continue my jazz piano development and learning. It's essential to me that no matter what's going on in my life that I'm still practicing for myself and further developing my personal artistry.

Based off some inspiration by percussionist and fellow blogger Mark Powers, I decided to do a mind map to help me organize my time and my thoughts. I knew that if I didn't write something like this down I'd let many things get in the way of my jazz piano development. Perhaps I'd skip days of practice or be inconsistent and jump around. Neither of these are great ways to practice. Focus and consistency are the key.

Anyway, after doing this map (see below) I feel more focused than I have in maybe a year. I sat down for 30 minutes and just did a simple organization of my ideas. I had done goal lists before but this was different. This had a visual component that really has made a huge difference. Since I responded so well to this visually I wanted to make sure I could always have access to it. I decided to print 3 copies. One I posted above my piano, another one is posted above my keyboard, and I put the last copy in my practice log.

It's always there as a reference point for me when I'm uncertain what I should be working on or feel the need to start jumping around too much.

I highly recommend you develop your own artistic mindmap. I used MindMeister which has a free and a paid option.

Happy mindmapping and let me know how it turns out for you!