Welcome to The B-List.
Part story, part toolbox: ideas on finding success and personal fulfillment in music.
What is the B-List?
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Hang On to Your Dreams
Is music a practical major? Absolutely not. Is it a way to open doors to better versions of myself? Absolutely. Majoring in music isn’t our problem, and odds are that all of us will have a portfolio career to some degree. The problem is that we’re still framing this as novel or even as a second prize to a more ideal scenario that doesn’t exist anymore.
Doing in Moderation
Our culture has a do-it-all-all-the-time mentality, and musicians embrace the high octane version. The great challenge of managing doing remains that we spend so many years doing so much to the point where we begin to choose and exercise discernment around our time we can end up feeling so guilty it’s paralyzing. It helps to think of moderation and to clearly label what value and necessity activities hold.
Redefining
If we all continue climbing for the one peak our training presented as Mt. Everest we risk remaining blind to the beauty of the entire range and susceptible to the dangers and pitfalls brought on by too many hikers using one path.
Energy Efficient Practicing
The way being busy makes us feel and what we need to do to cope with high-demand periods of work will change as we get older and more experienced. Intentional planning can create success and prevent burnout.
Four Books For Creatives With Work To Do
Four books on process for creatives with work to do.
Proprioception and Nociception in Musicians
If pain blocks awareness, then maybe the reverse is true - building awareness builds proprioception, which in turn builds the effectiveness and ease of the skills we work so hard to develop and maintain.
Self Maintenance
What we are willing to lovingly layer into our every day life with consistency is what will create the greatest impact in our well being long term.
Exploratory Mindset
Taking a step back and challenging your view, looking at things from a new angle, checking your intentions, and encouraging yourself not to cling are just as valuable as fixing the problem. They create lightness and space around whatever it is we are dealing with, and that’s helpful for all of us.
Creating Depth in Education
Maybe what I knew deep down years ago and am just now able to articulate is that I didn’t want to teach music in the first place. What I wanted was to at least try to experience and teach the satisfaction of depth and exploration.
Value and Cost of Sharing
Social media is unpaid work. Remember that we can all be empowered in our own choices about how we interact with our life, and especially in our enjoyment of the passage of time.
Trying Something New
What are the ways you could explore your unique interests and skills to connect with others?
Constraints Create Freedom
Our culture pushes make-your-own schedules, self-employment, and autonomy as the ultimate freedoms, but we’re missing the mark thinking that everything should be unbound. Healthy structures help us achieve our goals and enjoy the time we spend in work and activities.
How Busy Is Too Busy?
“The more firmly you believe it ought to be possible to find time for everything, the less pressure you’ll feel to ask whether any given activity is the best use of a portion of your time.”
Meaning and Relevance
It is good to remember that there is meaning whether we reach one person or a thousand, or maybe we only reach ourselves.
Holding Space In Teaching
Maybe that’s the answer after all. To be here. To hold space. To make room for my students.
All The Information
We don’t move forward by simply reading or watching how someone else has done it. We have to feel our way through. Only by building on our own experiences do we continue to step forward.
A moving target
Success becomes available to you when you tap into the joy of learning how to identify it for yourself.
The root value of connection
What new thing could you do to create genuine connection in your life?