Beyond Talent Creating a Successful Career in Music

by Beeching, Angela Myles

• ISBN13: 9780195169140
• ISBN10: 019516914X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Contrary to the standard joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall, "making it" in music is not simply about practice, practice, practice. Today, over 200,000 people in the United States work as musicians. With competition for traditional employment opportunities for musicians becoming ever moreheated, today's musicians must know how the music industry works and how they can tailor their skills accordingly. How can musicians create their own professional paths? In Beyond Talent, veteran music career counselor Angela Myles Beeching offers up a comprehensive guide for musicians in search of work, demystifying the steps to success. Drawing on a wealth of real-life examples, the book untangles artist management and the recording industry and explains how tofind and create performance opportunities. Guidance is also provided on grant writing and fundraising, day jobs, freelancing, and how to manage money, time, and stress. Straightforward and reader-friendly, Beyond Talent is filled with practical tips, examples, checklists, sample budgets,goal-setting exercises, and extensive resource listings. This essential handbook goes beyond the usual "how-to"; Beyond Talent helps musicians tackle the core questions about career goals, defining success, and imagining and then creating a meaningful life as a professional musician.

Author Biography

Angela Myles Beeching directs the New England Conservatory Career Services Center, a comprehensive career resource office, internationally recognized as a model of its kind. Ms. Beeching has presented workshops for Chamber Music America, Eastman School of Music, the University of Kentucky, Boston University, and University of Texas, Austin. Since 1997 she has designed and facilitated the annual Young Performers Career Advancement seminar for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conferences. Her articles on career issues have appeared in the National Business Employment Weekly, Inside Arts, Chamber Music magazine, and in Managing Your Career, published by the Dow Jones. She co-chairs the annual conference of the Network of Music Career Development Officers, a group dedicated to improving music career development services.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Beeching taught cello at California State University, Fresno, and at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. A Fulbright Scholar and Harriet Hale Woolley grant recipient, Ms. Beeching also received fellowships at Banff and Tanglewood Music Center. An alumnus of Boston University and New England Conservatory, she holds a doctorate in cello performance from SUNY Stony Brook.

Table of Contents

Prelude: Confessions of a Career Counselor	3	(129)
The Truth about Career Paths	3	(1)
Coming Clean as a Career Counselor	4	(1)
Five Trade Secrets Revealed	5	(4)
1 Mapping Success in Music	9	(10)
What Does It Take to "Make It"?	10	(1)
Ten Success Principles	11	(3)
The Entrepreneurial Musician	14	(2)
Your Career Plan: Setting Goals	16	(3)
2 Making Connections: Schmoozing for Success	19	(17)
It's All about People Skills	19	(4)
Networking Basics	23	(3)
Giving Good Phone	26	(2)
Informational Interviewing	28	(3)
How to Work a Room	31	(5)
3 Building Your Image: Creating Promotional Materials That Work	36	(32)
Letterhead	37	(1)
Bios	38	(7)
Photos	45	(11)
Promo Kits	56	(1)
The Extras: Other Promo Kit Item Options	57	(11)
4 Expanding Your Impact: Demos and CDs	68	(43)
Context: Record Industry Basics (and What It All Means for You)	69	(5)
Why Record?	74	(1)
Repertoire Decisions	75	(2)
Recording Options	77	(6)
CD Artwork and Graphics	83	(6)
Copyright Issues	89	(1)
Licensing Issues	90	(2)
Finance Issues	92	(5)
CD Sales	97	(6)
Promoting Your CD	103	(5)
CD Reviews	108	(3)
5 Online Promotion: Using the Internet to Advance Your Career	111	(21)
What's So Special about Web Technology in Relation to Musicians' Careers?	111	(1)
The Web as Information Source	112	(2)
Promotion on the Internet	114	(2)
Creating Your Own Website	116	(14)
Calculating a Website's Effectiveness	130	(2)
Interlude: Fundamental Questions	132	(102)
Clearing the Runway: Removing Obstacles to Your Success	132	(6)
21 Questions for Young Performers (Abbie Conant and William Osborne)	138	(3)
6 Booking Performances like a Pro	141	(25)
Myths about Artist Management	141	(3)
How Artist Management Works	144	(3)
Self-management: Your Best Bet	147	(2)
Researching Your Opportunities	149	(2)
Effective Programming: Engaging Presenters and Audience	151	(2)
Booking Performances A-Z	153	(8)
Negotiating Fees	161	(1)
Confirmations and Contracts	162	(4)
7 Building Your Reputation, Growing Your Audience: The Media, Publicity, and You	166	(21)
Attracting an Audience	166	(1)
What Does a Publicist Do? (And When Do I Need One?)	167	(4)
How to Write a Press Release	171	(4)
Compiling Your Media List	175	(9)
Timeline for Publicizing Your Next Concert	184	(3)
8 Connecting with Audiences: Residency, Educational, and Community Programming	187	(20)
What Is Residency Work?	187	(2)
Why Bother?	189	(2)
Primary Residency Skill: Talking to Audiences	191	(2)
Designing Residency Programming: Basic Ingredients	193	(1)
Residency Work with Adults	194	(2)
Residency Work with Seniors	196	(1)
Residency Work with Children	196	(2)
Effective K-12 Residency Materials: Study Guides for Teacher Preparation	198	(1)
Getting Residency Work	199	(2)
Marketing Yourself for Residency Work	201	(1)
Quality Control: Evaluating Your Residency Work	202	(5)
9 Performing At Your Best	207	(27)
Stage Presence	207	(6)
Performance Anxiety	213	(3)
Self-Assessment: Check Out Your Attitudes	216	(4)
Interventions and Treatment Methods	220	(7)
Performance Health	227	(7)
10 The Freelance Lifestyle-Managing Your Gigs, Time, and Money	234	(37)
The Basics: Freelancing and Gigs 101	235	(2)
Musician Unions	237	(1)
Concerts versus Gigs	238	(2)
Marketing Materials	240	(11)
Gig Contracts	251	(3)
Time Management	254	(6)
Effective Practice	260	(1)
Financial Management	261	(3)
Taxes 101	264	(7)
11 Raising Money for Music Projects	271	(20)
Mapping Your Project	272	(2)
Researching Grant Opportunities	274	(2)
Applying for Grants	276	(3)
Fund-raising 101	279	(5)
"Making the Ask"	284	(2)
Fund-raising Letters	286	(5)
12 Getting It Together: Your Career Package	291	(24)
Types of Careers	291	(3)
Day Job Dilemma: Five Key Considerations	294	(5)
Teaching Opportunities	299	(7)
Arts Administration Opportunities	306	(4)
Opportunities in the Music Industry	310	(5)
Appendix: More Resources, Please!	315	(14)
Index	329