iCadenza Creative Careers Podcast featuring susan DE WEGER seP 25, 2018
We’ve talked a lot about the zig-zag path your career in music will likely take. One of the common “zags” is walking away from music altogether. Whether a teacher discouraged you, you weren’t making ends meet, or you failed at your big moment… there are lots of reasons musicians step back from their careers in music. But one thing we’ve learned is that it’s never too late to return, if that’s what your heart is calling you to do.
If you are serious about attracting and retaining a new audience for classical music, then you need to write about yourself and your work in a way that’s interesting to that new audience.
There is unprecedented opportunity for classical musicians to create our own projects and define our own success and the musicians who are thriving are those willing to build an audience for their work...
Who we are determines where we are going. Sounds simple, right? But often who we think we are is layered with who our parents, teachers, culture thinks we are—or who we should be...
If we just continue to train for these non-existent jobs in orchestras and think that that’s the one point of music education, and if we don’t shift what we’re doing to be broader than just entertainment, then we’re not building an audience...
"Hi Susan, I'm a violinist and I have some auditions coming up which I'm feeling prepared for musically, but I nosedive in the interview section. I can't think what to say and I get really nervous..."
The value of training in the creative disciplines is misunderstood and undervalued by ourselves and society. Far beyond the stage, a musical education trains our mind...
Creating an online identity, or second self is an effective way to promote your work and develop a two-way relationship with your audience...
Goals are the driving force behind your music career. Fortunately, musicians are familiar with the power of setting and achieving goals...
Building a loyal audience is one of the biggest challenges facing young artists. Most young classical musicians experience four years of higher education that ignores the skills required to imagine and build a creative career, and promotes the trope that selling our work means selling out.