Trade Secrets

[Louise]

What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone entering the music profession today?

I am prompted to ask this by reading Anthony Wakefield's helpful comments on MusBook recently, and by Elaine Fine's blog post http://musicalassumptions.blogspot.com/2009/02/ambition-ramble.html where the role of the internet is thoughtfully explored.

My own offering comes from the Director of my Music College. He advised, 'Go out into the community, and as you give to the community, so the community will give to you.' Having lived and worked in five different locations on two continents, his words have been proven true time and time again.

Over to you....

[Phil Best]

Louise, my piece of advice to someone entering the music profession would be to remain true to yourself at all times. It may be tempting to compromise on your true artistic and creative beliefes in order to fit in with prevailing tastes and traditions, but my advice is to resist this temptation and go full out for what your truth is and what your desire is to contribute to the world musically. Have a golden vision, be clear what your essence is and enjoy sharing this with the world. Best wishes to all musicians out there, Phil

[Andrew Singer]

Check This Out! My musical background is vast, I have a Strad in my family and three famous Conductors. I am Blessed with music all around me. My family owns 53 acres in West Virginia and coupled with music, they are Folk Dance Teacher's, my brother specializes in Russian Dance and is a NEW AGE Classical Composer. Having all of this around me, I decided to start videotaoping in 1986 to build an archive. 1986 wa just the beginning of the video world and I had what seemed to be the only rig in town, the town was THE NATION'S CAPITOL, Washington, DC. I was a rather popular person to know and started taping people like Bo Diddley, Dizzy Gillespie, Tiny Tim, Warrant and Root Boy Slim and Klezmer, Zydeco, Punk, Funk, Rock, Reggae and an Orchestra or two and many more. I saw an amusing ad about a Conductor that had lsot his job because a certain person sold a group of Musicians OUT for a promotion. Here I go, modern meets Classical again. So, in troubled times we gather up the Musicians that had been kicked in the rear and sign them up, one by one. We are going after one section of the Orchestra at a time, taking the best players from Homestead Florida to North Palm Beach, a 350 mile round trip. We have been doing this for under two months and are nearly complete with World Class Musicians, no students and we look like the United Nations, clearly our goal. We are excited that we have a niche as several other Orchestra's have gone under and we are rising to the top. We have something they do not have, we have the best Conductor, we believe he is the true National Conductor of the USA. Maestro Donald Covert has the credentials that make him the best choice for that position. My father did not raise a dummy, did you Geopetto. That is right, Pinocchio!

[David Urquhart-Jones]

What an interesting - and valuable - discussion you have initiated, Louise.

My entry to the music profession was, I think, preordained. From toddlerhood onwards, musical instruments and events have been irresistible magnets drawing me away from the directions in which, I am sure, my parents would have preferred me to go.

My advice then is that anyone considering life as a professional music needs:

A singleminded compulsion towards musical behaviours and events supported by talent, intelligence and a capacity for undergoing the practice routines and intellectual inquiry which every discipline of knowledge requires.

The wise words offered to you by the Music director of your Music College resonate also through my own music career. Communities in England, USA, Papua New Guinea and Australia have repaid my musical contributions to them many times over. Particularly in the observation of delight and exhileration deriving from the successful performance of a master choral/orchestral work.

David