Professional Development |
Hopefully you had a chance to set-up your RSS reader last week. Now that you have collected some articles, what are you reading? Please leave a comment below if there is something I should check out.
Here are some suggestions to check out this week:
6 Ways Your Brain Tries to Kill Your Ideas and How to Fight Them
Karl Paulnack Welcome Address
Stop Trying to Please Everyone or Chase Impossible Goals
Six Things I Learned from Teaching That I Still Use in Everyday Life
Have a great week!
Check It Out, Professional Development, Resources |
For the past four years, I have written posts on DrumChattr.com. I co-founded the site with Tom Burritt and Shane Griffin. We have worked hard at building a community for percussionists and it is a lot of fun connecting with so many musicians from all over the world.
Over the summer, we host BookChattr, a book club for percussionists. We have read Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live by Jeff Jarvis, The Percussionist’s Art by Steven Schick, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. Currently, we are reading Learning to Listen by Gary Burton.
Along with reading this book, I have created some listening guides to accompany the book. I hope you will consider reading the book. I just finished it and I would definitely recommend it. Check out these links below for the resource guides and a Spotify playlist.
Gary Burton Resource Guide: Part One
Gary Burton Resource Guide: Part Two
Gary Burton Autobiography
DrumChattr Archive, Featured Chattr, Professional Development |
Time Management 101
By Dr. Carolyn Bremer
August 2014
Opening speeches (notes) are meant to instill inspiration for the coming year but I can say quite honestly that inspiration is encountered every day at BCCM. Instead, this is about how to accomplish what you need to do, maintain your sanity, and reach your potential. (more…)
Professional Development |
There are always a lot of great articles on the internet (and sometimes some not so great ones). I use a RSS reader to collect a variety of sources so that I don’t miss what I like to read. On my smart phone, I use an app called Newsify to gather my articles to read. I use the app to skim articles from various sources. (I have created a list of sources below in case you want to check them out). If there is an article that I want to read in the future, I send the article to Instapaper to save it for future reading. Instapaper is also an app that can be used on my phone or tablet. I try and set aside 15-20 minutes a day to read the saved articles, but if I don’t get to them, there are always saved in Instapaper.
My goal in sharing this information is to create a weekly post that will have some links of curated articles that I have found inspiring or invigorating. It is also my hopes that you will share your top articles with me. Here are this week’s list of some articles to check out this week:
Time Management 101 by Dr. Carolyn Bremer
Stop Trying to Please Everyone or Chase Impossible Goals by Mark Wilson
The 15 Best and Worst Words to Use on Resumes According to Recruiters by Mihir Patkar
Cranky, Tired, and Not in the Mood to Practice? by Dr. Noa Kageyama
Here is a list of my RSS sources (in no particular order). I have the articles separated into folders. What are you reading? Is there something you can recommend? Leave a comment below and let me know.
MUSIC
Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
DrumChattr
State of Our Art
I Care if You Listen
Percussion Axiom TV
Sequenze21
Technology in Music Education
The Bulletproof Musician
The Musician’s Way Blog
The Rambler
SETH’S BLOG
Seth Godin’s Blog
Goal Setting Guide
MARKETING
Fast Company
Marketing Land
SPORTS
Laker Nation
Dodger Nation
TECH
Lifehacker
Lifehack
Search Engine Land
WEB
BuzzMachine (Jeff Jarvis)
Know the Network
Scribbling.net
Smarterware
Announcements, Featured Chattr, Orchestral Percussion, Professional Development, Uncategorized |
Attention all auditioning orchestral percussionists: audition for Japan’s “New World” Symphony; the Hyogo PAC Orchestra. I recently returned from a healthy week long visit to HPAC for the PAC Percussion! series of concerts on August 2nd and 3rd. Every year in August the orchestra organizes two concerts (the same) featuring the PAC percussion section with a guest artist. For more information about this years concerts click here.
As it turns out there is an inspirational story around the orchestras inception. According to HPAC’s site: “During the decade following the great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995, the courage, persistence, and compassion of Hyogo’s local residents brought about a miraculous renewal of the devastated region.” In 2005 the orchestra opened as a symbol of cultural rebirth of the region. Since then it has seen it’s 4 millionth audience.
HPAC orchestra is a resident orchestra exclusively affiliated with Hyogo Performing Arts Center under artistic direction of Yutaka Sado. During a three-year term, 48 international core members under the age of 35 engage in a variety of performance opportunities
including full orchestra and chamber orchestra concerts, a fully-staged opera, and chamber ensemble performances of standard and modern repertoire. They are joined in these performances by leading conductors, guest players and coaches from around the world. The HPAC program offers professional development for Core Members through master-classes and private lessons with visiting artists.
The facilities are immensely impressive and the center, being fully government funded, spares no expense when it comes to putting on productions and concerts. I had a first class experience. So, I share this post as an advocate for the center as it seems a bit unknown. Be sure to explore the source link above for more information.
Where you aware of this opportunity? Have any others that fit into this category? Please share your thoughts below the post.
Professional Development, Video |
I originally wrote this article on October 19, 2012 and I still believe that these points are true. How do you use YouTube? Do you post your performances? Do you make comments on other posts? Please leave your thoughts below.
We all know that YouTube is a valuable source for any musician. According to YouTube’s statistics, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. We all know that there are a lot of bad videos included in this number, but there are also many videos that are educational and worth watching. So how do you use YouTube? Chris Robley wrote a blog post on the D.I.Y. Musician Blog (a service brought to us by CD Baby) detailing the “Top 5 Tips for Effective Music Video Promotion on YouTube.” Some of the top tips included:
1. Add links at the top of the description field for each video
This is very important since you only get about three lines of text before the you have to click the “Show More” tab on the window (see below). Unless someone is really interested in the video, they are not going to click the tab to see more information. You need to grab their attention immediately, which leads to #2.
2. Make the first 15 seconds count
How many times have you gone to YouTube to watch a video and clicked away because you did like the beginning of the video? I am guilty of clicking away from a video if it does not immediately capture my attention. Here are some other things to think about relating to this topic:
- I would also suggest not doing a pre-roll (similar to going to see a movie). In my opinion, no one cares about the title, director, etc. at the beginning of the video. Go right to the action and put all of that in the comments (below the “show more” tab). Or, use a strip at the bottom of the video if you need the information to be seen (like I did in this video: PanSon – Dave Gerhart).
- Use a tripod.
- Upload the highest quality video possible.
- Forget all of the iMovie transitions/titles at the beginning of the video. These videos are not just for your Mom; you want everyone to watch it.
3. Respond to every comment
This is a common courtesy. I make it a point to respond to every comment, whether they are good or bad. This shows that you have pride in the video you are posting and also make a personal connection with the viewers. If you are responding to a negative comment, politely ask the viewer why they thought the video was bad. This is a learning experience for everyone. If the comments are unkind or abusive, you can always report the comment to YouTube and remove it from the comment section. (Don’t do this often.)
Please check out Chris’s post for more great tips. Click here for the “Top 5 Tips for Effective Music Video Promotion on YouTube” and to download CD Baby’s Ultimate YouTube Guide for Musicians for free!
What tips do you have about promoting yourself on YouTube? Let me know.
