This category lists the blog posts that tell more about creativity, how to keep in flow, what’s blocking artists in their creativity and how to unblock.
Music business and fame What do Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse have in common? Yes, they all died at 27. They also probably committed suicide, and they all struggled with dealing with their success and fame. They all had a team of dedicated people around them: at their management, agency, record label and more. But the music business doesn’t really know how to help artists in dealing with their success and fame. And as artist it is not […]
“99% is shit”, that’s what a colleague booking agent said years ago about all the cd’s, lp’s and cassettes (yes, that long ago!) he received from musicians. I don’t remember who it was, and I don’t think that I would tell you if I would remember 😉 It sounds harsh and I don’t really agree. But than, most of the material I receive comes from foreign colleagues, it has already been filtered. I certainly don’t want to offend you as […]
Time is a funny thing. The old Greek already made the difference between clock-time (chronos) and experienced time (kairos). Those two don’t always fit together. We all know the clock time. Often our life is ruled by it. Last weekend the daylight-saving-time (summertime) ended, we put the clock one hour back. It’s a simple action, but the effect on the experienced time takes a bit longer. It’s a bit like a jet-lag. For a jet-lag they say, that you need […]
This is a new word I’ve learned, abundance. It’s for plenty, opulence, exuberance. Julia Cameron writes a whole chapter about it in her book “The Artist’s Way”. And in the last week I stumbled over the word and the theme various times, so I guess it’s time to write about it. Let’s start with a common belief upon artists that represents the opposite of abundance. Many (wanna-be) artists think that they have to be careful with their art and creativity […]
I know, I’m very quiet in the last couple of weeks. It feels like I’m blocked, while I have so many idea’s for this blog in my head, some even almost fully worked out. Still, I don’t find the time to write. Suddenly everything seems to be more important than this blog. Many artists will recognize this, full of ideas but not able to make new art. And sometimes the block is getting bigger when the ideas are getting bigger […]
The hippie- and punk-movement brought us the concept of D.I.Y., Do It Yourself. We don’t have to depend on others to do stuff for us, we can do it ourselves. The hippies started communes on the countryside, groups of adults and children who tried to live self-sufficient, grow their own veggies and (re-)build their own homes. Punk brought this into the center of American and European cities. They applied the D.I.Y. concept to arts and music too. When The Beatles […]
What? Yes, you’ve heard it right. I’m asking you to spoil yourself! But it’s not as easy as you might think! I grew up in a very rigid catholic rural environment and leaned, that I have to work and achieve before I’m allowed to rest. So I often don’t allow myself to get spoiled, because I haven’t worked hard enough, or because the results are not as good as I hoped for, or the house is not cleaned yet, or […]
“When you get a good review, you feel good! When you don’t, you just have to realize that you can’t please everybody. We make music for the people who like it, not for the ones that don’t.” (Sass Jordan) Sass Jordan twittered this some weeks ago. It’s so to the point! This quote made me realize, that everything is about making choices. Here it’s the choice of who you make your music for. And there are always people who don’t […]
On Wikipedia I found the most simple definition of an artist: a person who creates art. And when art originally just meant ‘skill’ or ‘craft’, it’s now used as an abbreviation for creative art or fine arts. ‘Creating’ is the key here. And a more contemporary definition adds the concept of ‘imagination’: art is “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.” This also marks the difference […]
Artists create and muses inspire. The ancient Greeks had 9 muses to get inspired: Calliope for epic poetry, Clio for history, Erato for love poetry, Euterpe for song, Melpomene for tragedy, Polyhymnia for hymns, Terpsichore for dance, Thalia for comedy and Urania for astronomy. All of them are goddesses. Most artists today get inspired by other people, literature, nature etc.; not by goddesses. Camille Claudel inspired the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, and was his muse. He expected her to be […]
Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT famous. But you might be, or you might want to be. I’ve seen the change in many artists I’ve worked with, once they got success. Often it is like moving on ice for the first time. They don’t know how to deal with all the expectations: from the audience, fans, promoters, agents, managers, label managers, publishers on one side, and family, friends, neighbors on the other side. “Control your own destiny or someone else […]
Testing, testing … Welcome to this new blog. I will start to add content begin of February 2012.