Last year I was a panelist at Summerschool of BKKC. The purpose of Summerschool is to improve the entrepreneurship of artists in all kind of creative fields, from sculptors to flutists, from interior designers to painters. The main obstacle for the present artists is to find enough clients. They all feel very creative, but in order to find clients, they have to come out of their studio or workplace to connect to real people. The best way to do so […]
Have you ever participated in a band-competition? You probably have. There are so many competitions, that you might think that every band must have won at least one of them! Here the basic rules for a band-competition: – Several bands participate, similar to a festival, but they don’t get paid. – The audience come for one of the bands and listens to the others too. – The audience likes the contest-element, it’s a way to participate as audience. – Bands […]
Many life-coaches tell you that you have to become a leader, that you shouldn’t follow anyone. But we are all followers, not only on Twitter. We all have some people or idea’s that we admire. Whom or what you follow, can have a broad range. It goes from following leaders like Michelle Obama or Mahatma Gandhi, to following what your friends do or expect you to do. From following hypes and fashion to your following own intuition or following a […]
Do you remember Popeye? It’s an almost 90 year old cartoon figure; a sailor man who tries to impress his girl Olive. Though she loves strong men like Bluto. Bluto is tall, strong, with very broad shoulders, with a beard and a small head. Popeye has a big mouth with a pipe, a big chin, big forearms, but he is small and has small shoulders. His secret power is spinach. Spinach makes him invincible, even when fighting against Bluto. Just […]
What happens now, after the attacks in Brussels yesterday, is that we fool ourselves in order to stay comfortable. A logic mistake many make is to think: A: All attackers were Muslims. (or: All tulips are flowers.) B: You are a Muslim. (or: A rose is a flower.) C: You are an attacker. How wrong this logic is becomes clear, if we replace attackers with tulips, Muslims with flowers and you with a rose: A: All tulips are flowers. […]
How do you feel when you are alone? I mean really alone, without friends around you, without a computer or smartphone? FOMO, Fear-Of-Missing-Out is one of the main reasons why we are afraid of being alone. Others might have fun without us. We might miss an important event or some breaking news. That’s scary. Important events on FB are often not more than a photo of the dinner a friend is eating. Breaking news is about the holiday plans of […]
“If only we could play this major festival, we would become successful and happy.” “If only I could find an agent, I would have many shows and will be happy.” “If only a major record company would discover me, I would become famous and happy.” Do you recognize the if-only thoughts? Many musicians have them. They think that their happiness is dependent on positive events, and that positive events will lead to long-lasting happiness. Research in the ’70s has shows […]
Get better in what you are good at already. That’s the motto of one of the big Dutch all-round speed-skate champions Gianni Romme. He’s a successful speed-skate trainer now. If you are not Dutch, you probably didn’t notice. Last weekend were the World Championships in all-round speed skating in Berlin. With speed-skating, the skaters compete in pairs in an oval of 400 m. dressed in tight jump-suits. All-round speed-skating means, that it’s about the overall winner in 4 distances. For […]
Fame – that’s what most musicians dream about. In the music business we still live with the myth that once you are famous, all problems are solved. NOT! You will encounter a whole lot of new problems. Many musicians struggle with fame and with being famous. They suffer so much that some of them die far to young, like Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse. Here 4 P’s that make it so difficult to deal with fame: Personal Imbalance. Fame does […]
If you want a life without stress, don’t become an artist, don’t become a musician! As a musician, you better know how to deal with stress! You need stress if you want to be a good musician. The most common form of stress is to live up to expectations – from others or from yourself. Don’t underestimate your own expectations. At all levels you meet expectations: how you want to sound, how you want to play your instrument, what kind […]
Doesn’t it feel great when you put your heart and soul into something, music for example, and you feel the enthusiasm? You’re in a flow, the world is at your feet. This is what you need to succeed. How can enthusiasm slow you down?? There are two different versions of enthusiasm. The first version is the enthusiasm that I describe above. It’s the enthusiasm you feel after you’ve accomplished something. The inner fire is burning, you feel happy. You feel […]
Have you heard of winter-depression? Are you infected too? I can get quite down if the days are so short as they are right now. No wonder that the celebration of the winter solstice is so important in most Nordic cultures. It’s the start of the days getting longer again. Many Christmas customs have their origin in the celebration of winter solstice in Nordic countries. Pines and pine branches stand for the hope of everything getting green again in spring. […]
Quote from IQ_mag twitter: Paperclip Agency’s @HildeSpille discusses how empowerment can help musicians who feel screwed by the music biz bit.ly/1TqEtLe
At school I’ve learned that I have to put extra attention to the subjects I’m not that good at. In my case it was French, Latin and sports. All the good grades in history, religion and music were taken for granted. The focus was on getting better in the stuff that I wasn’t that good at. It took me quite some time to find out that there are alternatives to that approach. Waldorf schools, Montessori schools and other alternative schools […]
After the attack in Paris last week with 89 people being killed at a concert at Le Bataclan, everyone in the music business is shocked and grieved! And we react accordingly. Some Dutch venues have increased safety measures by using twice as much security people ans searching every single visitor and his/her bag. Prince is postponing his European tour. The targeted attack on pop music affects us all. Music is important to us. Music can cross borders and connect people, […]
