What’s the function of music and art? “Of beauty and solace” was the title of a Dutch TV series some years ago. At that time I thought that there would be no better definition of the function of art. In every episode the presenter had a musicians, writers, scientists, philosophers or similar as guest and asked questions like what makes life worthwhile. “Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it” is […]
When I saw an old high-school friend last month, he told me about his new job in city planning and about his creative new boss. The boss loves to come with new plans and to draw them. “I hope that you don’t expect it from me, I have no inch of creativity in me,” my friend warned him, “my mom is creative, I can judge your drawings and give you my opinion, but don’t expect me to be creative too.” […]
Energy is important for everything you do. When someone gets a burnout, we think that he/she spent too much energy. On the other hand, we all know people who seem to have endless energy without getting burned out. How do they manage? In the music business, everyone I know more personally who is working there for more than 10 years has had a burn-out. To start with, it’s important to know what activities give you energy and what activities take […]
I just read about a research of the McKinsey Institute about making decisions in the world of big business. Many decisions go wrong in that world by two psychological factors: confirmation bias and overconfidence bias. Both can be overcome by asking the right questions. If you take both biases in consideration, it helps you to know when it’s the right time to take a decision. Confirmation bias means, that for all of us it’s much easier to integrate new information […]
Last night I went to the city theater to hear the Dutch comedian Daniel Arends talking about plan A and plan B. Plan A is who you are. You can grow in who you are, but you can’t really change it. Plan B is how you appear to others. You are authentic when you appear as who you are. Often we want to appear different than who we are. Many musicians are shy but want to appear spontaneous and confident. […]
Do you know that experience, that when you are in need of something, like a new guitar, you suddenly see guitars all around you, even in the bus and in the train? Or when you are enthusiast about a new subject, if it’s red shoes or old Blues LP’s, suddenly everyone seems to be part of a plot to show it to you and talk about it? Some call it coincidence, others call it synchronicity. I had it last year […]
Do you still know the sound of silence? I mean the sound when you don’t hear traffic, voices or music. It’s the sound you hear when you are not wearing a headphone, when there is no TV playing, away from traffic and people. Working in the music business, I have music around me all day. I wake up with classical music from the alarm clock. At breakfast I listen to the radio. In the bathroom I’m making too much noise […]
Spring is in the air, sun is shining and the birds are singing. After the cold and dark winter it feels like an awakening! Even when sitting at the office I enjoy the sun outside. When something is bothering me, when I’m stuck at work, I often go outside to take a walk. Moving my feet and looking at the nature around me seems to move my mind as well. I can think more clearly and discover new perspectives when […]
Music needs rhythm, no doubt about it. But where do you get the rhythm? Your own heartbeat is a good inspiration. I love it, when I’ve done some sports, heaving a quick heartbeat and listen to music that has the same rhythm. It’s so exciting! It also works the other way around. Music with a slow rhythm can calm me down when I’m upset. My heartbeat tries to mach the rhythm of the song. If you look around, everything seems […]
It seems that our brain is rigid when focused and can’t focus when being flexible. When we are focused, we don’t notice what’s going on around us. We concentrate on one task only. This is highly efficient and helps us to get in a flow. A great example for this is the selective attention test from Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. While counting the number of passes, we don’t see the obvious image. Try it yourself: The other side is […]
Having the right network is so important. Sometimes I think that the music business is all about networking. Networking is about all connections you have, using social media, meetings, family and friends. Having the right connections makes such a difference; you feel so much stronger if you know that you are not alone. Here a list of 10 people that should be in your network, taken from Forbes: 1. The Mentor: A musician who has achieved what you want to […]
If you listen to the radio here in the Netherlands, you don’t hear music with a message, unless the DJ put it on by mistake. When I think of 20 to 50 years ago, I think of many songs with a message with mainstream success, from Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’” in support of the civil rights movement, through “God Save The Queen” by the Sex Pistols against monarchy, to “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the […]
“You can better wait for the right moment.” Does that sound familiar to you? Is it wise or not? What is the right moment? Waiting for the right moment works great when you want to stall something. I love to wait for the right moment when I want to stall a decision or avoid some changes I have to make, like when i wanted to quit smoking while in the middle of writing my master thesis. Not a good moment […]
A week ago was the big media spectacle of the Grammy’s. I didn’t watch it and honestly, I’m not at all interested. Still, here two remarkable trends I spotted when viewing all the comments afterwards last week: Women and aging Two strong women showed us that aging is not an issue anymore, both in her own way. Madonna still knows how to look young and provocative, all fitting with her American electro-pop theme. The British Anni Lennox has become a […]
Sometimes you only realize what you know, if someone asks the right question. It happened to me last week, when one of the participants of my workshop D.I.Y. mentality asked me how to select the right manager. He’s made serious progress with his band after the workshop and is recently approached by various managers. Within a split second I mentioned 6 criteria, and thought of the last one (number 2 in the list) after consulting with my partner. I like […]