Here are some links to get you started:

The International Trumpet Guild

Forums for Trumpet Players:
Trumpet Herald
Trumpet Master

Musician Jokes

There are so many ways that we can take this. Let’s just explore one avenue for developing and maintaining a creative environment.

The concept that I’d like to begin a discussion on is the concept of flow. As I understand and experience flow it is something that expresses an openness and willingness to go beyond our artificial barriers, fears, thoughts of limit or discouragement. It is an intentional decision to explore ideas without the normal limitations that we put upon ourselves.

Well so how do we do this? There are many ways and techniques. One that I personally utilize is spiritual-focused. Most faith traditions utilize some sort of spiritual centering/focus/quieting of the mind to reach a different place of consciousness or connection.

Creating or even allowing this state is critical to creating a sense of flow which opens up the floodgates of creativity.

More on flow to come….

Please feel free to visit me on the web:
My performing and teaching home base:
http://www.trumpeter.com

My business that works with professional and emerging musicians/artists to develop their career plan and execute through a suite of marketing and publicity services.

http://www.musicianadvice.com

My latest adventure into life success and the health and wellness industry. A fantastic company with a top notch product. Also a great business opportunity for an additional stream of income.

http://www.liveyourlifetothemax.com

Stressed Out?

Face it…life is stressful. In fact if we didn’t have any stress at all in our life at best we would be bored and at worst we would die at an early age. We need a certain level of stress in our lives. The problem is that much of the stress that we encounter day to day is a result of our own choices and decisions.

What I find to be the biggest offender is the lack of margin in our lives. As an example…

Are you barely making it on time to that gig? You didn’t leave an extra “margin” of time to get there…to allow for the unexpected.

Are you strapped financially and living month to month—day to day? We’ve all encountered periods of our lives that are like this. Is this your lifestyle? If so what margin can you create in your life to have some extra set aside. How about an emergency fund or a few months of expenses set aside. I know that it is hard to do. As a matter of fact it took me nine months to get a $1,000 emergency fund set aside. But piece by piece that gives me some margin and some peace of mind.

How about margin in your relationships? Are you taking time to nurture the relationships that mean the most to you?

These are all areas that I am working on. It is a daily process and really helps to refocus and change the levels of stress that you encounter. Let’s just put it this way…by creating margin in all of the areas of your life you will move from an unhealthy level of stress to a healthy level that will actually give you energy and joy!

Also don’t forget that many people that have a strong religious faith (a close relationship to God and a church home) are much more likely to have a better handle on stress and live a healthier life as a result.

There’s a fantastic book on this that I recommend highly by Richard Swenson.  The book is Margin:  Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.

I’m going to address this more in future posts with ideas and helps specific to the life of a musician.  More to come!

Stephanie Sundberg-Band
Jessica Runyon-Band
Sam Copeland-Orchestra

Congratulations to all of you for your hard work! I’m so very proud of all of you. There was a lot of stiff competition this year.

The way the IMEA auditions work…

Students are selected and recommended by their high school band director(s) usually through auditions. These students go and compete at their district.

The audition consists of four different rooms per instrument. One room for the IMEA scales, another for sight reading, another for the slow etude, and the last for the fast etude. The auditions are blind (the judge in each room does not see the player—for fairness) and scoring/judging is done real-time.  Some districts are different like District 1 in Chicago area.  They have a more relaxed approach where there is no screen and the judge can interact with the players.

The top players are selected and then they go later in the year to the IMEA band (a festival band). From that group the All-State group is selected as well.

A good musician is prepared for all sorts of things! You never know what to expect while on the road or going from gig to gig. I’ve had to play gigs in the dark due to power outage (good thing I had a couple of flashlights) and a wedding ceremony in Nor’easter weather.  I’ve been caught in a blizzard and 10 inches of snow getting to a Christmas-time gig (Good thing I had a shovel and a pair of boots in the trunk!).

What kinds of things should you keep on hand with you as a performing musician?

Flashlight, Extra Water, Snacks/Food (We like some of the freeze dried foods/snacks), cell phone, camera, lip balm

I always keep some basics in the car as well (especially during the winter season).  I have a sleeping bag or bivy sack, extra water and food, extra set of clothes, extra pair of socks, winter gear, car repair gear, Important contact names and numbers, and a portable jumpstart battery.

Also a good idea to have roadside assistance (AAA) and be equipped to change a tire or do basic repairs in a pinch.

Here is a place that you can get lots of items that will help you be prepared on the road and at home for those litlle emergencies that happen!

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com

What do you do when you are sick?

It happens to all of us. We are about to go out on stage or get in to the pit to do another show or play a few services in church and sickness strikes.

Many people have a nervous kind of sickness that they have to deal with on a regular basis. Sometimes it is a flu or a cold that you just can’t shake. You have a fever or are having trouble breathing. These things don’t typically add to the quality of your performance.

More often than not performing through a sickness or illness is a must. For a freelance musician it is often difficult finding a substitute that you can trust to do well at the last moment. For an orchestral player there may be a bit more flexibility if you have an extra player who can step in.

In my career with only couple of exceptions I have just had to push the sickness aside and proceed.

For me this has worked with varying success. Often my performance is diminished and I am in survival mode (play as well as I can and get home and to bed!). Strangely in some of my more intense performancs when I was under the weather my mind and body were in a genuine state of relaxation (or exhaustion) and I’ve had some of my best performances.

Whatever the case I am a big believer in proactive care. That would include good rest and diet, exercise, and a daily routine of natural/homopathic care including a Good Multivitamin, Extra Vitamin C, D, E, Fish or Krill Oil, Colloidal Silver, and Garlic. When you start to feel symptoms of cold or flu utilize ColdCalm and/or Sambucol.

Much more on this in future posts!

For performing musicians having a place on the internet where you can send people to learn more about you and your services is becoming more and more vital.

In many circles it is simply expected that a working musician has a web address.

The important thing to remember is that it does not have to be a large and complicated website. Start with yourname.com or some variation and do a single page that tells people about you and how they can contact you.

Beyond the basic site you can then build in audio, video, pictures, bio, contact page, links to your colleagues, blog, podcast, and much more.

More details to come in the next post…

A professional musician does not automatically get playing jobs.  The phone isn’t ringing off the hook for their services.  More often than not the person hiring the musician has people that he or she works with and knows.  Going with an unknown or a new player is often not the first choice for the music director or contractor.

A part-time or amateur musician can really benefit from raising the profile especially if they want to acquire more playing jobs or move from volunteer work to paying jobs.

Word of mouth has its place and can be very helpful.  The bottom line is that the musician needs to take steps to get out there and make themselves known to the world at large.  That means developing and implementing a cohesive marketing plan and implementing it.

I have recently launched a service to address this very important need in the musical community.  The service is called Musician Advice.  I work individually with each artist (professional or aspiring) to create a cohesive marketing plan tailored to their specific goals and offer a full suite of services including website design and implementation, business card/postcard promo design and print, demo and full CD production, and one-on-one consulting on a wide variety of related subjects.

Please feel free to visit the website:

www.musicianadvice.com

You can also contact me at:

james@trumpeter.com