What Makes Great Art, Great?

 credit to this Ian Sands: 

 http://www.theartofed.com/2013/10/29/what-makes-great-art-great/

What Makes Great Art, Great?

High school students are capable of producing some amazing artwork. Every art teacher has encountered a student that produces this kind of work, work that is sometimes even better than the teacher’s. Yet, other students produce only average work. It’s good, but it’s not great. Their work is lacking that something, but what is it? Achieving the following five things will ensure that a work of art is not only good, but great.

Technique
This is the most obvious. If the artist is above average in the skills used to produce a work of art, that work with stand out. An extreme example would be photorealism. However, technique doesn’t always mean the artist needs to produce realism. Monet and the impressionists used their technique to capture light and in turn, captured the world.


Concept
A dead shark is not art… unless you are artist, Damien Hirst. The concept is something the artist relates to the audience. If the audience is intrigued by the concept, the work of art can be instantly transformed from an ordinary urinal to the infamous Fountain. The idea is important.


Emotion
Perhaps the opposite of concept, emotion is how the audience relates to the artist’s work. A work of art can generate the feeling of happiness, sadness, anger, pride or patriotism. Consider Norman Rockwell’s stirring image of Ruby being escorted to class by US marshals while a recently thrown tomato runs down a wall. This image elicits anger and outrage by people on both sides (unfortunately) of that issue of the day.


Newness
If it is new, it will pique interest. Whether it be the use of perspective in the 1400’s or stencils in the 21st century, finding an innovative way to produce art generates excitement from those who say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”.

Medium
Non-traditional art materials have boomed in the last few years. Artists are seeking new materials to not only create new art, but recreate old works. The Mona Lisa is nothing new, unless she is recreated out of thousands of coffee cups using varying amounts of creamer for value. Using new materials to create art, or simply finding unique ways to work with traditional materials can breathe life into a project.


Before your art students begin their next project, review these five simple ideas. Ask them to consider which they will incorporate to make sure their art is not only a good work of art, it’s great.

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Which of the five things do you think is most important in taking a work from good to great? 

How do you define a great work of art?

How 10 Musicians Make Good Livings In Today’s Music Industry

Taken from:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/12/23/full-time-musicians

Monday, December 23, 2013
by

Ari Herstand

We hear so much doom and gloom today from people screaming that the music industry is dying and there’s no money in music. I asked a few friends (and a some Twitter acquaintances) who make good (sure, subjective) livings with their music and how they do it. I specifically did not ask those currently on a label to showcase how DIYers can do it. These guys (and gals) are making it work! The biggest takeaway is that there is no one way to succeed. All of these musicians figured out what worked (and what didn’t). They adapted and figured out how they could use their talents to make a living. It’s not all a straight line trajectory from A to B. If you take one thing from this, it should be that it IS possible to make a living as a musician: you just have to get crafty, be smart, and above all, work your ass off!
(Some of their “words of wisdom” are long, but I left them that way because I felt they are the most important parts of this piece. Read them. You’ll learn something new from every one of these incredible musicians.)

Ron Pope

I had the pleasure to support Ron on a 9 week 60 date US tour in the Spring of 2011. What a ride! He is an insanely talented singer/songwriter/guitarist. His fans are HARDCORE. At the time, he had recently left his label and wanted to tour and we had been friends for a couple years so I offered to book the tour. Since then he has been conquering the world and touring all the time. He’s one of the artists that blew up during the Myspace era. He was always in the top 3 “unsigned acts” on those Myspace charts. Remember those? No tricks. No fake numbers. Just true, honest music that resonates with a lot of people.
**To all the Spotify haters out there – note that as a DIY artist making over $100K a year, Ron’s 2nd biggest income source is from Spotify.
Where do you currently reside?
Brooklyn, NY
Hometown?
Marietta, GA
Age?
30
How long has music been your primary source of income?
About six years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years) $20,000-35,000, $35,000-50,000, $50,000-75,000, $100,000+?
$100,000+
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music:
From most to least, my top five:
iTunes
Spotify
Sound Exchange royalties
Show income (when I’m touring)
and syncs.
BMI royalties pop in there some quarters, depending on what kind of licenses I’ve had come up. I also sell t-shirts, CDs, vinyl, sweatshirts, handwritten lyrics, posters, bracelets, and other things on my website (and at shows). There is some of my sheet music on Musicnotes.com so they pay quarterly. Finally, I get some songwriting royalties for my work with other artists.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
I do not currently have a record deal or a pub deal. I did have a record deal with Universal Republic; they released two singles for me in 2009 and I got out of my deal in early 2010.
What is your “main project?”
My main project is my solo project. I also have a band called The District with my best friends from college, but that, I do for fun.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
I make it a point to do everything that’s readily available. Register all the songs with BMI, make sure Sound Exchange knows you’re there, check that the music is available for sale and streaming on all the sites that people use…all of that.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
I use the internet to interact directly with my fans; that’s obviously a big difference between what you could do before social networking. I built my career by interacting with my fans online; my online followers turned into a real show-going, honest to goodness worldwide following.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
Nothing else; just music.
Here’s your sounding board! Tell people how someone can make a living in music. You’ve made it work! Please explain how. Tell as much (or as little) of your story as you’d like or just give some wise words to live by.
Your best bet early in your career is to learn how to be self sufficient. Produce your own records, write your own songs, have a clear cut vision of who you are and what you want to become. Also, run your business. Don’t be afraid to step out and represent yourself. Be willing to work hard and grow your project; some people get lucky and find talented, hard working advocates who want to assist them. That doesn’t happen for everyone, so often, it’ll be up to you to handle what needs to be handled.
http://www.RonPopeMusic.com
Pre-order his new album Calling Off The Dogs:
Everywhere but UK/Ireland
UK/Ireland

Gabriel Douglas (The 4onthefloor)

Gabe and I lived together for 3 years in a musicians house of 6 dudes in Minneapolis. We had a rehearsal space in the basement where we all traded off nights to rehearse (priority based on whose show was coming up the quickest of course). I remember when Gabe quit his day job at Apple to concentrate on building his music career full-time. He is one of the hardest (and smartest) working musicians I know. His band The 4onthefloor, in a very short time, has risen to be THE BIGGEST band in Minnesota. I’m not exaggerating. They sell out the legendary 1600 capacity First Avenue (of Purple Rain fame) multiple times a year. Call up your cousin in Minnesota and ask her if she knows The 4onthefloor. She will.
Where do you currently reside?
LynLake of Uptown in Minneapolis, MN
Hometown?
Stephen, MN
Age?
30
How long has music been the primary source of income?
5 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
$50,000-75,000
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music
Touring / live shows [and merch] are definitely my primary sources. [Merch] actually is the difference on a lot of tours of being in the red or being in the black. Many times when doing a support slot, you are banking on the fans, larger audience of the headliner, picking up stuff after seeing you for the 1st time.
+Double Your Income… No Really
Publishing is becoming a larger slice of the pie (They have the new Duck Dynasty theme song), but it is inconsistent & unmanageable. I look at all of that as bonuses – and the bonuses have aggressively been bigger as of late.
Have you ever had shows where the guarantee/door was light but you made up for it in tshirts, vinyl, or general merch sales?
Many many many times.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
I have self-released everything I have recorded. Publishing (Licensing) we go through a company called In the Groove out of Minneapolis.
We have never signed to a record deal.
We have had a publishing deal since the 4onthefloor’s first LP in 2011, “4×4”.
What is your “main project?”
Flagship is the 4onthefloor.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
Silverback Colony is an alt-country collective that is my secondary gig.
Orca Colony is a downtempo outfit that Alex Steele (from Night Phoenix) & myself started. We’ve actually made great leaps in sound & outreach in the past year.
I play solo a lot as well. It’s nice to strip down songs, play songs I admire, & play new songs out this way.
I keep a music / lifestyle blog called … And Unmapped Chambers of Hearts. It doesn’t bring in much money yet, but I’m keeping my journalistic skills up & it helps to put music I like on the map for others to find easily.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
In the beginning, I used it quite extensively to find similar bands in other markets & to network.
To easily get my product & songs out and be listenable & easily bought ( or just listened to. ) BEING EASILY ACCESSED IS HUGE.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
I’ve started a record label, Double Asterisk Group, that doubles as a creative consulting firm.
We help out with design projects, tours, & songwriting for many artists across the nation.
Words To Live By?
If you want to play music, PLAY MUSIC.
If you want to make a living out of it, MAKE A LIVING OUT OF IT.
The person who is sitting on your hands IS YOU.
Boil down your monthly spending to the very basics, know how much it takes for you to live where you live.
Find out how to make enough money to make that work.
Or move.
KEEP MOVING.
So much time is lost being stagnant.
Always be on time.
Be communicating.
Be networking. Don’t have a sales pitch for every music industry person you meet. Have a welcoming hand-shake, ears ready to listen, & be genuine.
Be warm. There’s enough coldness in the world.
GO TO SHOWS.
Having a Colbie Caillat plan is not a realistic one. Indulge in your scene. Go see national acts you’ve never heard of.
I constantly meet people who are energetic about music, but haven’t been to a musical performance in over a month. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE if you want to keep growing as a performer & growing an audience.
Life is not to fear, life is to enjoy.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, revel in it.
MAKE QUALITY MERCH. Nobody will wear a Hanes Heavy T. Nobody wants a jewel case that is easily broken. Let people be your billboards & your champions.  Pay for quality. A shirt that you made money on that sits on the bottom of a closet is a waste to both you & the consumer. The profit margins are less on quality shirts but you sell more.
www.4otf.com
www.twitter.com/doubleasterisk
www.twitter.com/gabrieldouglas

Gabriel Mann (The Rescues)

I met Gabriel in the Summer of 2010 when I supported a few The Rescues shows. It was their first national tour and I joined them for the Midwest run. He remains to be one of my favorite people. He has such a great heart and an infectious, positive energy. His main gig (now) is scoring music for TV shows and is currently working on (yes, simultaneously) Modern Family – ABC, Trophy Wife – ABC, Star-Crossed – CW, Friends With Better Lives – CBS, Rectify – Sundance Channel, Twisted – ABC Family, The Exes – TVLand. He doesn’t sleep.
Where do you currently reside?
Los Angeles.
Hometown?
San Antonio, Texas.
Age?
40.
How long has music been your primary source of income?
Since I graduated from college in 1995.
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
100K+
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music:
Scoring.  My main gig at this point is writing music for television shows.  This particular year it’s gotten very busy, I’m working on many shows at the same time.  I get an occasional sync here and there with The Rescues, I do an occasional vocal session here and there, but the lion’s share of my income comes from writing music for hire.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
I have an admin deal as a solo artist, The Rescues have their own admin deal, and we (The Rescues) had a major label record deal for a couple years as well.  No longer.
What is your “main project?”
I don’t really have a main show that I work on, though my most high profile show is Modern Family.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
I write songs and score for Mattel (Barbie, Hot Wheels), theme songs and score for every major network and lots of not as major ones.  I sing on commercials, tv shows and movies.  I play live shows as a solo artist (veeeery occasionally) and with The Rescues.  I am in a yoga/massage/chillout band with a friend from college, Vive – we have a couple records and amazingly people buy them.  I engineer, produce, mix, edit, all things involved with making music, though usually I’m working on my own stuff for whatever project it may be.  For a long time we rented out the studio I work in and I earned a little that way, but at this point I’m here all the time so it’s not really for rent anymore.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
Externally I mainly use it as a place to have a website, and as a place to send out notes to the universe about whatever I happen to be working on or whatever live event I’d like to invite people to.  Internally I am currently uploading 33 minutes of score to a dropbox where the music editor will retrieve it, assemble it into a protools file and prep it for the mix stage (where they mix the dialogue, sfx, and music together).  It’s most useful for me as a means of communication and delivery of files.  Don’t know how we all survived before.  Spent a lot of money on messengers.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
All of my income is from music, and it always has been.
What’s Your Story? How Have you Made It Work? Words To Live By?
I wanted to be a rock star, which of course is what all young burgeoning musicians want.  But I was a very practical person, probably inherited from my parents (both doctors).  I didn’t want to starve, and, probably to the detriment of my solo career and the careers of bands I’ve been in, I was unwilling to get in a bus for a year and play coffee houses, come what may.  I just wanted to make music and make a living doing it, and I always thought it was too big of a risk to pursue music in only one way (like the rock star way).  So I started working for TV composers.  The third one I worked for, as an assistant, was David Schwartz, and he became a mentor to me.  But I bailed, cuz I decided TV composing was lame and working for somebody was lame and I needed to be a rock star.  Worked as an engineer/producer/mixer, made my own albums, toured, got married, had a baby, came back and wanted to earn a better living than I had before.  David called and wanted me to help write some songs for Arrested Development (the show, not the band).  I was all in, we worked late and long and it was a great time and led to more work with him on other shows and eventually a show of my own.  Around the same time I got my own first show under my own name, The Rescues got a record deal.
The reason I bring all that up is just to say that I wanted to do everything (engineer, mix, produce, write, record, sing, play live, tour, song, score, video games, tv, movies, etc).  I still want to do everything, and I am still pursuing most things, though I’ve become more focused on writing music for media.  By wanting to do everything, and by being reasonably capable in many genres of music, and by knowing how to engineer and mix and produce and sing and play and basically do lots of stuff, I was able to make myself useful to lots of different people in lots of different ways.  And when you are useful, you can make a living.  I did studio wiring (this is one area in which I am useless), organized cables behind racks, removed wires from troughs, disassembled a 24 track machine, produced dozens of a cappella albums, produced dozens of bands, mixed a ton of records, sang on all kinds of sessions, played keys at tons of shows, toured the world as a sideman, solo act, and with a band.  And somewhere in there figured out how to write songs and score in virtually every style of music.  I’m no good at jazz.  But I can pretty much do anything else people need, and I thrive on variety.  I love going from one project to another, it turns on my brain, keeps me fresh, keeps the music fresh.  I also met a ton of wonderful people.  All kinds of musicians, many of whom I work with today.
The other aspect of wanting to do everything is never saying no.  I pretty much never said no, until about 5 years ago, when suddenly both of my paths (the logical one that wanted to make a living, and the one that wanted a big fancy record deal) started to bear fruit at the same time.  Not saying no, not pigeon-holing myself as one or the other thing within the world of music, I believe has served me very well.  I work on dramas and comedies, I write rock music and orchestral music and everything in between, I write songs and score and TV themes and I play live shows and sing on sessions and it’s all great.  I love it all, and I feel very lucky that I kinda figured out the not-saying-no thing intuitively.  If someone had told me to say yes to every gig and every possibility, I’d've probably run the other way, thinking that I had to focus on one thing in order to get anywhere.  But I’ve found the exact opposite to be true.  Focusing on everything means you learn how to do everything.  The challenge, I suppose, is to be as good as you can be at all of those things, and to not let the quality of your work slip in any realm.
+Just Say YES
And the other challenge is raising a family and having kids and a normal life and finding time to read and participate in the community as a citizen of the world.  Which I also do.  I am working late tonight, but 6 nights out of 7 I am home for dinner, and 3 weekends out of 4 I am there the whole time, reffing soccer games and doing other weekendy stuff.  I have found that preserving this time with family, and for myself, is critical to keeping my brain alive.

www.gabrielmann.com

www.therescues.com

Dane Schmidt (Jamestown Story)

I don’t know Dane personally, but I’ve known of Jamestown Story for years. Also hailing from Minneapolis, we were working the scene around the same time – however from completely different angles. I was building the live scene and Dane was building the internet scene. I don’t think we’ve actually ever met in person (have we Dane?), but have connected thanks to Twitter. . . ohhh the internet.
Where do you currently reside?
Nashville, TN
Hometown?
Duluth/Minneapolis, MN
Age?
28
How long has music been the primary source of income?
7 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
My income varies from year to year but it typically stays in the $50k-$75k range.
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music
iTunes and TV/Film syncs & royalties.
I used to tour quite a bit but got burnt out on it so now I rarely play shows – iTunes sales and TV syncs have been my main source of income for the past 4-5 years.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal?
Nope – I was in a band called Sing It Loud in 2007 that had a deal with Epitaph, but I left the band shortly after we signed to continue doing my own thing.
What is your “main project?”
It has been Jamestown Story for the last 7 years but I’ve recently started a publishing & licensing company called WEVOLVE that I’m concentrating on full time, as well as pitching songs to artists and running our recording studio.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
I license other artists music to TV & Film, manage our recording studio as well as my brother who’s a producer/engineer, and setup work-for-hire projects for other writers. I’m also in the process of developing a program for artists that calculates song royalties owed to co-writers, which I’m really excited about. Being an artist who pays royalties to co-writers every month, this program will make the process 100x easier for them to calculate what they owe and automatically pay
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
The internet is what’s made it possible for me to have a career haha.
Back in 2004, I put my first album up on Purevolume.com at a time when the site was extremely popular. I was lucky enough to have quite a few people take a liking to my music and within a couple years I had millions of plays on both Purevolume & Myspace, which gave me the opportunity to tour full-time. Myspace was also the reason I met many of my licensing contacts, as well as other folks who have helped & supported me along the way. To sum up, I wouldn’t be doing what I do if it wasn’t for the internet.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
I play poker part-time which brings in some extra income but that’s just for fun.
www.jamestownstory.com
www.twitter.com/jamestownstory
www.soundcloud.com/jamestownstory
www.wevolveinc.com (Music production, publishing, & licensing)
www.fantasylandnashville.com (Our recording studio in Nashville)

Yael Meyer

I known Yael from the LA singer/songwriter scene. We did a quirky little YouTube cover video together (when she was very pregnant) and have done various events around town together. She is also an incredibly hard worker – I’ve seen this first hand. She (and her husband) have built her career to support a family of 4!
Where do you currently reside?
Between LA and Chile. Currently touring so for the time being we are traveling.
Hometown?
Chile and LA.
Age?
32
How long has music been the primary source of income?
About 7 years.
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music
Sync, Publishing/Royalties, Gigs/Touring, Sales (CDs, Digital), Private Events/Sponsorships
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
I have my own independent record label established in the USA and Chile, and 2 publishing companies both in the USA. All of it is run by my husband/manager/partner and I with the help of a strong and solid team we have been building over many years who handle some areas of sync and licensing, radio promo, PR and other strategic alliances with brands and booking in different parts of the world.
I have never been signed to a label as it has never been the avenue we strongly pursued. We are open to the idea of partnering with a bigger label, but we never believed that a record deal was the only way. I have sub-publishing/publishing admin agreements with companies in Europe and South America to cover these territories and make sure royalties are collected, cue sheets turned in and songs registered, though ASCAP does an excellent job at all of this regardless.
What is your “main project?”
My solo career as a recording and touring artist, singer and songwriter and the label we are developing and growing.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
I use it for: Reaching out to blogs and internet radio stations. Using social media to stay connected with fans. Sending out a monthly newsletter to fans and subscribers. Sharing video clips and other content on youtube and vimeo. Distributing music digitally all over the world and on all major platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Grooveshark, Shazam etc). Making sure it is available to people all over the world. To learn/study/discover new trends and stay current in the industry/market and to connect with industry and other artists around the globe. Creating new business opportunities and new partnerships and relationships.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
Nothing. This is pretty much it for me
http://yaelmeyermusic.com
http://facebook.com/yaelmeyermusic
http://twitter.com/yaelmusic

Nicholas Jacobson-Larson

I’ve known Nick for many many years. We met as freshman at the University of Minnesota. He transferred to Berklee and I transferred to the music school of life. Nick used to play guitar for my full band shows. He’s a badmothafucka on the guitar. We reconnected when he moved to LA a couple years ago. He is an incredibly talented composer and musician and has worked alongside HUGE composers (like Michael Giacchino). Similar to Gabriel Mann, Nick showcases a completely different side of the industry for musicians to make a living with their talents.
Where do you currently reside?
LA
Hometown?
Anoka, Minnesota
Age?
28
How long has music been your primary source of income?
10 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
$35,000-50,000
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music?
My main income sources are creative fees from film scores and concert commissions. Next is orchestrating, score preparation and conducting, followed by royalties and secondary markets payments from the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
Nope/nope.
What is your “main project?”
Writing film scores and concert music.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
In the past couple of years I’ve started producing/arranging rock/pop records for a few artists. I also write music for commercials.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
I’ve used Kickstarter to raise money for projects I’m working on, and Facebook and my website to keep clients apprised of what I’m up to.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
All of my income is music-based.
Words to live by?
1. Seek out mentors to learn from. I’ve gained so much valuable insight about music and the business from accomplished composers whose work I respect enormously.
2. Work harder than everyone else. I know it’s such a cliche to say this, but it’s just true. There’s no substitute for hard work.
3. But I think the single most important thing to do is to just try to be a nice person. It sounds cheesy, but if you treat people well, you’re going to be rewarded with a lot more opportunities than if you treat people like crap, and more importantly, you’re going to be happy with yourself as a person.
http://njlmusic.com
This spring I’ll be contributing concert orchestrations to Star Trek Into Darkness – Live in Concert at Royal Albert Hall in London
I’m in the process of producing an R&B ep for singer/songwriter Jon Aanestad
I recently wrote the score for the documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine

Rebecca De La Torre

Where do you currently reside?
Tempe, Arizona (Phoenix metro area)
Hometown?
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Age?  
35
How long has music been your primary source of income?
7.5 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year
the past 5 years)?
$100k+
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music?
I make the most money from my gigs, hands down.  I speak Spanish and can do Spanish music as well.  I would say at this point that Spanish gigs account for 20-25% of my income, as defined here:
38%: public gigs (resorts, casinos, music venues, etc)
30%: weddings & private events/parties
18%: church services, funerals, choir rehearsals
7%: CD sales (I don’t have any merchandise *yet*)
4%: Arrangements and commissioned compositions
2%: recording others’ music in my studio (studio engineering)
1%: teaching & other (iTunes, Spotify, etc)
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
NO
What is your “main project?”
Right now it’s a Christian CD I’m releasing in January, with English and Spanish versions of the same songs.  After that it will be my next secular CD.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your
music career?
I mainly use the internet and social media for building up my community of fans, promoting my gigs, and advertising for private events.  I have also sold albums online but I’m still trying to figure all that out.  I sell albums at my live shows all the time, though.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
We have a rental property (a condo) that brings in a small amount each month. (i.e. around 1% but I didn’t count that in my breakout above
since it wasn’t music income, and it’s SO small; just an investment)
Tell people how someone can make a living in music. Tell as much (or as little) of your story as you’d like or just give some wise words to live by.
I left a lucrative engineering career with a large defense contractor to be a full-time musician.  But I had a plan one my way out, and although I left a 6-figure salary, I still made about $40k my first year as a musician because I set a BUDGET and had a PLAN that I stuck to.
There is SO much good information out there that has helped me to educate myself on how to build and run a business.  ALL good business principles should be applied to a music business.  I find it interesting that only recently have I seen a more pronounced community movement trying to convince artists that their music is a business and should be handled as such.  Coming from Corporate America (specifically the military industrial complex), I had some idea about how a successful business operates. But I still had to learn the ins and
outs and every day dealings on my own, and I turned to books and online resources to supplement my knowledge.
I have made more mistakes than I care to share, even this past year.  But I learn from each mistake, evaluate it (my partner and I call it a
“post-mortem” discussion), and determine how to avoid making the same mistake in the future.
I have no debt besides my mortgage and I NEVER buy something I don’t have cash for.  This is SO crucial to being a successful business
person.  I DID used to have debt, but I paid it off BEFORE leaving engineering – so I’ve made that mistake, too.
Everyone has his own unique path that must be forged out of hard work and perseverance.  Only a few get crazy lucky breaks.  The rest of us have to work at it.  ANY of us can look at someone else and make excuses saying “oh well she had this help” or whatever advantage.  We all have advantages and disadvantages.  We all have to leverage our advantages and make up for our shortcomings.
I remember in 10th grade having some music students from the local university (in this case, the University of Alabama) speak to us about having a career in music.  One of the students said “if you can do anything besides music for a living and be happy, then do that.  ONLY do music if that is your passion, because it is just that hard” – now I don’t know if she got that from someone else or invented it herself, but that has stuck with me all these 20 years.  And that very idea is why I LEFT engineering – because I was miserable in that field even though I was very good at it, and I KNEW that if I could just make about $50k a year as a musician, I would be so much happier, and I would consider myself successful.
Some people think that you need supportive parents to develop the talents required to be a musician.  I will tell yo this: my parents supported me to an extent.  My mom wanted me to be a church musician but my dad told me when I was about 8 years old or so that he didn’t think I could “make it” as a singer, and when I left engineering so many years later he was astonished, frustrated, confused, and definitely not supportive.  Now, I do not want to bring him any shame because now he is definitely my biggest fan and has asked repeatedly for forgiveness (which I have said isn’t even necessary because he was just being practical), but I want any other aspiring professional musician out there to know that parental support is NOT AT ALL required.  As a matter of fact, my main instrument (besides voice) is the piano, and I have only been playing 11 years – starting well after
I was “out of the house”.  That means that I had only been playing 3 1/2 years when I left engineering to do it full-time.  WORK HARD and BELIEVE in yourself.
Making a living as a musician is very challenging, but it is possible, and it is the BEST life if that is really where your passion lies. NEVER GIVE UP.
http://www.rebeccadelatorre.com
http://www.rebeccadelatorreband.com
http://twitter.com/topkittykat
http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaDeLaTorreMusic
Topkat Studios
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TopkatStudios

Paul Matthew Moore

Hometown?
Palo Alto, CA
Age?
43
How long has music been your primary source of income?
22 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
50-75k
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music
#1 accompanying ballet and modern dance classes
#2 Indy film scoring and residuals
#3 other composing commissions. Usually dance scores.
#4 freelance recording sessions. Usually rock/pop singer songwriters. Sometimes other stuff. For example, I played all that Piano and keyboards on Tim Hewer’s new release “Virgins” which is on Spin Magazine’s top 50 list
#5 performance show income.
For example on November 16 I sang with the Kronos Quartet at the moore theater in a piece that called for 5 singers. I was paid $1000 for that.
I also toured for almost 2 years with the Dayna Hanson company. She payed $20/hour for rehearsals and about $1000 for each run of the show. The show ran 3-5 nights in each city. During the creation of the show we rehearsed 40 hours per week.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
No
What is your “main project?”
Free lance composer musician.
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income?
I teach a little. About 2-3 hours per week. I’ve made cell phone ring tones (yuk). My top 5 include everything.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
I have not had any non music jobs since I graduated from UCSB with a music composition degree in 1993
Words To Live By
Practice and study. Know how to read and improvise. Be as versatile as possible. Stay humble and positive. Be of service to others who can pay you everyday. Don’t get into the habit of working for free.
www.paulmatthewmoore.com
http://twitter.com/composermusic
soundcloud.com/paul-matthew-moore

Mike Vial

Where do you currently reside?
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Hometown?
I grew up in Metro Detroit. I attended WMU in Kalamazoo.
Age?
32
How long has music been the primary source of income?
About three years.
I did music part time while I was a teacher from 2003-2010. In 2010-2011 I picked up speed, and I’ve done 200+ gigs a year since I quit teaching.
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
$20,000-35,000. I’m close to being next bracket this year, but waiting out holiday season to finish accounting.
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music?
Show income is my bread and butter. I make most of my money doing cover gigs in bars and restaurants, and performing original shows at festivals and clubs.
The biggest show I got to do this year was Common Ground Music Festivals in Lansing, MI with BNL and Ben Folds as the headliners.
Second source is playing private parties and house concerts. When playing nicer bars and restaurants, these opportunities are offered from patrons. One year, I played at the former coach of the Red Wing’s house party to celebrate his new coaching job.
Third is merchandise sales. When doing cover gigs, merch sales aren’t as large as original shows (but that tip jar helps).
For original shows, merch sales are essential. Honestly, I don’t move a lot of T-shirt sales, yet, and I’m working on my presentation of this more from the microphone (especially considering Ari’s tips).
Fourth is iTunes and minor streaming revenue. I have experienced a dip with streaming payouts gaining traction.
Fifth is session work. Michigan isn’t like Nashville or LA, but I do get work from studios occasionally.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
No. I did have a sync licensing deal and I was in a few music libraries, but I didn’t have any successful placements, yet.
What is your “main project?”
I perform mostly solo under my name: Mike Vial
At times I perform with a band that features David Mosher (incredible Michigan multi-instrumentalist!)
What other avenues do you pursue musically that brings in income? |
I was teaching guitar lessons (7-10 students is my perfect number) before I moved to Ann Arbor. I’m considering adding that to my schedule next year.
I also host a weekly open mic/showcase night at the Mash Bar in Ann Arbor, MI on Wednesdays.
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
I love IndieontheMove.com. That site has been dream come true for booking tours.
I’ve used Noisetrade.com to increase my email list and offer music for free downloads. I made the front page of the top downloads list in December 2011 and March 2013.
I’m a long time user of CDBaby for online distribution. I handle all merch sales myself with Bandcamp.com.
I create and maintain my entire website with WordPress.org, and I write often on my blog.
I have used Sonicbids, and I was selected for a fun Folk Alliance showcase, but I don’t use Sonicbids anymore. I was an early adopter to Concertsinyourhome.com, but I don’t use that anymore, either.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
This year, my wife (full-time writer/freelance journalist) and I were hired to give a guest lecture at my alma mater, Western Michigan University for Direct Encounter with the Arts, which was an incredible experience. I’m really interested in doing more of these types of events.
Doing workshops (songwriting, guitar, etc.) are a really great way to make money on the road, too. I’ve led a few songwriting workshops at Michigan festivals, and I’m considering finding more opportunities for that in 2014.
www.mikevial.com
mikevial.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/mikevialmusic
www.twitter.com/mikevial

Dan Collins

Where do you currently reside?
Chicago, IL
Hometown?
Waunakee (Madison), WI
Age?
23
How long has music been your primary source of income?
3 years
About how much did you make from music last year (or your best year the past 5 years)?
$35,000-50,000
What are the top 5 income sources you make from music?
1. (50%) Teaching a private studio of 14 students
2. (25%) Church pianist
3. (15%) Jobbing/cover bands
4. (5%) Scoring/composing
5. (5%) CD sales, other misc.
Do you have a record deal or publishing deal? Have you ever?
No. No.
What is your “main project?”
My piano-driven power trio, Nonpronto
What other avenues do you pursue musically that bring in income? Anything and everything.
- Freelance recording
- Contracted marketing
- Musical gigs
- Session work
How have you used the internet/new music industry to help with your music career?
Most of the money I have earned can be linked back to connections I’ve made via Craigslist, or other emails-initiated relationships.  There are so many pools of musicians and creators waiting to be dipped into, so I start most of that on the ‘net.  When I meet another musician in person, I stay in touch with them online and reach out when opportunities arise.  They do the same in return, creating the mutually beneficial relationship that creative people seek.
What else do you do (non-musically) that brings in income?
Nothing.
Words of wisdom:
Become multifaceted!  I think being a jack-of-all-trades and master of one or two is entirely possible and a great route today.  I’ve prospered big time from going to school for jazz and learning how to sing on my own.  Also, I’ve never relied on graphic designers, recording engineers, booking managers, etc. to get all of that essential work done because I’ve invested my time to learn each of those things.  I also like to think that the road to truly doing what you want as a musician is the same road as in other professions- put the hard work in early on, do some things you don’t want to do but know you should, and find more success down the road… at least that’s how I imagine it playing out
www.nonpronto.com
www.dancollinsandapiano.com

Ari Herstand is a Los Angeles based DIY musician and the creator of Ari’s Take. Follow him on Twitter: @aristake

Aaron Parks thought on 10/15/2013 on Facebook

Aaron Parks · 1,266 followers

5 hours ago via mobile ·

Oh boy. Be forewarned, this is gonna be a long one. Read on at your own peril.

Yesterday, on a flight from Munich to Katowice, I read a remarkable essay by Jane Hirshfield: "The Question of Originality," from her book "Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry." She's been one of my favorite poets for a few years, but the lucidity of her prose comes as something of a revelation to me. I'm finding her perspective on the elusive subject of 'originality' to be particularly resonant; I've been thinking a lot about this topic recently and it's quite serendipitous to stumble upon such a well-researched and beautifully articulated investigation of it. She's ostensibly writing about originality in the art of poetry, but it seems worth considering how her thoughts could be relevant to music and other art forms as well.

Btw, I'm going to quote from the essay rather liberally, so in the unlikely event that either Ms. Hirshfield or someone from HarperPerennial comes across this post and is displeased by it: please forgive me! I'm just interested in this stuff and am aiming to stimulate some thoughts and spark discussion. And I really hope that some people go to check out the book; it's a very worthwhile read.

That said...here's some words from her:

"Any thinking about originality needs first to acknowledge its two faces. When we call a work 'original,' we point to the way it is irreducible and creatively itself -- individual, recognizable, and distinct. Sometimes, though, we use the word to refer to innovation, to some quality within it previously unseen, while at other times we mean more the idea of authentic presence -- the idea that a work, like a person, is original not because it is new in subject matter or technique but because it has the uniqueness that moistens and flares in all embodied being. These aspects of originality are not entirely separate, but they are also not the same. From its beginning, the concept reaches in both directions.

The word 'original' comes from the Latin verb 'oriri,' "to rise," which refers especially to the rising of the sun and moon; but it reaches English through the noun 'origo' -- the rising of a spring from its source in the earth. Each root contributes its flavor. The first is intermittent and repeated, the second a continuous flow. One offers a sense of time that is cyclical, arriving and leaving; the other is timeless. One tells the old debate of light and darkness; the other murmurs of a sustaining essence, water's steady, unaccountable emergence from rocky earth. The paradox of originality is that it points both to the newly appearing and to a continuance free of time and says within itself that they are one."

It's very interesting to discover this subtle duality existing in the origins of the word itself, and also the sense of 'rising' inherent in both roots. But I'm most struck by the inclusive definition of 'originality' in this first paragraph. I find her point of view to be really refreshing. It seems we often focus on and celebrate forms of originality which exhibit "the quality of being novel or unusual" and neglect other forms of originality which might be less immediately apparent but can be just as significant. She offers some nuanced words of caution about the potential dangers of becoming overly fixated on the former and seeking individuality by being different just for the sake of being different:

"New writers soon learn Ezra Pound's injunction 'Make it new,' which is itself a variation of Tolstoy's 'Make it strange.' Both are useful phrases, pointing to the necessity for a vision and language stripped clear of convention. But 'make it new' leans too strongly, perhaps, toward the idea of innovation; a writer ripens by developing a richer, more complex sense of the original and its ways.

American culture loves change; both supermarket and art gallery equate the new with the improved. Improvement is modernism's project; the driving force of Western thought since the Enlightenment, in many realms it has served humankind well. But Bernard Berenson, in 'Italian Painters of the Renaissance,' warns of what he calls a 'secret preference' in Western culture for what is new, individual, and one's own, over even the beautiful and the good. Such an attitude, he points out, leads as readily to artistic decline as to achievement."

Now, Hirshfield's indictment of Western culture for what might be called its "fetishization of the new" isn't itself a new idea; the concept has certainly been around for a while. But I've rarely seen it expressed so clearly or with so much compassion.

It's interesting to think about how this can relate to music. I recall the twin commandments of the mainstream j*zz education system when I was growing up, repeated ad nauseam and seemingly at odds with each other:

"Learn The Tradition."
"Find Your Own Voice."

What to do with these two imposing yet semi-contradictory imperatives? Faced with this apparent dichotomy, some young musicians make a conscious choice to follow one path at the exclusion of the other, either delving single-mindedly into tradition and attempting to master its vocabulary and dialects, or rebelling against it completely and trying to create a unique and entirely individualistic way of music-making. Good music can come from both of these approaches, certainly, but since there's an underlying selection of 'this' and rejection of 'that' in both approaches, they can be isolationist (or even separatist) to a degree and both run a certain risk of calcifying into prisons of unconscious habit if taken too far. There's many ways of playing mechanically, and running from the past can be just as much of a trap as chasing it.

So if neither way on its own necessarily leads to wholeness, perhaps their combination can help. Perhaps the contradiction between "learn the tradition" and "find your own voice" is illusory. Many musicians today take this less extreme and more embracive approach: studying history but not held hostage by it, learning from the past in order to have a foundation to 'move forward' from. I'd say that this sort of language about music is fairly common these days.

But that phrase "moving the music forward" is an interesting one, and the fact that it has become accepted as something to aspire to reveals a lot about our Western bias. First of all, what does it even mean? Forward, okay; but toward what? What if there's a pit of quicksand or the edge of a cliff ahead of you? Each step you take forward is technically 'progress,' but is that necessarily a good thing? Seems that in this situation you'd be better off turning to the left/right, dancing in place, or somersaulting backwards, no? Who decided that 'progress' was supposed to be the goal of art?

Okay, that was a slightly ridiculous metaphorical detour, but my questions remain. Why is it that a person who makes overt 'innovations' in music is often seen as having found "an original voice" but someone with 'authentic presence' is not? Why is the mind elevated above the heart or the body? These are systemic questions, and I'm not sure there are easy answers. But they've been on my mind for a few years.

When I think about the music which I love the most, yes, it is usually deeply rooted in one or more traditions, and yes, it has also risen beyond its historical context to become something personal or idiosyncratic, but that isn't the end of the story. There's something more at play which is hard to name. Hirshfield, again:

"Part of any good artist's work is to find a right balance between the independence born of willing solitude and the ability to speak for and to others. Neitzche's 'Three Metamorphoses' offers some insight into how this is done. The philosopher describes three stages through which the spirit must pass before it can truly serve. First it must become a camel, then the camel a lion, and finally the lion a child. The camel, who feeds on acorns and grasses and the hunger for truth, is a being who has agreed to bear the weight of the world, to carry the difficult forward by her own obstinate strength. For a writer, this stage represents the willingness to be instructed by things as they are, to enter into tradition and culture and be affected by the issues and hardships of common human life. Having accomplished this task, Nietzche writes, the spirit needs to turn lionlike and slay the dragon of external values, whose every scale is a golden plaque reading 'Thou shalt.' Here, a writer steps outside received opinion and enters creative freedom, beginning to find his resources within. It is a stage described also in a saying from Zen: 'If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.' But rebellion and independence are still not enough. The lion too must give way, and become a child: only in a child's forgetting and innocence can a truly new spirit come into the world. This is the beginning of genuinely original creation, the moment in which the writer can turn at last toward the work without preconception, without any motive beyond knowing the taste of what is."

I love this.

Anyway, I think I'm done for now. Wow, that was even longer than I expected! I guess this is what can happen on a solo piano tour with some time off in Poland. Ha!

Hope you're having a good Tuesday. I'm curious to hear some of your thoughts on the matter...

Branford Marsalis: The Problem With Jazz

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-09-14/music/branford-marsalis-the-problem-with-jazz/

as told to Chris Kornelis. Tue., Sep 13 2011 at 12:00AM

The following is edited from an interview with jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis, whose latest album, Songs of Mirth and Melancholy, is a collaboration with pianist Joey Calderazzo.

Marsalis once interned at a law firm, and kept the suit.

Details

BRANFORD MARSALIS Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave. (at Lenora), 441-9729, jazzalley.org. $35. Various set times, Thurs., Sept. 15–Sun., Sept.18.

You put on old records and they always sound better. Why are they better? I started listening to a lot of classical music, and that really solidified the idea that the most important and the strongest element of music is the melodic content.
In jazz we spend a lot of time talking about harmony. Harmonic music tends to be very insular. It tends to be [like] you're in the private club with a secret handshake.
I have a lot of normal friends. 'Cause it's important. [When] you have a bunch of musicians talking about music and they talk about what's good and what's not good, they don't consider the larger context of it.
You read a review of something and some guy in New York says "This is the most important music since such and such." And then when you look at it in a larger context, you say, "Well, can we really use the word 'important' for something that the majority of the people have never heard?"
As I've started to extend and get back into the outside world—which really started when I was on the Tonight Show—you realize, "Man, nobody knows who the fuck were are." And the idea was not to do things to make them know, but the question is within the context of the music I've chosen to play . . . what are the things that normal people like about music and can we incorporate those things?
When laypeople listen to records, there're certain things they're going to get to. First of all, how it sounds to them. If the value of the song is based on intense analysis of music, you're doomed. Because people that buy records don't know shit about music. When they put on Kind of Blue and say they like it, I always ask people: What did you like about it? They describe it in physical terms, in visceral terms, but never in musical terms.
In a lot of ways classical music is in a similar situation to where jazz is, except at least the level of excellence in classical music is more based on the music than it is based on the illusion of reinventing a movement. Everything you read about jazz is: "Is it new? Is it innovative?" I mean, man, there's 12 fucking notes. What's going to be new? You honestly think you're going to play something that hasn't been played already?
So, you know, my whole thing is, is it good? I don't care if it's new. There's so little of it that's actually good, that when it's good, it shocks me.
So much of jazz, it doesn't even have an audience other than the music students or the jazz musicians themselves, and they're completely in love with virtuosic aspects of the music, so everything is about how fast a guy plays. It's not about the musical content and whether the music is emotionally moving or has passion.
At some point, you get into the music and it's only about, well, this is what I want to convey. I'm into me. I'm into my shit. And after a while you look up and say, "Well, that was nice and self-indulgent and fun." Music clearly has to have more meaning than that.
My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me. Because I believe that if the songs have emotional meaning, that will translate to a larger audience that has the capacity to appreciate instrumental music, 'cause a lot of people don't. And I can't do anything to get them to like my music, and I'm not really trying.

10 easy ways to optimize your music practice by NPR

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/09/03/216906386/10-easy-ways-to-optimize-your-music-practice

10 Easy Ways To Optimize Your Music Practice

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

September 03, 2013 8:00 AM

To kick off the new school year, we have 10 ways to make practicing more effective and a happier experience.

iStock

Last summer, we published a week-long series called in collaboration with our colleagues at the radio program The idea was to provide guidance and suggestions for parents and kids just starting out in music, with ideas for everything from finding a great teacher to reducing audition anxiety.

The piece in that series that struck the biggest chord (har, har) was titled ; it's been one of our most popular posts all year. And we promised ourselves that we'd circle back to the topic of how to practice effectively around the time of a new school year. But these tips are effective for anyone who plays an instrument or sings.

1. Find somewhere quiet. This seems too obvious for words, but not only will you be far less likely to succumb to all sorts of distractions, but entering a special practice area, whether it's a certain room or just a corner of the living room, will help prepare you mentally for this very particular kind of work. Mindful intention is everything, and having the ritual of going to the same place every time can help set that intention.
2. Have your supplies nearby. I really love cellist David Finckel's 100-video series on YouTube; you don't have to play cello to get a lot out of many of them. Some of what he covers seems like impossibly basic advice — as in the discussion (below) of his practice space. Part of his advice is to keep a pencil sharpener and a very clean eraser within arm's reach, along with a pencil to mark up your music. Simple, right? But those little things are easy to forget, and if you have to go searching for them, add up to a big waste of time.
3. Technology can be an amazing aid — as long as you don't spend too much time futzing with it. Three free or low-cost apps I have on my phone and iPad: a metronome, a tuner and a timer, which are all essential tools for practicing. And I always have my phone with me (see above).
4. Begin with the end in mind: Have a goal for each practice session before you start playing. Just playing through your music isn't the same thing as practicing. Before you start, think: What do I want to accomplish today? If you're not sure what you need to focus on, ask your teacher for a few concrete goals to work toward before the next lesson — and write them down so that you can refer to them during your practice sessions.
5. Map a practice session out like a workout. Lots of musicians start with a few actual stretches and breathing exercises before they pick up their instruments. Even if you don't go quite that far, a pretty common scenario is to start with scales as a warm-up, to loosen up your muscles and get your brain thinking about technique; move on to the "working" part where you analyze and try to solve problems; then cool down by improvising or revisiting some music you already know well.
6. Practice smarter, not necessarily longer. You'll probably accomplish a whole lot more in a short amount of time if you have a very focused objective — and science tells us that we have a to draw upon anyway. So make the most of the time you have. Say you are having trouble with two very tricky measures. Set your timer for a short period (like five or 10 minutes), and then work just on one problem in as many ways as you can — break it down into even smaller and more manageable bits, go super slow, try to play the passage backwards, change the rhythm, whatever. If that trouble spot is still giving you agita, then make yourself a mental note to come back to that section again tomorrow. Chances are it will be much, much easier the next time around.
7. Don't always start at the beginning every time. Remember what I said about maximizing your time and your willpower? This. It can feel really good to hear yourself playing the beginning of a piece beautifully, but you may wind up wasting the limited time and energy you have. (Also, it leads to performances that start strong and then, well, wilt.)
8. Challenge yourself — physically. Especially if you're trying to wrestle down an element that you find problematic, scientific researchers say that if you add a physical challenge to the difficult task, such as trying to play that part while standing on one leg or while walking, your brain is likely to start carving out new neural pathways — and the original task will be easier when you return to just doing that.
9. Practice away from your instrument. Many musicians use visualization in the same way that athletes do: They run through their music without touching their instruments. Try bringing your music along with you (either on paper or a mobile device) when you know you'll have some downtime, such as a car or train ride, and read through the piece silently.
10. Reward hard work — in positive ways — to help your brain automate good habits. That sounds like out-and-out bribery, but again, science! Finding something that your brain likes helps it remember the "," writes Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

7 Steps to Thinking like a genius

my buddy Osmar posted an interesting read from this site: 

 

http://www.altering-perspectives.com/2013/06/7-steps-to-think-like-genius.html

 

At this very moment, you are holding unbound potential. You hold within your possession the most powerful learning and creative problem-solving system known to man, far superior to any supercomputer ever invented. It is your brain.

There are 100 billion neurons in your 3-pound brain.

By its very design, the human brain stores vast potential for memory, learning, and creativity. However, your capacity for learning and achievement must be unlocked. Although everyone holds this incredible power, the brain does not give of its powers away freely.

Geniuses of this world have successfully tapped into this unlimited power, including Einstein, Galileo, Newton, and Mozart.

Within the rest of this article, we will turn to these same revolutionary minds in order to unlock the genius that is hiding in the tapestry of our own minds.

1. The first step is to expand your consciousness as well as your perspectives.

The genius mind will look at a problem from many different perspectives. They are literally able to place themselves completely in someone else’s shoes in order to experience a new way of looking at things. By doing this, they expand their knowledge and consciousness of the world around them.

Look at problems from a variety of different perspectives. Most people only rely on their own perspective, and therefore always have a very narrow view of the world.

Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you must begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He believed that the first way you look at a problem is entirely too biased. You are only seeing the problem from one perspective: yours.

You can find new solutions to the problem by looking at it from a variety of different perspectives. According to Einstein, “You cannot solve a problem with the same type of thinking that is creating it.”

Einstein insisted that the secret of his genius was his ability to look at problems in a childlike, imaginative way.

To expand his view of the world, Einstein developed a mastermind group that he called the Olympiad. This group held intensive discussions on topics ranging from mathematics and physics to philosophy and literature.

These forums provided the stimulus needed for higher-level thinking and were often combine with camping trips involving hiking, swimming, and a good dose of humor.

The genius lives at a high level of consciousness about the world around them. They are receptive to new ideas, which provide them with even greater opportunity. The person who clings to their comfort zone is living in a low level of consciousness. Their experiences each day are often a repetition of the previous day.

You reach a higher level of consciousness when you reach new levels of understanding, experience a major growth experience, or embrace new ways of thinking.

When you were eight years old, you had a different view of the world than you do today. This is because you are now living in a higher consciousness/awareness of the world around you. You must constantly seek to expand your awareness if you want to grow.

Your consciousness determines how you experience life.

To expand your awareness, you must consistently seek opportunities for growth. Look for new relationships. Expand your knowledge. Step out of your comfort zone. Experience life to the fullest.

2. Once you have begun seeking your greatest aims in life, you must also persist…

The most successful people in life are the ones who are the most persistent. Interestingly, enough the most successful people in life are also the ones who have experienced the most failure.

The rest are too afraid to try and therefore never experience success or failure.

In fact, I would argue that failure is the quickest path to success. The greatest success is always preceded by a long list of failures.

Think of Thomas Edison, who after 10,000 attempts at creating the electric lightbulb, said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Failure is a prerequisite for success; embrace it as a learning experience that brings you one step closer to your ultimate goal.

To truly be great, you must not be afraid of failing.

The leaders in life don’t fear failure. Like most, you probably learned in elementary school about the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus. However, you probably don’t know that the likely result of his journey was humiliation, financial ruin, or even death. He was making a journey, which most people believed would cause him to fall off the edge of the Earth.

All previous efforts to cross the Atlantic had been made by sailors who clung to the European coast in order to ensure a means of return. Columbus, however, sailed perpendicular to the shoreline. He was venturing into the unknown, without knowing what, if anything, lay ahead.

In the end, it turned out that Columbus, was, in fact, a visionary genius.

Even after six weeks at sea with no sight of land, he maintained unwavering belief in his goal. Most people would have given up at this point, but Columbus kept going. This was one of the most important factors in determining his success.

Most of what people refer to as failure is simply a lack of persistence.

How many times do we hug the coastline in our own lives, latching onto the familiar? Growth is always preceded by change. For us to improve and grow, we must embrace change and constantly step out of our old familiar comfort zones. When we do, we will find that we begin to live a life full of adventure and increased opportunity.

3. The third step to thinking like a genius is to Visualize!

Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Nikola Tesla, and even Mozart all ascribed their creative genius to their ability to visualize.

Einstein said that all of his most important and productive thinking was done by “combinatory play” with “images” in his mind. Einstein used images, visual patterns and associations to discover more about the world around him.

Einstein believed that the spirit of learning and creative thought were lost in strict rote learning. Instead, he turned to his own imagination and visualization.

Visualization is an incredibly powerful tool in solving problems. Often times much more powerful that simply using words or numbers.

Visual thinking is done in the right side of the brain, presenting new problem solving and big-picture thinking. Visualization goes hand in hand with our next genius principle…

4. Imagination

Einstein was well acquainted with the childlike sense of play, possibility, and humor. His ability to remain in a childlike state of wonder and curiosity is the essence of his genius.

Dr. Jacques Hadmard spent much of his life studying the thought processes of great scientists and mathematicians. He found that their thinking process was characterized not by words or standard mathematical symbols, but instead by visual imagery.

The same was true for Einstein, who said, “The words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanisms of thought.”

He also wrote that his thought processes instead “rely, more or less, on clear images of a visual and some of a muscular type.”

These few sentences give us a rare insight into one of the greatest minds. Einstein teaches us the importance of thinking visually.

Dr. Marian Diamond and her colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley published a paper entitled “On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein.” Their research showed that Einstein’s brain contained 400 percent more “glial” cells per neuron than average. They also found that his brain was especially well developed in the area of the brain used for association.

However, we will never know whether Einstein’s brain was highly developed as a result of his thought processes and stimulating environment or from an extraordinary neuro-anatomical gift?

Much of our brainpower is due to the interconnection between brain cells. We know now that these interconnections - glial cells, dendrites, axons, and synapses - can continue to increase in number throughout the course of an individual’s life.

Dr. Diamond’s research suggests that combinatory play and a stimulus-rich environment are two of the keys to increasing the minds to make these internal connections within the mind from which genius is born.

Much of Einstein’s creativity was found in his ability to make unfamiliar and unexpected relationships.

Einstein coined the term, “combinatory play”. Although it had always existed, Einstein used this powerful way of thinking in his daily thought processes.

According to Einstein, combinatory play is sifting through data, perceptions, and materials to come up with combinations that are new and useful.

Einstein himself believed that you could stimulate ingenious thought by allowing the imagination to run freely, forming associations at will.

Einstein also performed what’s referred to as thought experiments.

As a young man, Einstein imagined himself running alongside a beam of light. He then asked himself what it would look like. This was one of his first thought experiments.

A thought experiment is carried out in the mind. It requires you to ask yourself a question. You then visualize a situation and perform some kind of experimental action and see what happens. These types of thought experiments provide a method for understanding nature without performing a direct experiment on it.

Try this out in your own life by asking yourself the following questions:

• What would happen if we found a way to use 100% of our brain potential?
• What are the possible solutions to world hunger?
• How would Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, or Newton approach this problem?
• What if I could hold infinity in the palm of my hand? (This has been a popular thought question among poets as well as quantum physicists.)

5. The next key, and one of the most important elements, to genius thinking is that of curiosity: the courage to ask questions.

Why do kids ask so many questions? They are naturally curious about the world around them. They discover the world through questioning others as well as themselves. In the process, they are creating neuro-associations that will guide their futures.

As we grow older, however, we become passive to the world around us. We stop asking questions, lose our much of our curiosity, and the learning comes to a screeching halt.

Without questions, we cannot grow.

Albert Einstein once said,

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of the mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

Socrates, Aristotle and Plato were some of the first great minds to develop the importance of questions. The entire Socratic method, which is a way of teaching that dates back to the Ancient Greeks, is based upon the teacher asking nothing but questions. These questions direct the students’ focus, enabling them to discover their own answers to life’s questions.

Successful people are simply those who have asked better questions. Instead of asking, “How will I ever get out of debt?” They asked themselves, “How can I learn from this experience?”

When computers were still taking up entire rooms, Bill Gates asked himself, “How can I get a computer in every household?”

When the automobile first emerged on the scene, hundreds of people started to build them, but Henry Ford asked, “How can I mass-produce them?”

As a young boy, Albert Einstein asked himself, “”What would it be like to run beside a light beam at the speed of light?”

Plato believed that skilled questions could lead not only to the discovery of geometry, science, and philosophy, but also to the realization of virtue, justice, beauty and truth.

Start to ask yourself and others empowering questions. Develop an unbound curiosity. Practice wonder.

6. You become what you think about.

Pay close attention now as we come upon the sixth principle that leads to genius. It is the Law of Attraction, which says you become what you think about.

The Law of Attraction says that what you think about, you bring about. Therefore, you become what you think about most. In addition, you also attract what you think about most.

In other words, Thoughts Become Things.

Your life is a physical manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head.

Michael Jordan focused on perfecting every aspect of his game. This definite desire turned his weaknesses into strengths and made him one of the greatest leaders in basketball.

Wrigley concentrated his mind on the production and sale of a five-cent package of chewing gum and turned this one idea in to millions of dollars.

Edwin C. Barnes had a burning desire to go into business with Thomas Edison. He focused himself completely on this desire until it finally came to fruiting and he retired, while still a young man, with more money than he needs.

Lincoln concentrated his mind on freeing the slaves and became our greatest American President while doing it. Gillette concentrated on a safety razor, gave the entire world a “close shave” and made himself a multimillionaire.

George Eastman concentrated on the Kodak and made the idea yield him a fortune while bringing much pleasure to millions of people.

The Wright Brothers concentrated on the airplane and mastered the air.

Bill Gates concentrated on the personal computer, now a PC is found in nearly every home to help educate, entertain and enrich people’s lives.

All of these people were well adept in the Law of Attraction.

There is evidence that the law of attraction was also used by Einstein, Beethoven, and even Jesus. This same power is available to you. In fact, you are experiencing the Law of Attraction at this very moment whether you know it or not. This is because the law of attraction is always at work. Your life experience is in line with the thoughts that reside in your mind.

You create your own reality. What you think about, you bring about. What you emotionalize in thought, you bring about in reality.

Recent research is in support of this law. For example, research on optimism has shown that optimists enjoy better health, greater happiness, more success in life, and a longer life. The optimist focuses on success and minimizes their failures.

Pessimists, on the other hand, experience far more disease, depression, and a shorter life span.

What you focus on with thought and feeling is what you attract into your life.

The genius exercises this same law in their everyday life. The genius expects success and puts complete faith in their goal. They expect more out of life and therefore, they receive it.

You can do the same. Expect success and persist until you have found it.

7. The last and final step in thinking like a genius is to Have Fun!

No person has achieved massive success by doing what they hate. Pablo Picasso once said, “When I work I relax; doing nothing or entertaining visitors makes me tired.”

In addition, Dale Carnegie said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

The most successful people in life find work that inspires and excites them.

I’ll leave you with a fitting poem Christain D. Larson:

When you work simply for yourself or for your own personal gain your mind will seldom rise above the limitations of the undeveloped personal life; but when you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break bounds; your mind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands in every direction; and you find yourself in a new world, a great world, a wonderful world; dormant powers, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a larger man by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” -- Christian D. Larson, Business Psychology, 1912

Originally posted on: Mind Power News