A Musician’s Guide to Middle Management, or Leading a Band

Performing with your own band is an exhilarating experience. But before you can have your moment on stage, you need to get a group of musicians into the same room to learn some music. And musicians have a knack at being slightly unorganized, slightly tardy, slightly hungover from last night’s gig, and numerous other habits that made it difficult for girls to introduce me to their dads in high school. Here are some strategies for running a successful band, and have a good time doing it.

The advice I offer comes from my experiences leading my own groups as well as playing in other musician’s bands. Many of the lessons I learned came from looking through the rubble of projects that just fell apart. Had a few things been handled differently, had there been a strong voice of leadership, the band could have been successful. But all too often things aren’t organized from the beginning, the inter-band relationships start to clash, and a lack of honest communication and accountability lead to the band’s demise. On the other hand, successful projects of any genre always have several things in common, and it all starts with the leadership.

Establishing Good Practice Habits as a Professional Musician

One of the most difficult duties of a professional, freelance musician, is finding time to practice. Yet practicing should be at the heart of the musician’s daily routine. Much like a professional athlete needs to constantly maintain their level of fitness, so must musicians keep their skills sharp. Yet unlike an athlete, musicians’ skills can continually improve over decades before peaking, making for a long, fruitful career. It’s just a matter of focused practicing.

Since college, I have struggled with keeping a steady practice routine. Life has always been full of distractions. Some distractions have nothing to do with music, like day jobs or TV, and others have everything to do with music, such as writing new music or booking gigs. Unlike college, when I’d practice roughly eight hours a day, I now rarely have a solid hour of uninterrupted time for practicing.

But let’s face it, everyone deals with the same types of distractions. The people that are the best at what they do have simply established better practice habits than everybody else. Everyone has their own methods–here are some I’ve adopted to improve my own habits.

How Do I Become a Broadway Conductor?

We have a question this week from Bob, a student at Duquesne University who wants to be a conductor on Broadway.

I am currently a freshman composition major at Duquesne University with my applied major in piano performance. I want nothing more than to be a broadway conductor. Whenever tours come to Pittsburgh I try to talk to the conductor about his or her work and sometimes am able to sit and observe the orchestra. I’m also taking an internship at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in musical direction. Other than what I’ve been doing, is there anything that you would suggest in terms of networking and future career opportunities?

Bob, every conductor on Broadway came to the job in a different way, but from what I can observe, a few things they all have in common is talent, training, experience, networking and hustle.

What I Learned Working at Venues

When I was in college, I had several jobs. One was at a restaurant, one at the town’s best music venue, and I also gigged several nights a week. All at the same time. The experience taught me a lot about what goes through the minds of the owners, managers, and staff at different types of venues.

Know your venue.

Keep in mind that every venue views their live music differently.

Some places are straight up music venues and are looking for bands that will fill the room. That doesn’t mean they won’t support new or young acts, but those acts will get booked on slower nights and less than prime time slots. At these venues, don’t expect a built in audience. One thing I learned is that bands that played on Monday or Tuesday nights and brought in enough people that extra bartenders had to be called in, or better yet, the owner had to jump behind the bar, always got a better night for their next booking.

How to Find Gigs With Google Alerts

As I wrote in my best of 2008 article, I just started using Google Alerts last year. It’s changed the way I use the internet. Instead of searching and…

Losing Weight and Staying Healthy As a Touring Musician

I’m not a nutritionist. I’m also not a doctor, or a personal trainer, or the creator of a new diet. This article won’t get featured on Oprah, or made into a flashy new book or listed in Men’s Health.

What I am is a musician, and furthermore, a musician that hasn’t had a permanent address since the late ’90s. I’ve eaten in every restaurant chain you can think of and traveled tens of thousands of miles in planes, trains, busses and boats from Taiwan to Italy. I’m a regular Joe that hasn’t been blessed with a hummingbird metabolism or a athletic physique.

I’m a musician that slowly gained weight for years and finally found some simple lifestyle changes that helped me lose 25 lbs in about 3 months. Try out the advice and the books I mention here. It might work for you!