It is not unusual for musicians to have fantastical vision of the ultimate “end” – the dream career. What this means for a particular artist is intimately connected to how he or she defines success. For some it may be standing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera or Carnegie Hall, or collaborating with a famous musician, or simply enjoying financial stability while making a career as working musician. Regardless of what the dream is, how far would you be willing to go to get there? Would you do anything? What sacrifices are you willing to make, and where do you draw the line?

These questions are personal and everyone answers them differently. But they are important to address because they can have an important impact on the “ends” – on what the dream means for you. And that’s not just okay – its fantastic! Defining your boundaries is a powerful move, and it gives you a framework in which to re-envision a career that truly works for you.

In the course of running our Career-Launch Bootcamp, we have worked with many musicians who have masterfully redefined their goals and the steps they plan to take to get there. Each process is unique to the artist, but from what they’ve all told us, defining their career path on their own terms is empowering. Additionally, it helps blur the line between “means” and “ends.” A career is a process, not a destination. Too much focus on a destination can make it impossible to recognize it or enjoy it when it actually arrives. But a process is ongoing and can be enjoyable and fulfilling throughout – if that’s what you choose to make it.

But don’t take my word for it. Starting in March, you’ll get to hear about the goals and journeys of four of our amazing bootcamp graduates – four fantastic singers with diverse careers, goals, backgrounds, and personalities. Our intention is to create a forum in which they can explore and share the ways they define their careers, make choices, and pursue paths to personal and artistic fulfillment. You’ll get to hear about both challenges and “aha!” moments as they chart out the next year of their lives and careers. These artists will each be blogging once a month and you’ll get to know them and their stories well. We are so excited to introduce them to you!

Jennifer not only interviews but eats and performs with Spanish tenor Israel Lozano, who performed the title role in the European premiere of the opera Il Postino, by the late Mexican American composer Daniel Catán, with Placido Domingo in Vienna.

Israel talks about the role, working with Maestro Domingo, the importance of dreams, and the difference between audiences around the world. He then produces a piece of music and he and Jennifer perform it without any rehearsal! Can you name the piece?

Welcome to iCadenza! We are thrilled to welcome you to our new home on the web, which will be growing immensely over the next few months to support all facets of your life as a musician. The goal of our work is to empower you to be more successful at what you do. Part of this journey will be identifying and clarifying your personal definition of success. This is a crucial step because it allows you to make you goals more specific and concrete.

Our tagline is “The Art of Getting Discovered.” I just want to explain it briefly because that phrase can be read multiple ways. By “getting discovered” we refer in part to the various types of external validation artists seek in their careers – whether it is landed a job or role, getting a Metropolitan Opera contract, being accepted at a prestigious conservatory, summer festival or Young Artist Program, winning competitions, etc.

But there’s a lot more here.

First of all, we believe that one is best positioned to “get discovered” if they’ve already done the work to discover themselves. That means asking and answering the difficult questions of “what do I want?”,  “what is most important to me?”, “what do I stand for?”, and so on.

This may sound hokey and pointless. How are these silly questions related to going for the proverbial gold?

There are many answers to that question, and here is one of the big ones:

Branding

Long gone are the days when artists didn’t have to think about how their work and image would make it out to the public. A powerful manager or recording label would “discover” you and POOF suddenly you’re a star!

On the down side, this makes the job of the aspiring musician significant larger and more challenging. On the up side, the artist has much greater opportunity to craft for his or herself the career that he or she truly desires.

As musicians, it is easy to decide that our music “speaks for itself”, and for us. We don’t need to “say” anything verbally or in written form about what we do because the music will say it. Not so, my friends.

Promotion begins with the word. What do you do? What can you say about yourself as a person, and as an artist? What kind of feeling should this photograph communicate?

To promote from an authentic and powerful place means to know who you are on a deep level, and to find the words to speak to it.

If you want to succeed as a musician, you definitely have some positivity in you. There’s no way to succeed if you don’t. As artists, we’re taught by our parents, teachers, and by experience that you can’t let rejection or self doubt stand in your way. Well you can, but then you probably won’t pursue this career.

That said, what does positivity look like? How do we demonstrate to ourselves that we believe in ourselves and our ability to succeed?

Some people might say “I’m just a glass-half-full kind of person.” Typically that means that one can find opportunity and hope even in bad situations.

For some, it’s a matter of faith, of leaving it up to God or the universe to make sure it all works out in the end.

Sometimes positivity means being a good colleague – supporting others in their desires to succeed, whether or not they’re your competition.

Or it’s that spirited voice inside that tells you to keep on running on the treadmill, even when you’re ready to get off. Is that voice motivated for a love of what you do, fear of failure, a desire to prove something to someone else? Is that voice saying “you can do it!” or “you will do it, or else!”? Maybe it doesn’t really matter, since the result is that you’re still running.

I think in most cases, positivity is limited to our thoughts, maybe also to actions when directed towards others. A positive outlook is no doubt important, but how can we make it more than just how we see the world? How can we make it actionable so that it impacts our lives, both professionally and personally?

- writing down intentions – what you intend to do, as well as the type of attitude you will bring to that activity (joy, gratitude, openness)

- writing about your desired situation in the present tense, as if it were real

- putting up images of people you’d like to meet, places you’d like to perform in a place where you’ll see them every day.

I’ve found that putting pen to paper makes all the difference. Suddenly I’ve given a thought legitimacy, instead of brushing it out of my head as crazy. If its written down, it exists somewhere, even if no one else sees it. These activities help your brain make associations it would normally miss – connections that could help land you in your desired situation.  When we are specific and clear about what we want, we become more sensitive to all the little signs and opportunities around us that could make a hope a reality. For example, maybe you overhear a conversation at a coffee shop that pertains to something you’re interested in or someone you want to meet. It’s really fun to pick up on unexpected connections and see where they take you!

There is a tough balance between being your toughest critic and your biggest supporter. To be a great artist, probably both are essential. One needs to be able to diagnose issues and correct them and to constantly push oneself to grow. But without an attitude (and an action plan!) that affirms a positive outlook, one is left with just a lot of negativity, and often little joy in a career that is all about the joy of self-expression.

So get out that pen and paper!

- Jennifer

Shameless but related plug: check out our recent interview with the extremely positive Jake Heggie.

iCadenza has afforded us the opportunity to interview many artists. Speaking with them has opened our minds to the issues, both practical and philosophical, that come with territory of being an artist.

Every career demands a huge investment of time and energy to transition from being a novice to being a professional. A portion of that transformation begins in school, when one formally enters the path to a career, whether it be in law, medicine, accounting, or the like. Some careers might not require formal schooling, yet there is always something to be said of the fruits of experience, that only time can provide. And the humble professionals in any field will insist that they are still learning, still growing.

It seems that artists are uniquely bound by time. An aspect of this relates to age and physical maturity – for many types of performance art, the body decides when it is ready to realize a career and when it has had enough. For example, most opera singers don’t reach their prime until their mid 30s, whereas ballet dancers typically retire from a stage career in their mid 40s at the very latest.

But there is another element that is so crucial for artists – life experience. Every type of art – music, literature, theater, dance, visual art – is an opportunity to transform experiences from life into another medium. It has been said so many times that music/dancing/painting etc. expresses what words cannot. Experience in life is what produces that idea or feeling that must be expressed through art.

In retrospect, artists’ careers are often divided into age segments – “the early years,” “the later years,” “the stuff he wrote right before he died” – indicating that the fact that a person changes as they live out different phases of their lives is artistically significant.

Conductors talk about the decades of learning and experience it takes before one can be an effective conductor. First one must master an instrument, if not multiple, study mountains of music, and develop a repertoire of gesture as a means of communication. Valery Gergiev, the world famous conductor, and Marius Stravinsky, an up-and-comer in the field, both expressed the notion that experience is everything.

Simon Trpceski, the celebrated Macedonian pianist, stated the importance of having a limited concert schedule so that he has enough days each year to experience life. He views this as essential to his development as an artist.

Development – that’s really what it is about. One of the foremost managers in the world at Columbia Artists Management International (CAMI), R. Douglas Sheldon, claims that in identifying artists to take on as clients, a good manager looks for the ability for growth, not merely talent or technique. Every type of artist faces the pressure of having to grow, change, to always be improving and developing.

Creating art can be a lifelong journey, but the “life” part may be the most crucial element.

Check out this fantastic performance of Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” played by musicians in the 12th Annual iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates this August, Sami Merdinian, Yves Dharamraj, and Jankyoon Na. Enjoy!