Fires start with sparks. Ensembles typically need someone to lead the way. You can be the impetus, the initial spark. I have found that people will do crazy things if you only ask them. What does it hurt to ask them to make some music with you?
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Even though we aren’t yet where we want to be or we don’t have what we want, it’s important to be thankful for how far we’ve come and for what we do have. Step by step and piece by piece, we build the relationships that form our ensembles. Show your appreciation. Decide to be an appreciative person. The greatest part about building relationships is that we have to earn those relationships--the others are not required to interact with us. If you’re thankful for them, they just might be thankful for you and your contributions.
The founding process itself is so important to the music field. It builds relationships both within the field of music--bringing composers, performers, conductors together--and without--bringing audiences and new donors together. Then, it connects the musicians with the audiences and the donors--people who want to experience live concert music. We just have to find the people who already want to be connected. An ensemble becomes a nexus of relationships, a community onto itself. But it requires someone or a very small group to jump start the process, to take on the burden of founding. Maybe that someone could be you?
Hard work pays off. When it does, notice it. Notice what can be done better—but pay special attention to what went well. And sometimes just getting a group of musicians in the same room at the same time with perhaps even an audience is a real triumph in itself. Notice when your work pays off.
Being a founder is like being a composer or an author or a painter: instead of organizing abstract and tangible materials into something beautiful and new, we work with living people to create a living tapestry where people invest themselves in order to create something wonderful, moving, new. Together, the musicians channel their individual abilities and combine them with others to create something powerfully connective. In the best groups, nobody thinks “Wow, who organized this?’ Instead, they just think “Wow!” because they are so amazed at what they see and hear. The reason they can say “wow” in the first place is because someone like you decided to bring musicians and an audience together.
Sometimes, you gotta just sit down and do the work. There’s no getting around the mundane actions of writing/ sending emails, making spreadsheets, calling venues, drafting proposals, following up on potential donors, and all those other unsexy administrative tasks that are nevertheless absolutely critical to the survival of your project or ensemble. Waiting, being afraid, working on the wrong things—these won’t help you. No day like today to make progress built on sweat and love.
A musical entrepreneur should be careful with the reasons why he or she works so much. Hopefully, it’s to bring about a better version of the world or the self. So many, however, work in order to avoid what they most need to confront. It could be a sexual identity long repressed (my reason for ‘focusing on grades’ for so much of my life), pain caused by family members or previously significant others, or possibly whatever it is we fear most. Here’s an invitation to notice what you’re avoiding by working so much. It’s important for you to deal with these personal issues in healthy ways--through therapy, courageous conversations with specific individuals, art. Forming an ensemble or performing allows you to express something, as long as it doesn’t become a reason to avoid something. You can only do your best work when you are mentally and physically healthy--and the world needs your best work.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are very powerful semi-sentient things call Infinity Stones. One of these is the Soul Stone. In order to obtain it, the seeker must sacrifice what he or she loves most. I think founding an ensemble has some parallels (but without the need to physically sacrifice anything or anyone!)--typically it requires a sacrifice of time. Seeing an ensemble through to success requires effort--oftentimes at the expense of other projects and goals. It’s important to ask ourselves what we are willing to sacrifice for it. Will we sacrifice the time hanging out with friends to make it happen? Will we sacrifice time with our families? Will we take a job that pays less in order to ensure we have the time to work on our project? These decisions come down to values--what do we value more? Once we know where we stand on these values, we can know that the time at the bar didn’t really mean that much to us or that time with family is priceless. What are you willing to sacrifice for your ensemble?
First steps can be difficult, especially with large projects like starting an ensemble. What do you do first? How do you eat this proverbial elephant? You could set a concert date, before asking yourself what all it would entail to make that happen. I might encourage you to think about and find your audience first. Who are they? What do they want? What will you give them? No matter what you do, you must 1) pick somewhere to start 2) set specific goals/ habits that will get you there and 3) put in a lot of work. Work intelligently and work industriously. What is your first step?
It’s hard to be truly vulnerable in any field, and especially so in one where the performer is constantly being compared and critiqued. As long as we pursue being good enough, we never can be. We must stop chasing and start accepting that we and our talents are enough--we can grow, but we already have all of the raw materials we need to accomplish our life’s work. The need to protect ourselves dissolves into a growing need for genuine connection with other musicians and audiences, a connection that can only be nurtured by equally genuine vulnerability.
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