Christopher Davis

I’m typesetting a 19C piece right now, and I thought I’d share what it looks like pre-editing/making-it-look-pretty.

click the image to see the full sized version.

This post is a result of working through The Savvy Musician, a great book about making a living in the art music world.

Today I’ve been brainstorming about concerts and recitals, and what my ideal product would look like.

I don’t think that programming, outside of choosing good repertoire, is really that big of a deal. I strive to choose repertoire that’s not overplayed. There’s plenty of recordings of the classics for guitar, and plenty of concerts only feature them. I want something different.

The real thing is in presentation. I want to look like I’m having fun on stage. I want to smile, and give the audience a sense that I’m really enjoying myself. I want this because I do enjoy myself. And I’m tired of going to concerts where the performer looks terrified. So there’s that aspect of presentation: I want to project an abundance of enthusiasm for the guitar combined with quiet confidence and a solid performance.

That other stuff…

My encounters and opinions of the art music world can largely be summarized by having a knowing irreverence for tradition. That is, I’m not terribly interested in the traditional benchmarks of success (competition wins, etc.) nor am I particularly in love with the formality of art music concerts. In short, I think the stuffiness puts an unacceptable distance between the performer and the audience.

Here’s the thing, the stuffiness is not a result of the repertoire. It’s a result of the attitudes of the musicians. I want to avoid that at all costs. If there were some way I could project my irreverence on stage, I would do it. Maybe there’s something to be said for choosing the right concert clothing to project this.

What I want

1. Play good, semi-obscure (but likable!) repertoire
2. Project my enjoyment on stage
3. Project a sense of quiet confidence
4. Display my irreverence for the art music world’s stuffy formality

As assignment from the book I’m reading right now, The Savvy Musician, I’m going to write out my “dream job” or where I’d like to be in 5-10 years.

My dream job would be…

1. Make some money online with eBook sales and writing gigs.
2. Teaching 20-30 hours/week privately or having a full time teaching gig at a university or college. The big factor is that I want to be in a position that I can choose students. I would only teach classical guitar.
3. Play 10-20 concerts/year for a reasonable fee. I want take home more money than I spent on the gig. These would be recital performances, not private parties or weddings. Not that I don’t like doing those things, I do, and I would continue doing them. I just like the idea of learning a concert program and going “on tour” with it.
4. Releasing recordings. I’m not sure that I would charge for recordings. I would probably give away the download for free, but sell CDs at recitals and such.

So what am I doing to accomplish these goals?

Part of my reason for starting The Classical Guitar Blog was that I though it would make me rich. As I got more and more into it, it became a labor of love, and I realized I had a new purpose behind my blogging. To me it’s about building a community, and connecting with other guitarists and classical guitar enthusiasts. If that turns into a meaningful profit someday, I’ll be happy, but it’s not a terribly big deal. The non-monetary compensation I receive for blogging and my online activities in the form of reputation and networking is worth more than any money I could ever make. It’d be great to do something like Matt Warnock does and write for various online and print magazines.

I already teach, and am gaining experience rapidly. One of the big reasons I decided to pursue graduate studies is that it would open up doors to be, at minimum, an adjunct instructor at a college. At best, it could lead to a full time position. That said, it’s not a big deal. There are lots of people who want to learn guitar, and I’m good at getting the best out of my students. I’d just like to be in a position where I have a waiting list and focus mainly on classical guitar instruction.

I’m starting to realize how hard it is to get concerts. Getting my name out there with the blog and other activities will certainly help. I get my first taste of playing “recital” concerts outside of school this coming spring. We’ll see how that goes! At some point, when I have more experience, I’d love to release recordings. Because I believe in transparency, I put my recital videos up on Youtube. That’s the first step, I think.

I was speaking with my theory professor today about the future. He told me that when it came time for doctoral work, I’d really have to decide what I want to do — or, to put it another way, how I want to define myself.

Dr. Wood is a, “composer who plays piano.” He has a doctorate and masters degree in theory/composition, but he also holds a bachelors and masters degrees piano performance. That’s his brand. According to him, a doctorate really says, “this is who I am, and what I do.”

So as I pursue more education, at some point I’m going to have ask myself what exactly I am. I have to really decide on my brand. Right now, my brand is in description of myself on this website: guitarist, blogger, entrepreneur. I listed those in order of importance. I’m a guitarist first; guitar is the thing from which my blogging and entrepreneurial activities spring.

But perhaps that will someday read: music theorist, guitarist, entrepreneur. This is a hard thing to work out. I’ve been a guitarist for the past ten years, and I can’t imagine myself as anything else. No matter how much I love music theory, I don’t think that can replace my guitar activities.

Fuck inspiration. Really. Fuck being in the mood to do something.

Be a master of a personal universe — don’t wait for inspiration, create it.

When I started blogging nine months ago, I did it on a whim. I found out later that professional blogs, like the one I was trying to create, spent longer times planning before the launch. These people sit and come up with 20 posts that go up before the launch, they think carefully about everything.

If I had decided to do that, The Classical Guitar Blog would have never happened. My action in creating the blog generated the inspiration for the posts. As the blog gets older, I have to dig deeper and think harder about what I write. Again, the action of of starting and maintaining the blog generates inspiration.

When a musician practices, thoughts come and go. Thoughts about overcoming a technical challenge pop into their head. Smart musicians harness the inspiration they’ve created by practicing and write the thoughts down in a practice log for review later. That practice log serves as an inspiration and direction for future sessions. Just by starting to practice, a musician can create inspiration. They can create desire and direction for future sessions.

Don’t wait. Don’t expect some magical fairy to bless you with a certain mood. Do it; become completely absorbed. In action, there is all the inspiration and desire ever needed.

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”
-Frank Tibolt

The one thing I truly regret about high school is that I never played a competitive sport.

Probably because I was so caught up in video games and guitar (and I was horrendously out of shape). There’s something pure and real about giving yourself completely to an event. Whether a loss or a win, you learn something about yourself when pushed to your limits.

These are the same reasons I love weight lifting so much. I love it because you learn things about yourself in the weight room — lessons that carry over into real life. You learn about your limits; you learn that they don’t matter. There are no limits.