1. Get a graduate degree (Masters or Doctorate)
2. Get really good at (insert instrument or voice or field)
3. Get a sweet, cushy college teaching gig

I mean if you’re really good at your instrument, you’ll definitely just get hired right? Probably not. If you go to Higher Ed Jobs and search for music, you turn up 240 results. Take into account a students specialty (guitar, music theory, composition, jazz, etc.) and the pool of available positions dwindles considerably.

There are hundreds of music majors at UNT. And all the other big music schools in the country have similar numbers. Add the thousands of music graduates from big schools to all the little schools and that’s a lot of people competing for very few jobs.

Frankly, getting a college gig probably isn’t going to happen. Sorry. No one cares how good you are at (insert instrument or field). No one cares if you went to a great school. There are lots of folks out there who are really good at their instruments, and there are lot of graduates who went to better schools. So what are you going to do instead?

What makes you stand out? How much networking do you do? How many equity does your personal brand have? And, most importantly, why the hell are you waiting to start your career? School is not a waiting period, and building a personal brand is a lot of work. You might as well get going.

How Music Majors Think from Christopher Davis

WIU Festival Talk from Christopher Davis

Yesterday’s post had me thinking of what my concerts should really be. Now the question is going to come to them.

The only people already passionate about classical guitar are other classical guitarists. And that’s great, I’d love for them to come one of my recitals, but I consider it my job to expand the audience.

Target: Non-classical guitarists.
Why? They are already interested in the instrument, but might have never heard of classical guitar. These are the fringe fans than Seth Godin talks about in Tribes, they don’t have well defined preferences. They just like the guitar.
Connecting: I think the connection method to read these students is already built in. Guitar teachers. Contact local guitar teachers where ever I go and offer them free or discounted tickets (preferably free). The real thing is getting them to talk with their students about it.
Something for the Audience? Offering a masterclass would also be a great way to connect with these people.
Programming for Guitarists: If young guitarists are anything like I was, they appreciate technically complex pieces, but not so much musicality. Meaning my programs would have to have a balance of flash and musicality. Smells like 19th century music to me, or some tonal 20C things.

That’s my main angle. Aside from the reason list above — the people are already interested in guitar — converting guitarists into fans that go to my website(s) means that I have a chance of selling them information products.

Other Targets

1. Art Music Fans- obvious choice. Play some concerts for artist series type things (churches, chamber music societies, etc).
2. College Music Majors- have to get recitals on campus.
3. Classical Guitarists- work with guitar societies. It’d be very cool to do an artist in residency with a guitar society. Just come for a week. In exchange for a place to stay offer cheap or free lessons to society members.

After the Concert

After a concert, I want people to go home and connect with me online or via email so I can reach them again. In short, I want a better conversion from casual fan into true fan.

To that end, giving away a nicely done CD-Rom would be great. On it would be 5-10 nicely recorded mp3s, and an interactive webpage that people just click to open. It would have images and links for people to connect with me on social media. No typing in URLs required!

I’d also like to give away stickers than say, “I (heart) Classical Guitar” with my website URL on there as well.

Target Audience: Concerts from Christopher Davis

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

What I Want My Concerts to Be from Christopher Davis

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.

My Dream Job from Christopher Davis

Think of how powerful a tool that could be.

A Cool Way to Spread Music from Christopher Davis

This is exactly the same reason for attending a rock concert or going to an open mic night. We go because we like the way it feels to see live music. When Metallica came to Iowa while I was a freshman, I had to go — I had to see the band that had had such a huge influence on me live. I was not disappointed.

If the fundamental reason why people attend any sort of concert is the same, it’s no wonder why art music concerts seemed to be attended by an older generation. Music organizations cater to that age group’s tastes and likes and dislikes.

It’s not as if a night at the orchestra is any more or less expensive than a ticket to a rock concert. Cheap or free tickets for young people is not going to inspire a new generation of art music lovers. Changing the way we think and present concerts might. Maybe arts organizations can take some lessons from rock concerts.

What Does a Concert Really Sell? from Christopher Davis

Art musicians and ensembles are stuck in the past. You make a CD, you sell some. But mostly you perform. You tour around the country, playing gigs for universities and various civic music organizations. And the whole time you play to the same people: that same demographic that listens to art music and has forever.

It seems to me that most of the people who listen to art music are those who play an instrument involved in it now a days.

Then there’s everyone else. It’s hard to be offended by Beethoven or Mozart or Copland. It’s easy to misunderstand it, and not really “get it” at first. Almost everyone in the world would sit through a short piece of art music and go, “Yeah, that was okay.”

Those are the people I want to talk to. If art music is going to remain viable, musicians need to start reaching out and trying to connect with those people on the fringes — the people who would sit through a piece, but don’t love art music yet.

But Who?

The real question is who is going to lead. I have no idea. It would be incredibly easy for a chamber ensemble to reach out to fans. Start posting videos on youtube, find peope on twitter interested in what you do, connect, create someone who knows about the ensemble. A committed string quartet or some other similar chamber ensemble could easily divide up the duties and create some great fan interaction.

Bigger ensembles get more tricky. There’s still this cult-like following around conductors, so it seems that a conductor or music director would be the logical choice to lead for bigger ensembles. Of course, that would mean the director has to step down from his cultural aloofness.

I think the real potential is in the composer. Many people tend to identify with certain composers. If you like a work in one genre or instrumentation by a composer, chances are that composer’s musical language will appeal to you in different genres. That’s powerful. Composers need only to reach out. Just today I stumbled across a guitarist/composer named Gyan Riley (Terry Riley’s son) who writes great music. I’d never heard of him, and he’s released two albums of original music. Imagine if would have found me on twitter or youtube! Instead I stumbled upon a video of him posted by a random guitar society.

Smart programming combined with outreach can convert those people on the fringe. That’s what I’m interested in: turning those people on the fringe into active listeners who appreciate art music and go to concerts and recitals. Most importantly, I want to turn those people into the fans who bring their friends to recitals!

The first step of all this is for musicians to take a step back from the insane ego they seem to develop. I know professional guitarists who believe they are above interacting with their fans online. Yet they happily nod and smile and talk when a random audience member walks up to them after the concert. Some strange things going on there.

Now, who wants to hold casual Friday concerts at the symphony? Seriously. $2 beers and you can come in a t-shirt. The only catch is that you have to listen to some orchestral music. Now that’s a concert I’d attend.

Future of Art Music from Christopher Davis