Success Beyond The Score

The Musicians’ Census is a joint project by the Musicians’ Union and Help Musicians to get a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be a musician in 2023. The more participants there are in this census, the better these institutions will understand the work and life conditions of musicians in the UK. This will allow them to take more precise action to address our concerns and talk with the government in order to be able to offer:

-Organised support for musicians, regardless of their background.
-Information, advise and training on pay conditions.
-Union services.
-Promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion.
-A steady campaign for a fairer and safer industry.
-Social and legal recognition of musicians' work and importance within the industry.

You can participate following this link: https://www.musicianscensus.co.uk/

Don't forget to share this information with your musician friends in the United Kingdom!

Here is the transcription of episode 3 of season 3 of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score". Happy reading!

- Watch the video of the episode here: YouTube

- Listen to the audio of the episode here: https://www.successbeyondthescore.com/podcast

PODCAST INTRO:

It's kind of a strange title, really: "killed by sound". But in my experience going through music and watching other people, the sound system, the PA (public address) system, microphone, stuff like that, really gets in the way of our playing. And let's face it, you put in a lot of time practising. You learn the notes, you learn the chords, you learn the rhythm, you learn what you're gonna say, all that kind of thing. And then, it's just time to go and deliver. And when it's time to deliver, what lets you down is a PA system. 

EARLY EXPERIENCES:

Well, my experience —oh gosh, going back a few years— I sort of started playing, um, certainly for my sax, I was in my late teens, early twenties when I...

One year ago today, the talented women from Time For My Music got together for their second online concert on YouTube. They showcased their fantastic skills, old and new, and raised money for charity. We also paid tribute to our dear former member Carlene, who sadly passed away a few weeks before the concert.

It was a great experience and we definitely want to go back to the stage in 2023. In order to improve our show, we have put together a quick survey. If you have attended or watched a Time For My Music concert before, we’d be very thankful if you could take a few minutes to fill it out:

Click here to start the survey

Remember that you can revisit the concert on YouTube at any time:

Thank you so much for your input. We hope to see you in our next big show!

Creating content for social media is a lot of work, but if you know your tools and platforms, it becomes way easier. To help with that, the course "Mastering YouTube for Musicians" teaches you exactly what is available in YouTube and how to use it.

Guided by Millicent Stephenson, who speaks from experience and in an accessible way, you'll learn:

• How to create your login.
• What is where in your YouTube channel.
• How to upload your videos.
• Security tips.
• What to type in the boxes of the form for your uploaded videos.
• Things to say at your performance or post for attracting subscribers.
• 3 tips for maintaining your channel.
• 9 tips for sharing your videos and getting views.
• 6 tips for growing your subscribers organically.
• 6 ways to get work through your YouTube channel.
• Why some videos are in the thousands and others not so.
• A challenge to help you set up your channel and gain views and subscribers.

Get your course following this link and see how you get a...

The Harvard Opportunes is an all genders a-cappella group associated with the University of Harvard. During one of their performances, vocalist Devon Gates knocked it out of the park singing extremely high notes with fantastic accuracy for the song "Hard Place". You can watch the full performance on YouTube, but this Instagram video has a helpful guide of the specific notes she hits:

 

 

 

Watch on Instagram

Post by I post singers who are underrated. (@underratedsingersvocal)

When we encounter a moment that highlights so well the skill of one member of a group, we tend to focus only on what that person is doing and even feel a bit discouraged, thinking that if we aren't like that, we'll never get to where we want in music. However, there's no need to be an operatic soprano or Mariah Carey to be a great vocalist: everybody has their role. Just pay attention to the other voices of the Opportunes, and how they work together to carry the song and...

Here is the transcription of episode 2 of season 3 of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score". Happy reading!

- Watch the video of the episode here: https://youtu.be/X7irben25ac

- Listen to the audio of the episode here: https://www.successbeyondthescore.com/podcast

PODCAST INTRO:

Today, the topic is: does your music have the juice to pull a crowd? This is so important. I think this is a really, really good topic because, um, I think it was just about a couple of weeks ago, a promoter contacted me and they said: Look, I am looking for someone to headline my show. Do you know anyone? And I was like: What type of musician you're looking for? And they described the kind they were looking for. I thought: Mm interesting. Who do I know -apart from myself- who do I know that they could book, that people would want to see. Because that is what they were looking for, they wanted to put someone on their flyer, someone local, someone in the West Midlands, they didn't want to travel too far....

Creativity and innovation are at the core of art. There's always delight at the surprise of getting our expectations subverted, and the more conventional and formal the base context is, the greater the joy.

A good example of this is the famous a cappella group Pentatonix, which always finds way to catch their audience by surprise. In this occasion, they partnered with renowned dancer Lil Buck to give an impressive twist to their Hollywood Bowl show. Link to reel.

 

 

 

Watch on Instagram

Post by Pentatonix (@ptxofficial)

What do you think? Did you like it? If you're on your own music journey and would like to put on big shows like that one day, be sure to check all the resources Success Beyond The Score has to support your dreams.

Happy new year 2023! I wish this new beginning brings you a lot of energy to continue with your projects, and also the motivation to start those others that you've been storing as dreams in the backburner.

As I've mentioned before, I tend to write my yearly music business plan around this time. While planning an entire year sounds daunting, I've found that doing it helps me achieve more without compromising my health or wellbeing. It allows me to distinguish between the urgent and the important, and know which actions take time because they need to and which do because I'm not being efficient. With a plan, I can also tell what opportunities align with my goals, which prevents distractions.

If you don't know where to start with your own yearly plan, have a quick model I use to write mine: 

1. Find the time:  We often think there is not enough time in our day to plan, but there is when we decide something is a priority. Time will present...

As a musician, having a presence on YouTube can make all the difference. Every year, the platform adds new ways of interaction that benefit music creators, like the brand new "YouTube Recap", a customised summary where users can check the musicians and songs they listened to the most during the year and share them with their friends.

Managing online platforms and social media websites can look daunting, but don't let that stop you from sharing your music and build your career. Getting started with YouTube is easier than you think! To learn how to do it, you can get the course "Mastering YouTube for Musicians" right in this website and learn:

• How to create your login.
• What is where in your YouTube channel.
• How to upload your videos.
• Security tips.
• What to type in the boxes of the form for your uploaded videos.
• Things to say at your performance or post for attracting subscribers.
• 3 tips for maintaining your channel.
• 9 tips for sharing your videos and getting views.
• 6 tips...

Millicent has been part of the Musicians’ Union’s Executive Committee for a few terms now. The current one finishes at the end of December this year, and she has taken the decision not to continue because she successfully got on the NatWest Accelerator programme offered by NatWest Bank, which runs for six months. 

The programme supports and empowers entrepreneurs of the United Kingdom to scale their businesses to the next level. Millicent joined to boost Success Beyond The Score as a whole, but in particular Time For My Music, the online community for emerging female musicians that you can find in this link. 

The NatWest Accelerator sessions run on Wednesdays, which makes them overlap with the monthly sessions of the Musicians’ Union’s Executive Committee. Given that Millicent has already had the opportunity to contribute to the union through that committee for a meaningful and rewarding time, she decided to step down and focus on the NatWest...