Success Beyond The Score

No matter at what scale, life very rarely goes as planned. Some things are easier than we thought they'd be, many others are harder. Accidents and inconveniences dot our agendas, we get sudden ideas that we then have to fit in our day somehow. Mundanity gets in the way of greatness and viceversa. We're left juggling constantly while wishing there were more hours in the day.

For example, last year, my family and I finally got around to remodelling the kitchen. It was long overdue, and we were sure that the final result would be very good. However, doing it meant dust, noise, and a cramped house. My piano ended up blocked by a bunch of boxes. I had to keep an eye on what was going on during times I'd normally dedicate to practise. It hindered my creativity for some time, it made preparation for gigs more difficult, too. Yet life didn't stop. The expectations of my clients didn't change. I still had to show up and step firmly on the stage.

Although it was strenuous, discipline made it p...

If you've followed Millicent as an artist or as an educator for any amount of time, you know that she strongly advocates for musicians getting paid for their work. This is a position that she shares with the Musician Union, of which she has served as member of the Executive Committee and the Midlands Regional Committee. In a campaign called "Work Not Play", the MU offers resources to empower musicians so they don't feel pressured to accept unpaid jobs. This includes a list of fair play venues, a digital tool to define your rates, training to improve your negotiation skills, and more.

Millicent has also created her own resources to tackle this issue. In the free gifts section of our website, you can find the leaflet "Ten Reasons Why They Will Pay You Before Gig Day". In the store, the e-learning course "How To Work Out Your Gig Fee, Collect Your Payment And Manage Your Money" will walk you through everything you need to know in order to get paid as a professional musician.

Remember: b...

No matter how experienced or learned someone is, how many resources they have, how many measures they take, accidents and mistakes are inescapable. What defines a good musician isn't the absence of hiccups or errors, but rather, how they react to them.

Take as an example this rendition of Queen's quintessential song, Bohemian Rhapsody, played during a concert in Caracas, Venezuela, back in 1981.

Even if you aren't a fervent fan of Queen, it's highly likely that you've listened to this song enough times to tell something goes wrong at the 01:40 mark. Brian May works around the issue to play the solo for that part, but by 02:04, he changes the melody completely. The image isn't that clear, but apparently he missed his cue and broke one of his strings immediately after.

Observe how he doesn't freeze, doesn't stop or reacts in a visibly panicked way. His fellow band members do look slightly confused while they understand what happened, but this doesn't prevent them from playing their...

One of the most essential strengths a gigging musician must have is adaptability. Every gig comes with a new set of conditions: from the dimensions and design of the stage, to the size and position of the audience, to the PA system and the staff in charge of it.

Let's make an example out of the latter: for a certain gig some time ago, Millicent asked about the technical set up—as she always does—but a little later than usual. She got a reply through WhatsApp many hours later, and had to continue the conversation the next day. It became evident that the person answering to her wasn't tech-savvy, but rather followed instructions by the tech people at their organisation, which made the process slow. Thinking that this could cause problems down the line, Millicent decided to take her own PA system equipment to the venue, just in case.

When the day of the gig came, the sax mic didn't work, and there was no one among the staff who knew what to do. On top of that, Millicent had sent her bac...

Here is the transcription of episode 11 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: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hiya! Hope you are well and [that] you can hear me okay. I'm ready to share a fantastic 11th episode of my Success Beyond The Score. Now, a couple of things to say before we get cracking about the sound engineer.

One is: I did it. I have got to 11 live shows on YouTube. At the beginning, I didn't think I'd manage it, but I did, and I want to thank you so much for being with me, for giving me those questions, and for just rocking up, and liking, and sharing, subscribing. Thank you so much for that. Going forward, just make sure you put the bell on, so you're notified of any future broadcasts I will be doing.

Now, the second thing —before I get cracking on the sound engineer topic— is to remind you that, if you're new here, there have been ten other episodes before th...

Here is the transcription of episode 10 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: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hi! I hope you are well. Let me just do my little buttons here, and hopefully you can hear me. If you can, please put a message in the chat. That would be really, really good. Oh dear. Okay, so I'm going to crack on as I wait for those replies. Hi Gary! Good to see you. Lovely to see you there.

Today, I've got a topic about putting on your own show. Actually, before I dive in, let me do a proper welcome. This is my 10th episode live. If you've been with me from the first one, I said that I'm here for 11 days on YouTube, and my 11th is going to be [on] Monday. It's just great. It's just gone really, really quickly. But I want to thank you so much for showing up, for liking, subscribing and sharing and just commenting. Thank you. Thank you so much. It means a lot that ...

Here is the transcription of episode 9 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: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hi, how are you doing? Just checking my little things here. I think I've got everything ready. I hope you're having a lovely day and I hope you can hear me. Okie dokie. Then, today we've got a really, really interesting topic. Firstly, I just want to thank Phil, Angie Lee, Morgan Genus Sports, for dropping those questions in advance, because it got me thinking, and I'm looking forward to answering them.

So: we've got a really good session today. I'm Millicent Stephenson, your podcaster, your host, and I challenged myself to come onto YouTube Live to do my podcast because usually I pre record. I'm on the... What day am I on now? The 9th day. Tomorrow's the 10th and then next week, the 11th. So far, I've covered:

"The 7 stages of a gigging musician," that was my first ...

Here is the transcription of episode 8 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: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hello! I'm so pleased you're here with me again. It's a lovely day. It's cooler than it's been for a couple of days, I've got to admit. I'm still sweating, but hey-ho, that's the life of a gigging musician, menopausal musician, you name it. 

Now, today I've really got a very interesting topic, and it might be one that you're already familiar with, but I think maybe I can put a twist on it. So: this is why you should video record your gigs. 

There are a lot of benefits for video recording gigs, and it's something I have a lot of experience with, but it wasn't something that came easy. Maybe you're the type of musician that's thinking: "What? Video recording my gig? Nooo, wait, I ain't doing that!" You know, because you don't like the way you look, or maybe you're just...

This is the era of streaming. There's no doubt about it. However, the radio, especially that from independent stations, still has a lot to offer. While algorithms risk to trap users in an echo chamber, radio programming is a human endeavour. Listeners are presented new sounds and information, they are questioned and challenged.

The radio is also important for musicians. Algorithms push everything that isn't already well known to the bottom of the playlist, while the social component of the radio allows for unknown artists to share space with big names of the industry. Topping the charts is still an important indicator of success, and achieving this feat remains very rewarding.

A radio station that has been very helpful to our director, Millicent Stephenson, is Affinity Xtra. Besides her music, they have also played different seasons of her podcast Success Beyond The Score through the years. Right now, they’re playing season 3 every Friday at noon, UK time. Theirs is an edited, more p...

Here is the transcription of episode 7 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: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hello, hello, hello. I hope you're well. I've changed my setup here. I've put my notes to this side. So if you see me looking that way, that's what I'm looking at instead of that way. And I had a nice iPad stand for my birthday yesterday. So I'm really excited. I'm trying it out today.
Really, really happy. So I'm hoping you can hear me okay. Um, it looks as though my volume might be a little bit too loud. So let me just turn that down one second. Yeah, that seems a bit better, not peaking.

Okay, so today is about: "Do you have a music hobby or a music business?" And I think this is a really good topic. When I started off, many moons ago, at school, I did some music, left school, did some part-time studies. Music was my hobby, and eventually I moved it into a music bus...