Freak Cello Concerto

This wonderfully clever  video features a young teenager, Shermann Frikeando, “bow-syncing” the final movement of the Gulda Cello Concerto…No idea how they filmed this, but its hilarious.     While there are hundreds of thousands of great performances captured on tape, the music videos featured on TSM blog feature musical...

What is Takes to Succeed

What does it take to succeed as a professional?  This is a question I’ve posed to several groups of young (college age and emerging professionals) gifted musicians from around the country. Some of the points they have identified...

Average Student, Savvy Student

School’s back in session! For students, this is a great time to consider your own approach to education. Which type are you—an average student or an entrepreneurial one?             An average student believes: An entrepreneurial student understands: School is preparation for their career.  School is an early phase of their...

Are Artists “Creative Professionals”?

I recently served on a panel focusing on Entrepreneurship “for Artists and Creative Professionals.”  During the discussion, we addressed various exciting ways that creative professionals solve problems in our communities, businesses, government, and schools. We celebrated their potential to lead, innovate, and serve as catalysts for change....

Not Your Grandmother’s Mozart!

While there are few violinists as gifted as Gilles Apap, even fewer (perhaps zero) would have the imagination to transform Mozart as he does in the video below.  His cadenza incorporates Indian ragas, Eastern European dances, folk music, Irish fiddling, Prokofiev, the blues, whistling, singing, and more. Gilles Apap is a featured artist in The...

Music Entrepreneurship Helps Young Musicians Chart Careers in a Crowded Market

This article, by Andrew Druckenbrod, was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on August 9, 2009. Overpopulation, poverty and stagnation: The way the classical music industry is described these days you’d think it’s a Third World country. The recession has made an already tough existence even tougher for music students and those already...

It Takes Two to Libertango

GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE have been described as “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers transposed from the dance floor to the keyboard” (The Southampton Press). Together they bring a fresh and visionary approach to the concert stage, dazzling audiences with their adrenalized performances, inventive programming, original...

When to Take a Gig

All musicians, and especially entrepreneurial ones, are presented with many opportunities throughout the course of their artistic life.  When a gig or other opportunity comes your way, you will be confronted with whether or not to take it.  Some offers are clearly too good to pass up, while others are riddled with problems and not worth your...

Think Like An Entrepreneur

This article, by Louise Lee, was published in Strings Magazine in the August 2009 edition. It’s a common dilemma. You’ve had excellent musical training. Your playing sounds great. But you’re still figuring out how to start, or jump-start, a career. The answer, says David Cutler—author of the book The Savvy Musician: Building a Career,...