“I made it” vs. “I am making it”
It’s not about have you made it, but rather are you making it.
The making is the becoming, the process, the evolving within the present.
If you’re goal is to be making it rather than have made it…you’ve made it. How ironic.
Stop trying to make it.
Always be making it.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
When you’re first starting something or launching something you might consider what it would look like to get a few early wins.
Maybe they’re not huge wins, but they’re wins still the same.
That might look like setting 3 goals instead of 10, but then going 3 for 3 instead of 3 for 10.
See, early victories, even small victories give us momentum to then tackle the next thing. Early victories also begin to attract people who are attracted to victory.
Now don’t get me wrong…you should try things that don’t work, you should risk and lay it on the line.
But I’m talking about specifically at the beginning. Early wins further develop your will power and your tendency towards action.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
Call and response.
Let me hear you say heyooooooo!!!!! Heyooooo!
Call and response easily takes the audience from not know the words to knowing the words (even if they don’t sing them back). Taking the song from (possibly) unfamiliar to familiar.
And the good thing is you don’t have to stand up there and teach the idea of call and response. It’s already in people’s brains. All you have to do is make it clear you’re doing a ‘call’.
You have to go first. I’ve never seen the audience do the call part, only the response.
Call and response is an invitation to participate in knowing the song. And if they know the song they’re more likely to like the song. And if they like the song they’re more likely to remember the song. And if they remember the song long after your show, you’ve performed a miracle.
p.s. If you’re going to ‘call’, make it a good one. Like Freddy.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
Observable oneness…unity.
That is what gives a band its public soul. And something that solo artists often miss out on.
Sure, ‘unique’ is compelling but unity is a more powerful binding magnet.
It doesn’t matter if your band walks into a meeting or a stadium, a restaurant or a radio station…the degree to which people are drawn to your band is the underlying, ever subtle, ever present, never-spoken about observable oneness.
Unity is so deep within our brains that we sense it, feel it and experience it without even knowing it.
It’s the reason that one band got up there and “completely changed the vibe in the room”. Even though the room, sound system and audience was exactly the same for the previous two acts.
When your band walks into a room there is a powerful vibe that walks in with you. Whether you think it’s there or not, it’s there. We feel it. We respond to it.
Observable oneness.
The funny thing is you only have to worry about growing the oneness…the ‘observable’ part will take care of itself.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
When you walk into a room and your group of friends is there you can use all the shorthand and inside jokes and communication to experience connectedness very quickly.
When you walk into a room of people you don’t know, you’re still YOU, but you don’t have history with these people so there’s no shorthand. You have to start somewhere that is a different starting place than when you’re with your pals.
It’s the same thing when you walk on stage.
If you don’t like having to get to know a new audience, don’t play for people who don’t know you.
If you play for people who don’t know you, why would you expect them to behave like an audience that does know you?
If you’re playing for a primarily new audience, what’s your musical/show version of “Hi, how are you, my name is”…as opposed to your musical/show version of “Good to see you again”.
It would be weird if someone came up to you who you didn’t know at all and said “Good to see you again”.
We’ve all heard time and time again ‘know your audience’…
…that is, unless you don’t know them…yet.
Over time as we mature, we learn how to get to know people (audiences) more genuinely, faster and with more care.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com
“Don’t be too stupid to enjoy that you’re at number one”…I’m not totally sure but I think I wrote this down as a quote I heard or read from Paul McGuinness to U2 when Joshua Tree came out.
But it applies as a good reminder to whoever the number one artist is right now and tomorrow and the next day.
And if you’re not at number one yet, you might practice enjoyment right now so that when you get to number one you won’t be too stupid.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com