Tess+Jacobson+RP+Post+3

RP Post #3

1. What causes musicians to fail?

2. Why Do So Many Musicians Fail?

3. Carl King

4. http://www.carlkingdom.com/why-do-so-many-musicians-fail#.U4aUgJRdX9o

5. Website, accessed 27 May 2014

6. SOAPSTone:


 * Subject: musicians, careers, failure, "making it", puer aeternus
 * Occasion: the drop in demand for musicians
 * Audience: musicians, readers of the blog
 * Purpose: convince aspiring musicians to be responsible, speculate about why the music industry is the way that it is
 * Speaker: Carl King
 * Tone: contemplative, sassy

7. Very few musicians "make it" and achieve long-term success in their careers. This is because most musicians have the same mindset as adults as they had as children. They lack responsibility and still use music as a way to seem "cool."

8. Most musicians burn out because they lack the responsibility to work hard and have very short-sighted goals.

9. I am fairly convinced by this article. As a young musician, I see in myself some of the traits that King describes and I identify with his characterization of the teenage musician. However, by reading this article I allow myself to be set aside from the burnt-out musicians that King warns about.

10. "They won’t take a job or gig that requires sustained action or steady commitment." "Musicians are often those teenagers who used their guitar as an escape pod."

1. What causes musicians to fail?

2. Can Musicians Overthink Their Practice and Performance?

3. Robert H. Woody

4. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/live-in-concert/201403/can-musicians-overthink-their-practice-and-performance

5. Website, accessed 28 May 2014

6. SOAPSTone:
 * Subject: musicians, practicing, classical music, psychology
 * Occasion: claims that musicians mess up because they are over-thinking
 * Audience: musicians, music teachers, psychologists
 * Purpose: prove that musicians do not fail from over-thinking, but from under-preparedness
 * Speaker: Woody, Charlie Parker
 * Tone: academic yet informal

7. Musicians acquire skills through three stages: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. As skills are perfected and proceed to the autonomous stage, more cognitive power can be allotted to performance skills such as expressiveness. When a musician fumbles, it is not because they are thinking too much about their performance, but because the basic skills have not yet become autonomous.

8. Over-thinking a performance is not possible; rather, musicians often do not get to the correct psychological stage of preparedness before a performance.

9. I'm not completely convinced by this article. Although it makes some valid claims about the psychological process of practicing, I don't believe performers slip because they have not practiced correctly. Performers **can** overthink by entering the cognitive stage during a performance.

10. "You only want skills that have been perfected to end up in the autonomous stage." "When preparing to take the public stage, however, I recommend that performers try to move their skills along the progression to the autonomous stage."