Being Deliberate

[rayzer]

ArkJack and Milfus,Thanks for checking-in and leaving a record of your progress.It's easy to forget, buy important to remember where we were not too long ago. For example, just over the past month we've all made solid progress in important areas (that includes rest and recovery, AJ).Little by little we can do even the biggest things. We just have to stay focused, seek wisdom, and keep going.Rayzer

[rayzer]

Day of Accountability—August 15 versionWelcome and thank you for being here and keeping me accountable.This month was good. I took control of my month (as much as it was in my power to do), checked my attitude on everything else, and made things happen. Last year, by contrast, my music was so far off the back burner, it was behind the stove covered with the dust and uncooked pasta. I was frustrated and at a loss. I didn’t think there was any way music could fit in my life. (For more background, see my first post on ‘Being Deliberate.’)Now, as Hummingbird once said, I’m deliberately being a deliberate being. Talk about energizing Some lessons learned since I began being deliberate:I’m beginning to understand the meaning of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ fable. Slow and STEADY. Little by little. That’s how it’s going to work.Attitude, attitude, attitude is SO important. I can’t always control what happens to me, but I CAN control my attitude toward those events and my future. Life gives me lots of valid justifications to stay where I am and never succeed. No one would blame me. Misery loves company. “Just stay down here where you belong,” they would tell me. “Don’t do anything to make me feel bad about myself and what I haven’t accomplished.” Well, I want my kids to know that it’s possible to achieve their dreams and live the life they’ve always imagined. I truly believe it is. Little by little.Anyway…Here’s what happened this month:1. Create two new songs and submit at least one of them.One is done, but isn’t suitable for any current listings. I’m working on a computer problem before the other one can be finished. I will submit it ASAP.2. Create a new instrumental track and submit it.Was Fun and it’s done. Submitted August 13.3. If the new PLAY upgrade of EWQLSO gets delivered soon, install it and play with PLAY.It didn’t arrive ‘soon.’ I just got it yesterday. I’m planning to install it this weekend.In other music-related news:I got a forward this month!I learned more than I ever wanted to know about making wind chimes when I decided to make one for my mom’s birthday. Now my wife wants one. At least the research is done.I have my first song almost up at iTunes. It showed up at Amazon and emusic two days ago, but it’s not up at iTunes yet. It’s a funny C.W. McCall-ish song called ‘I Ain’t Got No Panties On.’ Look it up if you want to laugh, (or find out my real name).By September 15, the actions I will accomplish are:1. Write, record and submit at least one new song2. Write, record and submit at least two new instrumental pieces3. Figure out how to market ‘I Ain’t Got No Panties On’ to truckers across this great land.Slow and STEADY.Rayzer

[tedsingingfox]

RAYZER!!!Hey, man. Good to see you here again.I can confess that my entire summer's worth of plans have been overshadowed and even side-lined by all this ugly dental nightmare I'm going through.An excuse? No. But a truth, nonetheless. (Believe it or not, even though all these problems/surgeries started back at the end of April, I was just told two days ago that I STILL have two more weeks before "the first phase" is over. God help me. )Bottom line, it is time for me to get deliberate again. I'm producing a songwriting workshop this weekend with Pat Pattison, and what little free time I had was devoted to this. I'm very disappointed to tell you that a combination of the economy (read: "gas prices" ...this little town is so isolated that the ONLY way to get here is a long drive -3 hours from the Albuquerque airport- on small, two-lane roads, and there's only one road in and one road out) and the fact that our local entertainment news editor somehow decided that this workshop wasn't news-worthy and totally ignored us and completely left us out of this weeks listings...adding these up means that there MIGHT be 10 students for the weekend. (In the past, I've ALWAYS been able to count on at least 3-5 extra last-minute students just from the local publicity. Crap.That hurts. And I already know how disappointed Pat is. Multiply that by 100 and you might understand how embarrassed I feel about letting him down.So anyway... Right now, I'm tired and drained. Let me get this weekend behind me, and I PROMISE to return on Monday and post up my three goals for Sept. 15th.Ted

[arkjack]

My August 15 report.I've been bouncing back slowly. Work is still busy, or at least trying to get projects done is slurping a lot of my time. Its been 7 days a week from wake up to quittin' time around 9, then home to cook and clean for kids while my wife is away on vacation. But aside from a few practice sessions, I actually ran my first studio session since February, meaning it was the first time I've turned on the recorders in 6 months. I made a work tape of a song I wrote last fall. Still playing with it to see if I like it. I think its part of a syndrome where its been uninspiring for me, for though I like the song and all, I don't think anyone else will, therefore why expend the effort? Its almost like "conditioning" where screeners and critiquers have trained me so well to see all the flaws in my results, that just demotivates me. I find myself choosing a nice icy glass of VO and watching CSI reruns over doing anything with the tunes, so I guess I'm still taking a break from it.Goals for the coming month: I'm thinking about putting some songs out there for sale online as Rayzer did. I'll be anxious to hear from anyone who is willing to disclose their success or lack thereof on the online sales and downloads as to whether its again "worth the effort". I've been looking at Snocap for a Myspace store, and thinking about the itunes and amazon routes. But I'm a skeptic as to whether it would really sell. There is a lot of music from a lot of artists out there. If there are some positive stories out there I'd like to hear them. I get to the same point of finger on the trigger waiting to pull when I review decisions of whether or not to remix or take tracks outside to other ears for remix and mastering, or actually pressing CDs.I'm with Raz on the slow and steady, just that I go in circles.......ArkJack

[anne]

Jun 16, 2008, 9:37pm, linziellen wrote:Just a quicky, I never posted under this heading so this is a first for me.Woke up at 5am, like "PING" eyes wide open! First idea - Get in touch with friend who designs websites and make one...DONE. Second - Contact sisters Godfather who lives 20 minutes from here and has a home recording studio and his own orchestra. I suspect he knows what he's doing and has already offered to help...TO DO.Third - Get "Love is a Black Hole" recorded and post it here - no more messing, simple as that...THIS WEEKEND.Fourth - STOP NOW with the negative thoughts, get over the idea that I'm nobody, it's NOT TRUE!!!That's where I'm at.Thank you and all the best to everybody above Linzi Linzi - thanks for the post. I've been bogged down in self convincing thoughts regarding mediocrity and negativity and convinced myself that I was somehow "behind" where I should be by now. Fortunately some Taxi members listen to my music and helped me to correct my course. Then my husband agreed with me, that I can and should spend the next month making music my priority and that I should be more focused on some writing opportunities and get some recordings started, and now I'm ready to go PING at 5 a.m. tomorrow - -well, 4 am really - long day of selling at the local flea market to make some extra money. I want to be deliberate about not being broke for the rally!

[rayzer]

Hi Ted,Great to hear from you! Sorry about all your time lost on dental work. It’s hard to focus during distractions like that. Can you imagine how hard it would be to continue pursuing music in a few years if your body was still being worn down by those addictions/habits you’ve walked away from? You’re really setting yourself up for success (and a healthier future).Sorry about your workshop with Pat. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it, though. There was no way to anticipate the ‘perfect storm’ combination of events leading up to the weekend. Pat should understand that. I’m sure the people that do attend will love the individual attention. I hope you’re able to get past the producing part of things and be able to absorb the wisdom Pat has to offer. I’m looking forward to hearing about the weekend and having you check in here next week.Rayzer

[rayzer]

Hey ArkJack,You are NOT going in circles. Your music is drawing you back, but it’s been a really slow, gradual process. Look at what you did this month—you ran a studio session for the first time in 6 months. That’s awesome! Little by little, month after month, you’re coming back, even after really long days. It will get better. It will come easier. Just stay with it.Be encouraged by seeing all the flaws in your music. You’re developing the ability to evaluate your music at professional music industry-level standards. If you know what’s wrong, then all you need to do is spend time fixing it. That takes hard work, but then you’ve done it. No doubt. Through Taxi evaluations, you’ve received inside information from industry professionals about what they want. Don’t you wish you could have that kind of information about your wife? Although, even if you did have that, it would all change from one day to the next. That’s part of what makes married life so interesting.Re online sales: It took almost no effort to get it up there and is very cheap to do. There’s not much to lose in giving it a try. At the very least, it’s cool to see one of your songs up there, and your friends and family can download it to reimburse your expenses. I can almost guarantee that you will be disappointed if you put music up there and just hope for the best. The next step is to generate interest in your music and point people to it online.Let’s keep moving each other forward, little by little.Rayzer

[gongchime]

To drive traffic to your website you absolutely must provide content of interest to people who might like your music. On the net, content is king. If you've only got music for sale on a website, then you have no content. There's a classical pianist who is making like $100,000 per year from his music website but he's advertising performances on it and focusing on sales of cds at the performances, he's selling the scores of his music, he's offering a newsletter about music and piano playing, free articles about music, he's also on all the forums and active on sites where his customers hang out. Other websites are using the articles he wrote which contain a link back to his original website. If you play new age music, you should have "A LOT" of free articles on your "music" website about yoga, meditation, shamanism, magick, sacred sites, sacred geometry, music's relationship to spirituality etc... etc... etc... The more, the better. This kind of thing can not be overdone. Someone does a search for some obscure new age concept and you wrote an article about it which they find. Now you have a one in a million chance of them clinking on the link to your music. Prior to that, there wasn't any chance they would even see your music, let alone buy it. It's an insane amount of work but it CAN be worth it.

[melissag]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and somewhat new to TAXI. This thread is so inspiring. I've just spent the last hour reading all your posts and can't help myself from jumping in. I wish all of you the absolute best in working towards your individual goals and finding your way through the challenges along the way. I know it's a couple days late but my goals for the next 30 (or 28 as the case may be) days are:1) Find the forum thread where people are critiquing each other and learn from what is there by spending an hour a week listening and reading.2) Write/finish recording 3 new tunes3) Submit to 3 listings (at least)4) When I get my first critiques from TAXI (and they should be coming soon), absorb what is said with an open mind and open heart

[anne]

Hi Melissa - great goal list. I just set mine for the week: finish at least one song that I started last week, and watch at least 4 episodes of a television show that has music in it like I am working on (than attempt to write in that style).