If You're Careening Towards a Breakdown...

This post might be a little more for me than anything else. You're welcome to join me for this pep talk, though.

I've gotten 6 hours of sleep between 8am (CST) Sunday morning and right now Wednesday 12:52am (CST).

[If your response to that is "well I've stayed up for 3 weeks straight and have nineteen children to take care of and work 6 jobs..." CALM THE HELL DOWN and keep reading -this post is for YOU!] 

I've endured immense amounts of unprecedented stress and anxiety -much of it borrowed stress from running hypothetical problems of "what could" happen. 

I'm jittery from caffeine. I haven't objectively worked on my music in 3 days. I'm irritable, I'm not thinking straight, and I'm frustrated.

I'm careening towards a breakdown -and I need to SLOW down. 

I'm incapable of offering my best at work or on projects when I'm awake for days straight.

I'll never make enough money to get back the time I lose stressing over hypotheticals. 

Sleep deprivation has bitten me HARD in the past -and I'm not going through another season of that again. 

Every stimulant has a nasty crash attached to it. There's nothing glamorous about crashing -and too much caffeine, energy drinks, energy supplements, or uppers of any sort can have nasty health repercussions

Lastly, if the root of your stress is coming from hobbies or work, check your boundaries and start saying "no" to things. I can't reiterate that you'll NEVER make enough money to buy back the time you could be spending with the people you love.

SLOW DOWN. 

REEVALUATE.

RE-PRIORITIZE.

MOVE FORWARD. 

Life's too short for stress and anxiety driven breakdowns. Make the change, and keep moving forward! 

I'm gonna say it again for myself and the people in the back: you'll NEVER make enough money to buy back the time you could be spending with the people you love. 

Give them your best by taking care of yourself. There's no award at the end of your life that justifies the time lost from stress, anxiety, willfull (and often unnecessary) sacrifices. Overworking yourself and making yourself miserable because of an abstract, higher-level, "it'll all make sense in hindsight sense" line of thinking... leads to lost time that you'll never get back. You're fooling yourself. Your overworked life will go completely unnoticed without real relationships. Working towards a "hindsight" goal might seem like a justifiable idea... but what happens when "hindsight" doesn't happen for 40 or 50 years? You've willfully starved yourself of pursuing relationships for 40 or 50 years! THAT'S NOT SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE! That's missing children growing up. That's missing grand kids being cute. That's missing decades of beautiful nuances and milestones of your own marriage. My misery in regularly choosing work or music over family and friends WILL bite me in the long run.

Relationships balance out an overworked life.  

Be present for Amy (spouse or significant other), family, friends, and open yourself up to meeting new people as well. 

You'll NEVER make enough money to buy back the time you could be spending with the people you love. 

Make it a priority.  Make it happen! The energy given and received from those relationships will refuel your soul on a spiritual level. It's what we were created to do!

Until next time, 

-T. 

How Much Are You Worth // Market Value for Entertainment in 2017

So, how much is your show worth?  If you low-ball the venue, you could get stuck there -even if you're being invited back and bringing in lots of people.  If you set a "fair-price" right off the bat, you might be turned down -because other bands will play for less (that will bring in a guaranteed crowd -or so they say).  

This is where I'm going to allude to a previous post about desperation.  If you're a 5 or 6-piece band that carts around a PA and lights system and the venue isn't willing to pay you at least $1000, you're probably wasting your time and energy.  Remember, you've got to split the earnings 5 or 6 different ways and you're compensating yourself for about 6 hours of work for the night (remember at least an hour for setup and an hour for tear down). FYI, in a 6-piece band, this comes out to about $33.00/hour.  If you're cool with that, then it's a good rate -if it's not enough, time to re-negotiate.

Whatever you decide to do, stick to your guns.  If a venue isn't willing to pay you what you're worth, don't accept the gig. Simply say "no".

Now, suppose you're not "doing it for the money" -which can be somewhat of a noble thing to say... but for a lot of reasons, I'm not buying that as a reason to accept rip-off gigs.  If anything, think about how it affects the culture of fellow musicians in your city.

If you're the person that is accepting 4-hour long gigs for free drinks or 4-hour long gigs for $100, you're hurting your fellow musicians by undercutting the actual market value for entertainment -why?  Now, the bar knows that there is somebody out there that is willing to play for peanuts just to get stage time... If there is one of you, there are inevitably more  of you.

Since musicians guilds and musicians unions aren't as common nowadays, entertainers are responsible for establishing a fair market value for their services!

My blog post today is ending with a dire prediction (I know that I'm a part-time cynic, but this is rooted in patterns -not cynicism).  I feel like establishing a price and understanding how the market value for entertainment are important knowledge to pursue.  That being said, I feel like the culture of musicians low-balling themselves has hit an irreversible point for anybody that is trying to include "LIVE shows in bars" as part of their practical income as a working musician.  I predict; that in ten years, bars will either not pay musicians at all -or will simply refuse to hire live entertainment.  Why?  If the lower quality and lower experienced musicians are the ones that continue to low ball existing rates, all that will be left is sonic garbage.  Patrons will still continue to enjoy their alcohol without having to indulge sonic trash, and the bar will get to retain the profits.

I know it's a bummer to end on, but if anything, I definitely think this is something to consider!  Do you agree? Do you disagree? Join in the conversation below!

Until next time,

-T.

Happy 4th of July -from myself and Billy Saffyre -NEW VIDEO-

Taking a Break // Cynicism

  hey friends! I need to take a bit of a break from this blog. As I've written about in the past, I have an inclination to be a part time cynic.  I am in a season right now where my cynicism is getting the best of me. Consequently, I don't feel like I can offer my best insights regarding creativity and performance right now.

 No worries, though!  I will definitely be back. In the meantime, I will be sharing some new music periodically in this space   until I'm ready to write again. 

 Cynicism has not won the game.  I am just fully aware that cynicism spreads like cancer and is too easy for creatives to latch onto. There is too much of it in the world,  and I will have no part in spreading it.  

 Stay creative!  

 Stay awesome!  

Until next time, 

-T. 

PIANO VERSIONS SATURDAY/ SUPER MARIO BROS - SHORTS

It'sPiano Versions Saturday! Piano Versions is a series that I've been creating on YouTube for the past few years. I found incredible value in sequencing out the pieces to hear what they are supposed to sound like at full speed. I created these videos as a reference tool for people who are learning the sheet music!

This week's videos are shorter themes including:

Super Mario Bros. - Castle Background, Invincible Theme, Course Clear and World Clear Themes

^^^ CASTLE BACKGROUND ^^^ 

^^^ INVINCIBLE ^^^

^^^ COURSE CLEAR ^^^ 

^^^ WORLD CLEAR ^^^