How to present yourself as a musician/artist/freelance educator

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
-Cecil Beaton

Think for a moment of your musical heroes, mentors, and villains. Did they exhibit these qualities? Did they express and live these qualities prior to obtaining success?

1. Daring, but not foolish
2. Different, but also competent
3. Impractical, but prudent and calculating
4. Singular purpose, no dilution of focus or hedging bets
5. Imagination with courage action

​They never chased a sound; they created a sound. As my mentor Bill King said in response to listening to one more mainstream jazz recording presented to him by eager hopeful shiny faces, “haven’t we made the record already?”

Have a great day.

​David