The Musician's Journey: Crafting Your Career Vision and Plan

The Musician's Journey escorts musicians, performing artists, music teachers, and advanced music students along the road toward a successful career, offering a vast array of resources to guide them from envisioning the process to achieving the practical details. Jill Timmons provides key tools throughout the journey, from sources as diverse as the world of myth to current brain research, which illuminate compelling real-world examples of music entrepreneurs who forged their own paths to success.

In addition to chapters on careers in higher education, guidance in how to develop a dynamic business plan, and effective time management, this expanded second edition includes up-to-date strategies for meeting the challenges of today's current marketplace, including a greatly expanded section on grant writing and financial development. The new edition also offers a new collection of diverse and inspiring stories taken from interviews with a range of successful musicians, along with personal narrative from the author's work as a professional musician and consultant. There is also an extensive bibliography of additional resources, and the companion website offers downloadable worksheets and questionnaires to assist the reader in igniting their own thriving musician's journey.

ISBN-13: 9780197578520

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press - USA

Publication Date: 10-31-2023

Pages: 232

Product Dimensions: 8.90h x 6.30w x 0.90d

Jill Timmons is known to international audiences and educators as a leading consultant in arts management. Her consulting firm, Artsmentor LLC, has helped countless music organizations and individual artists meet the challenge of today's marketplace. Timmons has performed as a pianist under the auspices of the NEA, the USIA, and has been featured on NPR, with concert tours throughout the US, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, and Chile. Timmons is a recipient of the Wilk International Literary Prize from the University of Southern California, a recording fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and most recently, a Visiting Fellowship at Yale University

Table of Contents

About the Companion Website
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments

1 A CAREER IN MUSIC
Musicians and Their World
The World of Music: Where We Are Today
A Thriving Career in Music: The New Normal

2 NEWS FROM THE FRONT
Client Questionnaire
The Accidental Entrepreneur
A Call to Change

3 MUSICIANS AND THE PATH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Preparing Today's Music Entrepreneurs
The Benefits of Entrepreneurship

4 PREPARING FOR CHANGE
Brain Neuroplasticity: A Personal Story
Definitions
Harnessing the Power of the Neuroplastic Brain
Brain Health and Higher-Level Creativity
Desire as the Genesis for Change

5 CREATING YOUR VISION
The Quest for a Vision
Discover Inspiration: Inviting the Muse
Knowing and Facing Your Fears
Ten Showstoppers

6 FROM VISION TO PLAN
Music Professionals in Today's Market Place: The Dynamic Entrepreneur
Vision and Plan: The Intersection of Heaven and Earth
Creating the Plan: The Pathway to a Dynamic Career
The Plan versus Income
Sources of Income
Jobs: Is It a Jay-Oh-Be or Part of Your Career Path?
Internships and Volunteerism: The Fast Track to Professional Experience
Grant Writing and the World of Philanthropy
Your Plan: The Devil Is in the Details
Troika of Success
Survive or Thrive
Mentors for Your Vision-Plan
Road Blocks to the Planning Process

7 YOUR PLAN: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
Mission Statement
Legal Identity
Goods and Services
Financial Plan
Marketing
Marketing Starter Kit
Management Team
Other Members of Your Management Team
Timelines
Financing Your Plan
Business Plan Checklist

8. GRANT WRITING: THE MONEY SAFARI
Overview
Persuasive Writing: No Term Papers Here!
Budgets: The Numbers Make It Real
Phantoms That Derail Your Proposals
Moving Forward

9. BUILDING YOUR CONSORTIUM OF SUPPORT
Overview
Guerilla Fundraising
Grant Writing, One Musician's Story
Lessons Learned

10. MUSIC JOBS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Entering the World of Higher Education: The Price of Admission
Academia: The Ideal
What Price Glory?
Tenure Assessment Competencies
Survival of the Fittest

11. EDUCATING THE EMERGING ENTERPRENEUR

12. TRUE-LIFE STORIES

13.EPILOGUE

Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index Show More