Posts – Page 5 – MUS 421 Music Entrepreneurship

Jacinto Sims II Performance Experiences

Describe how you want to experience your next performance. Imagine walking on stage: How do you want to feel physically? What kinds of thoughts do you want to be having? What emotions do you want to experience?

I want to feel alive and really take in the music. I want people to see past the notes and the harmonics and see the completeness and connection of music and see the beauty within it. I want to feel like I’m floating and letting my mind carry. I want to think positively and really not at all just clear and focused in my mind.

How would you like to come across to your audience? What image do you want to convey through your stage entrances, exits, and bows?

I want to be transparent and relatable to the audience. I don’t want to be standoff-ish and condescending towards the people that payed to see me perform. I want to be grateful towards the fact they paid to see me and gave money because they believed in my work. I want to enter with poise and confidence and I want to bow and exit like how I entered.

Have you recently videotaped a performance and later watched it with a mentor to discuss your stage presence? If not, when might you be able to do this?

I have not, but I might be able to when my senior recital happens in the fall next semester.

How do you experience performance anxiety? Describe your specific symptoms:

physical
1. thought patterns (self-talk)
1. feelings

Of the interventions described for handling anxiety in this chapter, which do you plan to work on?

I feel that I become very anxious and constantly thinking. My body races sometimes, but I have learned a way to control that works for me. Breathing and clear my mind and letting all the negative energy go from within me.

Have you ever experienced discomfort during or after practice? What have you done as a result of feeling this discomfort?

I remembered a lot when i used bad posture. I remember my shoulders would tense and i would keep one of them really high for some reason and that would cause my shoulder to hurt and effect my breathing so I would not be able to take in a proper breath. I also used to bite a lot when I’m played the saxophone so when i bit down from my jaw my bottom teeth are sharp so it would prick my gums and my lips. I later eased up and became less tense n the shoulders and overall. I used a thin piece of paper to help and later learned how to relax my mouth.

How often do you take breaks during practice sessions? How long are these breaks? What do you do during these breaks? I take a couple breaks whenever I get deep into practicing. These breaks are important to free my mind and to relieve me of any complications of a certain passage or sectional material. I usually walk slowly back and forth and try to clear my mind. I also will drink water or sit down.

To help ensure a lifetime of healthy music making, what else (beyond taking breaks) can you do to help safeguard your performance health? Stay physically in shape. This has been something recent that I am trying to stay on top of. This helps me physically and mentally work on my body to make it ready for any obstacle

Jacinto Sims II Internal Grant Proposal

Internal Grant Proposal

NEA JAZZ MASTERS FELLOWSHIP- is bestowing 25,000 to eligible Jazz Musicians

http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/nomination

For eligibility I must contact Katja von Schuttenbach who is the Jazz specialist of the NEA JAZZ MASTERS FELLOWSHIPS NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the ARTS. I would need to showcase a body of work or something that can how long impact over the Jazz community as a whole.

I am interested in the NEA Jazz Masters Grant for funding my Jazz album in the near future. I am from Jacksonville, Florida currently studying under the leadership of John Ricci in the Jazz department at Jacksonville University. This would go towards a project that would be a collaborated album with both acoustic and electronic instruments and this grant would help cover the cost of expenses of purchase of instruments and additional microphones. My music is versatile, forward thinking, and has longevity that can inspire and influence all who listen.

Artist Case Study

Erik Blomgren

XXXTentacion Case Study

What makes you and your work unique?

XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, expresses instability, pain, and emotion through his lyrical and musical content in a manner that is seldom rivaled in either trap or lo-fi, and he is known especially for the expansive list of genres and styles of writing that he dove into with his music. He is also known for having lived much of the life that he wrote about, and led most of his musical career on the wrong side of the law, and on the wrong side of a number of moral dilemmas. Above all else, he had a raw and emotional sound that captured listeners and wrapped them into his world. This ensnaring and soul-touching sound is part of the reason many of his fans still defend his shady and immoral past and are more willing to forgive his transgressions; they feel like they know him personally and are more willing to accept him as such.

Do you have a brand or artist statement? Do you have a mission or vision?

The closest X comes to any form of artist, mission, or vision statement is the following; a quote from his album 17, one of the more personal and generally heartfelt of his albums. It touches on the struggles that he faced through youth and explores his views on life and on emotional health and well-being.

“17. A collection of nightmares, thoughts, and real-life situations I’ve lived. 17 is the number tattooed on the right side of my head, my own personal number, soon to be explained in future interviews or instances. By listening to this album, you are literally, and I cannot stress this enough, literally entering my mind. And if you are not willing to accept my emotion and hear my words fully, do not listen. I do not value your money; I value your acceptance and loyalty. Here is my pain and thoughts put into words. I put my all into this in the hopes that it will help cure, or at least numb, your depression. I love you. Thank you for listening. Enjoy.”

Do you have career goals laid out for the next 5-10 years?

Jahseh is dead, murdered in what appeared to be a simple robbery last June. His musical career was relatively short, beginning in June 2013, just 5 years prior to his death.

If I hope to emulate his goals and path I’m going to have to start soon; I’m already 2 years older than he was at his death, so to capture the younger generation of listeners I would need to act soon and really begin to get in touch with my moody and emotional side. I think I should probably start with the gun charges to help establish some cred for myself going into things, then maybe try my hand at armed robbery. I’ve only got 5 years of groundwork for one of the biggest rises and falls in music history, so I really do have my work cut out for me.

What do you do and what are you doing?

When he wasn’t writing music of his own, he was collaborating with other artists and building a name for himself, both through his musical prowess, and through his street cred. He founded a rap collective Members Only with some fellow artists, and established his own label Bad Vibes Forever, and basically bounced back and forth between album releases and jail time until he received wider recognition for his independently released music and signed with manager Soloman Sobande. From there his career picked up dramatically with several record deals and a dizzying escalation to the top of the charts, leading many to claim that he had sold his soul to the devil, a trope that he himself played into and claimed on occasion in his music.

How are you connecting and building audiences and how do you market to them?

Onfroy marketed himself to his audiences by appealing to their rawest emotions and sparing no details. He wrote to his basest emotions and created powerful lines and feeling out of his sound, discussing pain and heartbreak in a manner that anyone who has loved and lost can relate to. He wrote about anger and hate in a way that anyone who has experienced rage can relate to, and he confronted his emotions so boldly that his audience couldn’t help but be enthralled by who he was and the persona that he portrayed. He never tried to hide what he did, but rather justified it, asking his fans for their undying loyalty to develop an almost cult-like following among listeners. They didn’t care about who he was, only what he was to them.

What opportunities are you on the lookout for?

X was constantly looking for collaborations with other artists, and was known to put out an obscene amount of content on SoundCloud, especially in the earlier days of his career. One of his bigger breakout projects was a stint on the 2017 XXL Freshman Class, which he used to help publicize his debut commercial project Revenge, which was followed quickly by 17, cementing his name as one to be remembered.

Did you look at someone else’s career to make a path for your own and if so, what was it?

Jahseh rarely formally acknowledged any particular artists that inspired him to write or produce, opting instead to build his own scene into something that developed along with him. The generation of SoundCloud artists that he grew up in almost developed their scene together; in fact, much of it seemed to just happen naturally. His music spoke to people and it grew from there.

How do you fund your work?

Towards the end of his career, Onfroy’s work was entirely self-funded. He obtained extreme commercial success into 2017 with multiple six figure contracts, and had no need for alternative funding as a result.

How did you initially get funding?

X originally wrote with subpar technology and software, opting for a trashier and muddier sound to disguise this fact, though the funding he used to acquire this equipment was allegedly ill-obtained. He was detained twice for a series of home invasions and robberies, and was accused of a number of crimes including assault and weapons possession, so it’s safe to assume that his work was funded by less than reputable methods. While certainly effective, his choices of funding were questionable.

What networks or organizations do you belong to and which ones have helped you the most?

XXL Freshman Class could be argued as one of his bigger associations that helped bring him into the mainstream, though he often credited more of his success to his rap collective Members Only. This seems to have been especially true early in his career, when petty rivalry determined an artist’s place within a scene. His association with Soloman Sobande certainly helped propel his career forward, and many would attribute his massive commercial success to Sobande’s efforts.

Overall, the more I look into his case, the more I believe XXXTentacion to be a real needle in a haystack kind of story for trap. He came in the right place at the right time in his life to have an impact on one of the most forgiving generations of listeners, and quickly established himself with a devoutly loyal fanbase while managing to SOMEHOW stay largely out of jail, despite being arrested and charged for a whole slew of misdemeanors and felonies throughout his career. His career could very well have been over a number of times after its start, but it seems as though the stars aligned, and, rather than destroy his career, his adversity only strengthened his resolve and the resulting support that he received. It’s all especially amazing considering the complete apathy towards life that he expressed in his music, and the seeming disregard for his own life or future that made his rise to prominence all the more spectacular. To follow in his footsteps, more than anything would require significant drive and an extremely effective damage control and management team.

Personal Brand

Artist Brand Assignment

Erik Blomgren

Bio: Erik Blomgren is a musician, performer, and recording engineer based in Jacksonville, FL. He worked as a production assistant for the 2018 Electro-Acoustic Barndance. He studies electronic music with Dr. Mark Snyder and trombone performance with Professor Chris Creswell while performing in The Jacksonville University Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Brass Quintet. In addition, he has performed with LetsRide Brass Band, Observatory, and Son D’Aqui. Erik also serves as a member of the Jacksonville University Honors Program, and has had his research accepted for presentation at both the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) and the Florida Collegiate Honors Council (FCHC).

https://www.instagram.com/eblomgren28/

Mission Statement: Above all else, Erik strives to make the world a better place, whether that be through his music, service, work, or personality. To inspire even just one person to be better than they are is enough.

Erik Blomgren

B.S. Music Business

Terry Concert Hall Manager

Jacksonville University

eblomgr@jacksonville.edu

(904) 482-6504

WordPress wouldn’t let me embed my letterhead as a PDF so here it is.

Learning Journal II

Erik Blomgren

What is your unique gift? – Do you believe in it enough to invest everything you have in it?

My most unique gift is an eye for detail, second only to a refusal to give up once I’ve committed myself to something. I believe in myself enough to invest myself into anything, but none of my gifts in this regard lend themselves to any one thing, and as a result it is rather difficult for me to invest myself in any one direction.

I’ve found more recently that I have a talent for organization and delegation, and I pride myself more recently in working on seeing the big picture in things. It’s not necessarily the most unique gift in the world, but it’s rare enough to be marketable.

What difference are you trying to make in the world? – How passionate are you about doing this?

I don’t quite know what kind of an impact I plan to have on the world; I only know that I want to make people happy and that making things run smoothly is the best avenue I have in that regard right now.

This response hasn’t changed much; I’ve only definitively decided that no matter where I end up, I want to make people happy. My goal on the days when I have the time is to make someone happy. If someone else can smile because of me I’ve done one thing right.

How do you define success for yourself? – What challenges do you face in order to create success?

Success for me is a pass/fail initiative. In this regard I sometimes set the bar too high, and end up setting myself up for failure as a result. In a college environment, success is often more difficult for me, generally due to failings in cooperative initiatives, primarily due to conflicting definitions of success between agencies.

Success is a complicated thing, but I’ve found most that it is in the eye of the beholder. If I and those involved define something as a success, then it is. If a paper gets an A, it was successful in achieving a good grade. If it receives a B, but teaches the writer a valuable lesson, it is no less successful as long as the experience is valued as much as the grade. The challenge for success overall, at least in this sense, is to continue to make forward progress. The easiest way to fail is to move nowhere.

What is career vision and a mission?

As far as my career and mission goes, I don’t quite yet know what I want to do. Generally speaking, I want to be involved in management. I haven’t really gotten much farther past that; I’m also interested in production, composition, and performance, but I have no understanding where I want to take any of those ideas, or if I want to pursue them as a career.

Career vision as of right now is still ambiguous, as is my mission. Safe to say I still have absolutely no idea what I’m doing with my life, so here we are.

Can you innovate and create value and successfully communicate that value to intended audiences?

I am quite effective at communicating ideas and values and am generally good at maintaining those values for an audience, though I am not always comfortable doing this as it can make me feel disingenuous.

Yes. This is a skill that I have continued to develop and work on this semester, and I am rather proud of my progress. I found that more recently I have improved on relating to others more openly and convincingly.

Do you have a positive attitude?

I generally maintain a positive outlook, though this waxes and wanes depending on my situation. My positivity often reflects my mood, which has been known to sour on rare occasions, making me a moderately less positive person. I try to avoid letting my mood impact others around me, however, so this effect is generally negligible.

My positive attitude is more of an outwards in kind of approach I’ve found. If I try to be happy and positive, I find that I end up in a good mood more often. Crazy how that happens. I’ve also spent less time with energy-leeching people and more time around people who make me happy and that has done wonders for my attitude.

Have you set your goals? What is your road map to success? Can you set inspiring and realistic goals?

I have set some goals, up to a few years out so far. My road map takes me to an MBA but beyond that it diverges into a few different directions, and I haven’t managed to establish an order of priority in that regard. I have some trouble setting goals.

My roadmap hasn’t changed yet, though I expect it will a bit over the summer when I have more time to reflect on things.

Do you have and/or acquire the necessary expertise to actualize your vision?

Unfortunately, I have no set vision to actualize; this makes it harder for me to pursue any particular goals or ends.

I am working to diversify myself as much as is possible in order to best actualize my future goals. I don’t have all the experience in the world that I could use, but I think I’m doing alright so far.

What are your priorities? Can you set priorities?

I am decent at prioritizing, as this has become a daily part of my life. I often find myself unable to do everything that I am assigned in a day, and as a result I end up being forced to prioritize my work.

This is one thing I’ve made minimal to no progress at. I’m actually terrible at prioritizing and I struggle to get the things I need to get done due to a combination of factors. This is something that I’ve realized more and more lately, and is something I desperately need to work on.

What opportunities are you looking for? What opportunities are you creating or intend to create?

I have created some opportunities for myself in orchestra and hall management, though these things are not necessarily the only avenues I plan on pursuing.

I’m looking for opportunities in project management and recording. I am currently making opportunities for myself in both of these veins, and I intend to more fully pursue my ventures post-graduation.

How comfortable are you with uncertainty? What risks are you willing to take?

With uncertainty, I am extremely comfortable; my entire life has been balanced on uncertainty, like this perilous teeter-totter with cliff facing on either side. Risk is the same to me; it’s all part of the journey. In this sense I would say that I am particularly risk prone. If something is safe for me, it generally doesn’t feel inspiring or fulfilling to do, at least not for very long.

Risks are easy, uncertainty is stressful and hard. I’ve learned to live with it but that doesn’t make us friends.

When facing challenges, do you persevere or do you walk away?

As stated, simple work doesn’t satisfy me for very long; I find work that requires perseverance and effort to be more worth my time. I unfortunately also find these projects harder to dig into unfortunately.

I persevere generally, but I sometimes find it increasingly difficult to lock down and knock things out. It’s something I struggle with on occasion and in the past I’ve needed a good bit of support and help to push forward, though once I get moving I’m difficult to stop.

What experience have you learned the most from?

I’ve learned the most from my hardest work thus far, being concert hall management. That said, I’ve also learned a lot about how people work, and about hard labor from working construction. Both have been rewarding in their own ways.

I’d say school in general has taught me a lot, but not necessarily education. I’ve learned the most here about people, about dynamics and about how to act and live as a person. I’ve learned about power-dynamics and the nuances of working with and around authority figures. In many ways, the most important lessons I’ve learned were in between classes rather than in them.

What actions are you taking to realize your vision? Are you consistently taking action?

On realizing a vision, I have not quite settled. I am not consistently taking action as I have not quite established a consistently actionable vision.

This question seems to be a bit redundant throughout the course of this paper.

How well do you put things in context? Are you able to easily respond to changes in your environment? What’s your best example?

I am fairly effective at putting things in context, and can respond easily to changes, however I am guilty at times of getting emotionally caught up in the little things, and causing problems for myself as a result. I am not quite sure what you’re asking for an example of here. Of when I had to put things into context? Or when my environment changed? Ummm, I had to switch to Euphonium in wind ensemble if that counts. I also had to switch from Linebacker to Lineman for a football season in high school. That sucked; I basically had to redo my entire nutrition and weightlifting plan in order to bulk up as quickly as possible.

Context is a skill I pride myself on. My environment has changed a number of times in life, and circumstances have certainly been all over the place for me, so I am not unfamiliar with change. My best examples are still the same, though I’ve adapted in a number of other circumstances to lesser degrees.

What is your plan to continually grow and evolve? How have you grown or evolved in there past year or three?

I’ve been slowly and steadily evolving in my personal and public lives over the past few years. My only plan in that regard is to keep moving forward and see where I end up. Not much of a plan really.

Most of the changes in my life have been through the ways that I manage and handle stress. I’m happy to say without going into too much detail that I am much healthier and more effective at handling my emotions than I was three years ago, and this has been a slow and steady progress. It’s only been more recently that I’ve really started to get a handle on my life, though it’s been very good for me lately. I hope to continue learning, not only about music, but about the world around me and about myself.

How easy is it for you to reach out to others to ask for support and to offer help?

Up until recently this has actually been extremely difficult for me. I have always had trouble asking for help, though I have also had no difficulty offering it freely. I find I generally want to avoid being a burden, while also wanting to be as much of a help as I can. More recently I’ve had to become comfortable with asking for help.

I’m only getting better at this, though I still feel extremely guilty doing so. I haven’t figured out how to shake this and it is rather frustrating to feel down on yourself for needing help as it can create a sort of negative feedback loop for your self-image. It certainly is still a struggle to ask for help, but I’ve at least figured out when I need it.

I am not currently building an enterprise, but I work hard to support other’s visions in order to hopefully bring them comfort in strength. I simply hope that they will return some of that support to foster an environment of creative success and sustainability, that I can then build upon down the road.

I intend to inspire others by how I live. Rome wasn’t built in a day; the better world that I want to see is a slow process to build, and there are many who would see it torn down for personal gain. I strive to actualize my own mission and to contribute to society the only way I know how. Brick by brick, step by step. The rest I’m just kind of figuring out along the way.

Networking Assignment II

Erik Blomgren

This most recent networking assignment was for the Senior art showcase last Thursday. I had to show up half an hour late for the event because I had forgotten my work clothes at home, and I had to leave early for to work a concert that night. Despite these setbacks, I still managed to network with five different people so I’m pretty proud of myself for that.

The first person I talked to was Leah, a photography major. We discussed Morgan Zawis’ piece, and found that we both also knew her from outside of classes, which was kinda funny in the circumstances. The piece seemed reminiscent of a zen garden, we both found, and at the end of some deliberation we decided that a fountain would complete the piece nicely.

The second person I networked with was Gwyneth, an art major. We discussed Emil’s work ‘Black, White, and Both.’ Most of our discussion revolved around the interesting combination of text (in the form of journal entries), pottery, and painting. She was fairly shy so I unfortunately didn’t get much farther than that outside of a few general discussions about how each of us has been (we’ve conversed once before).

The third person I met with was Alan Ruff, over a discussion on Nichole’s illustrtations. We had an in-depth discussion of the applications of watercolor and moved from there on to the process of working in artist teams and the management side of art. We also discussed Chihuly and some of his works as I was wearing a Chihuly hat at the time; turns out Alan’s dream is actually to work with him in the future. On that front, we discussed how accidents shape artists and their work, and how trauma affects the views of the artist. Turns out he actually met Chihuly in Italy while on a trip to the Vatican (I knew wearing the hat would open doors at the event haha). We also discussed the more bureaucratic sides to the art and music industry and exchanged contact info as it turns out he also plays bass and drums. We’ve been in touch since and I’m looking forward to working with him in the future.

The fourth person I met with was Kim. Our conversation started on the art but quickly drifted over to the drone of office life and the modern workplace. She just got accepted to grad school (a three-year program) and has been working at the university. We also briefly delved into existentialism and discussed how stress is a state of mind rather than an emotion or a feeling. It was a pretty good chat all in all.

The final attendee I met was Iris, an art major and photographer. We briefly discussed Nichole’s work and her talent at illustration. She was very soft-spoken so it was hard to hear her in the confines of the gallery but thankfully we carried our conversation outdoors. She asked me some questions about my work as the hall manager and mentioned that she was considering picking up a business major and pursuing gallery management. We went on to discuss venue management as a whole.

Honestly, I’m happy with the progress I made over the course of the semester. Compared to the last networking assignment, I feel like I’ve grown exponentially in both my confidence and my public speaking ability. Most importantly, I feel like I’ve gotten more comfortable being myself around others, which isn’t something I expected to work on in this class (and I don’t think is a direct result, to be fair) but is something I’m happy about nonetheless.

Performance Experience Responses

Erik Blomgren

Describe how you want to experience your next performance. Imagine walking on stage: How do you want to feel physically? What kinds of thoughts do you want to be having? What emotions do you want to experience?

I want my next performance experience to feel flawless. No nerves, no stress, just pure, relaxed, unrestrained performance. The only thoughts I want to have are about the music, and about enjoying the performance. I find I put on my best performances when I am relaxed and happy. Generally, most of the negativity I carry with me onto the stage comes from outside stressors, so this is unlikely to happen until after I’m graduated. The only emotional response I would like to have is that which I have tied to the music. This kind of unrestrained and direct connection to my music has only happened in performance a few times for me, but each experience has been absolutely unforgettable. I live for it.

How would you like to come across to your audience? What image do you want to convey through your stage entrances, exits, and bows?

I would like to come across as calm and collected, but passionate about the material I’m putting forward. Sincerity and gratitude are two of the most important qualities to have as a performer and I think I would like to portray those to the audience above all else. I generally like to avoid any extra flair or dramatism with my entrances and exits, although that is mostly for classical shows. For more energized performances, I want my characterization to be enthused and pumped from the second I walk onto the stage. There should be no question in the audience’s head that I would rather be anywhere than performing right there in front of them.

Have you recently videotaped a performance and later watched it with a mentor to discuss your stage presence? If not, when might you be able to do this?

I have not taken this opportunity with any recent performances and have generally only done this for my extracurricular shows, as I find I care more about my stage presence for these types of events. It’s been a minute but I would imagine I would probably be disappointed by my presence at some of my more recent classical shows. I might have this opportunity at the next Wind Ensemble concert this Friday, and I would likely be well suited to practice this skill at the concert as I am liable to be tired and unenthused to be there. I don’t know when I might be able to review it with a mentor, but I am confident in my ability to recognize and critique my mistakes, in this avenue at least.

How do you experience performance anxiety? Describe your specific symptoms:
1. Physical

I generally get faster breathing and heartrate, accompanied by heightened energy levels and just feeling generally dehydrated. I occasionally also get my thoughts jumbled and experience generalized anxiety symptoms but this is uncommon for me and likely related more to stress and anxiety in general.

thought patterns (self-talk)

I sometimes find I catch myself talking negatively to myself, so I just have to work to break these patterns before any kind of performance, especially after I make mistakes. Sometimes when I mess up, my mind starts racing and I have to calm myself back down so that I can focus and play with the kind of confidence that I need.

Feelings

I sometimes begin to feel overwhelmed, and get that sensation of pressure building behind the bridge of my nose. I can also become irritable if I feel extra anxious/stressed, though I’m pretty good at avoiding that. I generally get little to no performance anxiety at this point in my life (I’ve performed literally hundreds of times, eventually ya get used to it) and am only really affected when performing on a new or unfamiliar instrument, or in a new setting (like theater, opera, etc.).

Of the interventions described for handling anxiety in this chapter, which do you plan to work on?

I plan to focus most on taking care of myself and working on pacing and breathing. I’ve recently begun working on meditation and breathing exercises are an important part of that process among other things. Pacing is also something that I have trouble with, especially under pressure, so this would be very important for me to develop and work on down the road.

Have you ever experienced discomfort during or after practice? What have you done as a result of feeling this discomfort?

On occasion I’ve had issues with tension in my upper body, particularly in my shoulders and neck. This has generally been the result of strain and pressure on my muscles due to fatigue and overuse. This used to be a major problem for me into my junior year here, and it’s something that I had to overcome with lots of conscious thought and mental effort. I spent a good couple weeks just playing long tones and working on my range while trying to relax all of my neck and upper body to help counteract this. It’s still something I have to be conscious of, especially when I’m sore.

How often do you take breaks during practice sessions? How long are these breaks? What do you do during these breaks?

When practicing for long periods of time I usually take breaks roughly every 20 minutes or so. In a consistent practice session these breaks will generally be around 10 minutes (half the time spent practicing is what I will do regularly) and I will spend that time usually taking a break and listening to the music or occupying my time otherwise (usually the latter). This of course all depends on the amount of practicing I need to get done, and the amount of time I have available to me (if I really need to work something up and I only have an hour available on a day I might not take breaks).

To help ensure a lifetime of healthy music making, what else (beyond taking breaks) can you do to help safeguard your performance health?

Mostly I think I could work on maintaining my health in general. I do a fantastic job of taking care of my body as far as eating and exercise habits go, but I am heavily prone to risk-taking and thrill-seeking, which are not necessarily conducive to a career devoid of injury. I probably shouldn’t aggressively pursue boxing, for example, as that has many negative effects that could impede my playing in the long term.

Jacinto Sims II Networking II

I attended the Senior Art showcase last month and met some women there that were very inspiring and contributed a lot to their program. I met a young lady named Taylor there who is a senior who did the piece about her family and showed the metal pieces as being different and unique aspects of her family. I didn’t get a contact from her, but it was nice to see what she was coming from and understand her style. I met a young lady who was a model for one of that artists named Maddie who also takes photos. She talked about the design of the original art and how it was supposed to capture a feel of an older Polaroid photo scheme. It came across well and conveyed a cool aesthetic. Next and last was a lady who was named Megan. She does ceramics and glass and used her skills to create an eco-sensitive art piece. I received her contact info because her piece was so intriguing and showed a beach of troubled and dead fish and corrupted land. She wanted to convey a message through her art of global warming and create an awareness to others about their use of plastics.

Jacinto Sims II Learning Journal

What is your unique gift? – Do you believe in it enough to invest everything you have in it?

My unique gift is that I can compose music and record for multiple and different genres and can perform that music if need be. I would invest everything I have in it. I feel that it is important to be well versed in the ways of all musical backgrounds. My abilities have prepared me well to obtain success on many different platforms.

What difference are you trying to make in the world? – How passionate are you about doing this?

The difference I want to make in the world mainly comes from me wanting to create multiple avenues for artists and creators to upload music and other artistic creations and have them paid for their services. Find more ways for artists to get respectively paid for what they create and whom they wish to share with. I also want to help inner city youth learn music and use it as a way of expression and make them think of peace instead of violence. For me these are very important as to which they have effects on generations more to come.

How do you define success for yourself? – What challenges do you face in order to create success?

Success is defined by me creating music and being behind the scenes of the musical process as a businessman supporting other artists. Even if it never reaches the high stardom level, I still wish to be involved. Challenges I face are building my resume and sustainability of money and recourses to help fund necessary projects

What is career vision and a mission? Career vision is for me trying to achieve my dream of producing for multitudes of artists and supporting and creating help for artists protection of music and craft. That is also my main mission

Can you innovate and creates value and successfully communicate that value to intended audiences? I believe that I have learned how to sustain a compatible conversation especially to my target audience. I think I’m versatile and relatable to convey the needs to them

Do you have a positive attitude? I believe I do. I am trying to not let it show and not let my emotions and insecurities get the better of people.

Have you set your goals? What is your road map to success? Can you set inspiring and realistic goals? My goals have started to become set and worked on. My road map is defined by me finding internships and solid work with people who I can produce and play and write music for and alongside with to help broaden a more supporting audience.

Do you have and/or acquire the necessary expertise to actualize your vision? I think that my journeys and lesson have taught me a lot from my youth to now young adulthood to prepare me for fulling my vision.

What are your priorities? Can you set priorities? My priorities after college will be to set up a steady flow of income, become regularly composing and recording either my music or others, and hopefully securing enough to sustain a family. I think that these things and my own drive can help me prioritize.

What opportunities are you looking for? What opportunities are you creating or intend to create? I intend to create opportunities for all walks of life to enjoy the arts and get paid and supported properly towards their own pieces.

How comfortable are you with uncertainty? What risks are you willing to take? I find that uncertainty can scare me because not knowing something can be intimidating. I am however willing to risk what I can in order to achieve my goals. If that means contacting as many people as I can for work in studios. If that means playing a couple of odd gigs or having to work under a long apprenticeship.

When facing challenges, do you persevere, or do you walk away? I try to persevere through and create a fresh new mindset that can help me towards my goals and try to find a new solution to the problem.

What experience have you learned the most from? I have mainly learned from college. College has taught me to become focused and precise in decision making and staying independent and very vulnerable. College is also very open to creativity and goal and career building.

What actions are you taking to realize your vision? Are you consistently taking action? I am trying to change my mindset to focus on the goals that lay before me. Trying to say positive and respectful things about myself. Trying to learn as much as I can from university to help expand my mind for the career-based world.

How well do you put things in context? Are you able to easily respond to changes in your environment? What’s your best example? I would say that I am adaptable and can go with the flow. An example that comes to mind is when we had problems recording for Deandre’s album and had to find new ways to solve the levels and ease the dynamics of the overall group.

What is your plan to continually grow and evolve? How have you grown or evolved in the past year or three? I plan to use my faith to help me stay focused and always learn from observing others. I think the past couple of years I have learned to love and appreciate myself more and be confident in the gifts and skills I have continued to work on.

How easy is it for you to reach out to others to ask for support and to offer help? It isn’t as easy for me because I feel like that’s an inconvenience that the don’t need to deal with, but that sometimes is me just being stubborn.

How are you inspiring others to join and/or support your mission in order to create a financially sustainable enterprise that allows you to live your gift and contribute something valuable to society? – If you aren’t currently, how do you intend to? I plan on doing more to ensure my vision is clear. I want to show more of my work show how it effects people and I would like to support others works so that they can feel trusting and confident to support my own.

Learning Journal 2

Nicholas Elliott

What is your unique gift? – Do you believe in it enough to invest everything you have in it?

My unique gift is my ability to play trumpet. Yes there are many trumpet professionals in the world that are much better than I am in my current state, but my drive and passion for performing music will drive me to be the very best version of myself every single day. I’m already committing to another two years of study in a completely new city where I will have to learn to adapt to my new surroundings quickly or find a new way of surviving in a place I know next to nothing about.

What difference are you trying to make in the world? – How passionate are you about doing this?

I’m trying to vitalize the idea that performing in tuxedos every week and playing music written by dead composers is not for the snooty people that look down across their noses at those that don’t have a full understanding of music and why its constructs have brought it to the magnificence that it is. I will not let this go because I have met people that have treated me like dirt and those that have wanted to share their knowledge, but the ones that don’t share their years of training and wisdom drastically outweigh those that do.

How do you define success for yourself? – What challenges do you face in order to create success?

I define success as content within the soul. When I play a piece of music, I don’t get angry when I miss a note or two. Sure that diminishes the overall accuracy of my performance, but missing a note is inconsequential in the big picture. My biggest personal challenge of creating success is knowing when it is right to listen to other peoples opinions on the subject and following that direction versus listening to myself and doing what I find to be right.

What is your career vision and mission?

My career vision is to be performing in a top-rated symphony orchestra within the next ten years and be able to progress and grow within that realm of music and business to be the most successful I have ever been. I plan to be within the top fifty trumpet performers in the country within the next 25 years.

Can you innovate and create value and successfully communicate that value to intended audiences?

Innovation for me comes when I’m in dire need of a solution. I’ve been in situations before where I was put on the spot to come up with entire lesson plans for a band of 100+ students composed of instruments that I did and didn’t know how to use, but I found an innovative way to make sure their time was not wasted and that the director could count on me to do something similar in the future if an emergency circumstance were to come up again. I demonstrated the value of time and the process of rehearsal to the students in that rehearsal and communicated how beneficial their patience was to the success of that time frame. Hopefully they learned from that as well and can apply it to their futures.

Do you have a positive attitude?

As often as I can, even when I’m in a horrible mood and couldn’t care less about doing something or being around other people, I do my best to show that I have a positive attitude. Being recluse has had its negative effects on possible performance opportunities, but I never let my attitude about something that I’m doing directly impact how people can view me. Being stoic is much better than being negative and showing your ass for everyone to see.

Have you set your goals? What is your road map to success? Can you set inspiring and realistic goals?

My goals are absolutely set: performing in a top-rated orchestra, being one of the top 50 trumpeters in the nation, and being able to encourage people to learn more about music and everything about the instrument. I do set inspiring goals. In fact, performing the pieces I put on my senior recital was an inspiring goal in itself. While this may seem inconsequential to you, Cliff Newton, the retired Principal Trumpet of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, happened to come to my recital and I never knew he’d stopped by for my hour of soloing. He went to Gainesville and passed by a trumpet student in the University of Florida, noticed what the program consisted of and was shocked. He went on to tell Bill Watson, a Jacksonville “Big Name,” that he was extremely impressed with my show and then extremely disappointed at the program the UF student was getting away with for a senior recital. “The music was so simple. A graduating high school student would put more difficult music on their concert if they could.” Long story short, I set an inspiring goal simply by the music I chose to perform for my concert.

Do you have and/or acquire the necessary expertise to actualize your vision?

As I’ve learned through Professor Osborne, I’ve picked up many of the tools necessary to make my vision come true, but I know I can learn so much more in the coming two years through the faculty and artists at Carnegie Mellon. With these tools, extra years of education and access to a more refined music community in Pittsburgh I know I will acquire everything I need to make my visions come true.

What are your priorities? Can you set priorities?

My priorities are setting myself up for success in my career path, studying trumpet and learning how to conquer it to perform at the most professional level accessible to me through the education I have received. I would say that if I already have a priority then I am obviously able to set them.

What opportunities are you looking for? What opportunities are you creating or intend to create?

I am looking for any and all opportunities to make myself known in a musical community. If I am offered a job that pays a little and is going to have me interacting with the community then I will be very inclined to take it. Recently I had to turn down playing principal trumpet in the pit orchestra for the Amelia Island Theater that put on Annie Get Your Gun. If classes and other ensemble rehearsals weren’t already scheduled and set in stone, I would have absolutely taken that gig; but those are the kind of offers and opportunities I’m looking for. As I develop my musical abilities further, I intend to keep opening doors to all cases where I can apply my knowledge, learn more, and be successful in the performance career.

How comfortable are you with uncertainty? What risks are you willing to take?

Being uncertain is like being handed a box of Russell Stover’s assorted chocolate that no longer has the interior map and you’re allergic to peanuts. You never know what you could get and it could hospitalize or kill you. But it’s chocolate and you know it’ll be great until the moment you pick the wrong one. Taking risks is so similar to gambling with your life and your career that I’ve grown to appreciate those that do it in moderation. Risks I’m willing to take, especially now, would be moving to the Northeast while knowing a grand total of one person there and hoping that I will somehow turn out to be successful in a two year turn around.

When facing challenges, do you persevere or do you walk away?

I will persevere when I know it is the right thing to do. Challenges are presented to us as an opportunity to learn and to grow and without them we would do nothing with our lives, we would have no ambition, no internal motive to do anything out of our comfort zone. But, when it is time to walk away from a challenge is when you know it will hurt you in the long run. Sometimes challenges are meant to be met at different times than when they are supposed to be conquered and that is totally okay. Every day stands as a new milestone to accomplish the next great thing. So in short, I will always persevere, but I will do it with time and confidence.

What experience have you learned the most from?

I have learned the most from the time I was applying and auditioning for undergrad schools. I thought I was top notch and could do the unthinkable so I applied to Curtis Institute and New England Conservatory. I was told no by both after my live auditions and had a really bad case of failure on my shoulders. I thought I couldn’t do what I had been training for, for six years, and wanted to give up. That’s when I learned that I don’t have to give up. That I don’t need to give that dark part of my brain the satisfaction that I could control how I felt and that I could persevere and do anything I set my mind to. Things got brighter when I was accepted into the Brevard Music Festival that very summer and, before I could even tell you that he would be my up and coming graduate professor, met Neal Berntsen of the Pittsburgh symphony and I completely changed my attitude and approach to playing trumpet. It set me back up on my feet and showed me I could overcome what the Conservatories told me I couldn’t do.

What actions are you taking to realize your vision? Are you consistently taking action?

I am taking a huge action in the coming fall semester. I have planned this move for over two years, prepared myself for auditions, performed pieces specifically tailored to the masters programs I was interested in and set my sights wide and far to allow me to take in as much as I could before every audition. I know I’m talking about this a lot, but it’s because I’m excited so bear with me. Every single day over the past two years has had some sort of development into making this dream come true, so I would say yes, I am consistently taking action.

How well do you put things in context? Are you able to easily respond to changes in your environment? What’s your best example?

While I can always put things into context, I sometimes have trouble adjusting to changes in my environment. Making big changes can cause me to be confused about what to do or where to be, but changing little things slowly lets me adjust quickly and effectively. Coming to JU was a small change for me because I’ve always been local to Jacksonville and I’m not far away from family and old friends, but moving to a new city could mess with me a bit. I’ll need to figure out where to get groceries, what places of town are safe, what restaurants I like and make a whole new set of friends.

What is your plan to continually grow and evolve? How have you grown or evolved in there past year or three?

My plan to grow and evolve is to always be open to learning more information about everything. We take for granted what it means to have a degree and we think that we know everything. Just because a school says you can have a piece of paper with the completion of their studies required for your degree of focus, doesn’t mean you are fully prepared for every twist and turn life decides to hand out. I know I have grown and evolved because of this open-minded approach. I have let people teach me things I had never thought of before and I have done likewise for them. I have found that I don’t make the same poor choices in life because I have chosen to learn from my mistakes and others and I know I have become a more mature person that is far more seasoned for the world to come than I was even a year ago, let alone when I was a freshman.

How easy is it for you to reach out to others to ask for support and to offer help?

Reaching out for support has always been easy for me. This directly refers to the previous question because being open-minded has to go hand in hand with being humble and owning your mistakes. Being humble is probably the most beneficial characteristic of any one person for the success of their career, and that’s because it shows a level of respect for one’s self and for others at the same time. I offer help though only when I feel like my offering could potentially be greater than what others have already provided. Otherwise I simply feel like an echoing voice. When I know I can provide true help or support, I am with that person to ensure their success or realization of a solution.

I hope to inspire others to join and/or support my mission by taking all steps necessary to ensure that I am humble, strong willed, passionate, and above all else, doing everything I can to make this dream of mine come true. Support doesn’t come through ticket sales and money. Those are just facets of life we all have to learn to live by to make a living. The true support comes from being a good and honest person. Do what it takes to be successful for yourself and when people see your success and support you doing the thing you do, you will be supported every step of the way.