Is it possible that the radical changes occurring in the global financial markets might be a sign that the global brain (the sum total of the billions of individual minds and orientations) is re-aligning itself, allowing in more creativity, as the left-brain-centered institutions adjust and restructure themselves?

If so, there has never been a better time to be an artist. Here are three reasons why:

* You can apply your creative instincts and visions to your business and career models and embrace market changes the way an improvisor embraces chord changes.

* There is an emerging economy in need of new ways of thinking about and expressing reality, not just new products and services.

* Since so much of the future is “up for grabs,” you can safely express (without apology or embarrassment) your unique point of view–your personal vision of what is going on and what you plan to do about it.

The list of creative, visionary artist-entrepreneurs is vast:

* Steve Jobs and his integration of design and function
* Paul McCartney and his songwriting and publishing empire
* Bob Dylan and his masterful use of mystery and masks
* Ani DiFranco and her fiercely independent stand as a recording artist and her creation of a rightous record label
* The Grateful Dead and their revolutionary rules of the road
* Levon Helm and his modern day Midnight Rambles
* Twyla Tharp and her bold reinvention of dance forms and premises
* (Your vision and artistry go here…)

If the world seems too much to handle, see if you can apply some of your musical and artistic creativity to what used to be considered strictly logical, left-brained territory…compose a new professional title for yourself, one that fits what you actually do…dream up a solution to a perennial problem such as a messy desk or an overextended schedule…and if you are feeling really imaginative, follow Leonard Cohen’s maxim: find a way to get paid for your work, rather than working for your pay.

Listen to this SOS podcast Part 4 in The Prosperous Musician series about tuning up your financial vibration and explore the artist’s path toward musical and professional fulfillment.

 

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Why do so many artists and musicians experience complications when it comes to money? Where does the confusion originate? How might you use your musical skills to “tune up” and improve your feelings and thoughts about that all-pervasive presence we call money?

More personal than health and more intimate that sex, few perennial topics stir up as many emotions, opinions, beliefs, hopes, and fears as money.

Add to this the stereotypes and contradictions floating around society about musicians–images and sound bytes such as the “starving artist” who has to suffer for his or her art or the larger-than-life “stars” featured in the weekly magazines, appearing to “have it all.”

Join this important SOS episode as the groundwork for thriving both artistically AND financially is exposed and explored from a Whole Musician perspective.

 

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Do you have something to say? Are you able to say it effectively? 

If you are a songwriter or recording artist with a unique vision or message and you want to be able to get it across more reliably and deeply, you will want to get clear on your specific message and find your distinct WAY of putting it into musical form.

Understanding the variety of options available to you in crafting your musical expression and the predictable stages that your creative work must go through can help you immensely. Integrating this information can help you to follow your calling with greater ease, align with your music more fully, and become much more prolific in the process. 

Join JP as he tackles the topic of creative callings and offers some suggestions to help you clarify your unique path.

 

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All music carries with it the emotional purity and/or baggage of its creators. So how can you tell where a piece of music is “coming from”-what its hidden intentions and messages might be, apart from what it sounds like on the surface?  How do you listen for that?  No matter what style or form you may work in, music and art can be highly subjective. In fact, at certain stages in the creative process, plugging in to the heart of your own subjectivity can serve to ground your listening ability, deepen your expression, and awaken your musical conscience.  Encapsulated within the subtle emotional spirit of the music (underneath the surface of the sounds) lies essential information for the creative artist, whether they are listening to their own works-in-progress or learning from the music of others.  This podcast explores four specific qualities of sound that can provide clues about where the music is coming from.

 

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Good songwriting may be based on considerations about key, tempo, harmonic progression, lyric form and structure, but somewhere along the line, you have to lay down your weapons and surrender to the unknown–the mystery of music. But does that mean it’s all up for grabs? Can you know exactly when and how to give up control and in what proportion? There are some tried and true techniques for subverting the rational mind in order to allow the pure spirit of the music to come through. Listen in as JP takes you on a brief journey into the non-rational spaces of musical creativity.

 

 SOS Episode #11: Getting Out Of Your Head: The limits Of Rationality In Songwriting and In Living (or “When To Stop Making Sense”): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Every day brings new challenges. Just getting up in the morning can require faith, fortitude, and remembering your purpose. But as an artist, you have the opportunity to start again, every morning, as a new person; to reinvent yourself as you would a new piece of music. Join in the conversation about using your artistic license to refresh your identity as you continually refresh your music.

 

 SOS #6: Inventing Your Music, Reinventing Yourself: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download