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Solve Bigger Problems (With Paul Nelson) [PSP 45]

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Today is somewhat of a per service lite version, as I don’t have my usual co-hosts with me today. We hit the perfect storm of scheduling last month, (no, I’m not talking about that polar vortex) We all just got really busy, and being in 3 different time zones didn’t help either. Even after we found a day, we had to scrap it because the internet for me and Anna kept falling out.

So, they will all be back soon. But for today, you’re still in for a treat. I called up my buddy, Paul Nelson, a cellist in Nashville, who besides having recorded for people like U2, Paul McCartney, One republic, and a million other people. Has reinvented himself many times over, from Arranging, producing, contracting, being a clinician, project manager, and more. He’s one of the most driven, creative, and productive people I’ve met.  

I know you will find this interesting, because normally on the podcast, we spend a lot of time speaking through the lens as classical musicians, but many of us make a portion of our incomes from commercial work. Also, many of us also supplement our gig income with side hustles or adjacent gigs that utilize a combination of skills.  And so it was a treat to sit down with someone who is doing all of these things, and to hear his advice on how to find joy and more money in the process.

Listen to the Podcast Below:

[powerpress]

Links We Mentioned:

Paul’s Big Take-Aways:

-Work on yourself as much as your instrument

-Learn how to network well

-Have pro-gear. You’re going to need them! (Maybe that’s just a music stand at the moment, but for others, maybe that means a better mic, in-ear monitors, etc.)

Things we Mentioned:

One of Paul’s Gold Records:

Steve Green:
(look who that is at 3:09!!!!)
The Nashville Number System
The New Psychology of Achievement: Breakthrough Strategies for Success and Happiness in the 21st Century
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
Lead the Field: An Official Nightingale Conant Publication (Earl Nightingale Series)
The Compound Effect
The Compound Effect
Think and Grow Rich

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Thanks to Ficks Music Publishing:

Use promo code “PERSERVICE” to get 10% off your order

Shop for sheet music now!

What’s in Your Talent Stack Big Mac? [PSP44]

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What do Sarah Chang, Chuckie Cheese’s and Toms all have in common?

They all have distinguished themselves by stacking multiple talents or traits together, and classical musicians can learn something from this practice too. Some talents (in your big mac stack) are beefier than others, cheesier than others, and some might be weird or gross on their own. But stack them all up, and you might just have something so unique the whole world will want to get their hands on. (ok, that metaphor is now over).

Hey, there I’m Michael O’Gieblyn, and this is the Per Service Podcast. We make this show, because being a musician today, doesn’t look like what we thought it was going to look like. We’re still figuring it all out – Year by year, gig to gig, service to service. 

And this is our little, judgement free place where we get together and actually talk about the BS sayings, acknowledge our insecurities, laugh about dumb stuff that only other musicians think is funny,  encourage each other, and inspire new ways of thinking about being a successful musician.

I think our episode today hits all those points, and I’m really excited to share it with you.

If you’re new to the show, we are four string players:

Anna Luce and Jessica Weirsma are respectively violin 1 and 2 on tour with Hamilton,

Christian Marshall is a violist extraordinaire based in Graz Austria.

I’m Michael O’Gieblyn I’m a violinist (and emergency violist if needed) in Boca Raton, Florida. 

 

Listen to the Podcast Below:

[powerpress]

Links We Mentioned:

Tim Herrera’s article that kicks things off about the Power Rangers:

Power Rangers MegaZord Transformations:

People who Talent Stack:

David Garrett: (Violin and Looking like a Calvin Klein Model)

Lindsay Stirling (Violin, and Dancing….and singing too)

Sarah Chang (Concert violinist, in high heels)

Courtesy of violinist.com

Yo Yo Ma (What doesn’t he do? and world music)

Chris Thile (Mandlolin cross-over artist)

Time for Three (Classical / Pop crossover and education )

I’m not an “ambi-turner”

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Thanks to Ficks Music Publishing:

Use promo code “PERSERVICE” to get 10% off your order

Shop for sheet music now!

Share your #GigOfTheWeek:

Follow @PerServicePodcast on Instagram

What are you Waiting For? [PSP 43]

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Do you feel like you’re in “the waiting place”

Do you feel like you’re making plans out of fear and desperation, or out of curiosity and creativity

What are you doing to move you closer to your dreams?

Or are you dreams so unrealistic that you are actually hiding?

Learn more: www.perservice.co/43

Thanks to:
www.ficksmusic.com

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Nathan Cole Tells Us How the L.A. Phil Picks an Audition Winner [PSP42]

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Nathan Cole is first associate concertmaster of the L.A. Philharmonic and host of the podcast Stand Partners for Life. He joins us as we get super nerdy about auditions and even stage two rounds during our recording.

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Do More, (But Be Content!) Take Care of Yourself, (But Crush it) [PSP41]

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We are thinking about to extreme sides of all the advice we hear to either take care of yourself, and be content with what you have, or the opposite: to grow, hustle, optimize, crush it, and do more.

Before we get there, just a quick word of thanks to:

Ficks Music Publishing:  http://www.Ficksmusic.com

And http://www.Fiddlershop.com

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Don Greene Teaches Us Jedi Mind Control [PSP 40]

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This is the Per Service Podcast-  a shamelessly self-help show, thinly veiled behind the guise of the working class classical musician shop talk.

We’re more about Growth than Gofriller,

more self-care than first-chair

more positivity than exclusivity     

more resiliency than Salieri

You can learn more about us at: http://orchestraexcerpts.com/about/

And today…… oh boy, do we have a show for you. We are joined by one of the leading peak performance coaches in the world – Dr. Don Greene.
Don’s course opening soon- Performance Mastery Project: Winning on Stage
http://www.winningonstage.com

Special thanks to: Ficks Music Publishing – Get your sheet music here: http://www.ficksmusic.com

As a podcast listener, you can get 10% off your order by using the promo code “PerService” at checkout.

AND

This podcast is also made possible by the support of http://www.fiddlershop.com
Get 5% off your order by using the promo code “PerService” at checkout.

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You Live, You Learn [PSP 39]

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Productivity Hacks, Ew! [PSP 38]

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If you’ve ever been on the internet, or on any social media, you’ve probably seen this fascination we all seem to have for hacking our productivity, you can hack your morning routine, hack your way to inbox zero, an audition hacker, or an all encompassing a life-hacker.

But the question that Christian brought us today is what are we doing with all this supposedly new-found time?

-Are we just filling it with more productivity?
-Are we filling it with beautiful things?
-Or are we just answering more emails

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Is it Better to Just Practice, or Do I Need Other Skills? [PSP37]

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On our show today, we’re thinking through another one of the dilemma’s that modern musician’s face. Should I go All In, and try to become the top 1% or 2% of musicians in my field. Or should I diversify my skills and be more marketable and have multiple income streams.

– Is it all or nothing?
– Are you planning for failure by having a backup plan?
– Does having multiple passions make you a Jack of all trades and master of none?

This is where we’re heading, and as usual you never know where things will go.

One last thing, we would like to thank Ficks Music Publishing for providing the hosting for this show. For your sheet music needs, check out ficksmusic.com

If you’re anything like me, when you decide you want to start learning a new piece, you want it fast. But you don’t want some crummy imslp edition that you taped together. You want The good stuff. On big…creamy pages with a staple in it, that smells like dedication to preserving history, and your grandma. All in one

Well, then go visit Ficksmusic.com. It’s beautiful, fast and free shipping on orders over $30 And you, yes, you with the earbuds, you can get 10% off your order by using the promo code PerService at checkout.

Even if you don’t want the 10%off, still enter it in, so they know that their patronage is worth it!

Visit www.ficksmusic.com

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Play it Safe? or Play it Forward [PSP 36]

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As freelancers, one of the biggest responsibilities is when we have the opportunity to recommend a colleague to join us on a gig. We usually have to choose between someone who is a great player and not the nicest person, or a super nice person, and a just OK player. (Side note – is it that hard to be a nice person?)

What’s at stake when we choose one over the other? Is it just our reputation that suffers, or the quality of the ensemble too?

We take a look at some of the times we’ve faced this question, what we did, and what we wish we could have done differently.

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