Product Description

Contrary to the standard joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall, "making it" in music is not simply about practice, practice, practice. Today, over 200,000 people in the United States work as musicians. With competition for traditional employment opportunities for musicians becoming ever more heated, today's musicians must know how the music industry works and how they can tailor their skills accordingly. How can musicians create their own professional paths?
In Beyond Talent, veteran music career counselor Angela Myles Beeching offers up a comprehensive guide for musicians in search of work, demystifying the steps to success. Drawing on a wealth of real-life examples, the book untangles artist management and the recording industry and explains how to find and create performance opportunities. Guidance is also provided on grant writing and fundraising, day jobs, freelancing, and how to manage money, time, and stress. Straightforward and reader-friendly, Beyond Talent is filled with practical tips, examples, checklists, sample budgets, goal-setting exercises, and extensive resource listings.
This essential handbook goes beyond the usual "how-to"; Beyond Talent helps musicians tackle the core questions about career goals, defining success, and imagining and then creating a meaningful life as a professional musician.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97283 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

Review

"The title of this book gives just a glimpse of the breadth of information that is actually included. Author Angela Myles Beeching is director of the Career Services Center at the New England Conservatory, and it is clear that she draws from her personal experience advising hundreds of musicians in all aspects of their careers. Although the book is written primarily for musicians aspiring for full-time professional performing careers, the chapters include practical tips and guidelines that can also be applied to music teachers, composers, and freelancers...This book could easily be used as a textbook for a group of musicians to discuss, ponder, and creatively experiment with promoting their own music making and creating their own "career paths."--American Music Teacher
"Beyond Talent is a wonderfully helpful book for the professional future of any young musician. Beeching writes clearly and comprehensively. Her book is a must for the library of any professional musician."--Robert Freeman, Dean, College of Fine Arts, the University of Texas at Austin
"Career specialists and students are hungry for this information. When it is packaged as clearly, concisely, and entertainingly as this book is, it is easy to imagine its addition to the shelves."--Simone Himbeault Taylor, Director, Career Center, University of Michigan
"An excellent manual for musicians at all levels. Full of practical advice and important information, simply presented, easily understood and ready to use."--Janet Bookspan, Stage Director and Performance Coach

About the Author

Angela Myles Beeching directs the New England Conservatory Career Services Center, a comprehensive career resource office, internationally recognized as a model of its kind. Ms. Beeching has presented workshops for Chamber Music America, Eastman School of Music, the University of Kentucky, Boston University, and University of Texas, Austin. Since 1997 she has designed and facilitated the annual Young Performers Career Advancement seminar for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conferences. Her articles on career issues have appeared in the National Business Employment Weekly, Inside Arts, Chamber Music magazine, and in Managing Your Career, published by the Dow Jones. She co-chairs the annual conference of the Network of Music Career Development Officers, a group dedicated to improving music career development services.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Beeching taught cello at California State University, Fresno, and at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. A Fulbright Scholar and Harriet Hale Woolley grant recipient, Ms. Beeching also received fellowships at Banff and Tanglewood Music Center. An alumnus of Boston University and New England Conservatory, she holds a doctorate in cello performance from SUNY Stony Brook.

Customer Reviews

An excellent guidebook for a successful musical career
Angela Myles Beeching's book is a thoroughly excellent career guide for anyone who wants to be a professional (or semi-professional) musician.

Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music
Bought this book for my daughter who is just starting her college career as a Music Major.

Beyond Talent : Creating a Successful Career in Music
A music business book for the classical musician? Is that some sort of oxymoron? Imagine my amazement upon finding this absolute gem while browsing in the BYU bookstore's small music section. I've never seen a book with this focus before, and had no reason to hope for one. This book descended on me out of the blue, almost like a revelation.

In the "prelude" Ms. Beeching gives her "confessions" as a career counselor. First she expounds on the "truth about career paths" : there really is no such thing as a laid out path for any musician (classical or pop) that will lead them to enduring success. She then offers "five trade secrets" of her profession:

Look for the light in the eyes (what make you light up when talking?)
People often create their own obstacles
The first steps are most important
You already have the answers
People move ahead when they're good and ready, and not a moment sooner

This is essentially a book about being a self-starter and taking things into your own hands rather than waiting for "them" to discover you. The book gives numerous tools for doing so. It covers qualities you must develop to "make it" as a musician, networking skills, developing your image (letterhead, bios, photos, promo kits, etc.), expanding your impact with demos and CDs, using the internet to promote your career, booking performance like a pro, building your audience (the media, publicity and you), connecting with audiences through residencies and community programming, performing at your best, freelancing - managing yourself, raising money for music projects (yes, you too can fund-raise), and getting it all together.

I am currently re-reading the book as there is so much information it will take a while to digest it all and even more time to implement it. The good news is, there are things you can do to promote your classical career and be a success.

If there is one drawback to this book, it is that I wish it contained more specifics on one of my main specialities, composition. There is some info for composers and composers will find the book of immense value, but the book is definitely slanted toward performers. The thing that almost negates this drawback is that Ms. Beeching states several times the need for performers to work with composers, newer repertoire or find some other niche in order to distinguish themselves from the mass of people already performing the standard repertoire. Sound advice.

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M. Ryan Taylor is a composer vocalist working out of American Fork, Utah. h t t p : / / M R y a n T a y l o r . c o m