Are you Ready? Exploring Musician Culture to Deliver Better Performances

Intentional Musicianship

In this episode of Intentional Musicianship, we explore the often-overlooked aspects of culture within musicians and musical groups and how these norms and values influence our performances. Basically, we try to answer if you are ready to make a change. Wherever you are in your performance journey, this episode may help give you a few tips and tricks from the road travelled and affirm you are good to stay where you are planted or if you are ready for action.

Highlights:

• Understanding Group Dynamics: We discuss the 'Form, Storm, Norm, and Perform' stages of group development, examining how ensembles and individual musicians evolve from their formation to peak performance levels. It may take a while to get where you wnat to go.

• Audience Perception: Audience members perceive the culture of a group during live performances and this can have an impact on our experience. Be yourself and true to wheere you are now. But don't be limited to do the same thing over and over. Especially, if it isn't who you are or where you aor your group want to go. We chose to come see you and we will embrace the journey with you as you grow as a musician or musical ensemble.

• Case Study: We take a detailed look at a local community band's debut concert—how they embraced their cultural foundations to deliver a musically solid performance and the potential growth paths ahead. I also look back to my playing past with experiences of culture within some of my past groups. Thsi episode oozes with stories the good, bad, and a few things I would like to forget.

• Cultural Evolution: I discuss how musical groups can push the boundaries of their established cultures to connect more deeply with their audiences and improve overall performance. Where can you better your work flow and get the best improvemenets in your performance practice and audience engagement?

We hope you joinus to hear how recognizing and refining the cultural elements of your personal musicanship or ensemble can lead to better connections with your audience and elevate your performance to meet your personal vision.

Folks mentioned:

Tom Jackson

Tom Palmatier