Posts

Music Lessons Podcast: #001 Curiosity & Craft with Ben O’Neill

May 10, 2023 by Andy

Music Lessons is my new podcast where we explore the analogous principles of music and growth by interviewing top musicians. In this first episode, my guest is Ben O’Neill:

Grammy nominated artist, Ben O’Neill (@BenOneillGuitar on Instagram) (guitarist, singer-songwriter, teacher), has played with some of the best known names in Pop, Hip Hop and R&B including John Legend, Jill Scott, Common, Sting, Kanye West, Christina Aguilera, Kid Cudi, and more. He has performed and co-written songs with Tye Tribbett and his “Soundcheck” band which redefined gospel music. Ben has contributed to many RnB, Gospel and Pop recordings and served as a governor of the Philadelphia chapter of the Recording Academy. He is currently a member of the guitar faculty at The University of The Arts where he teaches lessons, ensembles and recording. His artistic releases range from eponymous singer/songwriter works to solo guitar compositions to his band of 20 years, the soul jazz organ trio, The Mini Q’s.

In this episode Ben and I discuss his framework for the 3 avenues of music in his life, the importance of cultivating curiosity, what he learned from hall-of-fame baseball player Chase Utley, consistency and touring, and so much more.

Please enjoy!

You can also listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, Amazon Music, and on other podcast platforms.

Have a favorite quote? Let me know on Twitter!

[Read more…]

Stage fright

April 29, 2023 by Andy

One day my trombone teacher and I had a conversation about my stage fright. Stage fright can manifest both mentally and physically. Shorter breathing and quivering appendages are not great when you need to breath and blow with good posture. It’s not a pleasant experience. Perhaps the worst part though, is the non-stop thinking about whether you’ve practiced enough and what the people in the audience will think if you make a mistake (or twelve).

So it’s important to know two things – first, you can control how much you prepare and second, you cannot control what people in the audience think. But despite the fact that you cannot control what people think, what you need to be aware of is your assumptions. You’re assuming the people are thinking the worst things and that they’re thinking them about you and your performance. And, just like most situations in life, you are almost certainly wrong about those assumptions.

Unlike most situations in life, when you put yourself out there – whether its on a stage performing, or on the court playing, or in the meeting presenting – not only are the people not thinking bad things about you – most of them are rooting for you.

If you do well, they will be excited to tell people they know you. They’ll love the impact you have on them. They’ll remember your idea and how you executed it. They’ll be inspired to do their own thing.

So when you’re not sure, when you’re second-guessing, when you’re afraid – remember that if you’ve prepared, you are as ready as you can be.

And when you look into the audience, as the self-doubt starts to creep in, just remember: we’re rooting for you.

Why are you hiring?

April 2, 2023 by Andy

Is it because you need to fill a gap in the team skillset? Is it because you need expertise in a function? Are you hiring because you have too much work to do?

Or do people keep talking about growth and “more people” is what you think growth is?

Are other people getting promoted because they have bigger teams and so you’re making a bigger team?

Is there an initiative that you think is necessary but maybe you’re having a tough time articulating why to your colleagues?

From a business perspective there are good reasons to hire and bad, and some businesses incentivize the bad (inadvertently or not).

It isn’t always your fault when you hire for the wrong reason, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your eyes wide open about it.