Jazz Education

Some thoughts on Music “Success”, “Making It” and “PR”

A fellow musician recently asked to pick my brain about how I’ve been promoting myself, achieving some modicum of success on YouTube and keeping a busy tour schedule going.

I think they are looking for a technique that they can add on to what they currently do rather than change what they do from the inside out.

There are a million gurus out there who are teaching techniques and social media techniques, but I will tell you something that’s maybe scarier.

There is no one magic bullet, no one activity that will be a “fix it” add on for music career success. The reality is that the answer you seek comes from the inside, not the outside.

People have to like what it is you do (your music), and you can’t buy that. Once you have a viable “product” (again, your music) that people honestly and truly LOVE yes it makes sense to pay for PR, promo – but first you must see if what you have is actually working, and be honest with yourself.

At a certain point around 2006 I realized that what I was doing musically was not working spiritually, musically and financially. This was frightening, but at least it was honest.
I got quiet and did some “zero based thinking.” Meaning, I said “if I could clear the table and start over, what would I do or not do?”
I have gotten totally honest with myself about music that I love to listen to and love play, regardless of who approves of my choices (this is a biggie and it could change your entire social circle, relationships and life!)
I’ve gotten quiet regularly and listened to my intuition and gut.
From the silence, I have allowed new creative ideas to come to me rather than force ideas.
When I tossed the first videos up on Youtube, I paid attention to what people liked. I did nothing crafty to make videos “get hits” – it just happened.
I constantly pay attention to what people like in general – not that I copy or do it, but I watch people, take notes.
An audience is 2% musicians, 98% regular folks, so I stopped caring what musicians thought of me.
I pay attention to and seek out the perfect intersection of my personal integrity and what people like.
I play from the heart and am committed 100% to it, but I pay attention to my world inside AND the world outside like a martial artist.
Like Thomas Edison, who failed over and over and over with the invention of the light bulb, I’ve kept trying different things until I see what works – as opposed to forcing one thing that does not work.
I am ready to adapt at any moment.

People who honestly love what I do has contributed more to the touring, magazine articles, etc than anything I could do one a technical level to “promote myself.”

This being said, I’ve now “tested the waters” and made sure that what I do is worthy of some PR, which I plan to do on the upcoming CD release of “I REMEMBER MICHAEL” – my Michael Jackson Guitar Tribute.

PR is expensive, but that’s how you get more eyeballs. That comes after you’ve tested the “product” – not before.

Doing PR for something people don’t like could be financial suicide, so test, test, test and first make sure that you and your audience love what you do. If a restaurant has sucky food, all the advertising in the world won’t make people love the menu! So – audience first….test…then, PR.

Do people really and truly love what you do? Be honest! You may need to “clear the table” and start over rather than persist in something that does not work.

Yes it is scary and yes it takes guts.

Cause and Effect

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

I just finished reading “The Master Key System” by Charles F. Haanel on my iPad. Apparently this book inspired Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and build a tiny little company called Microsoft.

I enjoyed this book very much and plan to read it over and over regularly. The book was written before “self help” and “law of attraction” were an industry…so there is a seriousness and passion in the delivery of this information. Charles Haanel was not seeking to be a Guru – he was seeking to convey information about which he was passionate.

The writing style is very early 20th century and almost technical. It is not a warm and fuzzy read, but as you get in deeper, it shows a deep reverence for the magical process of bringing things into the physical world through use of the mind. About halfway through, I found the book to be a very spiritual book indeed!

The main idea in the book is that every effect in our lives is brought about by a cause. Preceding that – the first cause of anything is the thought in our mind. When we impress the thought of our mind on the unseen substance of the universe, we then get the effect.

As I read, I studied events and achievements in my life over the last few years and determined that what has gone well, been successful and brought me happiness.

Then I asked myself “are these things causes?” Actually the answer is no….the touring, the income, the friendships, the happiness, the satisfaction and excitement for ongoing achievements are all effects.

So what are the causes?

Meditating, practicing guitar, creative thinking, contacting people and being in touch, producing CDs, DVDs are casues…and they all start as thoughts.

Pesitive effects are delicious, like chocolate ice cream. Causes take work and brains and may not feel fun all the time.

Any person can see effects…it’s like looking in the rear view mirror. Many people deal with effects but not causes. It takes a creative person to pay attention to causes through their own thought.

My new axiom is to work on “causes” every day, and to always ask myself “am I working on cause or effect?”

What Do You Spend Your Days Doing?

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Greetings friends. Top o’ the morning to you!!! 6:14 am…thunderstorm outside. Coffee brewing…it’s a great day!

Recently a fellow musician was asking me about how I have produced DVDs, CDs, booked tours and basically been a productive musician.

He himself is an awesome guitarist, so musical talent and skill wasn’t the issue at all. However, he found himself running from gig to gig hurriedly, and was curious about lessening the “craziness” in his life and accomplishing more meaningful things musically, financially and spiritually .

He flat out asked me “What do you spend your days doing? What does a day in the life of Adam look like?”

Great question, and I hope you enjoy the answer.

I feel as though through my 20’s and into my 30’s I had a tricky time navigating “making a living” much the way he did. Not just money-wise, but making for myself a life of quality, fulfillment, and happiness in general.

I very much hope that anyone reading this (particularly younger musicians starting a career) will get the most usable, most important piece of info they’ll ever get…right here.

I say this not out of arrogance or self importance, but out of respect for the information itself, which I did not create! I have been fortunate over the past few years to have learned “sacred information” taught by wise men for generations.

Ready, set, here goes. This will take some work.

1. Determine your life’s main objective.

2 Write down 5 to 10 goals you’d like to achieve.

3. Determine the ONE of the 5 goal that is the most important, the one will have the most impact on your life.

4. Fully visualize its completion with absolutely no concern of how to do it. Know unfailingly that once you see it in your minds eye, it is achieved.

(The sky is the limit by the way.)

“What? That’s it?” you ask. Yes – but in this tiny answer runs a depth too vast to explain in a short post!

To visualize something not yet here, to use the imagination faculty is planting the seed of great accomplishment in your life.

Many will tell you to “be realistic” and look what’s around you. Frankly, if you are looking at what’s around you, you are seeing the “past”, the end of the life cycle of creation.

It takes enormous courage to look into yourself and set a goal. Size is not the issue – you can visualize a penny or a million dollars for example. Visualizing them costs nothing except your time and effort – same energy required!

When you decide clearly what your goal is, your daily activities then support the goal, the vision, the objective. You become a 24/7/365 problem solving, goal achievement machine.

Any creation requires a plan. I love to use mundane, everyday examples. Take for example a Thanksgiving meal, and let’s walk through the visualization and manifestation.

The visualization comes first. Let’s say you want the following on the table by a given time: turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls, gravy, vegetables, and something to drink – let’s say wine for grown ups and juice for kids.

Then – all actions lead to the goal, but please meditate deeply on the fact that the end vision came first, and the actions come after the vision of completion. These actions may include making a list, shopping, chopping, buying utensils, inviting people over via phone & internet, defrosting items, and planning a coordinated cooking schedule so everything is served hot at the same time.

Do you see that the full visualization of the end result informs the actions? Seeing the end makes you into a mechanism to achieve the end objective and pulls you to the vision, every time, without fail. We do this constantly in everyday life. It’s a natural law – like gravity.

Every single time I travel by plane, I think of the Wright Brothers, who did the same thing. It took incredible vision before anyone had flown, for 2 guys to see this possibility and not give up until it was reality.

The common person can say “planes, yeah whatever” because they only have the strength to look at what is – which is already the past. To say “yeah whatever” to planes is easy, lazy and what most common people do.

To look into your own life, with imagination and create and do what the Wright Brothers did is the mark of greatness.

To then see this in action, you will realize – it’s not about the goal itself. To see the Divine Laws in action and bring your visions to you is the most fulfilling thing in life…breathtaking. Through achievement, you grow spiritually and see with new eyes.

So to answer my buddy’s question “what do you spend your day doing?”, I review goals, determine the most important, and then get to work on finishing them.

Even if you work a regular job, have kids, or go to school – you can still set a goal and choose the most important one, and visualize it’s completion.

Homework Assignment…don’t read it, do it!!!

1. Determine your life’s main objective.

2 Write down 5 to 10 goals you’d like to achieve.

3. Determine the ONE of the 5 goal that is the most important, the one will have the most impact on your life.

4. Fully visualize its completion with absolutely no concern of how to do it. Know unfailingly that once you see it in your minds eye, it is achieved.

The Pinky Finger and the Sistine Chapel

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

If you’ve ever recorded in a studio, either solo or a band you probably know that you get to know every nook, cranny and mistakes of your own recordings better than anyone else.

It’s the audio version of when people look in the mirror and see every fault, pimple, and anything that looks different from a Hollywood actor. Some of the most beautiful men and women in the world always feel like they are falling short – looks wise…crazy, huh?

A very close friend of mine who is a fine painter told me once that she’d see aspiring artists in the Sistine Chapel in Rome doing painting studies of Michaelangelo’s works…and missing the point. They’d have an angel’s pinky finger perfectly copied, but miss the fullness of the body of the angel, and miss the entire composition that the angel was part of – the Sistine Chapel!

So attention to detail is very important…but it has to be met and balanced with attention to the big picture…in visual art maybe it’s stepping away from the canvas (or ceiling) and looking at the whole. As a jazz player it’s about forgetting the cool licks and lines and listening for sound and groove (music)…and as a studio musician and producer – it’s about NOT listening to your recording 24 hours a day so that you can actually hear it with fresh ears!!!

The other night a good friend, Joel Martin (genius pianist & composer IMHO) came over and I played him the Michael Jackson solo guitar tribute CD I have been working on. I had not listened for a few weeks, in order to give my ears a rest.

Magically – everything that sounded like a “blemish” or imperfection to me when I listened to it over and over in the studio – vanished and what was “front and center” was melody, groove and tone. With fresh ears, I got to enjoy the big picture. What’s really nice, is that if I like it, I have confidence that others will too! 🙂

During the recording process, I had my trusted team listening to my MJ takes – 3 musicians and 2 engineers. All of them have great ears and recording experience, giving me their input on which takes grooved best, which takes had “life” and even advised on the order of the songs. They helped see the big picture in case I was focused on details like quieting clicks and scrapes! 🙂

If you are recording yourself, or even preparing for a show – find someone whose opinion you truly trust, and let them give you input on how to improve. They may give you some very interesting advice. You may be looking at the detail of the “pinky finger “, and they’ll gently remind you of the big picture – “the Sistine Chapel.”

How To Achieve Originality in Your Music

By Adam Rafferty 24 Comments

Originality in your musical expression comes unexpectedly as a by-product and is not pre-thought or pre-meditated.

Originality, or an individual sound is the result of “assembling” your music based on “un-original” but correct principles, and then focusing “flow” through the lens of your personal experience.

Throughout your life you make thousands of decisions, collect preferences in terms of what you like and don’t like…and no one has these experiences, in this combination – except you. You have a totally unique viewpoint! Celebrate that! You can’t not be you, and that is beautiful.

To “try” to be original, is just the EGO at work. There is no trying to be original involved in true originality, IMHO. In fact – you may not ever perceive your own originality the way others do. To strive to be a pure channel for music – and serve it properly is the true way of someone whom others may perceive as “original.”

In spiritual traditions, many strive to “be like a hollow reed” for spirit to flow through. That’s the idea! Be a hollow reed.

To imitate another – you deny YOUR beliefs in “sound musical principles” and barely skim the surface…it’s an okay starting point for a child, but your story, your preferences, and your rich experience carry an authenticity and tell a story in a far more satisfying, deeper and authentic way than your imitation of another could ever possibly tell. Believe in your experience and your story….don’t give it up and think someone else’s is better!

How can one avoid imitation? Just learn correct musical principles and apply them. Applying principles is a better way to go than imitating another players idiosyncrasies.

When I study rhythm, I just try to do it right. When I play a scale I try to do it right. When a melody speaks to me, it’s the melody – not me, I am just the listener…when I beatbox – it’s my love for James Brown, Run DMC and groove, and I just try to do it right, put it as deep in the pocket as I can. When I fingerpick, I try to use good technique like my teachers showed me and get a nice tone. When I practice, I go slow and play things over and over…just trying to do it right. Get it? Others say I sound original – but I am just trying to do it right, as best as I can.

Keep doing your musical homework and don’t think about originality. Just play music as well as you can – strive for beauty, tone, time, touch and technique….study harmony, rhythm and repertoire – and let listeners perceive your “originality”, after the fact. Your original voice is something which you may not perceive yourself just yet. It is the ghost between the sounds, the relation of how you get from one idea to the next. The essence carried by your music reveals itself when you simply play properly and honestly.