On the 20th October I am running a course about making money from music and it will look at building a business involving playing and teaching and creating streams of income that support one another.
The whole idea of this is an extension to the teaching that I do and that many of my pupils go on to play and teach, and like all things you can fall into the same traps that we all do trying to run a small business.
Many errors that are made are due to the fundamental attitude of running a business. You might not fail because you are a bad musician but you will fail because you are bad at business or bad at communicating.
I think the reason that I have lasted so long is that I am quite good at building a rapport with pupils and this does give me an advantage over a number of other teachers that I know, none of whom are guitarists I hasten to add.
If you are interested in attending contact me on vichyland@msn.com the cost is only £50 for the day and this will repay itself many times over.
Vic
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Monday, 23 September 2013
Discovery using old technology
I like to spend time watching and talking to musicians who play music unfamiliar to me, I find their music inspiring and on many occasions incredible and gives me new ideas about my music and my teaching practices.
Stepping outside ones comfort zone is very important for the process of learning and yet it is the very thing that we are not doing and as a society it is becoming endemic that we are ring fencing what we know. This is happening in a way that you may not spot because it is happening all around you; I will sum up it in two words, Google and Amazon.
As a kid I spent lots of time in the library and one of my favourite books as a child was an encyclopaedia. I had and still do have a fascination for new ‘facts’ and ideas and I have always made a point of looking at things in circles. I looked at circles that touched the circle of what I knew and then moved into a circle that touched that, so as an example I might look up the Roman empire which would take me to the Greeks and then to the myths and then to Hindu myths and then meditation and then to Ayurveda and so on.
Also you would stumble by ‘accident’ on something you really did not know so you might in a library see a book that was put back in the wrong place etc. this does not happen if you follow the rules of Amazon because they suggest books to you based on what you have browsed or have bought so it reinforces what you already think. Now if you throw dice to determine what you did well that would really open up the possibilities of learning!
Google gives you things that are chronological common in your searches so you get the stuff that others are searching, now for someone who is rather weird like me that is not what one wants. I know that raising your profile through traffic on twitter and Facebook makes it possible for you to compete in the traffic online easier (!) but not for discovery in something old which brings me back to the book found in a second hand shop or in the library. Let us face it that was the old World Wide Web maybe it could help you to discover things and be creative in ways that may in the near future be different from the crowd.
Vic
www.bluescampuk.co.uk one day course in October to make money from music contact for details
Stepping outside ones comfort zone is very important for the process of learning and yet it is the very thing that we are not doing and as a society it is becoming endemic that we are ring fencing what we know. This is happening in a way that you may not spot because it is happening all around you; I will sum up it in two words, Google and Amazon.
As a kid I spent lots of time in the library and one of my favourite books as a child was an encyclopaedia. I had and still do have a fascination for new ‘facts’ and ideas and I have always made a point of looking at things in circles. I looked at circles that touched the circle of what I knew and then moved into a circle that touched that, so as an example I might look up the Roman empire which would take me to the Greeks and then to the myths and then to Hindu myths and then meditation and then to Ayurveda and so on.
Also you would stumble by ‘accident’ on something you really did not know so you might in a library see a book that was put back in the wrong place etc. this does not happen if you follow the rules of Amazon because they suggest books to you based on what you have browsed or have bought so it reinforces what you already think. Now if you throw dice to determine what you did well that would really open up the possibilities of learning!
Google gives you things that are chronological common in your searches so you get the stuff that others are searching, now for someone who is rather weird like me that is not what one wants. I know that raising your profile through traffic on twitter and Facebook makes it possible for you to compete in the traffic online easier (!) but not for discovery in something old which brings me back to the book found in a second hand shop or in the library. Let us face it that was the old World Wide Web maybe it could help you to discover things and be creative in ways that may in the near future be different from the crowd.
Vic
www.bluescampuk.co.uk one day course in October to make money from music contact for details
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Someone is controlling your life and guess what, it isn’t you….. at the moment.
I was preparing for a course that I am running next week which explores creative techniques of playing music and within that I wanted to show how much we are controlled by the outside world.
Richard Bandler says that it is not a case of ‘can I be put into a trance but more a case of what trance am I in?’ We move from one trance state to another and the trick is to be able to choose your trance and it not to be dictated by someone else.
As an experiment I used a technique which I have used before, but speeded up, where my partner managed to make her memory of the colour of the front door of a previous home disappear, in fact the door in her memory vanished so as she thought of the house it had no front door. This took about three minutes to achieve.
Music is such a great way of exploring the unconscious and to be great artists we need to develop that muscle of creativity. One of the first things that we need is to get out of the straight jacket that society has put us in. Start by dreaming what you want and then present it as already happened, this puts it into our unconscious, and then let it fly. Strangely being detached from this emotionally at this point works a bit like buying something online, the emotion is there before the purchase, once you have confirmed the sale forget about it; it is going to be posted anyway.
What the unconscious does is spot opportunity, because you have not 'forgotten the colour of the front door' and therefore you can 'see' opportunity because you are empowered, remember the whole system of society is wrapped up in disempowerment; education, health, wealth creation, getting old, everything.
When you realise the doctors look sicker than you and the teachers who are teaching your children are not the sort of people that you would let plan your life based on their wisdom as many are fresh out of university so why are they the fonts of knowledge for you most precious thing, your child? And why are the politicians who make the decisions such bunch of self-opinionated ego obsessed twits? Because we supposedly are not clever enough to be in control ourselves so we have given it to some asshole from Eton. How did we get there? Well when we build people to be aware of their genius and use all the resources to honour that then we will build great societies of creative people, people who will make decisions about what they are good at not being manipulated into doing science because 'we need more scientists or engineers' who are the 'we' anyway?
Back to the creative musicians, put to one side the stuff that you have programmed that limits you and start with a new belief, not that you need to be saved by a beneficent god or saviour that is all part of the control. Ancient people did not believe this, they believed that they worked in harmony with their gods and in many cases their gods where fallible and had weakness like us in fact we could become gods in their eyes. That to me sounds a great idea and maybe for all of us to become rock gods, goddesses and guitar deities; sounds like a good place to start dreaming.
Vic
Check out www.bluescampuk.co.uk for three days of being a Rock musician
Friday, 30 August 2013
Which came first the chicken or the egg? Answer, the dinosaur.
Often we get into a state of circular thinking where one situation is linked to another and vice versa, one perpetuating another or even precluding another; you are unable to move on without breaking the circle.
In such situations the answer lies outside of that loop as in the case of the chicken and the egg, whose answer if you go back far enough was the dinosaur but it is also a lateral thinking answer as well.
An example of one of these loops is the belief that someone is not musical and therefore they are not able to develop their abilities because they are not musical. How do you get good at playing a musical instrument if you first do not believe that you are able to become good enough? The fact is that EVERYOONE is musical and when I say musical and do not mean being able to play the guitar like someone else because that is mimicry. We can all speak but we do not all impersonate other people like a Rory Bremner or a John Sessions.
The deeper that one studies thought the stranger it becomes especially when you factor in hypnotic language patterns in the media which are influencing you, as well as the strange effect played by food and drink on your mind; the research into funguses and bacteria really make you wonder who is doing the thinking (I will return to this another time).
Breaking circular thinking requires us to hold an idea outside of the loop which is why lateral thinking can be effective as we are made to stand outside of the circle and look in.
There is a Buddhist quote about thoughts being clouds floating across the sky of the mind. If you take that analogy further clouds are formed by things that are not clouds, sea, wind, thermal currents, water vapour, heat etc. SO, our thoughts might be ‘created’ by forces outside of our own minds? When you change your belief patterning you become open to other influences creating new thermals and weather patterns to create new clouds of consciousness. For us the trick is to nudge these in the direction of travel that we desire.
Pattern breaking is what makes a great artist, Picasso, Hendrix, Miles Davis and Paganini where not great because they copied others they were great because they were different, something not encouraged in education where conformity is the pattern.
Be yourself. Break circular patterns that do not help you and remember that music in one form or another was here before the dinosaurs. Oh very deep.
Vic
check out www.bluescampuk.co.uk
Have a look at the pictures of this years rock stars, you could do that next year. Special deals available contact me for details through the site
In such situations the answer lies outside of that loop as in the case of the chicken and the egg, whose answer if you go back far enough was the dinosaur but it is also a lateral thinking answer as well.
An example of one of these loops is the belief that someone is not musical and therefore they are not able to develop their abilities because they are not musical. How do you get good at playing a musical instrument if you first do not believe that you are able to become good enough? The fact is that EVERYOONE is musical and when I say musical and do not mean being able to play the guitar like someone else because that is mimicry. We can all speak but we do not all impersonate other people like a Rory Bremner or a John Sessions.
The deeper that one studies thought the stranger it becomes especially when you factor in hypnotic language patterns in the media which are influencing you, as well as the strange effect played by food and drink on your mind; the research into funguses and bacteria really make you wonder who is doing the thinking (I will return to this another time).
Breaking circular thinking requires us to hold an idea outside of the loop which is why lateral thinking can be effective as we are made to stand outside of the circle and look in.
There is a Buddhist quote about thoughts being clouds floating across the sky of the mind. If you take that analogy further clouds are formed by things that are not clouds, sea, wind, thermal currents, water vapour, heat etc. SO, our thoughts might be ‘created’ by forces outside of our own minds? When you change your belief patterning you become open to other influences creating new thermals and weather patterns to create new clouds of consciousness. For us the trick is to nudge these in the direction of travel that we desire.
Pattern breaking is what makes a great artist, Picasso, Hendrix, Miles Davis and Paganini where not great because they copied others they were great because they were different, something not encouraged in education where conformity is the pattern.
Be yourself. Break circular patterns that do not help you and remember that music in one form or another was here before the dinosaurs. Oh very deep.
Vic
check out www.bluescampuk.co.uk
Have a look at the pictures of this years rock stars, you could do that next year. Special deals available contact me for details through the site
Sunday, 25 August 2013
You are only a few steps away….
At Bluescampuk this year we had a number of guests visit and jam with the campers
Chas Hodges came down on the Friday as did a good friend and session bass player Chis Dagger.
Chas played through lots of old rock and roll material with the attendees and also played through some of his hits finishing with London Girls. Chris Dagger came down so he could jam with Chas as he has been a fan of Chas and Dave for years.
Chris is currently working with Lianne La Havas and had just returned from a tour of America before playing at Glastonbury. After Bluescampuk Chris went home and we received a text saying ‘got in and Lianne is on the phone to Prince as he is in town.’
One of the things that we like to get across to the campers is that you are so close to what you believe is impossible you just have to change your beliefs and the world will change. By getting close to others and then making connections we then bring their connections closer, this is the principle of the Six degrees of separation that Milgram proposed back in the 60’s where you are only six connections away from anyone.
Maybe this is due to the choices we make or maybe because we have different filters set up we then see new opportunities to achieve what we now believe is possible just by changing your ideas and then asking and making contacts.
Later in the evening Chris sent another text saying ‘Just borrowed and jacket and shoes from a stranger and managed to get into a private club. Just chillin with Prince.’ So maybe borrowing clothing may be good as well.
Vic
Check out the website
www.bluescampuk.co.uk
Chas Hodges came down on the Friday as did a good friend and session bass player Chis Dagger.
Chas played through lots of old rock and roll material with the attendees and also played through some of his hits finishing with London Girls. Chris Dagger came down so he could jam with Chas as he has been a fan of Chas and Dave for years.
Chris is currently working with Lianne La Havas and had just returned from a tour of America before playing at Glastonbury. After Bluescampuk Chris went home and we received a text saying ‘got in and Lianne is on the phone to Prince as he is in town.’
One of the things that we like to get across to the campers is that you are so close to what you believe is impossible you just have to change your beliefs and the world will change. By getting close to others and then making connections we then bring their connections closer, this is the principle of the Six degrees of separation that Milgram proposed back in the 60’s where you are only six connections away from anyone.
Maybe this is due to the choices we make or maybe because we have different filters set up we then see new opportunities to achieve what we now believe is possible just by changing your ideas and then asking and making contacts.
Later in the evening Chris sent another text saying ‘Just borrowed and jacket and shoes from a stranger and managed to get into a private club. Just chillin with Prince.’ So maybe borrowing clothing may be good as well.
Vic
Check out the website
www.bluescampuk.co.uk
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Making money from teaching and playing
Want to earn money from playing and teaching maybe
you want to earn more?
Now is your chance!
Making money from teaching and
playing
Sunday 20th October Hadlow in Kent. 10 till 4
Over thirty five years of experience in music and running
my own teaching practice. Now I am going to show you how to make money from
music. In that time I have taught
thousands of people, I exam here and
abroad, I write books and promote my musical interests. I have learnt many
things in that time that are not found in books, the tricks of the trade if you
will. They are the communication skills, the marketing ideas the business
techniques that make the difference between it being a hobby and making money.
This has been motivated in part by the economic climate
because a few of my pupils have asked me so they can make money and I thought
it was time that I put this information out.
You might be thinking to yourself ‘ I could go and buy a
book about this’, and you could but I does not get to the real facts and points
that I cover in the seminar 'making money from teaching and playing' because a
book can only go so far. In this seminar I cut to the chase and pack the
information for you not only that you will become part of a network so you can
share ideas and ask questions.
My other fascination apart from music is that of business
and marketing and I have read literally hundreds of books and listened to hours
and hours of talks on business and marketing. I have interviewed successful
businessman and then written a book on the subject.
For me running a successful business as a musician is
down to the business and not the music because you could be the best but if no
one knows you or you are a bad communicator you will not succeed.
You may know many great bedroom musicians, you may be one
yourself but I want you to go out into the outside world and make money!
Now the economic climate is tough also means
paradoxically that you have an opportunity to start or develop your business
and because you have to think about pricing and value you will have a stronger
business for it.
For those of you already earning money from music this
seminar will be able to help you lock your musical skills together to make
money. This is a skill that I am good at because I had to be and I learnt the
hard way so take the opportunity to learn from the thousands of pounds of my
investment and get yourself increasing your income.
We will cover these and many other points…
How to set up as a teaching
What you need
How to get into teaching at schools.
Do I need a teaching diploma?
Book keeping and tax information
How to advertise ... For free
How to increase 'share of wallet'
Lesson Ideas, making them inspiring and original.
Writing reports.
Getting gigs to pay in more ways
How performing and teaching can develop one another and
increase your cash flow
How to think as a business person not a hobbyist
How to price your product
Set up courses
Sell online
Teach on the Internet .. And much more
I have over the years invested £1000's in training and
study and all your investment will be is £50 in something that will generate
increased income.
A free copy of 'the art of creativity' on CD
Time for change
Socrates was sitting outside the gates of Athens when a man comes up to him. The man says ‘I am thinking of moving to Athens; what is it like living here?’ Socrates looks up and asks him ‘I would gladly tell you but answer me one question; what is it like where you live now?
The man replied ‘Terrible! The people are back stabbers and thieves, I will be leaving no friends behind me only enemies’ Socrates frowned ‘Well you had best be on your way because you will only find the same thing here in Athens.’
Later a second man approached who was considering moving to Athens. Once again the philosopher asked him of his previous experience of his home town. The man smiled and said ‘Where I come from the people all work together and help each other. Kindness is everywhere and you are always treated with respect. ‘Welcome to Athens’, smiled Socrates, ‘you will find the same thing here.’
How we see the world and the people around us is all to do with our programming and our beliefs. When people come to me to learn music I often reach a point where they meet themselves on the road and that is their biggest obstacle. Their beliefs are the only thing holding them back. What people believe about their abilities and failings are the things that need to be looked at and the more education someone gets the worse they are.
These programmes that run are put in by others, family, teachers, friends and then the outside world think about it they were not even your own thoughts! Maybe it is time to get the programming you deserve; yours.
So start by changing what you believe; if it is negative and you find it ‘truthful’, remember all hypnotic programming seems truthful BECAUSE is it hypnotic; fake it and then give it time and see what happens, trust me things will change.
It is time to take control and let the rock star out.
Vic
check out www.bluecampuk.co.uk
The man replied ‘Terrible! The people are back stabbers and thieves, I will be leaving no friends behind me only enemies’ Socrates frowned ‘Well you had best be on your way because you will only find the same thing here in Athens.’
Later a second man approached who was considering moving to Athens. Once again the philosopher asked him of his previous experience of his home town. The man smiled and said ‘Where I come from the people all work together and help each other. Kindness is everywhere and you are always treated with respect. ‘Welcome to Athens’, smiled Socrates, ‘you will find the same thing here.’
How we see the world and the people around us is all to do with our programming and our beliefs. When people come to me to learn music I often reach a point where they meet themselves on the road and that is their biggest obstacle. Their beliefs are the only thing holding them back. What people believe about their abilities and failings are the things that need to be looked at and the more education someone gets the worse they are.
These programmes that run are put in by others, family, teachers, friends and then the outside world think about it they were not even your own thoughts! Maybe it is time to get the programming you deserve; yours.
So start by changing what you believe; if it is negative and you find it ‘truthful’, remember all hypnotic programming seems truthful BECAUSE is it hypnotic; fake it and then give it time and see what happens, trust me things will change.
It is time to take control and let the rock star out.
Vic
check out www.bluecampuk.co.uk
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