The Musician Toolkit with David Lane

It's such an easy thing to do. You're impressed with a great musician or other artist, and you talk about or get to compliment them, and out comes this word that seemingly everyone uses as a 1st choice...and that word is "talented". Talent is certainly worth having, but it shouldn't be THE quality that gets the praise. To quote the title of Geoff Colvin's wonderful book, Talent is Overrated, it's not because talent has no value, but as a tool it is VERY limited. As a first choice of compliment, especially to a student musician, there is the possibility of hugely negative consequences, as David Lane explains in this episode

Has the label "talented" been a roadblock for you or someone you know? If you'd like to share a brief account of your story, you can at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit

If you're not comfortable leaving a voice message, you can send me a message at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/contact

You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Dr. Frank Lehman, film music scholar and professor at Tufts University, returns to chat with David Lane about a score that is often lauded as the greatest of all time, The Empire Strikes Back composed by John Williams. This episode is a discussion along with musical examples of the themes, harmonies, and orchestration choices that make this a masterpiece, along with a comparison to the 1st Star Wars series, and a little on the legendary performance from the London Symphony Orchestra. May the force be with you as you join us as we tackle this ultimate Jedi of scores!

If you missed it, be sure to catch the 1st episode with Dr. Lehman, where we discussed John Williams more generally as well as some other scores here: https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit/episode/7d49eeaa/episode-8-the-craft-of-john-williams-with-frank-lehman

Frank's marvelous catalog of Star Wars themes and analysis is located here: https://franklehman.com/starwars/

Do you have something to add to our discussion? Let me know by telling me directly at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit or you can send me a written message at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/contact

Musical Excerpts. All tracks by John Williams and from The Empire Strikes Back except where noted.

18:39 King's Row Main Title (Erich W Korngold)

19:30 Theme from Ivanhoe (Miklos Rozsa) 27:14 Darth Vader Motif from Star Wars 29:02 The Imperial March (2 clips) 34:16 Yoda's Theme 34:47 Yoda's Death (Return of the Jedi) 37:10 Yoda and the Force 39:58 Han Solo and the Princess 40:51 Princess Leia's Theme (Star Wars) 42:20 Rescue from Cloud City 43:55 The Rebel Fleet/Finale 45:12 End Credits 46:36 Droids Theme 47:25 The Wampa's Lair 48:28 Main Title (Luke's Theme) 48:53 Force Theme 49:50 Rebel Fanfare 51:25 Lando's Theme 52:41 Boba Fett's Theme/Attack Position 53:18 Darth Vader's Trap 54:17 Dark Side Motif/Magic Cave 54:46 Yoda and the Force 56:04 The Asteroid Field (2 clips) 59:54 City in the Clouds 1:01:11 Mynock Cave 1:02:16 End Credits (Raiders of the Lost Ark) 1:02:30 End Credits (Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade) 1:04:48 Mynock Cave 1:08:22 The Battle of Hoth (5 clips) 1:15:08 Carbon Freeze (2 clips) 1:18:48 Hyperspace 1:22:37 End Credits

You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/ . If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can also now find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

Problem 1: Not having long-term goals puts us in the trap of focusing only on day-by-day or week-by-week tasks. We get things done, but we're not moving towards anything bigger.

Problem 2: Long-term goals can be overwhelming, exhausting our patience and our discipline. Something that's going to take 2 or 3 years or longer can be very tough for staying the course.

Solution: Quarterly planning and review!

In this episode, David Lane shares why he loves quarterly goals and how they hit that sweet spot of short term productivity and long term ambition. He also explains the critical addition of the review process at the end of each quarter so that you're constantly learning from both your successes and your failures to always be creating better goals. There are also suggestions of how you can implement this system as a musician. Check out this episode right way, just before Q3 begins, and plan out a great 3 months!

What has been your experience with quarterly goals? Are you inspired to get started? Let me know your thoughts on this episode at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit or you can send me a written message at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/contact

You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/ . If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can also now find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

If you're a performing musician who uses sheet music, sightreading is one of the skills that you want to prioritize in developing, so this is the first of many times that this podcast will likely talk about this tool. Erica Sipes is a pianist with a live show on her channel called Sightreading Maverick. We touch on some of the physical tools needed to sightread well, but primarily we talk about the emotional and mindset tools that often get neglected when discussing this skill.

Check out Erica's services at https://www.beyondthenotescoaching.com/ and subscribe to her YouTube channel as well as watch past episodes of Sightreading Maverick (and tune in on Sundays at 1pm Eastern) at https://www.youtube.com/@EricaSipes

From this episode, what most resonated with you, or what do you think I should have included? Let me know by telling me directly at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit or you can send me a written message at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/contact

You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/ . If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can also now find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.

David Lane shares 10 of his favorite books that aren't about music, but they speak to a mindset or a strategy that absolutely will help musicians in their quest to be better at practice and be better at improving themselves in every way.

The books discussed:

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

The Right Call

The Infinite Game

Effortless

Grip

Atomic Habits

Range

The One Thing

The War of Art

So Good They Can't Ignore You

Let me know your thoughts on this episode at https://www.speakpipe.com/MusicianToolkit or you can send me a written message at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/contact

You can find this episode and links to this show on all podcast apps from https://musiciantoolkit.podbean.com/ . If you enjoyed this, please give it a rating and review on the podcast app of your choice. You can also now find the podcast at https://www.davidlanemusic.com/toolkit

You can follow David Lane AND the Musician Toolkit podcast on Facebook @DavidMLaneMusic, on Instagram and TikTok @DavidLaneMusic, and on YouTube @davidlanemusic1

This episode is sponsored by Fons, an online platform that helps private teachers of all types (music, yoga, martial arts, academic tutoring, coaches, etc) with smooth, automated assistance such as securing timely automatic payments and scheduling. Click here for more information or to begin your free trial.