Split business and personal emails in two different accounts. This will increase your creative space but also make you more professional.

The time when a big label signs artists with a big check and a lot of artistic freedom are gone. But today’s world offers good ways for financing and distributing your recording.

The demand on your time is enormous. Practice, rehearsals, learning new repertoire, business issues and more can easily stress you out. My little secret is to divide my day in active and re-active slots.

Even in a digital world these small pieces of paper with your contact details on there are really helpful. Get them and make sure that they represent what you stand for.

We have more and more communication tools available. Picking the right one at the right moment when in contact with festivals and concert halls is important. Some guidance from Bernhard.

A career in classical music will comprise several activities. You will play a bit solo, you might play in an ensemble, you might teach. Start to think early on about your portfolio to ensure that you are not only prepared but can really thrive in it.

Making music in ensembles

Working with agents requires close cooperation. Define together what you want to achieve and what everyone has to do. Be aware of “rouge agents” who just take money but are not really artist managers. If in doubt check at www.classicalmusicartists.com

Finding creativity for classical musicians can be hard. The pressure on their schedule is immense with practice, rehearsals, business issues and much more to take care of. You need to think about preparing the ground for creativity to happen.

Selling can be hard. As artists we would love just to be called up for a performance. Unfortunately life is different. Therefore I suggest a deal: do a bit of selling every morning and let me know how it goes.