Per Service Podcast

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Welcome back to the podcast! What a delight to get back into the podcast season with a blast. We’ve got TWO amazing guests with us today: Drew Alexander Ford, (also known online as “That Viola Kid”) and cellist Roland Gjernes

View this post on Instagram Finally got some footage from our performances from #LincolnCenterStage–courtesy of some really kind patrons!

Today is somewhat of a per service lite version, as I don’t have my usual co-hosts with me today. We hit the perfect storm of scheduling last month, (no, I’m not talking about that polar vortex) We all just got really busy, and being in 3 different time zones didn’t help either. Even after we found a day, we had to scrap it because the internet for me and Anna kept falling out.

So, they will all be back soon. But for today, you’re still in for a treat. I called up my buddy, Paul Nelson, a cellist in Nashville, who besides having recorded for people like U2, Paul McCartney, One republic, and a million other people. Has reinvented himself many times over, from Arranging, producing, contracting, being a clinician, project manager, and more. He’s one of the most driven, creative, and productive people I’ve met.  

I know you will find this interesting, because normally on the podcast, we spend a lot of time speaking through the lens as classical musicians, but many of us make a portion of our incomes from commercial work. Also, many of us also supplement our gig income with side hustles or adjacent gigs that utilize a combination of skills.  And so it was a treat to sit down with someone who is doing all of these things, and to hear his advice on how to find joy and more money in the process.

Links We Mentioned:

Paul’s Big Take-Aways:

-Work on yourself as much as your instrument

-Learn how to network well

-Have pro-gear. You’re going to need them! (Maybe that’s just a music stand at the moment, but for others, maybe that means a better mic, in-ear monitors, etc.)

Things we Mentioned:

One of Paul’s Gold Records:

Steve Green:

(look who that is at 3:09!!!!)

The Nashville Number System

The New Psychology of Achievement: Breakthrough Strategies for Success and Happiness in the 21st Century

What do Sarah Chang, Chuckie Cheese’s and Toms all have in common?

They all have distinguished themselves by stacking multiple talents or traits together, and classical musicians can learn something from this practice too. Some talents (in your big mac stack) are beefier than others, cheesier than others, and some might be weird or gross on their own. But stack them all up, and you might just have something so unique the whole world will want to get their hands on. (ok, that metaphor is now over).

Hey, there I’m Michael O’Gieblyn, and this is the Per Service Podcast. We make this show, because being a musician today, doesn’t look like what we thought it was going to look like. We’re still figuring it all out – Year by year, gig to gig, service to service. 

And this is our little, judgement free place where we get together and actually talk about the BS sayings, acknowledge our insecurities, laugh about dumb stuff that only other musicians think is funny,  encourage each other, and inspire new ways of thinking about being a successful musician.

I think our episode today hits all those points, and I’m really excited to share it with you.

If you’re new to the show, we are four string players:

Anna Luce and Jessica Weirsma are respectively violin 1 and 2 on tour with Hamilton,

Christian Marshall is a violist extraordinaire based in Graz Austria.

I’m Michael O’Gieblyn I’m a violinist (and emergency violist if needed) in Boca Raton, Florida. 

 

Links We Mentioned:

Tim Herrera’s article that kicks things off about the Power Rangers:

Power Rangers MegaZord Transformations:

People who Talent Stack:

David Garrett: (Violin and Looking like a Calvin Klein Model)

Lindsay Stirling (Violin, and Dancing….and singing too)

Sarah Chang (Concert violinist, in high heels)

Courtesy of violinist.com

Yo Yo Ma (What doesn’t he do? and world music)

Chris Thile (Mandlolin cross-over artist)

Time for Three (Classical / Pop crossover and education )

I’m not an “ambi-turner”

Thanks to Ficks Music Publishing:

Use promo code “PERSERVICE” to get 10% off your order

Shop for sheet music now!

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