Getting Your Music Past the Fear
To order, go to the
Booksurge website
There's a whole website devoted to the book
at www.gymptf.com
Look at the
cover! (pdf
file - need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
About the book -
Getting Your Music Past the Fear
is my version of the book I looked for for twenty years and never found. It's basically a
self-help book for musicians, written to help them do exactly what it says, get the music
past the fear, in all its guises. It's my sketch of the psychological landsape
of performance, and my concepts and ideas on how to hopefully shorten the time
necessary to learn to navigate it.
I work with
musicians nearly every day either recording them in my studio or playing at
various gigs, and I don't know anyone who doesn't have to deal with these issues
of fear. Most people who have been doing it awhile have found their own way of
working through or around the fear, and these ways may work well or perhaps
could be improved.
Or perhaps they work well up to a point but the musician feels stuck at a
certain level and is unable to move beyond and break through to a better place
in their career. And of course there are many more musicians, perhaps just
starting out, whose music is not getting out at all because it is blocked behind
walls of fear. From the
Booksurge
website -
"Getting Your Music
Past the Fear is for everyone who knows they have the music inside but feels
strangled by fear every time they try to let it out. Veteran musician,
songwriter, record producer and engineer Don Richmond explores the music and the
multiple forms and manifestations of fear that prevent your music from coming
out and doing its work in the world. The book contains both in-depth discussion
exploring the root causes of fear and a section of exercises presenting many
easily accessible, real-world techniques for dealing with fear’s immediate
effects. The discussion and exercises will help you get your music past the fear
in a wide range of areas, including performance, songwriting, recording,
business and promotion."
You can download portions
to check out on the next page -
GYMPTF Pg. 2 - downloadable files.
I hope it
is of use.
Outline -
 | Introduction
|
| Section 1 - Text and Discussion
|
| Chapter 1 - The Music
 | Defining music |
| Evolution of music |
| The spectrum of music and
expression |
| Teaching music |
| Where did the rules come
from and how do we know them? |
| Casting the spell |
| Spell vs. structure |
| Getting in |
| The worth and effect of music |
| Allowing practice to serve the
music |
|
| Chapter 2 - Self
| Why am I so afraid? |
| Using your body
 | Centering, grounding,
extending |
| Health and physical energy |
|
| Using your mind - outer issues
| The rulebook |
| Pain vs. pleasure |
| Choosing your focus |
| Into the music |
| Practicing how you want it to be |
| Unplugging |
|
| Paradox of focusing on self
| Music is bigger than you |
| Tar-baby and self-acceptance |
| Layers of fear |
|
| Worth
| Attaching worth |
| What's worth worth? |
| Defining worth |
| Worth and songwriting |
|
| Self-imposed limits |
| The ego |
| Using the voice |
|
| Chapter 3 - Relationships
| Performance - relationship with
the audience
| The beginning
of the performer-audience relationship |
| Audience
judgment - permission to be affected |
| Why, and why
not? |
| Playing your part
- accepting the mantle |
| Grounding and
centering in performance |
| Performing in
the now |
| Extension |
| Trying, and
trying not to try |
| Reaching past |
| Serve the
people, serve the music |
| Self worth vs. self-importance |
| The group
creative process - tossing the ball |
| Built-in magic |
|
| Playing in a band - relationship
with other musicians
| Areas of
expression as individuals and as a band |
| Diversity and
common ground |
| Keeping it
together |
| Being big |
| Aikido and
relationships |
| Blessings and
curses |
| Parts and roles
in bands |
|
| Gear
- relationship with equipment |
| Mates and families - your
support system |
| Getting gigs - relating to club
owners and industry people
| Appreciating
the product - the value and effect of music |
| Making it work
for everybody |
|
|
| Chapter 4 - The World
| Learning from the world
- feedback and expression
| Tossing the
ball |
|
| Binocular vision |
| Drive and motivation |
| Goals and methods in a
group
| Project
planning |
| Getting moving |
|
| Aikido and falling |
| Congruence and the physics of
honesty |
| Time, discipline, and
choice |
| Life at the regional level |
| Songwriting and
the process of creation
| Instruction and
authority |
|
| Making a recording,
getting it out
| Who do you think you are? |
| Being ready |
| The source of
authority |
| Studio stuff |
| Recording it
yourself? |
| Dynamics in the
studio |
| Ratcheting it
up vs. perfectionism |
| The producer |
| Wherever two or
more are gathered - |
| Mixing it up |
| Listening -
studio and performance |
| Promoting the
product |
| Promoting the
release event |
|
| Promotion and
image - the psychology
of the star |
| The Big Picture |
|
| Chapter 5 - The Path
| Belief systems, maps, rules and stories |
| Creating, like it or not |
| Desperation or worth |
| The courage and fortitude to walk
it |
| Fear as companion |
| Mind and no-mind |
| Occupying your space - sending energy |
| Serving something fine |
| Worth in the world |
| Into the Mystic - music as spiritual path and
practice |
| Walking the path |
|
| Section 2 - The
Workbook
|
| Tools
|
| Stage Fright Emergency Tool Kit
|
| General Purpose Exercises
| Grounding |
| Centering |
| Source awareness |
| Sending awareness |
| Purpose |
| Goals |
|
| Rehearsal Exercises
| Organizing practice |
| Clear the pathway |
| Send awareness |
| Let sound lead you |
| Let emotion and feeling lead you |
| Where are you in relation to the problem? |
| Hero technique |
| Setting the "doer" free |
|
| Performance Exercises
| It's about the MUSIC! |
| Grounding and centering in performance |
| Just for right now |
| Searchlight extension |
| Hero part two |
| Setting a trigger |
| Every song-best song |
| Threading the matrix |
| Unwiring the panic button |
| Reverse movie |
| Stage fright and "Yes, and - " |
| General mental rehearsal |
| Listening and weaving |
| Sound surfing |
| How easy can you make it? |
|
| Recording Exercises
| Getting a good overview |
| On top of it |
| Erase head |
| No remotes |
| Record surfing |
| How easy can you make it? |
|
| Songwriting Exercises
| Acceptance |
| In the waterfall |
| Song seeds |
| Hero techniques |
| Dealing with the critic |
| Dialog with the critic |
| End of the movie |
| The child at play |
|
| Business Exercises
| What's worth worth? |
| On purpose, again |
| You're not such a bad girl after all! |
| Money, money |
| Myth man |
| Remotely possible |
| No whining! |
| Partners and friends |
|
| The Path Exercises
| Extending the net |
| Listening to your life |
| The end of the road perspective |
|
| In closing
|
| Appendix A - Sources
for further reading and study
|
| Appendix B - Don Con's method of preparing to record a
CD
|
| Appendix C - The Tar Baby
story
|
