ESCAPE the usual pitfalls of CV writing

MusicLeader West Midlands is running a whole day dedicated to in-depth CV revamping, on Wednesday 2nd March 2011 @ mac in Birmingham.   

It’s especially designed for freelance musicians and artists who have waaaaay too many jobs to fit on one CV! We'll show you how to get it down to 2 sleek pages...

Give us a call and book your place 0121 446 3234 or
drop us an email: west-midlands@musicleader.net   

ARE DNA SESSIONS A WASTE OF TIME? & CAN I REALLY AFFORD A DNA WHEN I’VE GOT SO MUCH TO DO?

Clare Smith- MusicLeader West Midlands DNA Advisor

I’ve been asked for advice and guidance for most of the 18 years of my working life as a music leader - as a community musician, instrumental teacher, project manager and consultant. In my early freelance life delivering workshops and training nationally for Drake Music I took it as normal to be taking phone calls from musicians at 10.30pm seeking reassurance, hard facts and possible directions about and for their practice. There were few ‘formal’ avenues available except the trusted Sound Sense publications, Music Teacher, formal music teaching qualifications and a handful of places to learn about community music practice or indeed opportunities to develop ‘on the job’. I also felt that it was my duty after a long working day as Director of one of the country’s leading community music organisations, Sound It Out, to stay around (unpaid) for much longer to support musicians who wanted to develop project ideas, themselves or just have a good old-fashioned moan about the lack of support available for community music and musicians.

Ah… the bad old days….?  It could be that I’m a soft touch at heart or that I have an insatiable desire to support folk full stop (in particular those who are going through similar experiences to the ones I had ‘back in the day’ or indeed currently) that makes me love my work as a DNA Advisor.

The ‘bad old days’ weren’t that at all – there was a spirit of sharing practice in the wee small hours and developing together. The difference now is the offer for musicians is far more varied in terms of ‘information, advice and guidance’. We still all need those late night conversations with close colleagues and friends about what to do next with a particular project but to understand the now dizzying myriad of ways we might develop ourselves formally or informally there are other ports of call - including DNAs.

I would not claim the quality of the offer has gone up; I have happy memories of being immersed in More Music’s excellent ‘Ways Into Composition’ long weekend in Morecambe; spending time at The Depot Studios in Coventry and at friend’s houses in London learning knob twiddling informally; training on Soundability at Kinnersley Castle in deepest darkest Herefordshire (a byproduct of which was developing my own knowledge about working with people with learning difficulties) and engaging in interesting email debate with Bruce Cole at York following a publication of both our perspectives on community music training (formal and informal routes) in Sounding Board.

What has happened is serious investment in musicians, young people’s musical development and developing the leadership skills of musicians and young people in particular. Thanks to dedicated lobbying by high profile figures as well as those at the grass roots, we’d never had it so good. Disinvestment of key organisations, austerity measures and the up and coming October spending review have been and will be painful. There is less work, more people chasing it and even less time for those vital informal and formal developments or even spending a couple of hours reflecting on ‘which way now?’ which is what a DNA offers you

My colleagues and I have supported hundreds of Music Leaders through DNA sessions in reflecting on their skills, thinking about the ones that are missing or need developing, provoking questions and moving to action. I am proud to be part of this and proud we as a sector have found a way to formalise and improve what we were already doing in non-existent time squeezed out of an already hectic schedule.

Now DNAs are not just a confidential space to discuss hopes, dreams, aspirations and fears but have a shape, organisational support at a regional level and access to a national network. The sessions are bespoke as I always used to offer back in the day, but are now better researched and developed as they are paid for.

And MusicLeader West Midlands will follow up your DNA, if needed, 6 months down the line to see how you’re getting on. Can’t say better than that.

In these times of change you can’t afford not to.

CPD the final instalment- the MusicLeader sat nav!

Erika - Director
We all know there are plenty of good reasons to undertake professional development.  However, it’s worth taking some time out to reflect on the WHY, WHAT & HOW, before embarking on the road trip – most importantly to ensure it’s the right road for you.  

So what maps can MusicLeader West Midlands sat nav offer you?

We promise not to make you drive through a river, what we offer is a range of information, advice and guidance services. 

From our Start Up sessions for those who are relatively new and just want to get to grips with all things music leading, to our individually tailored DNA service and our Action Learning set.   The thing that these services have in common is that our focus is about providing you with the space to reflect on what is the most appropriate road for you.

So why don’t you explore the journey’s you could embark on with MusicLeader West Midlands. 

Value & Benefit of CPD... HELP!!!

Erika - Director

A very good friend once explained the theory of selling the value of something, compared to selling the benefit. 

If we think of a mug – what is its value?

Well we can carry boiling water from A to B without it leaking. 

So what is the benefit of that mug?

Well the main benefit has to be that I can enjoy my delicious mug of coffee without it burning me.  

So let’s expand this a little, if we think of our continuing professional development in relation to music leading– what is the value and benefit?

Value = what does it do? 

The value of CPD is that it makes you better informed – specifically that you maybe more proficient in your chosen area of development. 

Benefit = what does that mean to me?

Well in this case you can take that proficiency and make the decision to put that into practice and act accordingly.  This may mean that you are in a position to offer a more professional service to clients, for example.  

A by product of this value and benefit system, may be that you are in a better position to increase your work base and generate more income, but this is not a direct result of undertaking CPD – ultimately it’s comes down to how an individual or organisation chooses to implement that learning, and how they convert that change. 

So this takes me back to my original starting point from my 1st blog


If we are not sure about the value and benefit to ourselves of undertaking CPD – how can we expect others to make that link?

Back to the digging - what are we doing & why...

A colleague, who has worked within the music education sector for quite a while, once introduced me to the phrase ‘clarity of purpose’ - essentially it requires us to ask ourselves the million dollar question - what are we doing and why are we doing it? 

It’s a really useful check point for anything we do – if after asking the questions, the answers are still unclear – maybe that’s when we need to take the time out to reflect. 

In the context of my discussions with our membership, the desire to access information was in the most part about improving the work delivered and the quality of experience provided.  But whatever your motivation it is worth bearing in mind, that any time we choose to commit, is just like any other investment. 

Erika

How do we decide what professional development is right for us?

Erika - Director
“If we are not sure about the value and benefit to ourselves of undertaking CPD – how can we expect others to make that link?”

When thinking about the content for this blog I started reflecting back on some of the conversions I have had with music leaders from the West Midlands region over the past twelve months, there have been a number of common themes.  One of those is recurring themes is access to, and use of information. 
There is so much information available on the internet, so we all know it’s very easy to get information overload!  Obviously you can use the MusicLeader website [and that has a handy search function] but those discussions with music leaders raised an interesting point for me.   My inbox is inundated daily with newsletters I have willingly signed up to, in order to keep me up-to-date with all things music leading, not to mention all the booked-marked websites on my internet browser that I try to visit regularly.  But sometimes it can just get a bit too much to actually take in.  So how do we fight our way through this information jungle?

We have to have access to information, and there are numerous ways to access information, whether that’s on or offline.  However, for me there are two questions which really help me decide whether to proceed with accessing the information... Why do I want that information? And furthermore what am I going to do with the information when I find it?

If the answer to either question leaves you scratching your head then it’s worth doing a bit more digging. 


Read my next blog to follow the digging...

Erika