An Indie Musician's Diary Vol 2

Confidence is Key

Confidence in making your music and your mission as an artist are some of the keys to your success as an indie musician. I'll just leave the above video here.

I was thinking about artists I love and their confidence:

David Crowder for his humour, country + electro pop music and great lyrics (and his simplicity/believe-ability. He interacts with humour on Instagram and Facebook posting funny signs and happenings along his tour. He even showed how he tries to fold laundry correctly but fails. > I love to be honest, real to life and have fun. AND I love to wear jeans.

Many of the country women artists and female rock guitarists have great hairdos with super blond, long hair. I am naturally blonde but my hair can turn into a crazy dull colour at times. My hair is the most important part of my image and, therefore,  I just bought a new shampoo that keeps my hair from turning ugly blonde like it does every single Autumn/Winter. Works great and boosts my confidence!

No, I am not receiving any money from them to mention this. I am simply so satisfied with the results!

Looking the part boosts confidence

Also, when I dress or even when I go outside, I try to look the part of a musician, and think that anyone I meet might be a potential person to work with or play music for (or even pray for).

There is something about feeling believable as an artist and I've needed to work on it in all the various aspects.

"First I had to tell myself that I can do this music, then I needed to do the music, now I can be the music. Going around, looking like a musician but not having any music done isn't being a musician/artist." 

 Being the part is much better than playing it.

Working on it

Confidence is something that I've had to work on. With practice and some effort and especially a change of mind, I was able to boost my confidence in myself and what I am doing. People didn't take me seriously when I quit my job and started recording music. I had to shut up and do the work. Maybe they still think I am a joke or a dreamer, but I see the results of years of work and I feel secure in the fact that I am indeed a music creator/producer to reckon with.

I also realise that I am far less prepared for music creation than most musicians I know because my knowledge of music theory, song creation, arrangements, etc is basic and wanting. I have my feet firmly planted on the ground and am aware of my weaknesses. Having confidence that is rooted in reality is a powerful thing because it opens the door to collaboration. I can be a little proud that I managed to bring 11 musicians together to get this done, but I alone would have never pulled this off. I have confidence in that we are a great team pulling this off together.

I am hopeful that the album will be fully mixed before Christmas and I am thankful for all the support these great people involved in it have provided for me. I get reminded of this every day. Today I was working on the song Rising and the bass track is breathtaking. Remembering that Jesper Nordberg was only 18 or 19 at the time makes it ever more amazing. What would that song be without his bass?

So, I enjoy my victories and learn from my mistakes/defeats. I embrace my weakness, fixing what I can and loving myself along the road of life. I am sure that every musician battles with confidence. The only way to tackle it is to face your fear and do the work. Jesper is already doing very well and is studying jazz bass at a college level in Copenhagen. He is going to go far - I am confident of that! 

(BTW I created an Adobe Spark account today and had some fun today with it sketching music video ideas there for free. )

Until next time...

check out my YouTube channel and my account on ReverbNation.com