Sunday, April 20, 2008

GMA Indie Impact - Day 1

I don't know why I'm still up! It was an early and a long day, and tomorrow will be even earlier and longer, but I really need to write a little before turning in for the night.

So, today was Day 1 of my GMA Week experience. As I wrote earlier, I have been blessed with a scholarship to attend the weekend workshop called Indie Impact. The goal of these workshops is to help the indie artist, and I think they did a fairly good job of that today.

The morning started bright and early with music by husband and wife duo, The Dentes. Actually, they reminded me a little of me and Gerald. I really liked their melodies, but the sound was not good, so I couldn't hear any of their lyrics. The husband is a fantastic guitar player (lots of tapping and cool stuff), so that was awesome.

They were followed by amazing guest speaker Nate Larkin. The core of his speech was how having a false persona can keep you from God. He had this terrific metaphor about how sometimes we act like dogs - faithful, loyal, obedient - but then that cat side of us comes out - wild, independent, wandering. He build the metaphor in a detailed way to illustrate the different ways we relate to God. Really great speaker!

Next we had the only panel of the day to discuss "How big is your 'Why'?". It was all about purpose and your calling, but frankly, I'm pretty clear on that stuff, and nothing really new was said for me.

But what followed next was fantastic. Tom Jackson is a world-renowned performance coach. His speciality is developing a live show that will engage your audience and leave them changed. He didn't do any hands on work today, but he did lay out the basics of his theories, which was incredible. Took lots of notes!

At lunch, I ran into fellow Canadians Ali Matthews and Rick Francis. They're both very cool and super-talented, so that was all good.

After lunch, we started with a booking seminar with Tara Leigh Cobble. You may not have heard of Tara, but in her first year as an indie artist, she played over 200 shows. For those who are wondering, that's incredible! She is a booking machine, and she broke down her techniques and strategies into very doable pieces. She is just an absolute work horse, and reminded us that making music is 'blue collar work' - You have be prepared to work hard and get your hands dirty. Very inspiring!

Next was a workshop on using the internet. I was excited about this one, but it ended up being a thinly-veiled commercial for a company who provides internet services for artists. The one good thing was they discussed creative ways to connect with fans, so that was useful. They mentioned several times that we should all be blogging. One step ahead of you there...

We had a workshop labeled "Multiple Streams of Revenue" which sounded great and was. In addition to discussing the multiple streams, Vince Wilcox also gave a great and simple overview on money management for artists. Money is so rarely discussed in a healthy and practical way in ministry circles, so I think this was just great for everybody.

We ended the day with a short worship session with Alli Rogers. Great voice, and I think we all needed to sing a bit at that point.

At the end of the day, I met up with Tara Jackson to tell her about the workshops, go over my new bio, and to get her new CD! Yay, Tara!

Tomorrow morning starts again at 8 am... or, you know ... 8ish...

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