Four Steps to Recover from Procrastinating

procrastination recovery fall boots

Due to events that I’m deciding to call “out of my control,” I did approximately diddly-squat this past week. Sometimes life happens and you end up procrastinating. Let’s say you got bit by a mosquito and things spiraled and you went to the ER for a little bit. Or maybe your life isn’t as unnecessarily dramatic as mine and you just spent time sleeping instead of doing homework. Regardless, it’s…

Read More

4 Reasons Not To Panic in Undergrad (or grad, or postgrad)

First seen on my Patreon! I took 156 credits in 8 semesters during my undergraduate career. That’s an average of 19.5 a semester, and most music classes didn’t offer interim options. I spent my entire undergrad deeply overloaded. Why? Because I had this deep, ingrained idea that once I graduated, that was it. That was my chance, and I wasn’t going to get the opportunity to learn this stuff in…

Read More

Four Ways to Avoid Feeling Like a Failure

failure music fall

So! Everyone I know right now seems to be having a quarter-life crisis. Some people don’t feel like they’re good enough for their field. Some got through 5+ years of education only to find out they hate the nitty-gritty of their field. Still others just don’t know what they want to be when they grow up despite being old enough to pay for their own insurance. Whatever the cause, a…

Read More

Four Important Self-Care Tips for Musicians

self-care tea sunlight

We musicians can be our own worst enemy. Our passion causes us to care too much, our perfectionism causes us to avoid practicing, and our unclear career paths stress us out no end. So in order to make sure we actually succeed in this art that we love, we need to take care of ourselves. Here are four self-care tips for musicians to make the most of their passion. Take…

Read More

New Year’s Resolution: What All Music Majors Should Make

new year resolution music

The new year is almost upon us. Last semester is finally over, and grades have (hopefully) started rolling in. If you didn’t get the grades you wanted this semester, the new year is a great time make a resolution to start new habits. Here are six habits to help your grades grow in 2018! Schedule your study time. Take the time to actually create a schedule, first and foremost. Then,…

Read More

5 Ways to Handle Performance Anxiety

performance anxiety table waiting

Performance anxiety is basically a fact of life. I’m on my second performance degree right now, and just started my second decade as a performer, and I still get some pre-performance electricity going even for “small” performances. However, just because you’ve got some adrenaline going doesn’t have to mean you feel sick or terrified. It’s all a matter of perspective. Here’s how to feel pumped instead of petrified when you…

Read More

How to Handle Fear of Uncertainty

future work desk

So I realized the other day: I’m an adult. I’m like, old. In a year and half, I’ll be entering the Real World finally, and I’ll need a for-real source of income, not just my campus job. This was an uncomfortable realization, to say the least. Most musicians’ careers aren’t likely to fit the “traditional” trajectory that people imagine. That uncertainty is nerve-wracking. Here’s how we can all handle it!…

Read More

How to Have a Bad Day

So. In the past two hours I have: Forgotten my lunch Gotten so lost that I ended up 45 minutes late for work Destroyed my phone screen, which is partially why I was in fact 45 minutes late for work Got sent to a 7th floor that doesn’t actually exist, thanks random professor dude It hasn’t been a great day so far. It has, in fact, been bad. Bad days…

Read More

How to Handle Being Sick During School

tea health cold sick

If there is one thing I excel at, it’s doing my schoolwork even when I’m sick as a dog. This is because I have the immune system of an infant squirrel, and catch colds like Ash catches Pokemon. I just GOTTA catch’em all. However, after long experience, I can promise you it is possible to keep on top of schoolwork. Yes, even when your head and sinuses are full of…

Read More

How to Shut Down Haters

hater fight people

The thing about being a music major (or any artsy majors) is that haters love to rag on you. There’s something about “unpractical” majors that causes people to think that they have the right to tell you you’re going to Fail horribly Be eternally broke Never succeed at any of your dreams Literally live underneath a bridge and eat mold to sustain yourself. Fortunately, none of that is true. When…

Read More