HCP 15: Brent Baldwin on how to manage a career being a performer, conductor, and composer.
Brent Baldwin is the artistic director of Panoramic Voices. He is an award-winning conductor, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger, and composer in Austin, TX. He is a big supporter of new music and in this episode, he shares with us how does he manage his career and why it was important for him to learn that he wanted to do several sides instead of focusing on one. Brent also shared his journey to discover choral music after not one but two injuries and how he got back to what is now his main job in the choral arts.
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In this episode, you will learn:
- How growing up in a musical house made him rebel against it and choose sports for a while
- How a sport injury led him to play guitar
- How mentors helped him to train as a young musician
- How learning about what worked for his personality helped him shape the career he wanted as a musician
- How another injury brought him to singing
- How, with little training, he took the opportunity to conduct a choir
- After conducting many groups and making a living as a conductor, he decided to pursue choral conducting formal studies
- How taking action helped Brent push through fears
- His struggle with a period of substance abuse and how it helped him change his perspective
- Why giving himself the permission to fail miserably is helpful for his career
- How he learned that focusing on one thing can be beneficial, but it was not for him
- A little about how his week looks when working on different stages
- Examples of musicians who were open to different genres and possibilities and how that expanded their outreach
- How Brent spends his day playing and banging every surface in search for new sounds
- Why he prefers Quantity over quality when it comes to the composition process
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Links mentioned in the show:
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Produced by Carlos Cordero.
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Hugs,
C.
