An Honest and Generous Audience

It's summer 2020.

Very few of us have a live audience these days. Global realities have changed the way we perform and consume live music. Covid19 has essentially wiped out live concerts around the world.

There is nothing quite like the energetic response of a live audience to a song. You can feel when a song or a part works, you can feel when you fail or when your tune falls flat. This is magical information that's immediately internalized and wrapped into your next performance. It can be an incredibly important sharpener.

For me, I try not to write in total isolation. I need to share my tunes before they get too baked into their structure. In the absence of a live gig, its incredibly valuable to find or create a feedback loop for testing and strengthening my ideas. I thrive on small working groups and tight creative cohorts. Its what sharpens my skills and instincts. I actually hear my songs differently when I listen in the presence of certain people.

I believe small learning groups are one of the most valuable aspects of ZeroToSong. It re-creates a band dynamic. Like presenting your band with a new song, you learn from the group's comments, suggestions, body language and facial expressions. It's priceless when preparing to share with an even larger group.

People love to talk about the importance of failure as an indication that we never stop trying to push boundaries and improve things around us. A trusted cohort, whether a group of friends, colleagues, or bandmates makes a great and safe place to fail first. A good cohort gives you a second, third, maybe even a fourth chance to get something off the ground. If work falls flat with your cohort, you tweak it and try it again. Repeat until awesome. Then try it out on a bigger stage, literally and figuratively. Connecting with people is the best way to learn how to connect with people!