#13: Don't expect to play Rachmaninov
How to give yourself a break.
My eyes were stinging, and I couldn’t see.
Tingling fingertips. A dry throat, struggling to get as much air in and out of my body as I wanted.
Expectant onlookers hoping for, if not necessarily expecting, brilliance.
What started as a warm feeling on the top of my head quickly turned into a large drip of sweat, running down my brow, and nestling in to my right eye.
You see, as a bald man, I don’t have the luxury of hair to soak it up.
But I carried on playing You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, solo, on my acoustic guitar, singing my heart out, to the assembled masses at The White Hart.
About 18 people. Yeah.
Brian didn’t care much for the school uniform policy.
As the last one of six songs I was performing in the Open Mic last Thursday night, I was kinda hoping it was going to go brilliantly.
It wasn’t bad, I guess.
Reviewing the videos I asked my bandmate Rob to take, I was left a bit, um, deflated.
My rendition of Linkin Park’s Numb (all acousticcy and with feeling and that) was easily the best of the songs, but overall … meh.
Probably the most impressive thing about the performance (in my mind) was having the dangly doodahs to get up and do it in the first place.
I shared the videos at about 5 past midnight with my singing teacher, Mel.
Mel has been absolutely instrumental (pun intended) in my progression from an embarrassed desperate-to-sing-and-play 46 year old to someone with the confidence to sing in our band and do solo open mics.
Mel’s been singing, performing and teaching for 25+ years.
I sent the videos over with a more than a touch of dismay.
The Whatsapp I received in the morning was amazing.
Hey, after a few months of piano lessons would you expect to be playing Rachmaninov?
Your musicality is pouring through now. I really love how you make each song yours and don’t do carbon copies.
I’m told I have a great bass voice, with a decent range. But I’ve only had 14 hours of tuition.
14 hours.
Actual singing time in public? About an hour and three quarters.
Practice time at home? Lots, but, it really isn’t the same as playing in front of a baying public. Or half a dozen other musicians awaiting their turn.
Sergei Rachmaninov, sat at his piano, looking through his School Record of Achievement
DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP
If you are beating yourself up about not being that great at something, consider this.
The Beatles toured extensively, playing nightly gigs mainly in Hamburg, often for 8 hours straight, to sometimes empty venues, before they came back to the UK in 1964 and became the tour de force we know them for.
They easily built up 10,000 hours of playing time. In fact they became that well rehearsed that when they returned and played Wembley Stadium, with PA system monitors not nearly up to the job, they couldn’t hear themselves over the screaming fans.
But they just knew what they were doing, and carried on playing. They didn’t even need to hear themselves.
They’d performed around 1,200 gigs before they hit the big time.
They likely wouldn’t have reached anywhere near the level of success they had if they’d relied on a few hours of practice in a rehearsal room somewhere.
THE JOB HUNTING BIT
How prolific do you expect to be in this game? You might change companies 2 or 3 times in your career. Or 8-10 times. Or, not at all - until that moment comes.
So maybe you have to update your CV a handful of times in your lifetime.
You may spend around 14 hours updating your CV over your ENTIRE career.
And you know what?
It’s a pain in the arse.
You don’t really know where to start, don’t have the time to spend going draft-over-draft, getting far too close to it, iterating and iterating for every application, receiving no feedback… before realising it’s probably crap.
You start to wonder if it’s you? The self doubt creeps in.
“Why aren’t I getting interviews?”
“I’m clearly bang-on suited to that role!”
Well, I challenge you to objectively compare your CV to the job ads.
You’ll find it hard because, well, you’re you.
And you know all the stuff that’s between the lines of your CV.
Trouble is, the recruiters don’t. It’s in your head.
Recruiters are telling me the job market is carrying many many poor candidates right now.
I’d say they’re just individuals that aren’t positioning themselves properly. They’re not demonstrating fully what their own 10,000 hours’ experience has yielded.
THEN they’re relying on <14 hours of experience putting together CVs to land them their next big job.
Doesn’t make sense does it?
How can you expect to play like Rachmaninov (or sing like Brian Johnson) with only a handful of hours learning and playing in front of people?
THE SOLUTION
…is to ask for help from someone who’s already done the 10,000 hours, like I did.
Conservatively, I reckon I’ve gathered up around 30,000 hours looking at CVs, interviewing, implementing recruitment tools and systems, and advising people on how to improve their chances of getting hired.
Probably about 2,000 of those in the last 2 years.
THE NEXT STEPS
We can talk about your particular challenges and needs and put together a plan that uses all of my 30,000 hours, and only 1 or 2 of yours.
What you’ll be left with, along with a great CV, are skills for life, confidence, and crucially time to get on with the things you want or need to do.
You can contact me by replying (if you’re seeing this as an email) or sending me a message via My Other Stuff link below.
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In the meantime, I’m off to restring my guitar as I prep for another Open Mic.
Phil
IN T’SOCIALS
One of the most basic mistakes people make in their CVs - resolved.
One about sending the right signals to employers.
One with a visual reminder of what we all need…
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