The Musician's Journey: Crafting Your Career Vision and Plan - Tapa dura

This is a bold book that aims to offer an inspirational and practical resource for musicians embarking on their careers, or perhaps re-evaluating and making changes in their professional portfolio. Its tone is emphatically optimistic, and it is suffused with useful information, practical tips, uplifting quotations and stories. It draws on an intriguingly broad set of reference points from ancient philosophies to spiritual texts, contemporary neuroscience to personal experience. (Helena Gaunt, British Journal of Music Education)

This engaging read is an excellent resource for undergraduate performing musicians as well as those at any stage of their careers. (B. Doherty, CHOICE)

The Musician's Journey: Crafting Your Career Vision and Plan is a resource guide for mid-career musicians, performing artists, music teachers, and advanced music students who have completed the bulk of their professional training and are looking to develop their careers. The book encourages its reader to reflect on career related philosophical questions before delving into practical strategies. Timmons invites the reader to create a vision of an ideal career and then to concretize that vision into a practical plan and business strategy. The narrative brings the reader into a prose style that is conversational in nature, making the extensive research and helpful information accessible to a wide variety of musicians. Included is a special chapter on careers in higher education; guidance in how to develop a business plan; and general tips on grant writing and financial development. Timmons illustrates her vision-to-plan process through the stories of musicians whom she has guided successfully in her work as a music consultant. She offers an extensive bibliography for additional resources, and the book will be supplemented by a companion website, where readers may download worksheets and questionnaires to help them along the way.

Whether you are a traditionally trained classical artist, a folk musician, jazz or pop performer, or someone exploring the outer regions of the music industry, The Musician's Journey can offer you a new road map to a thriving career.