“Meaning is what matters most in your day-to-day practice.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 312
Might there exist people who devote themselves to music solely for material gain?
I doubt it.
Rather, it’s the psychic income that we derive from our work that we most prize.
Psychic & Monetary Income
OxfordDictionaries.com defines psychic income as, “The non-monetary or non-material satisfactions that accompany an occupation or economic activity.”
Of course, we professionals also need to earn ample monetary income from our music making. But once our financial needs are met, material rewards bring paltry gratification compared to the fulfillment of artistic creation.
In fact, psychic income is key to our longevity as artists because if we cease reaping intrinsic benefits from our work, our motivation to create will dry up.
“Psychic income is key to our longevity as artists because if we cease reaping intrinsic benefits from our work, our motivation to create will dry up.”
Generating Psychic Income
Essentially, we generate psychic income by doing work that we find meaningful.
Some artistic activities abound with so much meaning that we reap psychic benefits merely by doing them – e.g., performing for disadvantaged children.
With other tasks, especially repetitive or administrative ones, it’s up to us to make meaning as we work.
Daily practice, for instance, can excite or burden us depending on our attitudes toward it and our ability to do it productively.
Similarly, operating music businesses obliges us to execute numerous managerial tasks, which we have the option to do imaginatively or grudgingly.
“Daily practice can excite or burden us depending on our attitudes toward it and our ability to do it productively.”
Here, then, are 7 tips for fostering lifelong psychic income in the music profession.
7 Ways to Foster Psychic Income in the Music Profession
1. Be Visionary. “Your most fertile source of creative energy is a compelling artistic vision.” (TMW, p. 310)
2. Set a Schedule. By regularly practicing, promoting, and so forth, we enjoy the satisfactions of ongoing productivity.
3. Cultivate Positivity. A higher positivity ratio correlates with higher creativity.
4. Counter Perfectionism. The pursuit of excellence inspires us, but chasing unattainable perfection leads to burnout.
5. Self-Motivate. To keep our motivation peaking, we do well to regularly stoke it.
6. Experiment. When we go outside of our comfort zones, we spur ourselves to advance.
7. Collaborate. Few things in life surpass the meaning we can derive from collaborative music making.
Complementary resources can be found throughout The Musician’s Way and on the Creativity page at MusiciansWay.com.
Related posts
Artistic Vision
Generating Emotional Depth
Playful Practice
Positivity
Stoking Motivation
© 2012 Gerald Klickstein
Photo © Blend Images, licensed from Shutterstock.com
Psychic income is certainly a cheery concept if you’re not making any monetary income from your music!
Indeed. But psychic income is also crucial for us to keep on creating, regardless of whether we earn our livings in the music biz or not. And when we persist, we can find avenues via which to earn monetary income from our music – e.g., see my post “Competitive Advantages.” http://musiciansway.com/blog/2012/02/competitive-advantages
Psychic Income, haven’t heard that before, nice one.
#6 always seems like the most important, at least to spurn new ideas, new tune and song inspirations. ie writing something new much easier after experiencing something new, maybe birds of a feather, but in a good way, :).
Thanks, Matt. Hope you’ll visit often.
Kristine: Very glad to know you found this post helpful – thanks for commenting!
mrG: Beautifully said – a genuine contribution for which I’m most appreciative.
There is an eighth that I think trumps all the rest: strive to make a connection with your audience.
This is essential even when the audience may not be quite ready for your particular innovation, as was the case in the last few compositions of Beethoven. Nonetheless, you need to communicate out to other humans, even if it may sometimes be a fine line:
“Anyone who says that they’re great at communicating but ‘people are bad at listening’ is confused about how communications works” (http://xkcd.com/1028)
One good exercise is to write your own epitaph, write your own obituary as you imagine it will be seen in the newspapers after you have vacated the planet. What will it say? Who will it cite? What FUNCTION did your music serve in its community? These are essential psychic dividends.
I’d add a ninth too, only it’s not from me, but from Albert Einstein: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapt in awe, is as good as dead.”
Exactly how you get there, I leave as an exercise for the reader 😉
Hi Gerald… Great article. I never thought or heard of psychic income before this and it makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing! K