David Bayles and Ted Orland, in their excellent research-based book, Art & Fear, Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking, offer this brief, but effective “OPERATING MANUAL FOR NOT QUITTING:

“One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. ”
-James Clear. “Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.”

Have you ever been working on a medium or larger project (an album, a concert, a piece of theatre, a novel) where you didn’t have at least one moment where it felt incredibly difficult on some level?

I love a good gimmick. I really do. But the gimmick has to add to the artistic expression for that real amplification of effort to occur, right? I’m talking about gimmicks of all kinds.

Imagine me putting on my best Don LaFontaine movie trailer voice-over voice: In a world where music flows like cheap wine from every speaker connected to the internet, one artist rises above.

Wanna play a fun musicianship-building game real quick? Today’s fun listening experiment comes from golden lotus studio’s own Donovan Dorrance. Take it away, Donovan!

I want to invite you to a celebration. A birth of sorts. Siena Friend was in the first course we ever offered at goldenlotusstudio.com more than 2 years ago and she’s been an integral part of our community ever since.

If you’ve read a handful of our blog posts or attended a few gls classes, you’ve probably already heard me talk on the topic of “keeping the process weird.” But if you haven’t, I want to share one of my favorite quotes on the subject from one of my personal heroes:

Now is a time unlike any other in our lifetimes. The time is extreme and it’s hard and there is so much pain. And it is vibrating with potential.