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i

Beyond Talent
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iii

Beyond Talent

C R E AT I N G A S U C C E S S F U L C A R E E R I N M U S I C

Third Edition

Angela Myles Beeching

  

1
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1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Angela Myles Beeching 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to
the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Data

ISBN 978–0–19–067058–0

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed by LSC Communications, United States of America

v

Thank you.
Thank you for daring to put your music—​your artistry—​out into the world. I’m inspired by
your courage. And I’m so grateful to live in a world where people dare to make the art that
makes life worth living.
vi
vi

Contents

Prelude xi
Acknowledgments xv

1. Map Your Future 1

Becoming the hero of your own journey 1
Who’s in charge? 5
Clarify your intent: What is it you want? 5
Project-​driven careers 9
Your secret project 10

2. Identify Opportunities 14
Growth versus fixed mindsets 14
Two flavors of opportunities 17
Portfolio careers 18
What you have to offer 18
Diagram your best self 20
Art versus business 24
Entrepreneurship: It’s not a job title, it’s a state of mind 25

3. Get It Done 28
Time blocking 29
Project management: Plan your work and work your plan 32
Backward planning 35
Fear 37
Effective practice 39

vii
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viii Contents
4. Connect with Others 41
Real versus fake networking 42
Your networking mindset 43
Map your network 46
Performance invitations 49
How to work a room 52

5. Convey Your Authentic Self 57

Authenticity: Finding your purpose 57
Your bio in six steps 60
Photos worth 1,000+ words 65
The adjective game 66
Promo kits 70

6. Record Your Best 73

Demo recordings 74
Is it legal? 76
How and where to record 81
Write your budget 86
Fund your recording 88

7. Cultivate Your Online Community 92

The Tao of self-​promotion 92
Your online persona 94
Websites 101 94
Web design using your fridge 96
Social media without the mania 100

Interlude: The Fundamental Questions 108

Why are you in music? 108
How do you define success? 109
Is your thinking getting in your way? 111
What kind of partnerships are you creating through your music? 112
What’s the impact you make as a musician? 114
Twenty-​one questions for young performers 116

8. Book More Performances 119

Artist management facts and fiction 119
Taking charge of your own career: Self-​management 126
ix

Contents ix
Booking basics: Start with the people you know 128
Perfect pitch: Five elements 130
Negotiating fees 132
Confirmations and contracts 134
Booking a regional tour 136
Why not create your own series? 136
Legal issues: Performance licensing 137

9. Tell Your Story 139

Uncover your story 140
Press kit basics 141
Press release tips 145
Working with a publicist 147
Compile your media list 149
Timeline for promoting your next concert 150
Reviews 152
Tips on being interviewed 153

10. Make Meaning 156

Find entry points 158
Introduce your music 161
Create engaging programs 163
Get hired 166
Evaluate your impact 168

11. Perform at Your Best 169

Stage presence: The basics 169
Peak performance: the flow state 175
Managing performance anxiety 178
Treatment 181
Performance health 183

12. Turn Pro: The Working Musician 189

The professional’s mindset 189
Get more gigs 190
Your freelance résumé 196
Musician unions: Strength in numbers 198
Negotiating fees 203
Contracts 206
x

x Contents
13. Manage Your Money to Fuel Your Artistry 210
Heal your relationship with money 211
Budgets made easier: Betty’s case study 213
Taxes 101 222
Special issues for ensembles 227

14. Fund Your Projects 229

Map your project 230
Fundraising basics 233
How to make the ask 235
Fundraising letters 237
Crowdfunding 238
Grant funding basics 241
Grant applications 242
Commissioning new work 245
Corporate sponsorship 247

15. Get It Together: Your Career Portfolio 251

Portfolio careers reprise 251
An abundant world of opportunities 254
Day job considerations 257
Teaching opportunities 258
Leadership skills in action: Music industry and arts administration
opportunities 266

Postlude: Your Journey Home 269

Resolving the artist’s dilemma 269
The Tao of music 270
Improving your artistry 272
Returning to ourselves 273
Your journey ahead 273

Notes 275
Index 281
xi

Prelude

This book is about you: your goals, your future, and the actions you can take
NOW that will transform your music career journey. My intent is to give you the
tools to fulfill your potential as an artist and as a person.
What does it take to create a rewarding and sustainable life in music?
Beyond talent, it takes the courage to dream, the power to plan, and the will to
get things done. But it’s more than your career; it’s about the kind of life you want to
live, the person you want to become, and the impact you want to make in the world.
Creating a rewarding and sustainable life in music involves finding your true pur-
pose and living into it. This book provides the roadmap for your journey.

What this book includes

Drawing on my years of experience as a music career coach, educator, and cellist, this
book offers concrete detailed information to help you create your own path to success.
Over the years I’ve worked with hundreds of musicians at New England
Conservatory, Indiana University, and at Manhattan School of Music. I’ve found
that successful musicians engage in specific patterns of thinking and behavior.
Beyond talent, it’s these habits that help them move ahead, despite the inevitable
challenges and setbacks that stop other musicians in their tracks. Many of these “suc-
cess habits” can be learned, and they are the heart of this book and my gift to you.
This book holds the accumulated wisdom of my clients, colleagues, and mentors—​
the talented musicians, artist managers, concert presenters, and music educators
with whom I have worked.

xi
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xii Prelude
Each chapter contains background information, specific how-​to directions, and
real-​life stories. The examples are real, although, in some cases, I’ve changed the
names and a few of the specifics to safeguard people’s privacy.
With this book you can:

✓ Find and create more satisfying performance opportunities.

✓ Produce professional-​quality promo materials without breaking the bank.
✓ Attract media attention so you can build your reputation and audience.
✓ Raise funds for your inspiring music projects.
✓ Learn how to balance a freelance portfolio career that works for you.
✓ Design your own career success plan so you can get more of your best work
out into the world.

How is this book organized?

As much as possible, topics are presented in a sequential “first things first” manner.
For instance, creating dynamic promotional materials is covered before tackling
booking performances, because promo materials are needed to do the booking.
So while chapters can certainly be read on their own or out of order, the book is
designed to take you through a linear process. Taking the journey from c­ hapter 1
to the end should help you develop perspective and a more holistic approach to
advancing your career.

Where do the musician examples come from?

This book is full of examples of musicians solving real issues in their careers. For the
examples that come from my confidential career coaching practice, I’ve changed the
names but left the stories intact. You will also find other examples, not requiring an-
onymity, where musicians’ stories include their actual names.
These musicians work in a range of genres and specialties. They illustrate an array
of common career challenges that musicians face. And their examples offer a broad
choice of creative solutions that you can adapt to your own situation.

Time for an awkward confession

I need to get this off my chest: I hate self-​help books. Even though I’ve read a gazil-
lion of them and love to learn.
xi

Prelude xiii
The problem is that many self-​help books leave me feeling beat up over the way
I manage my time, career, relationships, or health. Others are written as though
changing your habits and thinking is easy to do—​but my experience tells me other-
wise. And still other self-​help books use inspiring examples that I find intimidating
and leave me thinking the recommended approach is impossible.
So why on earth would I write this book?
Because what I needed didn’t exist. In directing music career and entrepreneur-
ship centers—​and in my private coaching work—​I needed a resource that would
answer the questions musicians regularly ask. There were books that covered some
of what musicians wanted, but nothing that fit what most of the musicians I worked
with actually needed.
So I wrote the book that I needed. My aim was to provide real life examples that
readers could relate to, along with the step-​by-​step help they needed to move for-
ward in their careers. My intent was to do this without sugar coating the challenges
involved in changing habits and mindsets.
I wrote the first edition back in 2005, and Beyond Talent proved popular enough
to warrant a new edition in 2010, and now this third edition. It’s been completely
revised and updated, and it includes new ways to overcome the all too common
obstacles involving mindset, self-​esteem, and the changing marketplace.

The dirty secret about career planning

Before we go further, I want to come clean about an inherent problem with the
concept of career planning. It’s a problem inherent to books such as this, and to the
profession of career coaching.
It’s blasphemous for me to admit, but the real way people go through life is not
with a handy map and directions. They don’t usually set goals and plan carefully and
work systematically toward success.
Why? Because there’s so much in life we cannot control, and so much of our ca-
reer direction depends on exploration. Life is fluid, and so are careers.
In reality, we go through life as though there is no path, as though we’re in a dense
forest and we’re simply making our way as best we can. An idea leads to a conversa-
tion, a connection, and a project, and through the course of these projects our career
path emerges. It’s often only in looking back over years that we can fashion a story-
line out of our own history.
In hindsight, we can see how the projects connected, and how our goals and
interests drove us to various choices and opportunities. But in the present, the path
is difficult to discern. It’s impossible to see clearly the cause and effect of all the
xvi

xiv Prelude
choices we make, small and large, each day. But our choices are the essential “stuff ”
of which our journeys, and our lives, are made.
Career coaches advocate making plans, writing down goals, exploring
opportunities, and taking practical steps toward completing projects. I say and write
these things as well, and I believe them. To a degree.
We “pretend” that life will work logically, that action A will lead to outcome
B. But we all know that life almost never works according to plan. And you can’t
count on luck for being in the right at the right time. There’s also our personal lives
and our health—​these have huge impacts on careers. And there’s the fact that any
one of our projects can take us away from our original plan, take us off course, and
lead us to a new goal, a new path. That’s what makes life fascinating—​you don’t get
to know in advance how things will turn out. It’s all a big gamble.
So, yes, I advise musicians to set goals and make plans, because there are practical
ways to get from point A to point B in your career. But realize that your life—​the
good stuff—​is all about what you discover on the journey.

Tricks of the trade

In my desk I have a special tool. It’s a magic wand. It’s plastic and came from a
toy store.
I keep it because it reminds me that many of us want magic; we want the secret to
getting “discovered” and becoming an overnight success.
Believe me, I wish I could make people’s dreams come true, give them the lucky
break they need, and instantly create for them the life they want.
But the reality is, we each have to find our own way. The good news is we don’t
have to do it alone. In life, we all get to learn from our mistakes, and we get many
opportunities to learn from and help each other.
In a sense, this book is my magic wand for you. It’s my best advice and perspec-
tive to help you create the life you desire. The world needs your artistry; so let’s get
started.
xv

Acknowledgments

First, I want to thank my agent Ann Rittenberg and my editor Suzanne Ryan for
their much-​appreciated guidance and patience.
And I especially want to thank this constellation of generous readers, contributors,
and advisors for all their encouragement and support with this third edition—​and
for talking me off several ledges—​here they are in alphabetical splendor:

Howard Block Michael McGrade John Steinmetz

Amanda Gookin Jeannette McLellan Deirdre Stowe
Seth Hanes Catherine Radbill Amanda Sweet
Pat Hollenbeck Janet Rarick Peter Thoresen
Ariel Hyatt Florrie Reddish Brenda Ulrich
Jeffrey James Bob Romano Waddy Thompson
Joyce Kwon Patricia Sandler Gail Wein

xv
xvi
xvi

Beyond Talent
xvi
1

1
MA P YO UR F UTURE

In this chapter:
Becoming the hero of your own journey 1
Who’s in charge? 5
Clarify your intent: What is it you want? 5
Project-​driven careers 9
Your secret project 10

Becoming the hero of your own journey

Welcome to the journey, the path to your future.

As the heroine or hero of your journey, YOU call the shots, you make the
decisions. It’s your story, your life, your career. And while that’s empowering, it may
also be intimidating. Because it’s all on your shoulders—​there’s no one else to blame
if it’s not the journey of a lifetime.
This book is designed to guide you on your journey. And I’m here as your mentor.
In the following pages you’ll find road-​tested methods, firsthand accounts, and
suggested alternate routes to consider as you create your own path to success.
Along the way we’ll use the metaphor of the hero’s journey. It’s the common nar-
rative pattern that animates all of our favorite books, movies, plays, religions, and
myths. It’s the essential story structure found in everything from The Wizard of Oz
and Harry Potter to The Magic Flute, Star Wars, and the Odyssey.

Beyond Talent. Angela Myles Beeching, Oxford University Press (2020). © Angela Myles Beeching.
DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780190670580.001.0001
2

2 Beyond Talent
It’s also the storyline that can help you make sense of your own individual career
journey in music.
Here’s how it works: in myths, heroes and heroines set off on quests. They are an-
swering a call, something they feel strongly compelled to pursue and explore. In life,
your career journey involves clarifying your “call,” your motivation and purpose in
making music, and the impact you’re seeking to make in others through your music.
In every hero’s journey, the main character encounters a series of obstacles that
tests her resolve and commitment. There are setbacks and disappointments. And it’s
through confronting these challenges that the heroine grows into the person she is
meant to be. The experience deepens her understanding of herself, of her world, and
her calling. Your career journey will do the same—​it will take you far outside your
comfort zone.
That’s the whole point: the journey is all about exploration, discovery, and
transformation.
The mythologist Joseph Campbell describes the hero’s journey as a cycle that
repeats: the heroine answers the call to adventure, and with the help of a mentor sets
off. Along the way she finds allies, battles demons and dragons, overcomes obstacles,
and returns home again to share the treasure she’s won—​the knowledge and wisdom
gained from the journey.
My intent with this book is to help you succeed as the hero of your own career. To
develop the habits of mind and behavior needed to realize your dreams and effec-
tively deal with the inevitable challenges along the way. Of course you need talent,
along with hard work and a love of music. And because you’re reading this, my guess
is you’ve got those areas covered. That’s terrific!
But it’s not enough.
This book is about everything else beyond talent that’s needed on your journey.
Each musician’s path to success is as individual as his or her thumbprint. That’s
why I find coaching musicians on their careers so fascinating. Through my work with
students, alumni, and faculty at Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University,
and New England Conservatory, I’ve found a set of key concepts and tools that help
musicians get past their obstacles to success.
This book is full of musicians’ examples and stories. Their specialties and goals
may differ from yours, but in these stories you will find transferable ideas and inspi-
ration you can apply to your own situation.
Try this out with my story below. As you read it, dial in to station “WIIFM” and
think, “What’s In It For Me?”
3

Map Your Future 3

Story quiz: What lessons can you find in this?

I am a music career coach, which means I help talented, accomplished artists get
from point A (where they are now in their careers) to point B (where they want to
be). And although my background set me up perfectly for this work, it wasn’t at all
what I originally imagined for myself.
I started out in love with playing the cello. My goal was to get a tenure-​track uni-
versity teaching job as a cellist and play lots of chamber music. That was my quest,
my holy grail.
And while I was in grad school, I complained to the chair of the music depart-
ment. (I was one of “those kind” of students.) I complained that we didn’t have a spe-
cific music career office for help with things like how to apply for grants, book your
own concerts, and create promotional materials. Music schools back then didn’t
offer career or entrepreneurship programs. We were expected to figure things out on
our own. We had a general university career center, but nothing with the specialized
help I thought my colleagues and I needed.
So the chair of the department told me to “write a proposal.” I didn’t even know
what a proposal was, but I wrote something up, and I was told, “We’re going to make
this your teaching assistantship—​YOU get to start this thing.”
That was not the response I expected!
But it was a smart move for the department. They got an inexpensive and
motivated worker—​me. And I learned a ton and liked the work. I just never thought
it would become my future career path. At the time, it was simply a matter of need.
My need and my classmates’ need for practical career resource information. I found
that I could make a difference by meeting that need and learning on the job.
But, as I said, I was in love with playing the cello, and all this happened while I was
on a path to getting that tenure-​track cello teaching job I dreamed about. And I was
driven: I studied in Paris for a couple of years and finished my doctorate and eventu-
ally was out on the job market.
So what happened?
I landed a cello teaching position at a state university in California, and then an-
other one in upstate New York.
So it should have been happy ever after—​because I was living my dream, right?
Well . . . I like to say I’m living proof that sometimes in life you reach your goal
only to find that it isn’t the paradise you imagined.
The way I usually explain this is I got burnt out with the teaching positions. And
that’s true.
4

4 Beyond Talent
But it’s also true that I became horribly depressed. My motivation to perform and
teach the instrument had deserted me. Which was scary and disorienting. Because,
of course, my whole identity revolved around being a cellist.
It might have been that I wasn’t prepared for the reality of what these jobs were
really like, or it might have been they just weren’t the right fit. Or that I finally had
to face the fact that music isn’t a refuge from reality—​that eventually, we all must
face our dragons.
Whatever the reason, my whole world came crashing down.
It was a very dark time.
So I moved back to Boston, where I had gone to school and had friends, and
started putting a life together for myself. A job opened up at the New England
Conservatory in career services, and because I’d done this kind of work as a grad
student, I was hired. I thought maybe I’d do the job for a few years until I figured
out my next step. But I stayed for seventeen years because I found that I love helping
musicians create their own paths to success.
At that time there was no resource to help musicians manage their own careers.
So I wrote the first edition of Beyond Talent, in order to learn more and do a better
job teaching and coaching. Again, it was a need that I could work to fill. I never
dreamed it would end up being used at schools across the U.S. and internationally
and go through multiple editions.
From NEC I went on to do music career work at Indiana University, and later
I ran the Center for Music Entrepreneurship at Manhattan School of Music. Again,
not what I imagined.
These days I’m a freelance consultant and online music career coach, working
with talented musician clients around the world. I love helping musicians clarify
their goals and get past their obstacles so they can get more of their best work out
into the world—​and finally become the artists they are meant to be.
And none of this was anything I expected when I was in school.

Moral of the story

So, what lessons do you take from this story? There are multiple ways to interpret it.
You might read it as a cautionary tale: to be careful what you complain about! Or
you might focus on the idea of looking to fill a need. Or to pay attention to what you
find fascinating. Or that we all need to have a quest that’s more than simply finding
a specific kind of job.
For me, when I think over my journey, I’m reminded of how many different paths
musicians can take. Ideally, we all find our “true calling,” so that we can connect our
best selves with meaningful work that answers a need in others.
5

Map Your Future 5

Here’s what I’ve found: once you’ve committed to a career path and chosen to
take charge of your future, there’s a boost of confidence that comes with knowing
you are “on track.” It comes with taking action: as you book more performances,
gain more experience, build your reputation, and manage your career. It’s the con-
fidence of knowing that you can deal with the challenges and the setbacks. That
whatever happens, you can learn from the experience. That you can trust yourself to
be in charge of your future.

Who’s in charge?

The traditional approach to developing a career in music has been about competing
for a dwindling number of opportunities. We apply for fellowships and jobs, we take
auditions, and we hope to be one of the chosen.
This means we are, in a sense, pinning all of our future on other people’s decisions.
Whether it’s getting a record deal, or an orchestral job, or winning an international
competition, we’re waiting for someone to “pick” us. Which, of course, may or may
not happen. The odds are stacked against us.
If that’s all you want—​for someone else to pick you—​then don’t bother reading
any further. Because this book is about taking the other path. It’s about initiating
your own success, with taking charge of your own career and choosing to—​as the
marketing expert Seth Godin says—​pick yourself.
It all starts with your vision.

Clarify your intent: What is it you want?

Here’s a favorite exercise I give clients and the people who attend my workshops.
All you need is your imagination—​plus pen and paper. It’s best to do this exercise
by hand (as opposed to typing or texting), because the tactile experience of writing
promotes creative reflection.
Imagine the life you’d like to be living ten years from today.
Maybe you want to tour internationally with your own ensemble, write a major
work performed by a leading orchestra, or sing at the Met. Perhaps you want to be
a member of a top orchestra, perform on Broadway, or teach at a conservatory. You
may want to launch a multidisciplinary arts festival or lead a major music institu-
tion. There’s no right or wrong here, there’s just your imagined future. Whatever you
dream of, write it down.
But don’t simply write down your career goals. Go further. What is the three-​
dimensional life you desire? Think about where and with whom you’d like to be
6

6 Beyond Talent
living. Is there a house with pets or children in the picture? Include all these details
in your description. Be as specific and concrete as you can. And hold on to your
description—​we’ll circle back to it in a moment.
People define success based on their values, on what matters most to them.
It’s personal. And your definition of success may change over time. So take stock
now: What is the success you want to create for yourself ?
We live in a culture that defines success in terms of wealth and lifestyle. We’re
bombarded by advertising images of luxury homes, cars, fashion, and lavish vacations.
These advertising messages are designed to brainwash us into believing we can buy
our way to happiness.
It’s easy to unwittingly adopt other people’s definitions of success. Whether it’s
pressure from the media—​or from our teachers, parents, or friends—​we each need
to clarify for ourselves our own definition.
Many of us began studying music as very young children. So music was at least
partly about gaining approval from parents and teachers—​and eventually audiences.
Many musicians started so young that they never felt they actually chose music for
themselves. And their mentors and family may have always had specific goals in
mind for their future.

Now is the time to clarify your goals for yourself;

life is too short to live someone else’s dream.

All the research on happiness points to the fact that humans find contentment and
satisfaction in life from doing meaningful work—​creatively challenging work that
makes a positive impact on others. Satisfaction comes from working toward some-
thing larger than oneself.
Now go back to the description of your desired future and add to it. Describe
how your work and life will benefit others. What is the impact you seek to make?
It’s what I call the “so that” of the work we do. As in, “I make music so that . . .”
If what comes to mind seems grandiose, write it down—​you’re on the right track.
If you’re devoting your life to your calling, your ultimate purpose should be big.
It’s your life, your future. Make this YOUR vision.

Myth buster #1

Here’s how most of us grew up believing (or hoping) music career success happens.
(I certainly thought this way when I was in music school): You study with a great
teacher at an excellent music school. You practice really, really, REALLY hard, do
7

Map Your Future 7

Why write your goals down?

Ever hear about the Harvard study of business school grads? The story goes that Harvard
monitored MBA alumni and found that ten years after graduation, the 3% who had
written their goals down were making ten times as much money as the other 97%
combined.
Seeking to test this urban myth, Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University created
a study in 2015. She found that participants who had written their goals down were in-
deed more likely to achieve them. She further found that the likelihood of achieving
one’s goals was increased if subjects had communicated their goals to a colleague, and
even further if they had an accountability partner—​a weekly check-​in.1
By writing your goals down—​articulating them for yourself—​you commit to moving
toward your desired future. It’s a powerful first step, because it focuses your thoughts
and energy. Writing your goals leads to conversations, to planning, and, most impor-
tant, to action. And working with a mentor, coach, or accountability partner makes it
even more likely that you’ll stick to your commitment and succeed.
Look, everybody has dreams. For some, the dream is simply a fantasy—​with an im-
possible or improbable outcome. But having a goal with a plan, and taking action—​
that’s how dreams become realities.

everything your teacher says, take auditions, perform for the “right” people, and
then you either win competitions and get a manager, or get signed to a label, or win
your dream job. And bingo—​you’ve made it.

Break
Competition

Teacher
School

Fig 1.1

This kind of thinking can have unfortunate side effects. It can lead to musicians
believing that they need to focus only on practicing and performing. And that they’ll
have others deal with the “business side” of their career once they’ve won that big
audition or once their band gets signed.
8

8 Beyond Talent
Unfortunately, this kind of thinking keeps musicians oblivious to the realities
of the profession. It keeps them clueless about how to create opportunities for
themselves.

When I read about the careers of my favorite artists,

it’s all about catching that lucky break.

The stories we hear about “getting discovered” are never the complete story—​they’re
simply the highlights. When you dig deeper into the background and history of the
artist, you inevitably find that there was a lot more to it.

Actual careers are messy

Unlike the myth modeled above, real careers aren’t straight lines. Every musician
experiences times of uncertainty, rejections, and disappointments. A more accu-
rate diagram of success would show multiple projects. Some projects go nowhere,
while others morph into new plans, new contacts, new opportunities. A successful
musician’s career path looks more like this.
At any given time, a musician has multiple projects going on. He may perform
with several ensembles, play recitals, teach private lessons, and coach youth orchestra
sectionals. These projects morph over time. He meets someone at a gig who ends up
being a collaborator in a new ensemble, and this sparks a recording opportunity that
leads to a commissioned new work, which leads to three new performances, and on
and on.

Fig. 1.2
9

Map Your Future 9

Project-​driven careers

Music careers advance project by project, connecting us to new ideas, people, and
opportunities. What in hindsight can seem like a lucky break most often can be
traced back to a project that led to a new contact, and to a new opportunity. The
point is you need to already be in motion—​taking action, getting involved, doing
the work—​in order for luck to show up.

The oboist Jennifer Montbach founded Radius Ensemble, an award-​winning Boston-​

based mixed chamber group with its own concert series. For Jennifer, Radius is a pro-
ject that allows her to program music she wants to explore, and to experiment in how
to reach a broader audience.
While she was a grad student, Jennifer helped with the start-​up of the Boston
Modern Orchestra Project, and she later took on a job working in the publicity depart-
ment of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Through this work, she gained the necessary
skills and professional contacts to launch her own ensemble, Radius.
Within its first two seasons, Radius had glowing reviews, an impressive website and
fan list, and was playing to full houses. In addition to all the practice and rehearsals,
the work involved forming a nonprofit organization, fundraising, and writing program
notes and press releases. The payoff for Jennifer has been seeing her vision realized (see
http://​www.radiusensemble.org).
Here’s the real deal:

• Is Radius a full time gig? NO.

• Do the performers make lots of money? NO.
• Do all the members have additional income streams? YES: they’re active freelancers,
music teachers, and more.
• Is Radius a labor of love that’s been an important artistic outlet for all of the
performers? YES!
• Has Radius earned the esteem of their peers and the love of their fans? ABSOLUTELY!
Radius was named Boston’s Best Classical Ensemble 2016 by the Improper Bostonian
and won a 2013 CMA/​ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Radius has
commissioned and premiered numerous works by Boston-​area composers and has
won several Meet the Composer grants.
• Was this an overnight success? NO. They started back in 1999. Radius has been en-
semble in residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College since 2011. Radius
has also appeared on concert series throughout New England, including Rockport
Music and Clark University. Jen and the rest of the ensemble are in it for the long haul.
10

10 Beyond Talent
Your secret project

Over the years I’ve advised hundreds of emerging artists as well as seasoned pros.
And I found one thing they all seem to have in common: in the back of their
minds, they have a “secret” project. It’s something they’ve always wanted to do,
create, or help make happen. It might be starting a festival or concert series,
writing a method book, launching a reed-​making business, or creating an after-​
school music program.
Too often, we keep our secret project ideas to ourselves. We tell ourselves that we’ll
find the time for it “some day.” Or we talk ourselves out of pursuing the project al-
together, saying it’s too ambitious, or that we don’t have the money, the time, or the
contacts. And our project idea never comes to life.
To me, this is heartbreaking. Because the secret project is our creativity calling
us—​it’s the hero’s quest for the journey. And the challenges—​the obstacles in our
way—​are our dragons.
Any musical enterprise you can think of—​name your favorite ensemble or
recording—​started out as someone’s secret project. Most likely it was a risk, some-
thing that he or she feared taking on. But just think how much we are all enriched
because musicians dare to take on these projects.
Here’s another story. See what lessons you take from it.
When I was in grad school, I had a work-​study job in the music library. I loved
it because it allowed me to listen to recordings I would never have been exposed to
otherwise. It’s how I came across the French cellist Roland Pidoux. I fell in love with
his playing thanks to a set of chamber music recordings on Harmonia Mundi.
I must have been obsessed because my friends got sick of hearing me talk about
Roland’s sound and his interpretations and how great it would be to study with him.
They said, “Quit talking and do something about it!” And I said, “What am I sup-
posed to do, send a fan letter?”
But one of my fellow students, the composer Joël-​François Durand, said he’d help
me translate such a letter. And the upshot of all this was that I took out an additional
loan to go to Europe for two weeks between semesters and take lessons with Pidoux.
It seemed crazy at the time, but I felt I needed to explore the possibility.
The lessons were amazing and made me really want to study with him. I just didn’t
know how I could ever afford to. While I was there I met a pianist who told me
about a somewhat obscure grant program for American musicians to study in Paris.
When I returned home I found out that I had just ten days until the Harriet Hale
Woolley grant program application was due.
I never thought I’d be able to win a grant, of course. I thought that this kind of
opportunity was way out of reach. On my own, I wouldn’t have done any of this. But
1

Map Your Future 11

with the encouragement of my friends—​they kicked my butt and dared me—​I put
together the application, recording, and letters of recommendation.
And my “dream project” all came true—​and I wouldn’t trade the time I had in
Paris for anything.

Our careers are shaped by the projects we dare to take on.

Studying in Paris helped me win my first college teaching jobs, which led me to
finding my calling and applying my teaching skills to career and entrepreneurial
coaching.
So my question for you is, What’s your “secret project,” and what are you going to
do about it?

What it takes

The elements for career success in music include:

• Talent and hard work (I’m assuming you have these covered)
• A “winning” attitude
• Communication skills
• Planning and organizational skills
• A support system for advice and encouragement

Plus luck (which is most often the side effect of all of the above).
But there are two other elements that are often overlooked: time and grit. Let’s
start with the truth about time.

Myth buster #2

The overnight success story is a media myth. In reality, building a career takes years.
There’s substantial data that shows that it takes 10,000 hours, or roughly ten years of
“deliberate practice,” to become an expert in any field, and deliberate practice doesn’t
simply mean time in the practice room.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, he details the experience
of the legendary 1960s band The Beatles. When they were teenagers, just getting
started as a band in Liverpool, there was a local promoter with connections in
Hamburg, Germany, who was sending bands there for ongoing work. The bands
played grueling hours for very low pay, with lousy living conditions.
12

12 Beyond Talent
In Hamburg back then, Gladwell explains, strip clubs hired rock bands to play
exceptionally long sets: five or more hours each night, seven days a week, for con-
tinuous shows. The Beatles ended up traveling to Hamburg five times between 1960
and 1962. As Gladwell explains, they performed

for 270 nights in just over a year and a half. By the time they had their first burst
of success in 1964, in fact, they had performed live an estimated twelve hun-
dred times. Do you know how extraordinary that is? Most bands today don’t
perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers.2

They had to hone their performance skills, repertoire, and figure out how to cap-
ture and maintain an audience’s attention (not easy when you’re competing with
strippers). Gladwell quotes Philip Norman, who wrote the Beatles’ biography,
Shout!:

They learned not only stamina. They had to learn an enormous amount of
numbers—​cover versions of everything you can think of, not just rock and roll,
a bit of jazz too. They weren’t disciplined onstage at all before that. But when
they came back, they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.3

Success is a process.
The journey takes time.

That leads us to grit. This is what the MacArthur Award–​winning psychologist

and researcher Angela Duckworth defines as “passion and perseverance for long-​
term goals.” Musicians need grit. It’s not just about the many, many hours of prac-
tice. It’s about the resilience needed to cope with the inevitable challenges—​the
dragons of setbacks and disappointments. You need grit to stick with it for the
long haul.

Music careers are marathons, not sprints.

Managing your career calls for grit because you’re the one ultimately in charge: you
are the hero of your own journey.
13

Map Your Future 13

Recap

In this chapter we focused on articulating your dream. We also looked at how

music careers develop, we busted a couple of myths, and we detailed what it takes
to succeed.
Take Action: Let’s put what you’ve learned into motion. There’s a short series of
questions for you in the Beyond Talent companion workbook. It’s free and online.
If you haven’t already, download it and respond to the questions for c­ hapter 1, at
http://​BeyondTalentWorkbook.com.
14

2
IDENT I F Y O PPORT UNITIE S

In this chapter:
Growth versus fixed mindsets 14
Two flavors of opportunities 17
Portfolio careers 18
What you have to offer 18
Diagram your best self 20
Art versus business 24
Entrepreneurship: It’s not a job title, it’s a state of mind 25

In coaching musicians at all career levels, I’ve found a set of predictable

mindset habits that can stall the Hero’s Journey of a musician’s career. Much of the
work I do with clients focuses on clearing their pathway of the assumptions and
mindsets that have become obstacles.
We may think of our mindset as our basic attitude and outlook on life. But it’s far
more important than most of us think, because our mindset determines our reality.

Growth versus fixed mindsets

Carol Dweck is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and a leading re-

searcher on motivation. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol explains

Beyond Talent. Angela Myles Beeching, Oxford University Press (2020). © Angela Myles Beeching.
DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780190670580.001.0001
15

Identify Opportunities 15
how our fundamental beliefs—​about our intelligence, talent, and personality—​
affect what we achieve and how we live.
Dweck has found there are two basic mindsets, fixed and growth, and that people
typically, over the course of a day, toggle back and forth between the two.
When we operate with a fixed mindset we believe we have a given, “fixed” amount
of talent and intelligence—​and no more. And no amount of work is going to change
our potential.
We see ourselves and others in black and white terms—​all or nothing. Talented,
smart, creative—​or not. With a fixed mindset, we interpret mistakes and setbacks
as personal failures instead of as opportunities for growth. We avoid challenges be-
cause of the threat of failure and frustration. And we envy our favorite artists, but
instead of being inspired to work harder, we tell ourselves that we’ll never be able to
measure up. This creates a negative self-​talk loop and a tendency to operate out of
fear—​seeking praise and validation instead of opportunities to grow.
Any of this sound familiar?
On the other hand, when we are tuned in to a growth mindset, we think of our
given talents and intelligence as abilities we can develop. We don’t believe that eve-
ryone has the same potential, but we know it takes years of dedicated work to suc-
ceed. With a growth mindset, we not only enjoy challenges, we also seek them out.
We see setbacks and failures along the way as opportunities for growth. And we take
a long-​range view of our journey and mission as artists.
The growth mindset sets us up with a hunger for learning, as opposed to a hunger for
approval.
Since so much of classical music training is focused on perfectionism and com-
petition, it’s easy to see how many of us have ended up with a fixed mindset. For
jazz musicians and others who improvise, there’s often a more open and exploratory
approach to learning.
The good news is that you can—​with practice and effort—​spend more time in the
growth mindset. Here’s Carol Dweck’s four-​step process and my adapted descrip-
tion for musicians:

Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice”

Listen for the negative self-​talk that may be playing in your mind. These messages are
especially triggered when we feel anxious—​when we are facing challenges, setbacks,
and criticism.
The fixed mindset can be triggered when we’re practicing, performing, net-
working, or meeting professional contacts. It’s often some form of self-​limiting
16

16 Beyond Talent
message, a version of telling yourself, “I’m not talented enough” (or smart, crea-
tive, experienced, accomplished, networked, etc.) It’s that negative self-​talk that
undermines us—​a nasty loop in the back of our minds that gets activated whenever
we’re outside our comfort zone. Identifying your negative self-​talk messages is the
first step to overcoming it.

Recognize that you have a choice

How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is up to you. With the fixed
mindset you see these as proof that you are “less than.” But with the growth mindset
you can view disappointments as learning opportunities to ramp up your efforts
and expand your abilities. As the hero of your own journey, you need to expect
setbacks—​and learn from them.

Respond with a growth mindset voice

Replace these fixed mindset messages on the left with growth mindset messages on
the right in the following situations:

As you approach a challenge

“I need way more freelance work.
This is impossible.”
“I’m never going to succeed.”
“I’m too shy to network—​this is
hopeless.”
“I’m working hard and staying
positive. It’s going to take
dedicated effort & time—​I’m
committed to taking action.”

When encountering a setback

“I’m never going to be able to “Bumps in the road are part of

support myself !” the game. I’m in it for the long haul.”

When facing criticism

“Those people are SO wrong about my “As painful as this is, I can get over
website—​what do they know!” my feelings and learn from this.”
17

Identify Opportunities 17
Take the growth mindset action

Get used to hearing both voices and choosing to act on the growth mindset
voice. The idea is to turn it into your habitual choice so you can as Carol Dweck
recommends . . .

take on challenges wholeheartedly

learn from setbacks and try again, and
hear criticism and act on it positively.

Remember, your mindset is the backdrop for your emotions and behavior. The
growth mindset can help you deal with the dragons you encounter on your hero’s
journey, while the fixed mindset may actually produce more dragons that challenge
your progress.

Two flavors of opportunities

The opportunities available to musicians come in two basic varieties. The “tradi-
tional” opportunities are those you can apply or audition for—​these are limited and
highly competitive. A typical US orchestra opening can attract 100–​200 applicants,
and the same numbers for a single college-​level music faculty position.
It’s supply and demand economics. In the United States each year, there are more
than 20,000 students who graduate with degrees in music.
If the majority of these talented and deserving musicians are all competing for
the same few openings, the odds are not good. So it’s understandable that many
musicians question whether they can have sustainable and rewarding careers.
Here’s the good news: those highly competitive traditional opportunities are only
a fraction of the work actually available to musicians.
The music industry is vast and includes a huge variety of work opportunities for
people with music skills and a passion to share music with others.

“Realize there are many different ways to make a living in music,” says Boston-​based
freelance clarinetist Michael Norsworthy. “Remain flexible, look for opportunities
at every turn, and be ready to adjust your viewpoint. There’s no ONE way, there are
MANY ways.”
18

18 Beyond Talent
Portfolio careers

The majority of professional musicians have “portfolio” careers. This means they
have multiple income streams, commitments, and demands on their time. They may
braid together part-​time work and entrepreneurial ventures to make the most of
their talents. The diversity within a portfolio career can make for a rewarding life.
And it’s not just musicians who have portfolio careers. According to a 2016
McKinsey report, 20–​30% of the entire working-​age population in the United
States and Europe—​or 162 million people—​engage in some form of independent
work. So we’re all living in the “gig economy.”1

How can I put together a portfolio career?

Your opportunities are those that you find and create. They’re based on your skills,
interests, network, and approach. Unfortunately, many musicians are unaware of the
range of skills they actually have. Take stock.

Meet french hornist Seth Hanes. He has a thriving portfolio career with multiple in-
come streams. He’s an active freelance player and teacher in the Philadelphia area. But he
also works in social media marketing, builds websites for corporate clients, and he’s the
founder of the Musicians Guide to Hustling, a blog in which Seth offers advice and video
interviews to help musicians getting started with freelancing. He compiled his experi-
ence and wrote the book Break into the Scene: A Musician’s Guide to Making Connections,
Creating Opportunities, and Launching A Career. The website development is freelance
work, as is the bulk of his performing and teaching. His e-​book and e-​courses provide
passive income, and his blog helps him build his social capital and brand.

What you have to offer

Music studies build a range of strengths that are valued both within the arts and be-
yond. So you may have more options than you realize. Below is a list of the assets that
trained musicians typically possess.

The ability to:

Concentrate for long periods

Develop ideas
19

Identify Opportunities 19
Handle criticism and feedback
Juggle multiple projects and priorities
See both the forest and the trees: attend to details and perceive the whole
Synthesize large amounts of data
Work well under pressure

Skills:

Analytical
Collaborative/​team work
Communication (verbal and nonverbal)
Critical thinking
Interpersonal
Leadership
Listening
Organizational
Presentation/​public speaking
Problem-​solving
Project management

Capacities for :

Creativity
Empathy
Flexibility/​adaptability
Resilience
Responsibility
Self-​confidence/​self-​awareness
Self-​discipline
Self-​motivation
Tenacity and determination (grit)

The composer, vocalist, and social media consultant Joyce Kwon reflected on what she
gained through studying music, writing: “Improvisation has taught me to think on my
feet and take risks. Not just as a musician but as a person. And I think I’ve had to get
to know myself even better because I am a musician and more specifically a composer.
I’m constantly asking myself who I am, who I aspire to be, etc.” She added, “Now I’m
thinking my music education was even more valuable than I’d thought.”2
20

20 Beyond Talent
Clearly, these abilities, skills, and capacities have applications beyond music.
When you’re considering how to make your total portfolio career work, don’t un-
derestimate how you can contribute and what you can earn income from.

How do I find opportunities?

Diagram your best self

A Venn diagram can help. Draw two overlapping circles, as shown below. The one
on the left represents what you love to do; the one on the right is what you are par-
ticularly good at.
Fill in your circles with the specifics. In terms of what you love to do, your left
circle might include performing club dates with your trio, or performing specific
orchestral repertoire. Perhaps you love to sing cabaret songs in intimate venues,
teach lessons to beginners, arrange music for a capella groups, or present outreach
performances for seniors. Whatever you specifically love to do, write it down.

What you What you

love to do are good at

Fig. 2.1

The circle on the right is for what you’re specifically good at. Be objective. Perhaps
you’re good at coaching sectionals, tutoring solfège, performing French mélodie,
or arranging music for brass quintets. Perhaps your circle also includes organizing
events or coaching youth soccer. Whatever you’ve got, write it in.
Be honest, though. What we’re good at is not necessarily everything we love to do.
Some things we really excel at but don’t particularly like doing. And there are things
we love to do but aren’t yet really good at.
So pay attention to the area where the two circles overlap. It’s only in that shared
area that you would list the things that you’re both really good at and love to do.
21

Identify Opportunities 21
When we’re in school it can be easy to imagine that employers and contractors
will hire us to do whatever we’ve listed in the overlapping area, because we’re both
skilled and motivated.
But here’s the problem: these two circles are only about us—​our own desires and
abilities. And when it comes to finding employment, it’s not all about us.
There’s an essential third circle missing—​a third dimension that’s often ignored.
But it’s one that entrepreneurial musicians focus on.
That third overlapping circle is the “market.” It’s your audience, your community,
your customers. It’s the people you want to impact through your music.

What you What you

love to do are good at

The market
B (audience) C

Fig. 2.2:
Overlap A: What you love to do and are good at (but there’s not a market for).
Overlap B: What you love to do and there’s a market for (but you’re not yet good at).
Overlap C: What you’re good at and there’s a market for (but you don’t love to do).
The sweet spot in the middle: What you love to do, are good at, and there’s a market for!

By adding the third circle, we see that not everything we love to do and are good
at has a market or an audience. The sweet spot, where all three circles overlap, is our
opportunity zone. It’s where what we love to do and are good at coincides with what
people want or need—​and are willing to pay for.
With the third circle we can focus on making a difference and making a living. Of
course some of our musical projects or “products” may not have a market yet—​we
may need to build a fan base. But for immediate income, consider what you have to
offer now.
The sweet spot of opportunity is where what we’re good at, and what we want to do,
converges with the needs of others.
2

22 Beyond Talent

Eve’s story. A client of mine is an excellent soprano. She graduated a few years back
and now teaches and performs as a freelance artist in a large metropolitan area. Eve’s
goal was to gain more local performance credits and to work with a particular pianist.
She read about an upcoming community day at a science museum in her area. They
listed all kinds of family-​friendly presentations—​hands-​on events—​but had next to no
music listed.
So Eve looked up the name and email of the event organizer at the museum. And she
brainstormed what she could offer that would be special and meet both the museum’s
needs and her own.
She figured the museum’s goal for the event was to attract new and returning visitors,
and to build the museum’s reputation and “brand.”
Her own goals were to sing in nontraditional performance spaces in the commu-
nity, connect with more fans, and build her experience. Eve also loves tailoring concert
programs to specific occasions and venues.
So Eve devised a program that would relate to a specific exhibition in the museum:
the gems and minerals gallery. She created a program of repertoire connected to gems:
from arias about jewels and gold, to the musical theater number “Diamonds are a Girl’s
Best Friend.”
Then she wrote an email to the event coordinator and introduced herself, pitching
her program idea.
This wasn’t a typical pitch to a concert series presenter for a standard recital pro-
gram. Presenters are bombarded with artists seeking dates to perform standard rep-
ertoire all the time. Instead, this was a custom-​designed program to a nontraditional
venue space.
The response? Eve got a reply within an hour. The event coordinator was ex-
tremely interested and wanted to know Eve’s fee—​wanted to work out the agreement
right away.
What was in it for the museum? They were getting a one-​of-​a-​kind program that
highlighted their gallery exhibition. A feature event that could attract additional
visitors and donors—​and perhaps media attention.
What was in it for Eve? A new credit to list in her bio, a chance to perform with the
pianist she wanted to work with, new fans for her database, a great testimonial from the
event organizer, and the confidence she gained from booking her own performance and
creating a custom program. Oh, and she got a nice fee, too.

For Eve, the third circle of her Venn diagram included a local science museum.
The sweet spot included the museum’s need for inventive programming, her
love of performing recital repertoire, and her inventive skills in creating relevant
programming.
23

Identify Opportunities 23

But I can’t stand to think of my music, or any art,

as a “product” designed for the “market.”

I hear you. Most “products” we think of are commodities—​mass produced items, in-
terchangeable widgets, or portions of raw material for sale. But the entrepreneurial
composer Jeff Nytch offers an alternate understanding of the term: a product is

simply something for which there is a market (i.e., people who are willing
to give something in order to have it). And while many products are merely
utilitarian, many others are very special, rare, and costly. Art in all its forms is
an incredibly valuable product for which there is a vast and almost infinitely
varied market, and that means there is a great deal of potential value locked
up in that market.2

Case study: Finding creative solutions

Another musician, a jazz guitarist we’ll call Da-​Xia was excited to move to a new city,
where she planned to freelance and teach privately. But once she moved in, she found
there were six other jazz guitarists teaching in the area. Ouch.
She was faced with a crowded market—​an unexpected setback. What did Da-​Xia do?
Of course, she might have become frustrated and depressed, she might have taken
a day job outside of music, and she might have complained bitterly that the system is
unfair. She might have decided that moving to the city was a mistake, and then packed
up and gone home. Or she might have lowered her teaching rates to try to “steal” some
of the other guitarists’ students.
Instead, Da-​Xia used her entrepreneurial mindset.
She looked for the opportunities in this challenging situation, for ways to view her
“competitors” as colleagues and allies. She introduced herself to the other teachers in
the area, got to know them, and brainstormed possible collaborations. They explored
offering joint guitar ensemble classes and songwriting and improvisation boot camps.
And Da-​Xia also began teaching online lessons, making location less of an issue.
She also researched the community’s unmet needs to see which of them she might
fill. She found the local guitar teachers were all focused on middle school and high
schools students, so she instead offered group classes at a local adult education program
and at a retirement center.
Take-​aways: considering your market isn’t about compromising your artistic integ-
rity. It’s about being of service, being a good colleague, and offering valuable profes-
sional work in the community.
24

24 Beyond Talent
Art versus business

Many musicians have an aversion to dealing with the business side of their careers—​
managing time, money, self-​promotion, and so on. They experience a conflict between
their creative work and the need to take care of the practicalities of advancing their
careers.
In an ideal world, of course, musicians wouldn’t have to concern themselves with
the business side of music. Artists would be free to be artists. Period.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world.
If you want an audience, if you want to get paid as a professional musician, and
if you want to avoid being taken advantage of, you need to spend time each week
dealing with the logistics of your career. It’s what Elvis referred to as “taking care of
business.”
Here’s bassist Emilio Guarino’s take on this. He’s a successful NYC freelancer,
who wrote in Make It: A Guide for Recent Music Graduates:

It is a perfectly realistic goal to aspire to play a lot and make music at a high level,
but you will need to do many other things to support that goal. Most successful
musicians do lots of things, too, so you will have an easier time if you do not try to
reinvent the wheel. People who get paid to play an instrument and do absolutely
nothing else for money are actually quite rare. Everybody has at least one or two
auxiliary ventures that bring money in. They teach. They write books. They make
instructional videos. They are administrators. They have to do interviews and
other publicity. They curate their web presence. They have to negotiate deals with
the people that pay them or work with their representatives that do that work on
their behalf. They go to trade shows. They run record labels. They sell merchan-
dise. A successful musician in the 21st century has to be a great manager because
there are so many different components to a modern music career.3

I want to first get my artistry in order.

I’ll deal with that other s#*t later.

When we’re still in school, we’re focused on our craft. We may imagine that this is
all we need to be doing to prepare for life after graduation. And that taking time
to focus on anything else is a distraction from what matters most—​practicing or
composing.
But here’s what I’ve found: the musicians who make the easiest transition to the
professional world are the ones who started working while they were still in school.
25

Identify Opportunities 25
They were hustling for gigs, and tutoring, or teaching students, networking, and
launching their own projects.

I’m not good with the business stuff,

and I don’t have time for it.

No one said it was going to be easy. Ambitious and worthwhile pursuits never are.
But by changing your mindset you can have an easier time of it. Steven Pressfield,
in The War of Art, writes,

The professional, though he accepts money, does his work out of love.

He also describes the needed professional attitude of artists:

Pros are not weekend warriors. They show up every day, no matter what. . . .
They master the necessary techniques, receive praise or blame in the real world,
and have a sense of humor. They love what they do, but they play for money.
Playing the game for money produces the proper professional attitude. It
inculcates the lunch-​pail mentality, the hard-​core, hard-​head, hard-​hat state of
mind that shows up for work despite rain or snow or dark of night and slugs it
out day after day.”4

Pressfield isn’t just talking about the artistic work of practicing and performing—​he’s
talking also about managing the business of your art. As a pro, you need to do both.
For most artists, the “taking care of business” is what makes their performance
work possible—​it’s the cost of turning pro.

Entrepreneurship: It’s not a job title, it’s a state of mind

Eve’s example above showcases music entrepreneurship thinking in action. Here is

Toni Sikes, the founder of “The Guild,” an online company that markets and sells
original artwork by thousands of artists. For an Arts Enterprise talk at the University
of Wisconsin Madison, Toni detailed the essentials for arts entrepreneurs:

1. Dreaming: Do you have a vision? In business schools budding entrepreneurs

are asked, “What’s your ‘BHAG’?” The acronym stands for your Big, Hairy,
Audacious Goal. What’s yours?
26

26 Beyond Talent
2. Bootstrapping: Can you take your vision and break it down into manage-
able pieces, start small and work long and hard to bring your idea to life?
3. Networking: You need to get out and meet people, to gather ideas and
suggestions for your work. Toni says, “Schmoozing is a contact sport: you
need to rub up against others.” (Networking is covered in ­chapter 4.)
4. The Art of Pitching: You need to be able to communicate an engaging and
concise “pitch” of what you have to offer others.
5. The Art of Doing: Entrepreneurs have a bias towards action. It’s no good
having great ideas if you don’t act on them. Toni says, “The hardest thing
about starting is starting.” But just like any ambitious piece you’ve tackled,
once you get to work, and are consistent and deliberate—​you find your way.

I’m an Artist, not an Entrepreneur!

Full disclosure: in my past I directed the Center for Music Entrepreneurship at

Manhattan School of Music. So I am somewhat biased.
But I’ll be the first to admit that the word “entrepreneurship” is problematic.
There’s no agreement on its definition, and the word has a lot of emotional baggage
for artists, in the same way that “business” and “money” can have.
For some musicians, entrepreneurship represents the dark side. They equate it
with “selling out”—​sacrificing artistic integrity for money, opportunity, or fame. For
others, the term brings to mind launching a startup ensemble, program, or organiza-
tion. Many musicians simply assume it doesn’t apply to their own career.
But the way I see it, there’s a core element behind the idea of entrepreneurship
that’s helpful for all musicians. That element is initiative—​taking action to move
your career forward.
The phrase I like to use to characterize arts entrepreneurship in action is “coura-
geous inventiveness.” So instead of waiting for someone else to provide opportunities
for you, it’s all about daring to get into the arena and create your own opportunities.
But here’s the rub: this isn’t simply art for art’s sake. It isn’t just being an active
freelancer hustling for gigs.
Essentially, entrepreneurs create value. They identify a need—​a problem they can
solve for others—​and use their talents to devise new solutions.
For musicians, this means thinking beyond yourself. Consider how your artistry
might connect and be relevant to your audience—​and how it can serve a need in
your community. Ideally, you want to create “win-​win” solutions. By being of service
Another random document with
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—a former disconsolate admirer, writing from the East to upbraid you
with your perfidy?”
“Nonsense, Geoff; how can you talk such utter rubbish? I’m sure I
don’t know who it can be from,” turning the letter over. “Cheetapore! I
know no one there.”
“Well, look sharp and open it, and you’ll soon see. Most likely a bill
of Reginald’s. I thought he was a ready-money man,” said Geoffrey
austerely.
Alice cut the envelope cautiously, and drew out a thin note and a
long slip of paper. The note ran as follows:
“Madam,
“The enclosed will show you that Sir Reginald Fairfax is not
your husband. He has deceived you as he has deceived
others. His quiet exterior conceals his real disposition. He is a
wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“One who knows him well.”
Greatly bewildered, and with trembling hands, Alice unfolded the
enclosure, and gazed at it for some time before she exactly
understood what she was looking at.
Copy of Certificate of Marriage, All Saints’ Church,
Cheetapore.
Reginald Mostyn Fairfax, Bachelor—Fanny Cole, Spinster.
Hugh Parry, Clerk.
Marie Fox and John Fox, Witnesses.
White as a sheet, and trembling like a leaf, Alice handed this,
along with the letter, to Miss Fane.
“What does it mean, Miss Fane?” she asked, almost in a whisper.
Miss Fane, having adjusted her pince-nez carefully, took both and
read them, and as she read her countenance changed from purple to
yellow, from yellow to purple, Alice meanwhile devouring her with her
eyes.
 “I cannot make it out,” she said at last. “It seems to be a perfectly
correct copy of a certificate of marriage, does it not, Geoffrey?”
Geoffrey stretched out a ready hand for the letter and certificate;
but the first glance at the letter had the same appalling effect on him
as on the two ladies. After a dead silence, during which the ticking of
the clock and falling of the cinders were distinctly audible, he plucked
up courage to say:
“A hoax, of course.”
“How are we to know that?” asked Miss Fane, drawing herself up.
“I’ll take it up to London and show it to some first-rate solicitor and
ask his opinion; it’s only four hours by rail. Will that do?” pushing
back his chair and looking at Alice interrogatively.
“Yes, do, my dear Geoff; and go at once,” she cried eagerly; “for
though I know it is a ridiculous mistake, still I feel quite odd and
frightened. But perhaps,” she added, after a moment’s pause, “we
should wait till Reginald comes home the day after to-morrow; he will
clear it up. Yes, second thoughts are best; we will wait, thank you,
Geoff, all the same.”
“No, no, my dear!” said Miss Fane, emphatically, “the sooner the
matter is cleared up the better. I must beg you to take my advice on
the subject as a person much older and more experienced than
either of you. Geoffrey can easily catch the ten-o’clock train. It is
now,” looking at the clock, “a quarter-past nine.”
After a short discussion, during which the elder lady carried all
before her, it was settled that Geoffrey was to start at once; so he
quickly bolted his breakfast, and within half-an-hour was speeding up
to London as fast as an express could take him. Thinking it better to
consult some older head, he drove from Waterloo Station to Wessex
Gardens, where Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew, Sir Reginald’s first cousins,
lived. The Honorable Mark and his wife were at luncheon when
Geoffrey entered, and without any beating about the bush bluntly
told his errand. They examined the certificate with the greatest
incredulity, and laughed at the idea of “Rex” of all people committing
bigamy, “he so upright, so honourable, a man of stainless character,
who had never been known to make a love affair in his life till he met
Alice,” they chimed alternately. “The idea was really too absurd; they
wondered Geoffrey could lend himself to such a wild-goose chase.”
Nevertheless there was the certificate, “and just to show that it is a
forgery and to relieve Miss Fane’s mind, you and Geoff will take it to
some respectable solicitors and quietly ask their opinion,” said Mr.
Mayhew. So they took it to Bagge and Keepe, an intensely correct
firm; and Mr. Bagge, after carefully scrutinising the certificate for
some seconds, unhesitatingly pronounced it to be a genuine copy,
and swore to the handwriting of the Rev. Hugh Parry, who had been
one of their clients for years. “I can show you any number of his
letters, and you can judge for yourselves, gentlemen,” he added,
preparing to open a brown japanned box, on which “R. and H. Parry”
was emblazoned in large white characters.
The little hatchet-faced lawyer, with his penetrating gray eyes and
mutton-chop whiskers, seemed so perfectly confident of the identity
of the signature and the truth of the certificate, that Mr. Mayhew’s
breath was, metaphorically speaking, quite taken away, and he
gazed from him to Geoffrey—whose visage had visibly lengthened—
with an air of utter stupefaction. His moral equilibrium was
completely shaken, as he glanced from Mr. Bagge to the deed-box,
from the deed-box to Geoffrey, from Geoffrey to the long slip of white
paper—the cause of all the mischief—that lay on the green baize
table before his eyes. He pushed his hat well to the back of his head,
scratched his grizzly locks, and obviously obtained some kind of
mental inspiration, for at last he found words:
“It is of no consequence at present, Mr. Bagge. I’m much obliged
to you all the same. And—a—you are quite certain of this”—
flourishing the certificate—“being Mr. Parry’s signature?”
“Quite certain. You can compare it yourself. Hancock,”—to a clerk
—“just reach down——”
“Never mind—not to-day—another time. Thank you; a—good
morning. Come along, Geoffrey,” said the Honorable Mark, backing
himself through a swing-door, and effecting his exit with
extraordinary promptitude, leaving Mr. Bagge under an impression
that he had been visited by a gentleman who ought to be carefully
looked after by his friends, if not immediately consigned to a lunatic
asylum.
“It is a queer business, Geoff,” exclaimed Mr. Mayhew, once they
found themselves in the street, “a very queer business!” striding
along at a tremendous pace, and looking very red in the face; “but
Reginald’s sure to make it all right, you may take your oath of that.
Just leave it to him to settle. He’ll be back in a couple of days. Mind
you don’t miss the train—it’s now a quarter-past five. Here’s a
hansom. Hop in, or you’ll be late. Give Alice my love, and tell her it’s
all right; it will be all cleared up when Rex comes home. Waterloo,” to
the driver.
“All very fine,” muttered Geoffrey to himself as he was rattled over
the pavement; “I wish he had to face Miss Fane, with Bagge’s
opinion, instead of me. She’ll get it out of me before she sleeps to-
night, so I suppose I had better make a virtue of necessity and tell
the truth at once. Won’t she just make a row!”
Alice having despatched Geoffrey, and seen him fairly off to the
station, as fast as the fastest harness hack could take him, went up
to her own room, and there read her husband’s letter, from which her
attention had been so rudely diverted. It was a nice letter for a young
wife to get—not a spooney, love-lorn effusion, but a good, rational,
amusing letter, that had evidently given as much pleasure to the
writer to write as to Alice to receive, and that, without fulsome
extravagance, breathed a spirit of true, proud, tender love from the
first page to the last. Till now, yesterday’s had been to Alice the best
and most precious of letters; now to-day’s came to put it aside, and
would in turn give place to to-morrow’s, for the last was always the
most prized.
Having read and re-read her letter, Alice felt a double reliance on
her husband and a sovereign contempt for the marriage certificate,
which must be either someone else’s or intended for a shameful
hoax. Much emboldened and encouraged by these reflections, Alice
ran downstairs in search of Miss Fane, whom she found knitting in
the morning-room, with an ominous purse on her lips and a frown on
her brow.
She was sitting in the window, and merely raised her eyes for a
second as Alice entered. Alice approached her, and, leaning against
the window—with one hand in her pocket surreptitiously grasping her
precious letter—plunged boldly into conversation.
“Miss Fane, I want to talk to you about this dreadful certificate.
What do you think about it? For my own part, I most certainly will
never believe that Reginald was ever married to anyone but me. It is
some excessively bad joke that he and I will be laughing over
together before the end of the week. Don’t you think so?”
“My dear, if you have fully made up your mind, why ask me?”
returned Miss Fane coldly.
“Because I have no one else to talk to about it. You are his aunt—
his mother’s sister. You would not believe such a thing of him, I
know.”
Miss Fane drew in her lips and knitted faster and more fiercely
than ever.
Alice, kneeling beside her, softly laid her hand on her arm and
said: “You know I have no mother to advise me, or think for me; and I
am so dreadfully young, and foolish, even for my age. Don’t you
think, if my mother were alive, she would say, ‘Trust your husband?’
In my heart I do sincerely trust him. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” replied Miss Fane; and then, after a pause, added: “That is
to say, as much as any young man can be trusted. His mother was
certainly my sister, but we were very little together, as I lived chiefly
at my grandfather’s. She was a handsome headstrong girl. Reginald
has his mother’s eyes and his mother’s temper, or I am much
mistaken. You would not have found her very easy to get on with,
had she been spared,” observed Miss Fane charitably; “but she died,
poor thing, when she was two-and-twenty. My brother-in-law was
inconsolable; he adored her, and spoiled her, and did the same for
her son.”
 “Do not say that, Miss Fane. If Reginald had been spoiled he could
never have grown up as he has done—so good, so honourable, so
——”
“Yes, yes,” interrupted Miss Fane irritably. “All brides of two or
three months say the same.”
“There are very few like Reginald, nevertheless,” said Alice
warmly. “I know him, of course, better than anyone now.”
“Or you think you do,” interrupted Miss Fane, “which comes to the
same thing.”
“I know I do! I don’t believe he has a thought that I might not
share; he is true, upright, unselfish. Self he never thinks of; I am his
first thought in everything. He loves me far too dearly to bring any
such dreadful grief near me as this certificate hints at. I will put all
thoughts of it out of my head till he comes home. Don’t you think I
am wise?” she asked earnestly.
“Yes; in a certain sense you are; but if it is not cleared up you will
be all the more unprepared to receive the shock. My motto is,
‘Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and take what comes.’ This
is a very serious matter, and requires serious thought. I have been
turning it over in my mind for the last hour. Shall I tell you what I
think?” gazing solemnly over her glasses at Alice, who was still
kneeling at her side.
“Oh yes, of course. Please do,” she replied eagerly.
“I think that you are by no means the first girl Reginald was in love
with, or that was in love with him.”
“Oh, but I know I was,” cried Alice with assured confidence; “he
told me so, over and over again,” she added with a lovely blush.
“Stuff!” replied Miss Fane, viciously spearing her ball of worsted
with a knitting-needle. “And you believed him, you little goose! Do
you think,” she proceeded in a cool ironical tone, “that an extremely
handsome young man like him has lived seven years in the army
without as many love affairs to match? I tell you—and I am an
experienced old woman—I tell you no, ten thousand times no. I can’t
say that I ever heard of any special affair. I did hear a whisper that
when he joined he was one of the wildest of wild boys; but I believe,
thanks to his father, he soon steadied down. But take my word for it,
young men in the cavalry are a wild, bad lot.”
“Do you mean—that—Reginald——?” cried Alice, struggling to
rise.
“No, no, no,” replied Miss Fane, keeping her down by laying her
hand heavily on her shoulder. “Be patient, and hear what I have to
say. I only mean taking them generally—no one in particular.
Reginald,” she resumed, “has spent a great deal of time abroad.
Who knows,” she proceeded mysteriously, and dropping her voice to
a whisper, “but he may in some mad moment have married a half-
caste girl; and then, tired of her, and ashamed of his folly, have
bribed her to silence and left her in India; and she, finding his second
marriage too much for her fortitude, has sent you this certificate!
What do you think of that idea?”
“Think of it!” cried Alice, jumping to her feet, and almost
inarticulate with passion. “I think it a very wicked, horrible idea to
entertain of your own nephew, and you ought to be ashamed of it!”
“So I will if this certificate proves a false one; but if not, have you
thought, my poor girl, since I must speak plainly, of the position in
which it places you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that if Reginald was married more than two years ago, as
shown by the certificate, you are not his wife; you are nothing but
Miss Saville once more, with your name and fame for ever blighted.”
“How dare you say so?” cried Alice, crimson to the roots of her
hair. “How cruel, how unkind of you to talk to me like this! I will never,
never speak to you again as long as I live. You have a bad
uncharitable heart,” she added, moving rapidly towards the door.
“What you say never, never could be true.”
“Stay, stay,” cried Miss Fane, following her briskly; “I would not
have said all this if I had not—if I did not love you, and if I had not
altogether your good at heart. You surely do not think it can be
pleasant for me to doubt my own nephew?”—but it was very
pleasant—“I only want to open your eyes, my poor dear child, in
case of the worst. There is no one to perform this very disagreeable,
thankless duty, except myself. I mean all for the best, I do indeed,”
taking Alice into her bony embrace and kissing her effusively. Alice,
on the verge of hysterics, her brain reeling, gladly escaped upstairs,
to lock herself into her own room for the remainder of the day, where
she had ample leisure to digest and understand Miss Fane’s ideas.

Miss Fane, as we have already seen, had no love for her nephew,
and, as far as the certificate was concerned, he was already tried,
found guilty, and condemned, in her opinion. A domestic tragedy,
such as this promised to be, was her glory and delight. Slander and
gossip of all kinds were as the breath of her nostrils; her letters,
thoughts, and conversation all turned in that direction; and she was
an adept at serving up the most delicate dish of scandal,
accompanied by sauce piquante, and followed by entrées of her own
suggestions. She had the worst opinion of the world and everybody
in general, an opinion she prudently kept to herself. An affair in her
own little circle, such as this was likely to be, would afford her
materials for conversation and letters for an indefinite time. It would
give her a certain importance, too, to say: “I was in the house at the
time when it all happened; I saw and heard everything with my own
eyes and ears.”
She had no respect for her nephew’s name—she was not a
Fairfax—no pity for his young wife. The excitement of a cause
célèbre in her family caused her neither shame nor horror; quite the
reverse. She knitted the heel of a stocking; made an excellent lunch
off fish cutlets, curried fowl, tarts, and cream; took an airing in the
pony-carriage; and awaited Geoffrey’s return with imperturbable
mien.
“Alice would return to live with her,” she reflected, “if this turned out
as she imagined; and she would make her a handsome allowance,
say three thousand pounds a-year, as before. Brighton or
Cheltenham would suit her best; she loathed the country, and would
be able to give nice little dinners, card-parties, and suppers, and
keep a brougham and pair—bays or grays—iron-grays looked
dashing; mulberry livery and silver buttons, and of course a cockade
—it looked so smart. Perhaps a victoria, too, for summer.”
Here her castle-building was interrupted by the entrance of Alice,
watch in hand—Alice, who had not tasted a morsel all day. She had
spent hours alternately pacing the room and reading her husband’s
letter; at one moment revived with hope, at another sickening with
despair, according as her own convictions or Miss Fane’s came
uppermost. Pale, but composed, she drew near the fire, and
mechanically spread her hands towards the blaze. “Have you dined
yet, Miss Fane? I am very sorry to have left you alone, but really my
head ached so badly there was no use in coming down. Geoffrey will
be here in ten minutes if the train is punctual.”
“Then in ten minutes you will know your fate,” said Miss Fane,
laying her knitting down and looking at the clock.
“Oh, it’s sure to be all right,” replied Alice bravely, but white as
ashes to the very lips; as steadying herself by the mantelpiece, she
kept her eyes fixed on the door.
Miss Fane’s favourite motto, “Hope for the best, prepare for the
worst,” was suddenly curtailed by sounds in the hall.
Geoffrey’s face, as he entered with a would-be cheerful look,
spoke volumes, quite sufficient for Alice, who knew every expression
of his familiar features. Her dry lips tried to form a question, but no
sound came from them.
“Alice!” he abruptly blundered forth, “they say it’s a correct copy,
and all that sort of thing. There is no use concealing the truth. Mark
and I are certain that Reginald will clear it all up; it’s some frightful
mistake, but nothing more. I swear it is not,” he said, taking her icy
cold hand. “Don’t you fret yourself about it,” he added earnestly, for
Alice’s white face and stony fixed expression alarmed him not a little.
“A correct copy did you say?” screamed Miss Fane. “Good
heavens, what an unprincipled wretch Reginald must be! It’s well his
father and mother are in their graves. My worst fears are confirmed.
“Alice, my poor child,” turning towards her with outstretched
hands, “you will always have a friend and guardian in me.” But her
future ward did not hear her; Alice was lying at Geoffrey’s feet
insensible.

Next morning Alice had a long interview with Miss Fane, who
came to condole and reason with her. She was in bed, and utterly at
Miss Fane’s mercy. All her hopes were speedily nipped in the bud.
Every loophole of excuse that during the night her busy brain had
conjured up was speedily scattered to the winds by Miss Fane’s
common sense.
“There is no doubt about it now,” she urged; “none whatever. You
must brace up your courage, and prepare to act as a girl of spirit. No
doubt you have a terribly hard task before you, and you have been
cruelly deceived; but for the honour of your sex—not to speak of
your own good name—be firm. He will declare the whole thing a lie
from first to last, and will try to soothe you down with fond words and
caresses, so as to gain time to act; for doubtless this certificate will
give him a very unpleasant surprise. He will spare no money, you
may rest assured, to silence the other person—Fanny Cole, in short.
I daresay he would bribe her with half his income, so as to keep you
as his wife; but do not listen to him. Be firm; in fact it will be best for
you not to see him, but to leave the house before he arrives. You
and I can live together as before. At first we will go to some quiet
spot until this dreadful affair has blown over, as I suppose you will
not wish to take any legal steps against him?”
“Oh, Miss Fane!” said Alice—who had not heard a quarter of what
Miss Fane had been saying—suddenly sitting up in bed and pushing
back her hair behind her ears, “is it not a bad dream? Have I been a
little off my head? It can’t be true. It is a dream!” she said,
administering a severe pinch to her round white arm, from which she
had pulled back the lace-ruffled sleeve. But as she watched the vivid
red mark slowly dying away, she fell back on her pillow with a
gesture of despair. “No dream—no dream,” she said half to herself;
nevertheless, Miss Fane heard it.
“I am sorry to say it is no dream, but a very sad reality. If you will
take my advice, Alice”—and here Miss Fane paused—“Yes?”
“You will leave this to-day, and not await your hus—I mean,”
correcting herself, “Sir Reginald’s return.”
“Oh, I can’t, I won’t. I must see him once more!” cried Alice
excitedly. “He is so clever, so clear-headed, he is sure to be able to
unravel this horrible mystery.”
“Humph!” said Miss Fane, with a scornful sniff, “it will take a
cleverer man than I take him to be to do that. A marriage certificate
is not to be explained away, or what would be the good of one?”
“But someone else may have forged his name,” persisted Alice;
“may have been married in his name two years ago.”
“They could hardly do that, as the chaplain must have known him
by sight. And look at the chaplain’s own signature, recognised and
sworn to by his solicitors.”
“A forgery perhaps.”
“Nonsense. What could be anyone’s object? What would they
gain? If you will persist in shutting your eyes to plain facts, I cannot
help you. I am certain he will declare the whole thing a falsehood,
and talk you over, in which case I must warn you that all respectable
society will drop your acquaintance. This is by no means the first
event of the kind in my experience. The same terrible scandal
occurred in the Loftus family only two years ago. Mr. Rupert Loftus
married one of the Darling girls, and shortly after the marriage
another wife, married in Jersey years before, came on the scene.
Quite a parallel case to yours. I must say I gave you credit for more
self-respect than to imagine you would cling to a man who is another
woman’s husband.”
A crimson blush dyed Alice’s throat, face, and ears; indignant
tears started to her eyes; she tried to speak, but no words came,
and, turning her head, she buried her face in the pillow, motioning
her tormentor away with her hand. Miss Fane, finding it impossible to
carry on conversation with the back of a small shapely head and a
huge coil of golden-brown plaits, took her knitting and her departure.
She went, but she left a shaft behind her that rankled deeply.
“Another woman’s husband!” The thought was maddening! Not
hers? Nothing to her any more; and he who had told her over and
over again that he had never loved anyone but her! “You little witch,”
he had said, “you made me break all my resolutions, for I had not
meant to marry for years and years, and, thanks to you, find myself
at five-and-twenty a married man, with the prettiest little wife in
England.” How could he—how dared he talk like this, and he already
married?
Towards the afternoon Alice submitted to be dressed, and took
some tea and toast, but remained all day in her own room. She
spent a long time sitting in one of the windows, with her hands
listlessly crossed in her lap, and thinking profoundly. As she watched
the gray rain drifting across the park, uppermost in her thoughts was
Miss Fane’s parting speech.
Over and over again her lips framed the unspoken words,
“Another woman’s husband.”
She paced the room restlessly from end to end. Suddenly a
thought struck her as she arrested herself at the door of her
husband’s dressing-room. She had never been in it. She slowly
turned the lock of the door and entered. It corresponded in size to
her own; but oh, how different to that luxurious apartment! It had a
cold unoccupied feel, and she walked across to the dressing-table
on tiptoe, for some mysterious reason she could not have explained.
There was a small photo of herself in a stand occupying a post of
honour; a large old-fashioned prayer-book, which she opened
—“Greville Fairfax, from his wife,” was written in a faded delicate
Italian hand, on the first leaf; a familiar breast-pin was sticking in the
pin-cushion; a familiar coat was hanging on a peg. How near he
seemed to her now!
 Her eyes, roving round the room, took in every detail. Two old-
fashioned wardrobes, a battalion of boots, a bear-skin and two tiger-
skins spread on the floor, a couch, a small brass-bound chest of
drawers, and a few chairs. Over the chimney-piece hung his sabre,
surmounting a fantastic arrangement of whips and pipes; the
chimney-board itself bristled with spurs. Above the sabre, spurs, and
whips was a small half-height portrait of his mother, evidently copied
from one in the dining-room—a lovely dark-eyed girl, in a white satin
dress and fur cloak. Alice stood before the picture for a long time.
Reginald had his mother’s eyes, only that his had not such a soft
expression. Yes, certainly his eyes were like his mother’s.
“And what is it to me?” she thought with a sudden pang. “What
would his mother think of him if she could but know?” she said half
aloud, fixing her eyes on the picture as if expecting an answer from
those sweet red lips. “What would my mother think if she knew all?”
she said, burying her face in her hands. Then suddenly raising her
eyes, she looked once more round the room and walked to the door.
“Good-bye,” she said aloud. “Good-bye, the Reginald Fairfax I
loved, that was everything to me in the wide world. Good-bye,” she
repeated, softly shutting the door. “As for the man who is coming to-
morrow, he is nothing to me; he is—oh, shameful, shameful thought!
—another woman’s husband!” and throwing herself on her knees
beside her bed, she sobbed as if her heart would break.
After a while she rose more composed, dried her eyes, stifled her
long-drawn sobs with an enormous effort, and said to herself aloud:
“I have done with tears; I have done with weakness; I have done
with Alice Fairfax!”
 CHAPTER VI.
“A WELCOME HOME.”

Endued in a decent semblance of composure, but pale and

hollow-eyed, Alice came downstairs the following evening in time to
receive her husband. She, and Miss Fane, and Geoffrey were sitting
in the drawing-room, silent and constrained: Miss Fane bolt upright
and knitting aggressively; Geoffrey making a feint of reading The
Field, but in fact merely turning over the paper aimlessly from page
to page, and surreptitiously watching Alice above its margin; Alice,
with her hands clasped listlessly before her, making no pretence of
any employment, but staring intently into the fire with a hard, defiant
expression on her face. Suddenly a loud ring, and a sound of
footsteps and cheerful voices in the hall, announced the return of the
master of the house.
Sir Reginald entered, looking radiant. “You hardly expected me so
soon, did you?” he said, greeting his relations in turn. “I travelled
straight through without stopping, except for a couple of hours in
Paris. I have brought you the most lovely Christmas-box you ever
saw!” he said, turning to Alice.
“Why, what have you been doing to yourself, my dear girl?” he
exclaimed suddenly, struck by her altered appearance. “Have you
been ill?” he asked anxiously.
“No,” she returned shortly.
“Then what is the matter?” he proceeded with a smile, inwardly
amazed at his wife’s strange manner, and at the tepid reception she
had accorded him.
“Has the cook, our priceless treasure, given warning?”
“Something dreadful has happened, Reginald,” replied Alice. “I
don’t know how to tell you,” she added in a low voice.
 “I know!” he returned cheerfully, nodding his head towards
Geoffrey. “He has killed one, if not two, of my best hunters?”
“Something far worse than that,” she rejoined, staring glassily at
her husband.
“Can you not guess what it is?” put in Miss Fane with venomous
empressement, having hitherto restrained herself by an enormous
effort. “I wonder the roof has not fallen on you,” she continued,
invoking the chandelier with a supplicatory gesture, and casting up
her flint-gray eyes.
“Please leave us, Aunt Harriet,” interrupted Alice, struggling hard
for composure. “I must speak to—to—Reginald alone.” And turning
her back to the company to conceal her emotion, she moved
towards the fire.
Sir Reginald gazed from one to the other in speechless
amazement, then walking to the door he flung it open for Miss Fane,
who left the room with ill-disguised though stately reluctance,
throwing a warning but wholly unnoticed glance towards the figure in
front of the fire.
Geoffrey, as he passed out, significantly whispered: “Mind, my
dear fellow, I don’t believe a word of it; I stand by you, through thick
and thin.”
“Stand by me in what?” muttered Sir Reginald to himself as he
closed the door. “Have they all gone mad?”
“Well, Alice, my darling,” approaching his wife, “what is all this
about?” putting his arm round her waist and drawing her towards
him.
“Don’t dare to touch me!” she cried fiercely, pushing him away with
both hands.
“Are you rehearsing for private theatricals?” he said with a laugh;
“and am I to be the villain of the piece?” Then continuing more
seriously, taking his wife’s hands in his and looking straight into her
eyes: “Alice, tell me at once—what is the meaning of this?”
 “I’ll tell you,” she replied hysterically, snatching her hands away
and searching in her pocket with nervous haste.
“What is the meaning of this?” producing the anonymous letter. “It
came three days ago.”
He read it slowly, frowned, crushed it into a ball, and flung it into
the fire.
“There! that is my opinion of it,” he said, turning towards her. “You
would not wish me to believe that you could be influenced by an
anonymous letter, written by some crawling reptile too cowardly to
attempt to substantiate his lies. I hold the writer of such a production”
(pointing to the blackened fragments now lazily sailing up the
chimney) “no better than an assassin who stabs in the dark.”
“This, at any rate, is not anonymous,” replied Alice, pushing the
certificate towards him.
He took it up, read it, turned it over, and read it again. She
observed that his face was a shade paler, but otherwise he was
perfectly composed, as he said: “This is a most infamous forgery. I
know no one of the name of Fanny Cole, and I need hardly say I
never was married before.”
“And is this all you have to say?” inquired his wife.
“All! Good heavens, Alice! what more can I say? I assure you most
solemnly I was never married to anyone but you; you know it as well
as I do myself. I never met a woman I cared to speak to twice till I
saw you that evening at Malta. What is the good of repeating the
same old story over again—just now, at all events—when we have
such heaps of things to say to each other? As to this infamous
certificate, I will take good care to have it thoroughly investigated,
and the whole thing cleared up, you may rely on that. It is my affair
altogether; do not trouble your little head any more about it.” Drawing
her towards him—“Come, are you not very glad to see me? Have
you no better welcome for me than this? Do you know that I have
been counting the very milestones till I reached home; and now I am
here, won’t you say you are glad to see me, my dearest?”
 Alice leant her head against his shoulder; she was weak, she
knew it; he was talking her over, as Miss Fane predicted; every word
he uttered found an echo in her heart—her heart that was beating
suffocatingly. She trembled from head to foot. On one hand was love
and everything that made life dear to her; on the other, honour, duty,
pride. She must make her choice between right and wrong.
“Speak, Alice!” interrupted her husband, getting a little out of
patience at last.
“Yes, I’ll speak,” she returned in a hard mechanical voice, abruptly
releasing herself and standing before him. “Do you know,” she
continued, with slow distinct utterance, “that that certificate” (pointing
to where it lay on the table) “has been shown to a firm of solicitors?”
“Indeed!” replied Sir Reginald, in a tone of much surprise. “At
whose suggestion?”
“Miss Fane advised me. Geoffrey and Mr. Mayhew took it to a firm
they could rely on.”
“Well, I really think you might all have waited for my return before
taking such an important step,” said Sir Reginald with some
indignation. “I wonder you allowed it, Alice. It did not show much
confidence in me, I must confess. And what did the solicitors say?”
he proceeded, in a cool displeased tone.
“They said——” and she paused; then continued with an effort
—“they said it was a true copy!” raising her eyes to his.
“A true copy!” he echoed. “I never heard such nonsense in all my
life—never!” he exclaimed emphatically. “When there is no original,
how can there be a copy?”
“I am not clever enough to argue with you, Reginald; you must ask
the solicitors, they will explain. At any rate, they swore to the
clergyman’s signature; he was a client of theirs, and they knew his
writing well.”
“Mr. Parry’s writing is it?” said her husband, again taking up the
certificate and critically scanning it. “So it is!—an admirable forgery.
Poor old fellow, he was garrison chaplain at Cheetapore. I knew him
well; he has been dead these two years.”
“Probably,” persisted Alice, “the fact of his being dead does not
refute that,” pointing to the paper in her husband’s hand. “According
to its testimony it is nearly three years since you were married.”
“Three months, you mean,” he exclaimed with a laugh, making a
desperate effort to throw off a horrible suspicion that was stealing
over him and turning every vein to ice.
“Someone has forged Mr. Parry’s name, that is evident,” he
exclaimed; “but why or wherefore I am at a loss to understand. I wish
I had been here when this precious document arrived,” he continued,
pacing about the room. “It must have given you rather a start getting
it in my absence. No wonder you look pale, my poor little wife,” he
said, pausing opposite her and looking at her steadfastly.
“No wonder, indeed!” she replied significantly.
Something in her look and tone confirmed his former conviction.
Gazing at her fixedly for some seconds, he said:
“It is not possible that you doubt me, Alice?”
Dead silence.
“Answer me at once,” he demanded sternly, as she stood dumb
before him. “Do you hear me, Lady Fairfax?” he persisted,
exasperated by her silence.
“You can hardly expect Lady Fairfax to hear you,” she replied in a
cool, chilly voice. “She is not here.”
“You will drive me mad, Alice,” he cried vehemently; “you could not
in your heart believe this monstrous invention. I solemnly swear to
you—you alone are my wife; you know it is the truth. Why do you
torture me like this? If I thought you really doubted me, as sure as
you are Alice Fairfax I would never forgive you!”
“Then you are taking a very weak oath; for it seems to most
people who have seen that paper that I am not Alice Fairfax. Show it
to whom you will, they will say that I am not your wife.”
 “Is that your opinion?” he asked sharply.
“It is,” she replied boldly; “I have no other alternative. I have been
thinking a great deal the last two days—thinking more than I ever did
in all my life before, and I can come to no other conclusion than that
you were married to that woman. Your aunt entertains no doubt of
your infamy, neither do I.”
“Alice, am I mad? am I dreaming? or do I really hear you distinctly
tell me that you are no longer my wife, and that you entertain no
doubt of my infamy? Am I out of my mind, or are you? Am I still
asleep in the train, or am I in my waking senses?” he said, looking at
her fixedly with his keen dark eyes.
“Whether you are mad or not I cannot say,” she retorted scornfully.
“I hope you are sane enough to understand that I leave this house
to-morrow, never to return. For the future, you and I are strangers.”
“This is mere childish folly,” returned her husband angrily; “you
don’t know what you are saying. Because Miss Fane has been
wicked enough to put all manner of hideous ideas into your foolish
head, you are ready to run away like the orthodox heroine of a three-
volume novel.
“Do you suppose?” he continued very gravely, “that I shall permit
you to take the law into your own hands like this, or suffer you—a girl
in your teens, a three-months’ wife—to leave your home in such a
manner? Is this the way you keep your wedding vows——”
“Wedding vows!” interrupted Alice, hastily pulling off her ring and
tossing it on the table, where it spun for a second, and then
collapsed into silence. “Wedding vows! I’ve none to keep! I am free!
Show that certificate to whom you will, even to the most ignorant,
and they will say, that whoever may be your wife—I am not——” She
paused for a moment, half choked. “And not being your wife, you can
scarcely expect my father’s daughter to remain here. You are a
hypocrite,” she continued, speaking rapidly and trembling with
excitement. “A hypocrite! for you appeared to be all that was good;
and I know you to be all that is bad——It was bad, wicked,
shameful,” stamping her foot, “to deceive an orphan confided to your
care.”
She paused again, breathless.
“Pray go on, madam—do not spare me,” said her husband
hoarsely. He was leaning one elbow on the chimney-piece.
Indignation, horror, and scorn were chasing each other in his eyes.
“You married me,” resumed Alice, “or rather pretended to marry
me, because I was your ward. It was an easy way to solve that
problem, which must otherwise have been a trouble and a bore. I
was young, rich, and, if you were to be believed, exceedingly pretty
—nothing could be more suitable; but why did you forget that you
had a wife in India? Had you not better bring her home? Her position
may not be properly understood at Cheetapore,” with withering
contempt.
Smash went a valuable, a priceless old chimney ornament, thanks
to Sir Reginald’s restless elbow.
“I shall go away to-morrow, say what you will, and never see you
again as long as I live. You may hush the matter up; you may say
that I am dead. You have nothing to fear from me. I have neither
father nor brother. In years to come I may forget you, and I may
forgive you; but should I live to be a hundred, I will never see you or
speak to you again.”
She stopped abruptly, and looked at her husband with glowing
angry eyes. She had relieved the pent-up feelings of her heart in a
perfect torrent of reproach. Her utterance was so rapid as to be
almost inarticulate, and the tide of her passion carried all before it.
With a motion to Sir Reginald to permit her to pass, she was
preparing to leave the room.
He by this time was as white as a sheet, otherwise a vein down
the centre of his forehead alone betrayed emotion.
Whilst Alice was shaking with excitement, he was perfectly cool
and self-possessed; but a kind of repressed sound in his voice when
he spoke would have told a bystander that his temper was now