Concert: (n) a musical performance given in public
At a very early age I convinced myself I could sing. Growing up in a small village, there was not much competition–and since I was willing to intone and offer my voice as a possibility, folks around my community had no reason to doubt my prowess.
So when I graduated from high school, rather than heading off to college and finding out if anyone outside of Delaware County thought I 
could sing, I put together a music group, started writing some of my own songs and planned concerts.
I immediately learned the difficulty in concert promotion.
- Just because you think you can sing does not mean anybody wants to hear you.
- And if you can convince them to come to your concert, it may require that you offer some other stimulus, like refreshments. Or prizes.
- If anything else comes up before the concert, or even on concert day, which is more alluring, chances are that promise to attend, even by your friends, is quickly forsaken.
- People’s patience in hearing you sing is based upon how well you can take them to a happier (or sad) place and make them glad they went there.
- Just because you can sing doesn’t mean anybody wants to buy a recording of you doing it, so they can play it in their free time.
These were tough lessons.
So ferocious was my training during this period that I often found it difficult to supply food for my family and was only able to lodge as long as I could dodge coming face-to-face with the landlord.
It was actually many years before anyone, of their own volition, walked up to me and said, “Hey! When’s your next concert?”
I froze the moment in my mind… and replay it frequently.
(click the elephant to see what he’s reading!)
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