Disclaimer: This is transcribed using AI. Expect (funny) errors.
Mindy Peterson: [00:00:00] I’m Mindy Peterson, and this is Enhance Life with Music, a holistic look at the power of music in our everyday lives. Joining me today from California is Christopher Caliendo, founder of 2t Academy. Christopher combines 35 years of experience in the entertainment industry with 15 years of commercial banking practice to teach musicians how to parlay their core creative and soft skills into the world of business while accelerating their creative aspirations. 2t Academy members learn how to achieve financial stability and work life balance without having to go back to college to earn a business or finance degree. Welcome to Enhance Life with Music, Christopher!
Christopher Caliendo: [00:00:46] Thank you, Mindy; it’s a pleasure to be here.
Mindy Peterson: [00:00:48] Christopher, you were incredibly successful in the music and entertainment industry before you made a pivot to the world of banking. We could feature an entire episode on your music accomplishments. You were invited by Henry Mancini himself to L.A. after winning his scholarship for film composition that led to your success composing for popular TV shows an Emmy nomination. You were the first American composer in Vatican history to be commissioned twice by John Paul to. And those are just a few highlights from your pre banking music days. Tell us, what led you to get involved in the banking world after that?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:01:26] Well, it’s actually an interesting story because it reflects on what’s going on today with another major disruptor, covid-19. It was the Japanese financial crisis in 1997, and it was a time when I came back from the Vatican. I had taken the two commissions from John Paul and wove them into a two hour spectacle called the Mystic Saints and Henry Mancini, my mentor, and Steve Ben-Dror, one of the great Hollywood specialty directors who directed the Elvis Presley comeback special in 1968, said, This is your one line resume. This is something you need to cultivate. So I made the biggest mistake anyone makes can make in especially in entertainment and in the music industry. And that’s how I use my own money to try to mount this on St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee year 2000. And this is a time when the Japanese financial crisis had its major effect in vertical markets across the world and PBS had changed their policy. It used to be you could take a project to PBS like the Mystics Saints, and they would fund it and have exclusive distribution rights to produce it through PBS. That changed immediately and I had to fund the entire thing and then they would distribute it. There were many changes going on as a result of the crisis in the in the arts and cultural arena as well. And all of this precipitated to a point where I realized and panicked that this was not going to happen.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:02:47] And I spent six figures and more. When you when you have a budget, for instance, a production budget to mount something on St. Peter’s Square at the time that could cost thirty thousand dollars. So eventually I realized that using all my resources and just focusing on that one aspect of my business, which was theater and something very difficult to produce a two hour news spectacle, I fled to attract talent to mount it there. It didn’t happen. I went to say Passion Cathedral, New York, where I was born, couldn’t mounted there, exhausted myself and basically had a little bit of counseling and sold my house, moved into an apartment and said, what now? And looking into the papers in Los Angeles Times. And lo and behold, there was an advertisement for a telemarketing position at Manufacturer’s Bank. And I said to myself, Christopher, what better way to learn wealth management? So this never happens to me again, that a bank and fortunately, because of my soft skills in collaboration and communication and attention to detail time management, I found that I was very good at providing an invisible handshake through the phone to a CEO of a business whose annual revenue was fifty million or above and influenced them to meet our bank. And I became top sales telemarketing salesperson for five years in a row. And that was my own trade of the banking world.
Mindy Peterson: [00:04:01] Wow, that is quite a story. Well, Tootsie’s website and I’ll just clarify for listeners, Tuti, it’s the number to the letter T.. I know sometimes when it said really fast, it sounds kind of like Tuti, but Tutty website says discover how to use your skills that you learned in your music education and why they are so valued by the business world. Talk to us about what are skills that we learn in music education. You talked about soft skills. You use the term core creative skills. What are these skills that are sort of unique to being a musician and studying music that are valued in the business world?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:04:36] Sure. Musicians developed soft skills. Are the academics like to refer to them as core creative skills? But from the perspective of a musician, there are so many soft skills. So what I have done in my training at the 2t Academy is reduce them to the top five that employers in industry are seeking and then list those supportive or corresponding soft skills that are like subsets of the main five. So, for example. The top five would be communication, problem solving, creativity, adaptability, work ethic, so under communication, you have corresponding soft skills that are often interact with communication, such as active listening, which requires the listener fully concentrate, understands or responds and remembers what is being said. You have confidence, which is the state of being clear headed, right, or that a chosen course of action is the best and most effective. You have conflict resolution facilitating the peaceful ending of a conflict and you have organization putting things together in logical ordered one’s mind. Now, I did a very careful study of this, relating these subsets into the main category of communication that relates specifically to musical education. So for the perspective of industry, I also did a study of the top three requirements by human resources and recruiters across a variety of industries and vertical markets. And interestingly enough, they are communication, which of course is collaboration, interpersonal skills, active listening organization, attention to detail and time management and conflict management.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:07] Study, just like a recent study, is something that covers like the last 20 years with study time periods covering a
Christopher Caliendo: [00:06:14] Very recent study last six months. Because, you know, all you have to do is go to LinkedIn, for example, and look at the job listings there and study with human resources, a listing and required skill sets. And you will see time and time again, communication, problem solving, career. I mean, I can go.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:29] These are keywords that you’re looking for.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:06:31] Yeah, you could say they’re keywords. Absolutely.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:33] So tell us again what those top skills are that corporate recruiters are looking for right now.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:06:38] As I mentioned, communication, for example, the ability to articulate both in writing verbally with colleagues and clients considered one of the most highly valued skills to employers. So an employer would expect that every email you send that interview participate in shows your ability to communicate effectively. If I use creativity as an example, thinking outside the box, you can imagine how important that is today, given how competitive industries are in selling products and offering a unique perspective that examines all the angles of a problem. So the employer would ask you on interview to explain why your unique background experience may be helpful in this new role and adaptability. Another huge skill set that musicians have. I mean, there is a self-preservation to musicians. It’s it’s it’s sort of the ability to say I accept a lifestyle of playing gig to gig, to gig to gig. It’s an amazing, primal, self-justifying need in a musician and an artist’s life. So we have adaptability in spades. And that’s the ability to adapt to change, which is so critical regarding today’s business trends and evolving technology on a day to day basis. The employer then would ask you to speak about a time where something unexpected occurred, but you were able to problem, solve and pull something together for a positive end result, sir.
Mindy Peterson: [00:07:53] Now, some listeners are going to be in the camp where they hear the soft skills that you just described adaptability, work ethic, creativity, communication and so forth. And the connection is going to be really clear to them between being a musician and developing those skills for listeners who aren’t necessarily seeing that correlation. Just briefly, talk to us about the correlation that you see between being a musician and having those soft skills,
Christopher Caliendo: [00:08:18] The correlation between being a musician and having those soft skills. Can you take that one step further? Yeah.
Mindy Peterson: [00:08:23] So you’re Tutty website is calling in musicians and saying you have these skills that you learned in your music education and they are valued by the business world. So talk to us a little bit about what correlation do you see between someone who is a musician? Why do they have higher levels of these soft skills than anybody else out there who’s not a musician?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:08:46] Let me answer that question in a unique way which which actually leads leads you into the course itself. When I have a student, for example, who is identifying their soft and adaptability strengths through the coursework so we can profile what particular soft skills and adaptability traits they have that are very coherent and developed, and then how we apply that knowledge to gain advantage in securing a job with an industry. So in other words, I have asked students as part of their requirements for a lesson plan to complete a LinkedIn video script based on their soft skills and using keywords corporate businesses look for in writing an effective resume. So one of my clients skills learned in music that she feels very confident. It is attention to detail. Musicians have outstanding attention to detail. You can imagine playing an instrument. You can imagine composing music, the amount of detail, and that means continuous improvement. They have determination, self motivation. These are all soft skills that are very much analogous to attention, to detail, the determination to play well, the self motivation to master the instrument, the continuous improvement involved to master something. So she wrote an exercise for a 40 second linked LinkedIn video promote. And I asked her to tell a story of how our music makes her exceptional and attention to detail, but use keywords associated with the corporate world, why? Because when a recruiter is looking at your LinkedIn profile and they are watching your video, you want to speak their language, you want to be able to use the words they use and that gets them excited and actually outranks you from the other participants for this particular job.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:10:28] So she wrote the following when preparing my music. My objective is to constantly improve my playing and aim for the highest level possible. Every piece I practice can benefit by increasing my attention and focus on the variety of details written by the composer. I maximize my practice time by breaking details down and working on selecting key areas of difficulty. I accelerate my results by optimizing my use of time, for example, by slowing down the tempo. My mind is able to sync with the mechanics of my hands, thus increasing my awareness of every aspect of the music. Once a slower tempo is mastered, I then introduce a slightly faster tempo until I can perform the music without error at the desired speed. Practicing shorter intervals throughout the day and utilizing this approach allows me to optimize my practice sessions and reduce performance anxiety. And you can see how the musician can use their language and their storytelling with the key words associated with the corporate recruiter looking for these types of employees to hire for their company.
Mindy Peterson: [00:11:32] Yeah, kind of a way of translating the language from the music context to the business context. Any other comments that you have on how music training creates these soft skills that today’s business world is looking for?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:11:47] Well, I can talk about the history of why the IMF is now more important than the MBA by recruiters today. Is that is that a good topic to do?
Mindy Peterson: [00:11:57] Because now this is one of my questions. You said that the MFA is the new MBA and the MFANA is the new hot thing for corporate recruiters. In fact, I think you said MBAs are the next blue collar workers. So I’d love to hear. Yeah. I want you to have your perspective on this topic.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:12:14] This if you’re trying to and I’m not trying to reform music education. I’m trying to motivate inspire musicians to revalue their music education, especially those that are facing the top four pain points today, which are a lack of jobs, the anxiety of student debt, the concern about technology learned in school and whether it will be applicable after school. And these gen now are, interestingly enough, are very interested in a sustainable life. How to have work life balance is a very important need for these young people, and I applaud them because they are thinking about those later biological stages that require marriage and children if applicable. And they’re looking how do I gain financial stability in my 20s as opposed to entrusting this gypsy life of gig to gig to gig, to get myself to a point where my expectations perhaps don’t match reality. So it was Daniel Pink in his 2004 seminal book, A Whole New Mind that coined this expression is a chapter in that book called The MFA is the New MBA. It’s not Mommy.
Mindy Peterson: [00:13:12] All right. Love Daniel Pink’s writing. I don’t think I’ve read that book, but it’s I know
Christopher Caliendo: [00:13:17] The subtitle for the book Arrested My Attention. Why write brainers will rule the Future.
Mindy Peterson: [00:13:24] Oh, yes. I’ll definitely have to check that one out.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:13:27] And all of a sudden, because I was doing preliminary work on building an academy, and when you build a business, I mean, you have to build it intelligently, coherently, cogently. You have to be able to talk about why we have arrived at a place in our history where classical music has really assuaged since the seminal book in nineteen ninety six or seven who killed classical music till the recession. We just, we’ve just been through 2008 and now covid. So the right brain, as you know, is more visual intuitive. It has a more creative and less organized way of thinking. Well, the left hemisphere excels at analysis, the right hemisphere reasons holistically. It recognizes patterns and interprets emotions. So the right brain is also connected to imagination, holistic thinking, intuition, feelings. So Mr Pink talks about the last decades belonging to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind. Computer programmers who could crank hold, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. And then he tells us that the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person. These people artists, inventors, musicians, designers, storytellers, even caregivers, counsellors, big picture thinkers will now reap society’s Richards rewards and share his greatest joys. So, in other words, abundance has produced an ironic result that Triumph left Richard thinking has lessened its significance for businesses no longer enough to create a product that’s reasonably priced and adequately functional.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:14:54] It must be beautiful, unique, meaningful. Right. So look, look at Apple computers over. You see, when you buy a pair of jeans today, there’s these 100 jeans to choose from. So the markets today have been so, so competitive that art and transformational design has become the last bastion, a stronghold to outdistanced yourself or gain greater market share than your competitor. It was Family Business Advisers Network who published some very interesting comments regarding the death of corporate America. This is the America my dad worked for, the post office, the punch card job 30 years ahead. I can I can plan my retirement. Right. That doesn’t exist today. So no job is dependable, even if the Fortune 500 level where we see companies laying off thousands of employees and then hiring thousands of employees. So for the last 10 years or more, businesses are realizing that the only way to differentiate their goods and services and it’s overstock material that bunted marketplace was to make their products transcend it, physically beautiful, emotionally stimulating. But it was not just a concern for beauty and emotionally compelling products. The competitive landscape began to become a threat to all types of businesses, including commercial banks.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:16:03] As I explained to you, who began hiring people like me, whose thought process was not typical. So what I did in banking that used my soft skills, even though there was a rite of passage to all these left brain. Pepperdine, Harvard Business graduates, Marshall School of Business, Wharton School of Business was I introduced video marketing to the banking community. It’s so regulated that they were so afraid of using video marketing that I was the first person to say, Hey, the Times are taking out a CPA for a salmon lunch and talk about how both of you can work together and share opportunities. And the next day, that particular person I just took out for lunch is going out with Chase or Morgan Stanley having the same salmon salad. And then I would get a referral and it would be so left of center, I would say what happened here? We don’t really work in underserved markets. We work for companies that, you know, 100 million dollars in sales. So I said to my executives, I said, this has got to change. We have to have a deeper dive with our centers of influence. So I chose let me go into the corporate office, bring my camera and lighting equipment. I’ll take it two or three minute video.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:17:05] I’ll produce it so I can put their value propositions on camera and deepen that relationship that no other banker can. Now, no other banker thinks this way. Now, I put on concerts. I perform concerts all over the world. So I took it a step further. If you’re going to video market and I now I have a nice, beautiful two minute video to share with my clients to get work for you. And now I’m on top of your mind because I’m a banker who did this. I’m going to invite you to be a guest speaker at a country club. You’re going to be the musician talking about R&D tax credits or expense reduction analysis. And then I’ll take it a step further. I’ll publish articles about your business on a quarterly basis that’s covers current trends. So this is the way a musician, a creative person, can work and adapt their skill sets into other industries. And I employ Daniel Pink because he he started inspiring me, you know, to answer that questions. Should musicians consider a day job in the business world? And if so, how can they find that job that aligns well with their creative goals and skills? And I said, my God, this is autobiographical. I can actually create a music school based on my own experience.
Mindy Peterson: [00:18:11] Yeah, interesting how sometimes those greatest crises and what seems like the most negative thing that could possibly happen to us can become redeemed. It can become this catalyst for something. I know you have this whole new new career in life where you’re helping so many people. Let’s talk a little bit more about reasons people may have for wanting to pivot from a musical career into the business world. You talked about your experience. I think everybody knows the term starving artists. And there’s a reason that term is in our vernacular. I mean, it can be really hard to make it as an artist or musician, but there’s so much in the news now because of what’s been happening with covid. I just saw an article recently called Musicians are Abandoning the Industry for a Stabler Career. And it’s interesting, based on what you said recently, the article doesn’t even say for a stable career, but it’s a stabler career. And that article is all about the uncertainty. That is a part of being a musician and an artist now because you don’t know if these gigs are going to happen or not. I mean, we just had over a year where everything was cancelled. And even now that things are starting to reopen, a lot of musicians are like, I’m not sure, I’m just going to go flocking back to this anymore because things are still being canceled last minute.
Mindy Peterson: [00:19:27] And along with the income implications of that uncertainty, there’s the psychological implications of that constant back and forth and uncertainty. And then I think, too, I’m a member of several professional Facebook groups. And just recently someone had posted and said, I feel like that I’m the only person in my circle who has a master’s degree and has to work this hard for so little in return. And it’s like, I love being at the piano all day, but the financial realities of being this dedicated in this educated. But still living with money and time anxieties, it’s burdensome and they were asking, what are our options if we want to stay in the field of music? But we desperately want the benefits of traditional employment like health care and sick leave and vacation, things like that. So are there other reasons that you’re commonly seeing for people wanting to consider this pivot from a world where their career is in music to parlaying those skills into the business world?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:20:28] Yeah, it’s a great, great question. And Mindy, musicians, more than ever before your point, are curious today about the transfer of music disciplines to the business world. And it is a subject that receives increasing attention within businesses that are looking for high performing employees and candidates with specific skills. Unfortunately, much of the information remains within the business world and not in academia, where music departments are not preparing or recognizing the reality within which their students face upon graduation. And what I mean is today musicians have to plan to pursue a career outside of music because and these are the major points, lack of music, jobs, enormous debt musicians face as a result of the demand for advanced degrees, which sadly have outlived their usefulness. The anxiety and worry that comes to the reality of paying that debt and the concern of life balance, as I mentioned before, has reached a state of maximum concern. So as a result, musicians are now asking me, you know, how can I revalue that that degree without having to go back to school to earn a degree in other field? And it’s no wonder why you are here today talking to me on this subject, because musicians today recognize the need to adapt to these changes proactively. Their purpose, their inquisitiveness, their resilience to see this through and their acceptance that a threat is looming drives their adaptive nature and commitment to change. So to further engage in what you’re saying, the reality of today’s current job market is you have to learn.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:21:47] Now, this is what we teach the academy. This is what you’re not going to learn in school. You have to learn how to use analytics to research business trends. And we have in our adjunct faculty Dennis Kershner, MBA grad from USC in the 60s, very, very seasoned. He teaches our students how to do this. So because it makes complete sense that if you are serious about your life and how to choose to navigate the world, to pay your fixed and variable cost, if you’re going to use your creative skills in another industry that you do it intelligently. You choose an industry that no one is growing because that means it pays well and it provides financial security. You want to make sure it offers a good benefits package and we go over that at the academy. We want to make sure it corresponds with your particular soft skills and adaptability strengths and you want to make sure it’s aligned. This is the key. You want to make sure that your daytime job is aligned with your musical career goals. This will have a fantastic meritorious effect on lessening the months or years of marginalized thinking and accelerates your musical growth. There was a period when it was Princeton’s cool, hip, trendy, maybe to work at a coffee shop. Right? You work at Starbucks, make a dollar while attending school.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:22:59] It’s socially engaging, interactive and fun. But we see in today’s young musician a wonderful newness, a very different person. Today’s musician is quite serious about paying off debt and saving money early in their career. To your point, this starving artist is taboo. We don’t we don’t accept that anymore. They do not want a career where they will struggle. They value music, but they are seeking to incorporate those schools into other businesses that pay well and have a good benefits package and will supply them with a different kind of network that will give them invaluable knowledge and connections, which will help their long term creative aspirations. This is key. This is what we train musicians to do. You go through coursework to understand soft skills and adaptability strengths. You learn analytical trends. What businesses do you enjoy? We have a psychiatrist on board. TOOTED make sure we were able to comfort your mindset because this is a very difficult transition for some is a self-esteem issue. You’re asking me to let go of something I’ve been doing since a child and adapt to businesses. But if you have a predeliction, a common sensical aspect to your life or you’re saying, wait a minute, I have control of this, this is not forever. But if I choose the right business correctly and incorporate my soft skills, adaptability, strengths to our requirements, I can actually see a very, very good paying job and be in a very positive network and gain knowledge and technology.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:24:21] But if I choose very carefully one that corresponds with my musical aspirations, now I’m listening those months of marginalized thinking. Now I’m accelerating that potential. And that’s what I did. I had no idea I was unconscious of this. When I went into the banking world. I just needed a job. And now my biggest fear mehndi was am I going to meet a director or a producer with a suit and tie on that? I work because I was very substantial in Hollywood for a number of years and it did happen. I was at Barnes and Noble taking a break, drove out to the grove and here I am. And all of a sudden Albert Fisher walks up to me, a national Emmy Award winning director. I had the privilege of scoring some Discovery Channel shows, including the Patricia Hearst Secrets of San Simeon Show and Discovery, which was the biggest show, and he was with his wife, Erica, and he saw me. He goes, what’s the what’s the suit and tie for? And I couldn’t lie to the man. I said, well, I had to find a job. I’m a banker now. And Rick and his wife came up to me, put her hands on my shoulders and said, good for you. And that just the demon left me. And I went, You know, Christopher, it’s OK. It’s OK.
Mindy Peterson: [00:25:27] Well, I think this is really is a key thing that you’re bringing up and that it’s not this isn’t an either or situation or you either fulfill my passions creatively in music or I settle and go to the business world to pay my bills and make a living. You can have both. And so I think that’s really key where you’re talking about find a job in the business world where you can incorporate those passions and skills and abilities that you already have in a way that can advance them and accelerate them and use to your advantage within the business setting.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:25:59] Yeah. Is another thing too that I it’s very interesting, this whole idea of a formula for adaptability and this is module two and one of the larger flagship courses we offer at the academy, but we cover using for example, we review each student and how they learn about adaptability in association with their artistic career and how they intend to support it with a daytime job. So we ask, what is your purpose now? People just have an initial reaction to that. Your art is a product. It needs to provide a solution. Every product in your house provides a solution. Carpet, cleaners, soap, whatever it is, your art is a product. What is its purpose? And right away you start thinking, wow, I am not sure if I can answer that question, but if I could, I would know how to market myself immediately. How do you define your sense of inquisitiveness towards that purpose? Wow. Define your resilience. What steps are you taking to ensure that purpose is being pursued? Now, if we were looking at a quotient nominator denominator, the denominator and this is what threats do you feel you need to be aware of what triggers those threats? So when a student is trying to think like this relative to organizing their life within a sustainable structure, they will now develop a rudder that steers a ship provided with a prescription to avoid as much natural chaos and malevolence that’s inherent in the world.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:27:18] We live in reduced, marginalized thinking and set themselves up for a sustainable journey with a healthy, coherent work life balance formula. So to answer this question, when educated in this way, the student comes to a realistic fulfillment of how their self skill training is valued. Today is a very important aspect, is adaptability. Because, you know, I know there are probably many musicians, God bless them, but they may flippantly think, oh, I’ll just study music and I’ll do that. Seems cool. But I think today what’s great about today and covid with respect to it, but in a sense this positive negative in everything is that it’s waking us up, these young people today. And I applaud them who are practical enough, saying, you know, I really want to understand that it’s just not really learning the technical skills of an instrument, which is what Academi is for. But once they’re jettisons outside and have to answer that ubiquitous question, what do I do next? What choices do I have?
Mindy Peterson: [00:28:08] What’s your response been from people in the world of academia when you talk to them about I assume you’ve talked to them about, hey, how can we incorporate some of this information in this perspective into what we’re teaching our up and coming musicians?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:28:21] You know, right now, because it is in a transition, you have to be I have to be very careful because I’m not trying to come across as a threat to academia. I have to be vocal about the subject. And I am on a number of daises, but academia in agreement with me, you know, we agree that things have to change and music has to be reformed.
Mindy Peterson: [00:28:40] Well, for musicians who are contemplating a switch to business or if they already know that’s the right move for them, what recommendations do you have in terms of next steps? You have the 2t Academy do work with both of those camps at TUTTY or just the musicians who have already made the decision? Yes, I need to make a change.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:28:59] Ok, now explain both camps. I’m a little off there.
Mindy Peterson: [00:29:03] Yes. So one camp would be those who are contemplating a switch to business. They’re hearing this thinking, I need to check this out some more and consider this the other campus, someone who said, yeah, I know I need to do this.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:29:15] I say, I know your language. I’m getting familiar with it. So we use the word audiences, but campus is fine now. I understand. So all good. So members who come to us, the 2t Academy and by the way, 2t comes from the Italian I my parents are Italian, but tutti means everyone. So that’s where 2t, the number two letter T comes from. So members who come to the 2t Academy, the wish to learn how to use their musical education to succeed in today’s business world. There jelly two types of camps. The first are the first are college students we talked about. They recognize they need and want to learn how to use their soft skills and to seize a high quality job and start paying off debt, establish practical wealth management, skill sets, good networking, skill sets, etc.. Initially, they will go through programs on identity because we have to teach the students how to be self-reliant and accountable with their unique self, and we train them how to actualize their unique characteristics and combine them into an image inspired by childhood themes that have shown remarkable stability throughout their young adult lives. And this is key to the academy. The period of emulation, mimicry technique ends and self discovery begins. The other camp are those musicians who have had successful careers but covid as dispossess them or reposition their mindset, meaning they have now arrived at that biological stage where they are contemplating marriage and, if applicable, children.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:30:36] They are asking questions, how can I maintain a sustainable career doing what I love to do, but also preparing for retirement and life as an elderly person. So for this audience, we have that flagship program activate, which is divided into six modules, over thirty five exercises, knowledge assessments that covers topics taught by our adjunct faculty of top CEOs and MBAs. So if there is a guiding rudder to answer your question that navigates each member through the three main search engines of the site, it’s training the student on self-reliance and accountability. Through our initial course identity and without knowing yourself, you can’t possibly identify with your unique place in the marketplace you are competing in. After that course, they go into module one and two. They build and develop their profile by identifying their soft and adaptability strengths. The purpose of these lessons fuels the student with the personal keywords and language which I spoke about and rhetoric based on their unique qualifications. In Module three, we teach them to transfer their creative skills successfully the business by showing them how to read business trends, how to analyze the creative job market and identify those vertical markets that correspond to their unique soft skill and adaptability profiles.
Christopher Caliendo: [00:31:45] In Module four, they learn the advantage of a corporate job that benefits package. I spoke about wealth management choosing the correct health insurance policy, networking strategies, work life balance, how to use the daytime job to accelerate their musical vision. They’re trained on the big picture. What financial stability brings it brings less stress, better health, better marriages, more options in life, the freedom to be generous, more financially stable children. Module five. The student researchers, three creative industries that match their soft and adaptability strengths that are thriving industries and pay well. So these three industries not only appeal to the student, but the knowledge, the technology, the internal external networking connections correspond with a long term career goals. We teach each member tips for a successful interview how to write an effective resume, how to create an effective LinkedIn profile. And finally, in Module six, we teach them how to accelerate the musical career while having what we call in the corporate world a portfolio career, basically several streams of income. So we teach you how to effectively manage time. And the final exam is developing your pathway to success by detailing your operations plan into a digital calendar. Your rudder that steers
Mindy Peterson: [00:32:55] The ship sounds very comprehensive. Wow. Well, I will include lots of links, of course, in the show, notes to 2t Academy, to Christopher learning more, connecting with him and his work. I always include a quote when I’m promoting these episodes on social media. And as you were talking, there were just multiple times where I was thinking, oh, that would be a great quote or oh, that would be a great one. So I will have lots of fun things to choose from when I go through the editing process of this. Thank you so much for all of this information, Christopher. I ask all my guests to close out our conversation with a musical ending a coda by sharing a song or a story about a moment that music enhanced your life. Is there anything you want to share with us as a musical ending? And in closing out our conversation today?
Christopher Caliendo: [00:33:42] Oh, my goodness, I would just like to share some inspiring words on what music is. I was at a Rotary Club last week and one person asked me, how do you define music? And it’s not surprising that people have valued music as works of art, which attempt to extract some kind of meaning out of human suffering. Renaissance tragedy symbolizes death and suffering has transcended archetypes because a particular vision of human ability transcends the horror of the action. Right. So music may even allow us to find meaning in what is horrifying. And if music has an agenda from a metaphysical point of view, perhaps it provides a bastion, a stronghold, a safe fortification where we can escape the malevolence of the world. Even if temporary. It provides profound resource, a quite garden, you know, for man’s indomitable need for life balance. And that’s from a psychological point of view. Music is a self-justifying, primal need. We will always do it. Mankind will create art because it has to. And how recreating reality according to the creator’s metaphysical value judgement. So to finalize what that means is and I’ll speak from a composer’s point of view, music is a cognitive process. It starts out in the cognitive process. And then the composer seeks the widest metaphysical abstractions and brings them together into perceptual awareness, which of course is the actual performance the audience hears. So if I were to identify with that, why does metaphysical abstractions, what does love mean to me and all of its shades and meanings and how that is put together into the composer’s mind from the abstract into the perceptual? So if these thoughts on how I define music, help people, motivate them, inspire them to continue creating music, then I hope that that helps.
Transcribed by Sonix.ai