Berklee Blogs

First-hand accounts of the Berklee experience

Tag: industry (Page 1 of 4)

industry

Carla Martinez: Keeping it All Together

Berklee Blogs follows Carla Martinez, a Professional Music major and participant in Berklee’s Summer Internship Program in New York City. In Today’s post, Carla tells Berklee Blogs how she manages to keep a life rooted in both Boston and New York humming along…

Time management can be a challenge for any student, but it’s essentially something that could make or break you in the real world. Here in New York, I have an internship that I work three days a week. When I’m not in the office, I’m at auditions, working at my part time job, watching shows on and off Broadway, and even sitting in the audience of my friend’s gigs.

That’s just New York.

I’m also balancing my life in Boston (from New York), which includes being the President of the Musical Theater Club, Peer Advising, scheduling gigs with the band I sing with, and about a dozen other things that keep me on my toes! So how does one keep it all together? Here’s a list of things that work for me (and you might find that they work for you too!)

#1- To-Do Lists

I might be mildly obsessed with making to-do lists but they’re incredibly effective! I personally like writing things down on bright post it notes (so they’re easy to find in my bag) but I know friends who use their iPhones or the Stickies application on their MacBooks. I like to cross things off when I complete them; it’s a great feeling of accomplishment!

#2- Calendar

I definitely wouldn’t survive without one and there are a ton of ways to get yourself organized! I used to use the Berklee planner (given out at orientation) and I got really creative by using different colored pens for different activities. It was convenient because I’d have to carry the planner around anyway to write down homework and seeing my schedule in front of me helped map out when I’d be able to get the work done. Now that Berklee email has switched to Google, I’ve been taking advantage of the applications and recently started using the calendar. I then downloaded a Google calendar application on my phone and synced the two together. It has been a lifesaver at times because I set reminders of when I’m supposed to be somewhere or when something is due!

#3- Prioritizing

This is pretty self-explanatory. You have to put the most important things first and then the extra stuff can fit it the mix somewhere. The level of importance is different for everyone so it’s up to you to decide what gets most of your time. Some people put school first, while others think that the direction of their band is more important. Once you figure that out, you can make a solid routine and everything starts to become a lot easier to manage.

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Kayleigh Mill: New York Survival Tips

Berklee Blogs follows Kayleigh Mill, a Music Business major and participant in Berklee’s Summer Internship Program in New York City. In today’s post, Kayleigh lets us in on her top tips for surviving and thriving in New York City…

 

Getting Around

#1 – Look up (and figure out) subway directions BEFORE you leave

#2 – Know the difference between going downtown and uptown

#3 – Local trains stop at every station; express trains DO NOT

#4 – The traffic on even numbered one-way streets go East; odd traffic goes West

#5 – The city is a grid, avenues go North-South; streets go East-West

#6 – 30-day passes can only be swiped once every 18 minutes

#7 – It takes longer to get there than you think

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Kayleigh Mill: Work-life Balancing Act

Berklee Blogs follows Kayleigh Mill, a Music Business major and participant in Berklee’s Summer Internship Program in New York City. In a follow up to last week’s post about stress, Kayleigh lets us in on some new realizations about balancing her personal and professional lives…

The majority of my posts are dedicated to sharing my advice from experience and from research, and to expose people to bands that I believe in that deserve to be acknowledged for their music. Today, however, I’m going to talk about my life the past couple weeks in a more personal way, to show a glimpse into how this business can be…challenging.

Although I love what I do, I’ve been struggling a little bit lately to keep my head above the stress of the industry, the difficulty in finding people that I can feel close to, and balancing the two without going crazy.

I’ve always been of the belief that I can do more – that I shouldn’t be satisfied with merely “good enough” – which is motivating, but it’s also disheartening and overwhelming sometimes.  The past two weeks have been non-stop for me, with managing a band for the first time, working 4 days a week, and writing for my personal blog as well as The Berklee Groove. I love everything that I do, but there have been times when I’ve thought to myself “What have I gotten into? What if it’s too much?” all while planning the next step.

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Carla Martinez: Internships Live from Broadway

Berklee Blogs follows Carla Martinez, a Professional Music major  and participant in Berklee’s Summer Internship Program in New York City. In Today’s post, Carla tells Berklee Blogs how the OEL‘s internship programs are getting her close to the action on Broadway

Greetings from the Big Apple! When I first discovered that Berklee was starting an internship program in New York City, I didn’t waste any time when it came to applying. I was the first person officially accepted to the program. As the only student in all three internship programs working strictly in theater, this journey has been one I’ve been dying to share with people. I’ve been a musical theater performer since the age of four and I knew that I wanted to stick to my roots when choosing an internship.

I’m interning for Marquee Merchandise, Matt Murphy Productions, and the BroadwayStore.com! It’s definitely not the performance internship that I originally wanted, but I couldn’t go wrong with this one. It gives me an inside look into production and merchandising for Broadway, a part time job working at their merchandise booths in the theaters, AND a stipend at the end of the summer! How cool is that?! They’re also incredibly flexible and have allowed me to switch days so that I’m able to go to auditions!

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Kayleigh Mill: Dealing With The Stress

Berklee Blogs follows Kayleigh Mill, a Music Business major and participant in Berklee’s Summer Internship Program in New York City. Today, Kayleigh tells us how to deal with the inevitable stress that comes with internships and additional responsibility

There’s no way around it – if you want to be in the music industry, you’re going to face a lot of stress. You’ll be challenged, questioned, and criticized, and unlike high school, no one’s going to be there to hold your hand along the way. This is, after all, a business, no matter how passionate we are about the art. No matter how much you think you can handle, it’s best to be prepared with some tools to release or reduce some pressure, because that pressure can and will break you if you aren’t careful.

In recent years, I’ve certainly seen my fair share of breakdowns, and been through a few myself. Sometimes, we just have to remind ourselves of a few things… 

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