Yesterday, I was invited to attend an extra-special songwriting clinic at Berklee. The guest-lecturer was an alum named John Mayer. Maybe you’ve heard of him? We were classmates together for one very brief class, in one very very brief semester, and at the time he wasn’t all that impressive. Apparently his spark was ignited in his second (and final) semester on campus. In any event, what proved valuable wasn’t so much the technical skills he demonstrated, but instead the reasoning and methodology behind his expertise. I haven’t written (or had to…) write a song for a buncha years. But I walked out of his clinic energized and excited about an industry that is inclined to be harshly criticized.
His lesson, at its core, is very simple and distills down to three key points:
1. The public is smarter than you. No matter what you think, they’re the judge.
2. Start small, build big. If you go in huge, you’ve got no place to go but down.
3. Set a measure of success. If you don’t reach your goal, how can you exceed it, and how can you be happy?
I found #1 particularly special. I consult for companies that have something “no one else has” and that will “change the landscape.” The question is though, does the public really want this? Do they need what you think they do, and did you really go out and ask them? Too often ego blocks intelligence, and Mayer (in his own slightly sardonic and deadly accurate way) reminds us of that.
The music industry is everything Hunter Thompson (and countless others..) said it is. Folks like John Mayer are a solid reminder of what it should be. I gotta go get me some more of his stuff.
P.S. Huge kudos to the folks at Berklee (and John…) for providing this opportunity. I guess I should make that donation to the Alumni fund now.
