There are big differences between learning to play or sing music and getting to the artist level, where you can express and communicate emotion and a beautiful aesthetic message at an advanced level.
As a musician learns to play challenging music, at first, they thinks they are advanced. But then, if we a get coach who can lead us to a new level of artistry, we find wings to fly—to transform from being a typical trumpet player to becoming a unique studio artist, for example.
Professional coaching, whether in music or career fields, helps us take our performance to a new level. As a musician and coach myself, I bring experience as a musician and a professional music educator into coaching in many ways.
- Visualization—seeing the short and long term goals, and seeing oneself in that level or performance, was always required to recruit kids into band, to prepare them for performances, and to help them sustain commitment through years of practice and hard work.
- The belief that everyone has within themselves the potential to grow and develop how they wish, and that they need help to see that in themselves too, in order to take steps into that possibility.
- Teaching effectively some skills and coaching others, to help people reach their goals.
People come to professional coaches because they want strategies to their own questions, want to expand their strengths, or want to perform better in life, work, or relationships. I believe that the best part of coaching is becoming more aware of what we are not seeing right now in our lives or situations.
As a coach, my primary goal is to walk with others through a discovery process to find their own answers, to transform them and change their lives in areas they choose. During the process, teaching comes in as a great way to share a tool, a framework, an idea that can support that discovery. As an educator, I’m efficient about teaching one small idea, and then coaching around a person’s level to move toward their own goals progressively.
Whether we look at musical skills as a metaphor for coaching or work with a coach because we want to perform our life’s unique song even better, a professional coach and educator can be a helpful guide through the music of life coaching.
