I’ve hit that point (already) in the semester where I realize that I won’t be able to accomplish all that I had planned. Here, for this course, the semester is divided into 2 blocks, each around 7 weeks long. Some students will only attend the first of these blocks, some with attend both, and some will attend only the second one. As such, for planning purposes I proposed to concentrate on idea formation and market feasibility in the first block, and entity formation in the second one.

The work on personal branding is going quite well. Students are responding to it with in-depth thinking and responses. Tonight we will, of course, discuss the assignment of what makes their playing distinctive, and what makes their persona distinctive. I plan to “expose” a few of them by showing their Facebook pages. In some cases there is a profound disconnection between the persona described in their assignments and their own choice of imagery in their social media sites. This will be fun!

I think we should delineate the development of personal brand, or at least discuss how composers, conductors, performers and educators might differ in their approach to it. At the end of that discussion I will ask them to break into their discussion groups to respond to, “can personal branding impede artistic integrity?”

Time willing, I will then introduce Zone Two – with examples, and invite questions and a discussion.