Business and Music - Paul Tobey

I just got my pictures back from my Montreal Jazz Festival experience. If you want the full story, read my blog from July 12th just below. But, I thought I’d share this picture with you of me and Dave Brubeck backstage at Place Des Arts. This picture was taken just minutes before he was to go onstage. What a cool cat he is! I’ve recorded his music and played it many times at my concerts but had never met him before. It was a real pleasure to meet you Dave, thank you for being so generous with your time! 

Dave Brubeck & Paul Tobey, July 8th 2006

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This page will include links to blog resources and specific blogs that deal with information of significant relevance to topics of music, health and wellness, business and current affairs.

I must admit, blogging regularily is not that easy for me. Because, right now the thing is….I’m really having a hard time dealing with time-management issues. I have many things on the go right now, and I have tell you the deadlines are daunting.

I debut my “Road to Santiago” Symphony suite next Feb in my hometown residence of Brantford, Ontario. The symphony and conductor want the first three orchestrations by next week (wow!) and three more by Sept. (By the way, I want to start a virtual promotion committee for that concert, so if you are interested in helping me launch this word of mouth campaign, please contact me at info@paultobey.com

As some of you are aware, I’m also a professional trainer. This year my company Pilgrim Productions Inc and ASF Design.com partnered to launch www.trainingbusinesspros.com . Our company trains business owners and marketing professionals on various marketing topics such as internet marketing and public speaking. It was a very successful launch, and the tele-seminars are selling like hot-cakes. With weekly commitments as lead trainer on tele-seminars, you can imagine, it’s a balancing act between business management and composing.

Also, due to the article in the American Tinnitus Association, I get weekly inquiries from Tinnitus sufferers seeking information. I try to reply personally to everyone - and though it’s a time commitment, I’m happy to try. I keep thinking I should just produce a one hour seminar and offer it as a free MP3 download. If it helps one human being, then its worth it. I’ve put that on my to do list, and hopefully can have it up by August.

My house is also under renovation, and as you can imagine, needs my attention. This is by far the least of my favourite time commitments. I’d like to have that done by August, but I need to find an available plumber (which is not easy in Brantford). If you know one, send the referral my way.

Then I have the gym three times a week, which has become the most habitual time management thing in my life. Now, if only I could run all of my business as effortlessly!

I also take a few hours a week to update my website, which is not only a content management issue, but it’s also about internet markeing i.e.: search engine optimization, links, etc. It’s a rather large commitment. I hope to update my site soon to include a full store with $0.49 cent downloads, and have it run a little more smoothly.

It’s also been 3 years since I filmed my pilgrimage on the Road to Santiago, and the film is still in the safe - incomplete. I would love to have time to finish this documentary once and for all, but with the symphony due this year, that will be most unlikely that I get to it this year. There are a lot of pilgrims that want to see that movie! I’m hoping to show some clips at the symphony as a back drop to the music. (if you are a student editor and would like to volunteer on this project, I need someone to log the footage and start the process!)

I started with a few professional development seminars for artists last year www.successtracs4artists.com, and got some terrific feedback. However, I have yet to plan a fall schedule this year. If there is enough interest, I may. I’m thinking tele-seminars may be the way to go vs. all day intensive seminars. I’ll have to plan that out more thoroughly. Please tell the artist in your family about www.successtracs4artists.com

Hot on my agenda, is a profound wish for this year is to record the Road to Santiago Suite with Symphony. I’d need to raise about $80,000 to have a complete CD (which would become the soundtrack for the movie). If you know of an arts philanthropist, we are ready and willing to submit full proposals!

I’m also VP of our local business club (the Brantford Club), which would require more of my time than I’ve been affording it lately. As marketing chair, I and the team have to come up with innovative ways to interest new members. If you are looking for local business networking opportunities or just fantastic social opportunities please check it out. Good friends, good music, great food! I’ve met the nicest people there, and Nancy and I have made some really good friends there www.brantfordclub.com

And so you can surmise, time management is a real issue for me. With my son and wife being my first priority, the rest of my work must be well managed. Right now I’m working 12-15 hours a day. I can’t keep doing that, so I realize I have to start working “smarter” vs. “harder”. So today and tomorrow, we are working out a time-management schedule that should get me through the fall. The time slots will include (not necessarily in this order):

* time for family
* time to be a good money manager
* time to compose and arrange
* time to work on www.paultobey.com
* time to development www.successtracs4artists.com
* time to manage www.trainingbusinesspros.com
* time to stay well and go to the gym
* time to blog, answer fan mail, t-mail
* time to volunteer at the Brantford Club
* time to practice the piano
* time to develop new projects/new business
* time for meetings
* time for golf (it’s currently the end of July and I haven’t been out once!)
* time to work on renovation
* time for friends/personal fun time
* time to book Paul Tobey for more concerts
* time to raise Money for the Road to Santiago Suite
* time to sleep
* (I’m sure I’m forgetting things)

PS. If you can recommend a great professional time management person I’m ready to pay someone to help me get this worked out!

My wife Nancy and I dropped by the Montreal Jazz Festival Thursday night to an ocean of people taking in the sounds of the open air concerts. We were meeting Dr. Mary Ann Gorcsi and her husband Adam at the Hyatt. Security was pretty tight, as we made our way to the media room for our accreditations. Thank goodness for cell phones, we were able to connect and get Mary Ann and Adam through security to make their way to the official Montreal Jazz Fest Jam Session.

When we arrived at the Jam I realized than and old friend John Roney was hosting the jam session. Over 6 – 7 years ago I had auditioned him for a gig in the Middle East and sent him on a three month stint in Abu Dhabi or Dubai (I can’t remember) with a singer. He was great then, but holy smokes, he is fantastic now! Not only was he technically proficient, he was a very excellent jam host and a true gentleman. John called me up to perform and I gave the audience a classic Oscar Peterson rendition of Night Train. They were only to happy to sing the signature “bop, bop…bop” at the B section.

John Roney and Paul Tobey At Jam Session

Right after me, the Montreal Singer Dawn Tyler Watson took the stage. I used to share an apartment with her in Montreal! She brought the house the down! With two songs she had the audience on their feet offering a Standing O. Her energy is way up there and it’s easy to appreciate both her talent and her showmanship. She gave the most wicked horn solo with her voice and traded 4’s with the drummer. The drummer was also on fire (I can’t remember his name), but John was happy to let him loose, and whoa, did he give us a show. We enjoyed our visit with both John and Dawn and it was a pleasure being in the fine company of two wonderful spirits.

Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Tobey

The next day we ventured up North to St Donat then returned to the Montreal Jazz Fest on Sat morning. We brought our son Adrian to The Little Jazz School but were disappointed when we learned that it had ended the Tuesday before. It’s too bad, we were looking forward to seeing James Galfand who is also an old friend from Montreal. Instead, we headed up to the Alcan kids park where Adrian got to enjoy a bit of children’s interactive play making instruments and exploring. As a nine year old, he got bored pretty quick, so off we went to take in the instrument clinics at the SIMM exhibits. He begged me to buy this blue guitar he tried out but I didn’t give in. I just finished paying for his violin!

After that we were greeted by some super kind MJF volunteers when we checked in to our hotel We received our traditional free t-shirts (which I look forward too), and then made our way to the venue I was playing at.

The piano I played is reported to be worth a quarter of a million dollars, only one of 2 in Quebec It’s an Italian made piano, Fazioli and I found out that it will shipped back shortly to Italy for some repairs. The room seats about 110 comfortably, and it’s very comfy and intimate. I was happy to learn that over 100 tickets had been sold for the 5 o’clock show. I played loads of piano music, everything from Green Green Grass of Home to Stairway to Heaven, Lush Life, Take 5, Moodance and others. I was supposed to only play for an hour, but the show ran past one hour and a half. Oops. We were having fun. I tried to teach the audience how to clap in 5/4 time. That was also fun….and scary at the same time! I invited a pianist from the audience up on stage to play duo. The audience really enjoyed that. Thanks to James Newhouse for being a good sport and a great pianist.

Something happened at the concert that’s never happened to me before. It had been such an intimate experience that I asked the audience if they had questions. And, that’s how the concert ended, - an open discussion between the audience and me. It was a truly generous audience, and they left me with only a little bit of product to sell for the next show. Poor Nancy tried to handle the rush at the table for product, but it took another 40 minutes before she could handle the last customer. And that’s when I got the news. Clement, the sound engineer, came over to us with a message; Andre Menard (festival President) had left a message for me to call him. I called him back and he asked me to meet him back stage door at Place des Arts. He wanted to introduce me to Dave Brubeck!

Nancy, Adrian and I scrambled to pack up, buy a Camera and 2 Brubeck Cd’s and make our way back stage for 8:30. Andre and Sophie (beautiful Sophie), met us back stage. The first to greet us was Brubeck’s manager and famous conductor Russell Gloyd. We chatted about his career as an arranger and conductor and I found out about his great success including working with the London Symphony etc etc. It seemed like a gift from the universe because I’m in the midst of composing for my symphony debut in Feb. He offered me some arranging tips, and some tips from the conductor’s perspective. Incredible, valuable and insightful. Things I didn’t know. And then, he offers me his personal info so I can send my scores for some feedback. Okay! When someone offers themselves as mentor, I’m ready to learn. I was / am so completely grateful.

After about 20 minutes with Russell he took us to the green room to meet Dave Brubeck. Dave and his lovely wife were sitting side by side quietly waiting for their cue to take stage. With only 5 minutes to curtain call, I walk in to meet a beautiful grey haired man that greeted us with curiosity and deep reflection. I shook his hand, and then Iola’s. It’s kind of strange meeting a guy whose music you’ve been playing for 20 years. He signed a couple of CDs for my son and I, and allowed us to take pics. I expressed my gratitude, and he thanked me for playing his music.

It was time for him to take the stage so I showed him the way. I said to him “you’ve played here many times I figured you’d know the way.’’ He replied “I play a different theatre every night!” Wow! 85 and still playin’ every night. Russel Gloyd and I went into another room to discuss arranging and he asked me to play one of the songs in my show. It was time for Dave to take the stage, and we were escorted behind the curtain to a few chairs at the edge of the stage. We watched as Dave took the stage to a standing ovation before even playing a single note. That’s a powerful feeling. Andre Menard walked back stage beaming with pride that the Montreal audiences would be so generous and grateful that this master is taking the stage. It’s really surreal. Adrian asked him if Dave is the most famous pianist in the world. At that moment, he was! In awe, we sat quietly behind Dave watching from stage right as his back was framed between two black curtains. Dave had trouble earlier holding a pen, but to our surprise was still in full form at the piano. It’s truly amazing how his chops are still great.

We could only listen to the first two tunes, before we had to leave to make our way back to play our 10:00 o’clock show. But boy, did I have a story to share with my audience! I could only hope to be able to still play that well at 85…and have a career that has audiences up on their feet before I play a single note with my beautiful wife still by my side. The next time I play Take 5 or Blue Rondo, I will have the memory of Dave and Iola and the Montréal audience who immortalized that moment into my mind! Thank you Dave, Iola, Russell, Andre and Montreal!