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I'm sure you've been hit with a barrage of goal setting blogs and news clippings since the ball dropped for 2010. I know i have, but nothing really struck a chord like the HAPPY HEALTHY WEALTHY game. READ MORE to find out how you can play.

If the unexpected was to occur have you thought of any backup plans? Jazz musician David Baker was an up and coming trombone star when his lip was irreparably injured in a car accident. Instead of give up music entirely, he learned the cello, and built a career as a composer, string player, teacher and author. Even after the unexpected snatched the dream he was still able to flourish! The savvymusician blog wonders how many options we would open up by embracing our full capacity's.

Malcolm Gladwell ,author of the book Outliers, is pretty adamant about his 10,000 hour rule. The rule states that in order to master any craft 10,000 + hours of practice must be accumulated. And getting in that many hours of practice can take 10 years or more. Basically, you gotta put in your work. The music promotion blog has a piece on Steve Martin that really attests to the decade journey that one must take to reach celebrity over night. By the time Steve was propelled into great public awareness he was a well oiled machine, ready to deliver the goods. Television (tell a lie to your vision, particularly shows like american idol and other media sources are very good at trivializing the years of work that some of our greatest icons put in to achieve icon status. Record Labels have even been fooled forgoing development for the young inexperienced (We've seen how well that works). Thats actually the equivalent of getting hired for an entry position and then getting promoted to CEO of the company a few weeks later, needless to say, that company's going to fail. I guess the point of this is if you want to increase your chances of success, not being signed but actually be icon status (being remembered for the many things you've done, not just the first thing), then you have to sleep in that car, perform in front of an audience of empty chairs, bounce from label to label because when god finally taps you on the shoulder and says its go time your going to outshine all of the others not even half way through their 10,000 hour mark. Put in the time and you will be rewarded.

Interested in getting your music on iTunes? Well how about a 30% discount. Simply visit the Tunecore discount page and use the coupon code: beheard30. via renegadeproducer blog.

You hear about your friends, family and friends-of-friends enlisting in the military everyday, you see the recruiting commercials and can even witness them on CNN in the background from time to time, but one opportunity that is never widely publicized is the military path for the working musician. the savvymusician.com solid rundown on the opportunities available to the working musician such as premier bands and regional bands complete with the pros and cons of undertaking such opportunities. "This is a good four year job for just about anyone. It can be a GREAT 20+ year job for many" Michael Mench - Commander of the US Air Force Band of Flight

Fixing the date for the RED-WHITE Theme for blogger

Public Servants Arlene Goldbard raises some compelling ideas about how artists can help the economic recovery. Arlene, a writer and a social activist suggests that in order to help spark the recovery of the economy we have to recovery culturally, and who better to help us do that than the most creative ones in our society, the artists. She reasons that government initiates that put artists and musicians gifts at the service of schools, communities, hospitals and prisons are a good investment that worked in the 1950's to spurn recovery. Follow the link to check out the video, and if these are ideas that you support then there is a petition to support Art & The Public Purpose: A New Framework in the comments.

Eric Beall recently made a trip to Amsterdam to partake in the Writers Camp sponsored by Holland's equivalent of our ASCAP/BMI/SESAC and Harry Fox Agency, BUMA STEMRA. While on his visit he actually made time to experience the Vincent van Gogh Art Museum, which he calls "a career retrospective". While browsing the Art and reading the personal letters between Van Gogh and his brother Theo, Eric was able to see numerous parallels between Van Gogh the painter and all of us who write songs and make records. Here are 3 of those parallels outlined here for you. 1. Where you are now is not where you are going. 2. Where you're going will be depend upon your willingness to challenge yourself with new opportunities, and by the people with whom you choose to surround yourself. 3. Ultimately, it's not about where you are, or where you're going. It's all about the journey. To get a more elaborate explanation of these 3 parallels head over to Erics blog to read the full article.

Growing your brand on the internet should be similar to growing a tree in your back yard. The internet is an intimidating place when growing your brand as a musician, many bands have already have already racked up hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of fans, followers, myspace plays and you want nothing more to turn your 100 into as many as possible, you know, to catch up. Don't get caught up in the hype. Many of these followers are are faux. Some experiment's finding that 200,000 followers only led to 25 clickthroughs, because their following wasn't grown virally. Conversely, if you grow your 100 fans like a delicate plant it doesn't take long before your true fanbase overtakes the faux disconnected user base. On the internet Viral growth

Start a relationship with your fans.

Suspend Vocal Technique Momentarily Have You heard those songs when it sounds like the vocalist is whisper-singing and wondered "man how do they do that". It's not quite singing and its definitely not a full blown whisper, its actually a track that a lot of Pop vocalists keep in their bag of tricks. Vocal Coach Judy Rodman has some bad news for you wannabes, the trick can either be executed expertly or poorly. I'm guessing the poor one sounds like somebody choking on a rice grain. To find out more about delivering vocals with authentic emotion rather than just "singing" head over Judy's blog and check out a couple videos.

Do you practice perfectly? If not you might need a little push in the right direction. The howtopractice blog advises you not to open your music and bash your way through it but instead break your practice up into many tiny tasks that you can aim to improve -only then will you see rapid results. The best part of this post is the colorful circle of "perfect practice" that holds your hand through the 5 steps of mastering your pieces. Save the chart to your computer or hand draw it in your practice notebook if you have to. Once you have begun practicing with this colorful piece of wisdom don't be shy to scribble the answers to each of the 5 questions out. Seeing is believing, plus writing it down always seems to work for me. Toodles.

What are you pretending not to know? The musicpromotionblog has a great piece on pretending not to know in your music career. It all boils down being afraid of success.

Practice is something that all great musicians submerge themselves in. Its not looked at as chore but as a necessity for sharpening ones strengths and talents. What better way to sharpen your skills than a fun exercise. Homegirl from the howtopractice blog challenges you to a game of opposites attract, that forces your brain to go against the conventional to strengthen the conventional.

Don't let previously defined genres and cast-in-stone nay-sayers hold you back from your freedom of expression and achieving your vision, the africanabc blog has a post on tradition that you could in theory make a sweet parallel with tradition and music.

The techdirt blog goes for the jugular of John Conyers, not the same dude from the terminator movies, but one of the RIAAs biggest backers of forcing radio stations to pay to help promote music. It all started with John delivered a speech at an event put on by the recording industry lobbyists, Conyers made the analogy that the lack of a performance right mandatory fee for radio stations was comparable to slavery and indentured servitude. Techdirt sheds some light on the old practices of shady labels paying off radio stations to spin records fully knowing the momentum that radio promotion can lend to a project. But that was years ago when (the only way to steal music was to run out of best buy with a stack of cds in hand and hope you didn't get spotted by the surveillance)you actually went to jail for stealing music. Techdirt goes on to say that the argument of the lobbyist groups are completely made up and ridiculous, just an excuse for the labels that are unwilling to actually do something to properly capitalize on free promo. As artists who's arguments are more valid the RIAAs or the Radio stations?

Failing is inevitable. It is impossible to go through life without failing but it is the way that you view failure is what makes the difference between the successful and unsuccessful. The Practice of Practice blog has a really good piece on attribution theory. When you fail, where does the cause of the blame lie. Is it external or internal? Is the cause unchanging over time or something that changes? And can it be controlled? It turns out that successful people in all field tend to see causes as internal. As in, there's no excuse for failure. Dig deep in your mind to revisit your past failures and see what valuable lessons you can chalk up in the name of self improvement. what we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

Just because your making noise doesn't mean you are getting better. Silence is golden because it provides the perfect setting to reflect. Silence in your practice routines should be equal to the amount of time spent on playing in your practice routine. Meaning that everytime you play a passage it should be followed by slient analysis. The howtopractice blog has a list of questions that your silent time should be based around to get you thinking about so your hands will follow.

Seth Godin has a name for the modern day equivalent of ADD on the internet and it's called "Driveby culture". Seth chalks our driveby culture up to being a huge distraction and waste of time. "We're creating a culture of clickers, stumblers and jaded spectators who decide in the space of a moment whether to watch and participate (or not). As an internet savvy musician you now have two audiences to inadvertently worry about. Those that help increase your traffic to your content and those that regularly see your content as valuable to their lives. As an upcoming indie artist, what is more important to you, selling out to the masses, such as the Huffington Post (pushing down thought provoking stories for linkbait and sensational celebrity riffs) or searching for that niche audience that actually appreciate your gift. Don't get distracted on being BIG, your true influence may only lie with a small dedicated group. Make sure that group is well nurtured.

cool video showcasing the omega 8 drum sequencer. (Facebook Vid)