Overcoached FAQS
What is Overcoached?
Overcoached is my Substack where I write about what it’s like to be an American classical musician, at a time when everything about the business I entered in 1989 is transforming/imploding/reloading. It’s a narrow, nerdy lens through which I’ll examine some wide topics, like how we listen, learn, and form community - all things central to the life of musical performers and their audiences, all of which are also transforming/imploding/reloading.
Why do you call it “Overcoached?”
In my life in this industry, I’ve watched as performing opportunities at all levels have become fewer and harder to get. At the same time, training opportunities have exploded. In some parts of the classical industry, it’s literally the job of aspiring artists to coach more than it is to perform. That’s one way in which we’re overcoached. Then, as the social and technological movements of the 21st century move in one direction, away from physical gatherings and acoustic performances, classical musicians are struggling to find our place, and we’re hampered in many ways by our fealty to the past, all of which we’ve been carefully taught - or, you might say, overcoached.
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Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who share your interests. I believe in the virtual space even as I’m trying to figure out how to preserve the live, in-person, acoustic one. Let’s build something here.
Join other crews!
Substack is such a great space, and it’s easy to find more fab writers to tickle your brain with love (that’s for the poetry and opera nerds).
Whose idea is this, anyway?
Overcoached is the fever dream of me, Kathleen Kelly. Depending on your perspective, my career in classical music is either the result of an incredibly diverse skill set or the inability to hold down a job. I’m a pianist, teacher, conductor, essayist, librettist, poet, and presenter. I live in Texas with my husband, a semi-retired former schoolteacher, realtor, lawyer, stonemason, saxophonist, guitarist, pianist, and singer. Can you see where this is headed? Neither can I!
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