006 Angie Petty – Sexism, Goal Setting, and Learning To Say No

Angie Petty joins Tanner Guss to discuss turning down opportunities, her experience in music school, goal setting, receiving criticism, and sexism.

“They’re a good musician or a bad musician. You want to play with them or you don’t. Gender should have nothing to do with that.”

Listen

Not everyone is going to like my voice. Not everyone is going to like my music. And that’s fine because I’d rather be playing for the people who do like playing with me and like what I bring to the band stand. Sometimes you just don’t gel with certain musicians. Use those moments as a reminder for how great it is to play with musicians you do have a connection with.
They hired you because they know you can deliver. You already proved yourself by getting the gig, so don’t worry about that while you’re on it.
Say yes to everything. If you don’t know “what you want to do” the best way to figure that out is to take every opportunity that comes your way. Don’t feel the need to master everything you try, but rather just to gain knowledge and appreciation for it.
Then learn to say no. Once you know what you want it’s completely okay to say no to gigs that don’t serve yours goals, or bring you joy.
Record your private lessons/gigs. Listen back to yourself whenever you feel frustrated with your playing and you’ll feel much better when you realize how far you’ve come since then.

Go to feel good album? Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, and the Oscar Peterson Trio We Get Requests
Best advice about happiness you’ve received? “You define your success and failure” – Carl Allen
Who’s the happiest musician you know? Kyle Alm
What advice would you give a young musician? “Learn everything”
What is your purpose as a musician? “The best answer would be to change the world and make people feel something. I would love to say that, but I became a musician for myself. Once I got over the fear of doing it and started making progress, and now I can say that I’m doing it and that’s purpose enough for me.”