Today is Day 3 of the Social Innovation Collaborative, a bootcamp that teaches entrepreneurial skills to facilitate the production of social enterprises from scratch.
But why does this matter? How do such skills relate to music?
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When I began my foray into music, it was about communicating. I was an introvert, not to mention simply shy. Music, whether cello playing, singing or strumming guitar chords, let me express myself in a way I couldn't anywhere else: Freely and emotionally.
Since college began, I've widened the scope of knowledge and skills. Above all, I have learned new, diverse ways to communicate around and separately from music. Communication is a critical part of innovating and creating. You can't build a team to implement an idea without great communication. You can't sell clients, sponsors or donors without great communication.
And communication doesn't simply mean talking. It can be a drawing. It can be a song or a simple hand gesture. On Tuesday, the SIC coordinators and speakers detailed the process of prototyping; Don't throw money at the problem, take the basic resources at your disposal and make a rough draft. Get feedback and reiterate. Designing a better wallet? Identify the problems and draft it with paper and tape.
Funny enough, the more I practice ideating and Design Thinking, as it is called, the better I get at music. It shows you that failure is not an option. It's a requirement in the path to success and innovation. Build quickly and constantly seek feedback. Put out the craziest ideas, there are no wrong answers when it comes to incubating ideas and there are definitely no wrong answers when it comes to music.
Special thanks to the SIC for making this realization clear.