Robert Bosworth, trained musician on pursuing a unique fearless path to success 

Michelle Lynne: Hey everybody and welcome back to the Fearless Artist Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle. And today I have the great privilege of having Robert Bosworth, trained musician, on. Robert, welcome…

Robert Bosworth: Oh, hi. Hello. Hello.

Michelle Lynne: I have to say, you know what? We weren’t even really ready to start this episode, but like, we’re just chatting.

Robert Bosworth: Are, are any of us really ever ready for anything?

Michelle Lynne: Wow, that’s a deep way to start this episode. There we go. Maybe we should just jump right in. I know there are so many people excited for this episode. I literally woke up to DMs this morning of people saying, “I can’t believe you’re getting Robert on your podcast. I’m so excited to hear that.”

Michelle Lynne: Please introduce yourself to our audience because I think, unfortunately, some people listening may not know who you are too. Luckily they’re listening. Cause everyone needs to know. That’s what I think.

Robert Bosworth: Well, let’s let them decide whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate. And either way, I’m here. So, my name is Robert Bosworth. Some, some, including myself, sometimes call me Robert Bosworth the Trained…

Michelle Lynne: Musician…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, we’re going to get into that by the way.

Michelle Lynne: Oh, really?

Robert Bosworth: Well, okay, there is a reason. I am a… Oh, yes! I don’t know that anybody knows that. And it goes back to the unsung hero of my life, who I don’t give enough credit to on a regular basis. I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and I now live in Lexington, Kentucky, where I work and teach at the University of Kentucky, primarily with the voice students here in the University of Kentucky Opera Theater. But I also do some playing for and with the instrumental students, just much less proportionately because most of my time is in the voice world. Um, but I’m a…

Michelle Lynne: A singer right now on your end. So that was funny. It was like perfect timing. I heard like a high C come through.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, you’re a vocal coach, pianist. You did your master’s. Remind me, you did your master’s?

Robert Bosworth: Manhattan School of Music. The proof is hiding up there behind… I recently moved some stuff around and I think it’s kind of funny that the diplomas are hidden.

Michelle Lynne: Um, yeah. You went to MSM and I remember that because you, you told me to say hi when I was there speaking last week. And then you worked in an opera program just after, before you went to Kentucky, right?

Robert Bosworth: I did. Well, I did… What is quasi, I don’t know, I guess the expected route for some here. But I went into the Young Artist Program life for several years after I graduated from graduate school. So I worked with Utah Opera, Arizona Opera, and did some summer festivals as a participant as a young artist.

Michelle Lynne: That’s the pay-to-play stuff, right?

Robert Bosworth: Not always. Sometimes I did some pay-to-play slash pay-to-sing, they call it in the opera world. Um, but also I went to some of the programs where it’s funded and, uh, they even give you a stipend.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. I mean, I’ve heard various opinions about young artist programs, obviously from the singer world, cause I know that they’re hard to get into and then sometimes you’re paying for them and then they don’t necessarily break you into the world after you finished the one-year, two-year program. So I’ve heard, I’ve heard multiple opinions on that. So now you’re a vocal coach, you’re working at University of Kentucky. I found in, I think, December on Instagram. You just popped up into my explore page.

Robert Bosworth: And what an exploration it’s been.

Michelle Lynne: I mean, I was at one point literally going to your page just to laugh. I was like, “Who is this guy? Where is this coming from?” Like then I was going through like a rough couple of days in December. I recorded my album and totally had a mental spiral and I was like watching your stuff. I was just binging your stuff because my absolute favorite video ever is the… uh, practice practice video. I had that stuck in my head for weeks.

Robert Bosworth: It was extremely…

Michelle Lynne: For everybody who doesn’t know. Do you want to play it for us?

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, well, I can… It’s also pinned. I don’t know. Let’s just let people know. I don’t know what I’m doing with this microphone and anything. But I’ll swivel this around here. Hopefully it’s just an easy little…

Michelle Lynne: If you’re listening to the episode, guys, you gotta go check this out on YouTube because Robert’s going to play for us.

Robert Bosworth: There we go. Okay. There’s the thing.

Michelle Lynne: To make a story out of…

Robert Bosworth: This. That’s a piano.

Michelle Lynne: The best thing about, um, meeting like Instagram friends kind of like in real life like this is that you see where they film their content. So when I have people come to my house, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mine’s right here with the flower background. See, you see it?

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, there we go. I don’t have my usual camera stand, which is really just a music stand turned backward, but I’m not kidding. So it goes something, I think it goes something, if I remember…

Michelle Lynne: Can you hear it? I don’t know if it’s, can you…

Robert Bosworth: Hear the… Okay, let’s see what happens. Alright. Remember when your teacher said you should practice more? And you said, “Who, me?” Oh golly gee, I’ve heard all this before. Allow me now to interject one tiny little thought. They probably were right, so just sit tight in the practice room tonight. You’ve got to practice, practice, study your music until you bleed. Practice, practice, it won’t happen by itself.

Michelle Lynne: Yes. And then here’s a little…

Robert Bosworth: Behind-the-scenes feature tidbit for you. When I did that for the reel, me hitting the wrong note was completely not intentional…

Michelle Lynne: Oh no.

Robert Bosworth: And so I used the opportunity. I took the opportunity to create shtick around it.

Michelle Lynne: All of us do that on stage. You mess up and you do a little dramatic flair and suddenly it’s part of the performance, right? I mean, you just went with it.

Robert Bosworth: Yes. You just go with it. I start every entrepreneurship class with, “We’re not starving. We’re thriving.” And I drill this into my students’ minds because like if there’s one thing, like I’ve been thinking so much about purpose in the last two years, like what is the purpose of my life and like one of the things is, like if I could eliminate the starving artist mentality that people just readily accept that we’re going to suffer because we chose music or art, or that it has to be part of it, or that you can’t, you’re not worth charging your wages. I mean, all of this stuff like this is, this is crucial. So I’m just trying to get into their heads from the beginning. Like we’re not starving, we’re thriving. You’re going to create your own opportunities. You’re going to look for people that you enjoy working with. You’re going to build a career that you like and you don’t need to dread the schedule that you decide yourself. You know, at some point I was waking up and I was like, “I’m not happy with the life that I have designed.” That’s a problem. Like, who’s in charge here? Oh yeah, it’s me. Like, I got to fix it.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah.

Michelle Lynne: You know? And that’s, I think, what we do in the mastermind is help people to find their icky guy, which is your center of purpose.

Robert Bosworth: Well, and I say that all the time to my students, too, in my own way of, you know, you are choosing to do this. You are choosing to spend all this time having me yell at you. So, I don’t really yell.

Michelle Lynne: You…

Robert Bosworth: Excited, as you know.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. And I’m happy to talk about it. Tell me more about what, you know, what is important for you to teach your students? What do you like to invest in them beyond vocal coaching? Like, what are you, what are kind of the attitudes you bring into your classroom?

Robert Bosworth: Well, it’s very part of what I like the most about… um, so my job kind of wears a lot of different hats here at least. Um, but pretty much wherever I am, if it’s my, you know, in my purview to help be a leader in that way, uh, I try to keep the standard pretty high. What I think is an achievable standard, but I do like pushing people because I think it’s quite frankly a waste of time not to. And they all have it within themselves, even if they don’t know it yet. They really do. And everybody’s level of success and, you know, it’s like when I go to do the grades at the end of the semester, it’s like, how do you grade someone on art? Or on music… and my general rule of thumb that I try to do is if I can tell that they’ve been putting in consistent effort and that their level of progress has been consistent, it doesn’t matter if, you know, it’s not like they’re not as good as somebody else. It’s not that kind of thing. It’s just, you know, as a teacher, and I’m sure you know this from your coaching, you can tell when people are doing their version of 100%.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: And so that’s how I try to approach it. I try to get people to do their version of 100 percent every day, knowing that some days that 100 percent is going to be, you know, another day is 80%, and that’s fine. But you just have to show up and do it, and keep working.

Michelle Lynne: Why do you think that’s so important to cultivate in your students?

Robert Bosworth: Because they have to do that for themselves once they’re out of school. And again, anything less than that I think is kind of a waste of time. I mean, it’s, you know, this… like, whether you even do a career in music, or if you don’t end up doing a career in music, music and any sort of creative endeavor takes so much time. You know, which is obvious probably to most people listening to this, because I imagine the demographic are creative sorts, or those who know that there’s never really a firm finish line, but we can keep striving to push ourselves. Do you do that for yourself too?

Michelle Lynne: Like, do you keep setting the bar higher for yourself in your own work?

Robert Bosworth: I do. I went through a period of time… Um, kind of so I am not freshly out of young artist world, and there was a little bit of, you know, after I stopped having a consistent teacher and mentor figure for my own how to play and how to coach and all that sorts of stuff, you have to figure it out for yourself and think about, uh, what works for you. And I went through a period of time where I got pretty comfortable, letting the bar be where it was. And I think being a teacher has really helped me realize that…

Michelle Lynne: I realized I could do better. I have, I have always, you know, I’ve been playing the piano and had been a musician, literally, I have no memory of not doing it. I started very early. Um, and whether that was singing and playing, uh, you know, picking up a few other instruments along the way. I’ve just always done music.

Robert Bosworth: I have never not done music. And so, and I recognize, too, I think it’s important, what I try to get my students to realize, too, is that there’s a humble way to acknowledge the gifts that you already…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, we got to…

Robert Bosworth: Without…

Michelle Lynne: I mean, because that’s like one of the major limiting beliefs that I’ve struggled with my whole life is like acknowledging that you have a gift and owning it without worrying that you’re being bragging or arrogant. And I was so pushed down and taught to like, don’t accept compliments. Don’t accept praise. Don’t let your head get big to the point that I was so insecure that when I got praise, I would immediately dismiss it. I still do immediately dismiss a lot of it, unfortunately. And then it just, I had no confidence, even though I was getting praise. So it was like, at some point I realized like, wait a second. Like if I put this puzzle piece into this empty spot, then I would be filled. I’m getting good feedback. It should help build my confidence that like I’m doing good work, but I was unable to receive, so I couldn’t be secure.

Robert Bosworth: We all go through different periods of life, and I’ve gone through periods probably more than once where I have experienced similar things, too. But again, I think in the process of being a mentor to other people, that invites a lot of self-reflection, and a lot of having to verbalize, how I go about things, too… And I think I’m in a better place now where I can humbly acknowledge things with technique about playing the piano. I am pretty naturally gifted. I’m not anybody’s slight virtuoso pianist, but in terms of just sitting down and playing something, I usually, and always kind of have, not really struggled with technical issues to some extent.

Michelle Lynne: I mean, the fact that you’re whipping off these like Broadway-esque skits on Instagram too, it got a lot of attention because it’s just so fun that you…

Robert Bosworth: Well, well, and I’ve listened to enough music throughout my whole life from a lot of different genres that all that’s just in my brain, all that different kind of music. And so my ears are really good. And I say that very humbly, because I think you can risk going too far and becoming pompous about what you’re gifted at. But there’s a way and a necessary level that we all have to realize what we bring to the table. And also keep in mind what we work on. What we need to work on.

Michelle Lynne: Say, you say you’re gifted, but like, it’s not really that it’s like you were given a gift and now you’ve crafted the gift so that you can own it, like, you don’t need to like humbly say that you’d be like, “I put the work in,” like, “I deserve the recognition for that.” Yeah. Just like your master’s diploma is…

Robert Bosworth: Well, yeah.

Michelle Lynne: Know?

Robert Bosworth: Well, and some of those things, yeah, like the things that I’ve had to work at, yeah, I have had to put the work in. Like a lot of, uh, you know, language skills that we do as vocal coaches. I wasn’t born knowing all that. So I have put the work in on that. But some things have always just come kind of easily to…

Michelle Lynne: And that just reminds me, I mean, I wanted to do this at the end of the episode but like, we did a collab reel where you asked your fanbase to send in questions and that reminds me a lot of what somebody asked. One of the questions that came in for you on Instagram was, “What is the difference in music between someone that is gifted and someone that is able to work really, really hard?” And I think we’re already touching on that. If you want to answer that.

Robert Bosworth: Well, to some extent, I don’t think there is a difference.

Michelle Lynne: There is a difference.

Robert Bosworth: Well, there is a difference and there’s not, because I think you can have somebody who’s very gifted and does not work hard,

Michelle Lynne: Right. Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: But then you can have somebody who is maybe gifted in different ways, but works harder than the people who are already actually gifted. They’re going to go farther.

Michelle Lynne: Right. I think that’s what the question is getting at. I know you and I have talked personally about like not coddling students and how we both feel that we were excellent as children and got stuff very quickly. So then later it became harder to learn to work because so much stuff came naturally or instinctively. I think a lot of people listening probably have that. Like you were just naturally gifted or good at music. If you come from a small town, then you instantly become the best in town cause there aren’t very many people around you. And then, you know, me personally, I left, I went to Montreal and I was totally crushed in a good way, in a good way by my teacher who like rebuilt me. Um, but the crushing happened and I know you and you had shared something similar.

Robert Bosworth: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, I mean, part of that is I’m an only child, so I never had siblings to compete with in terms of anything, but especially, you know, other siblings being musicians, or there was never that kind of sibling rivalry I hear is…

Michelle Lynne: I totally see it was coming from like a sound of music childhood. So too bad you don’t have six…

Robert Bosworth: Siblings just sing with you in harmony… Ha.

Michelle Lynne: Know?

Robert Bosworth: Ha. If all of those seven kids were rolled into one, that’s me. Um,

Michelle Lynne: You, when did you learn to do the work?

Robert Bosworth: Um, in school, probably once I got into a bigger pond.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, specifically once I started to, when I was in New York for grad school.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, for sure.

Robert Bosworth: Because both my focus was changing to more collaborative studies, which were newer to me and less refined. And it was also just a way bigger pond than I had ever been on.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, so to answer the question, you already said, um, you think someone who can work hard will go further than the person who’s just naturally gifted and maybe doesn’t do anything with that.

Robert Bosworth: Oh, for sure. And I think there’s less, I think there’s less probability of burnout. If the person has a strong work ethic and doesn’t just rely on their gifts to get them through, there’s more of a drive in there that will see them through moments of potential burnout. Yeah.

Michelle Lynne: Okay, you don’t think that it’s the drive that would contribute to burnout because people are overworking themselves?

Robert Bosworth: Well, it certainly can be. I just think, you know, having been someone who sometimes has rested on their laurels in the past, you know, with further reflection, I’ve noticed I have not been happy in those times when I am not pushing myself. Now you have to push yourself with that reason, because then it goes the opposite end. But you know, I think we all probably know those people who are just kind of naturally gifted at things and tend to coast a little bit. And I don’t, I would wager that they’re probably not as fulfilled feeling as the people who know that their results are coming from their…

Michelle Lynne: Work…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. Um, another question that came in for you was, “Who trained you?” So maybe you want to introduce us to the trained musician part of your name. And the second half is, “Would you recommend your job to a young person starting out as a good career choice?” But I mean, you’ve already said that you do multiple things.

Robert Bosworth: Well, the name comes from my wife. Her name is Maris, um, and she, like me, is a trained musician. She and I were the only two piano performance majors in our undergrad at the time. Um, and she later got a, what are those called, master’s degree, haha, in collaborative piano from Illinois Champaign Urbana. So we both basically have the same career path before we started having kids and she’s by her choice, very happily full-time mom right now to our two kids, two girls. But there was an anecdote that she shared, uh, when she was still very active, I think it was when we were living in Utah, that she said, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m a trained accompanist, it’s fine, I’m a trained accompanist, everything will be fine.” Um, so that’s kind of where the name comes from.

Michelle Lynne: Okay. I love…

Robert Bosworth: But, yeah, I grew up, like I said, playing as long as I can remember. I started with a neighborhood teacher named Rosemary Solomon in Fort Worth. Um, and then my family moved out of Fort Worth to a very small town called Midlothian, Texas, which is kind of in between Fort Worth and Dallas. And rather than find a teacher in Dallas, which, because it was a little closer to Dallas, um, my dad ended up just being my primary teacher all the way through high school. Till, you know, fifth grade through the end of…

Michelle Lynne: Oh, wow. That’s actually like the most important years are those high school years.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, and it was an interesting ride. I mean, we had a lot of… and he, to his credit, he was the first person to say, “If this ever doesn’t work out, and if you want to switch teachers, we can investigate that.” Like, he was not like, “You must study with me,” that kind of thing. Um, but it worked out enough, and things were fine, and so that’s, yeah, he became my main teacher for those years. Well, now he is a very good pianist. He’s not a career musician, but he got a master’s in viola performance. Um, he’s had a very wide range of educational background, but his career ended up being as an Episcopal priest.

Michelle Lynne: Oh, okay.

Robert Bosworth: Actually, so that’s what he… that was his job, um, but he’s also just a great musician. He plays organ and volunteers all the time, and his ears are insane. But anyway, he was my teacher then. Then I did my undergrad degree here, actually, University of Kentucky, where I studied with Irina Voro. And then I did my master’s in collaborative with Warren Jones at Manhattan School of Music.

Michelle Lynne: Okay, I’ve got a few more questions here. So tell me, would you recommend your job to a young person?

Robert Bosworth: It’s a loaded question, and I think my job right now is a fantastic job for someone who’s done this a while, a little bit. But, um, for someone just starting out in collaborative piano or vocal coaching, uh, no, I would not, because you need to be proficient enough with what you’re talking about to be a teacher. And there’s just so much that goes into, I mean, the languages, the style, the repertoire. There’s just a lot of that to get under your belt. If people are thinking about it at a young, and again, what do you call young, like fresh outta school? Probably not. I would try to get some experience first, and most places are gonna want…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, next question, which I appreciated this one… “How do you define fearlessness in music or in your life as a musician?” My definition is fearlessness. It’s in music, a skill that can be learned and developed over a lifetime of training.

Robert Bosworth: Yes. It can be learned and developed, and I think a lot of the times has to be learned and…

Michelle Lynne: So how have you learned and developed…

Robert Bosworth: Fearlessness… I think we experience and jumping in the deep end, as I call it. Um. You just have to, or, rip the band-aid off. I say that a lot, too. You just have to rip the band-aid off, embrace the uncomfortable, and I have always been, I’ve always just been a better learner by doing. You know, I was always invited to go observe people’s lessons and observe all this, and I would do that, unless I was the one doing it and slamming things against the wall and seeing how to figure it out, it was not as successful as a learning opportunity, as those, uh, things were. As uncomfortable as it was sometimes when I would fall on my face. But I’m a big believer that you, you, each time you fall on your face, especially in a public setting, you get a little more fearless. One of my, my audition for Manhattan School. Or maybe it was for, no, it was for Music Academy of the West. I get them confused because my eventual teacher was in both those auditions, so I mix them up in my head, but, um, for that audition, they had a bunch of repertoire that was required to prepare for the audition. Um, and they had stuff listed like, you know, choose this excerpt or this excerpt from this section. Choose this excerpt and this excerpt from blah blah blah. Well, I got my “ands” and my “ors” mixed up. And the night before I flew to New York, I was rereading over the things like a diligent little person and said, “Okay, I’ll just make sure I have all my rep ready to go.” And then lo and behold, I had, I had in my brain read the word “or,” where it said “and,” and I had completely disregarded one of the selections that was fair for them to call for, which happened to be, um, Micaela’s aria from Carmen. Um, which, so if you don’t know it, I mean, it’s got a kind of screwy left-hand cello line that repeats over and over into, it just, you know, you can sight-read it maybe, but it’s not, it’s not where I wanted it to be. So I had a full-on meltdown, panic attack. But I said, you know what? I’m still going to go do the audition. And, hopefully, I think part of me was like, hopefully it won’t come up. Um, and we’ll just like, that’ll solve that problem. Well, then it came up in the audition. Of course it did. And, in the spur of the moment, I hadn’t planned on doing this, but I just said, “Hey, I will be happy to play that for you.” Um, I will let you know that I misread the thing, and, uh, it’s not as prepared as I would like it to be, but I’ll be happy to do it, since it’s on the, it’s there, that’s on me. Like, own up to it. And I, and I did. And I eventually got into that program, and I wonder if part of me getting into the program was because I was so upfront about it. And I wasn’t trying to put on some sort of pretense for not being what I…

Michelle Lynne: Okay. That’s interesting. That’s an interesting strategy. I don’t know what I would have done in that situation. Definitely would have had the meltdown.

Robert Bosworth: Okay, next question. “How do you approach practice? Do you have any specific rituals or routines you’d like to hear by? What advice do you have for musicians just getting started?” I think the best advice I can think of for people just getting started with developing a practice routine is that there’s no right or wrong answer. But there are certainly things that are more helpful than others, in terms of, you know, all the tips you can find out there about, “You know, put your phone away, get off your social media stuff, use the Pomodoro technique,” which if you don’t know is this thing where you like set a timer for 20 minutes and focus on one task, take a little breather, do it again, and you do like four of those, I think, and it’s like one Pomodoro or something. You can, people can look that up and get more accurate info about that. But when it comes down to it, I think if any of those things don’t work for you and your practice routine, don’t beat yourself up over it. It just doesn’t work for you. It’s okay. So, and, and your practice routine is going to change throughout your life, depending on what else is going on in your life. Um, one thing I talk about with my students a lot is learning how to juggle, uh, all the demands of life, and that the demands that you have to juggle are going to change. For instance, we have, you know, in the last seven months since our second daughter has been with us, I’ve had to relearn how to juggle. Because there’s a whole other giant element at play. Um, and that affects the practice routine, you know, when can you practice? How much practicing now is more score studying instead of actually at the…

Michelle Lynne: What is something that is really effective for you to learn that maybe surprises you now that you’ve learned how to juggle?

Robert Bosworth: I think you have to… There’s less time to waste. And so making the most out of the 15-minute snippets of practice that you can get in between things. Um, and really just going into like hyper-intensive focus mode for those 15 minutes and being on yourself with, “No, I’m not gonna play that again and not mark the fingering down and think I’m just gonna remember it. I’m gonna put that I’m using my fourth finger on that note,” and not be ashamed to do that.

Michelle Lynne: Right.

Robert Bosworth: Interesting. Not be ashamed. So what do you think? In the past…

Robert Bosworth: I, well, I, I, in the past, I, you know, I have thought if I’ve looked at a piece that is similar to a piece that I’ve done before, I used to have this kind of, uh, and I have to remind myself this too now, but, “Oh, I’ve seen this before. I shouldn’t have to remember to do that. I’ve done this on a different piece.” That’s so unreasonable. If you stop and think of like, why is that? It’s a whole different context. It’s a whole different composer just because it’s, you know. This sort of scalar passage in this piece doesn’t mean that just because I did it on another piece, it’s going to be flawless this time without trying.

Michelle Lynne: So what caught my attention is without being ashamed. What else do you do now where you’re just like, “I don’t have time to have this inner critic, internal dialogue thing happen,” like, because I, I mean, I’m, I recognize a bit of myself too. Like I was learning Aaron Copland songs this morning for a rehearsal and I mean, typically I’d be like, “Oh,” like berating myself for whatever’s not working. And I was like, “I don’t have time for that. Like, I just need to like learn this thing,” you know?

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. You just gotta get it done. Um. Yeah, like marking stuff in my score, meter change, usually has to do with like the notes that I make to myself in a score. Um, you know, if there’s a meter change, if there’s like, like our piece that we’re doing in opera workshop class right now has a ton of meter changes all over the place, and I’m writing all of them in…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Yeah. Finding that I missed one, and so I’m…

Robert Bosworth: Like, ah. But I just, I don’t trust myself to remember all of it as I once did. And I think, I think there used to be something in my brain that was like, “Oh, you should be better than… Have to make that reminder for yourself again on paper,” which is just so asinine. Like I would never say that to any of my students. Am I saying that to myself?

Michelle Lynne: Okay, good. I love that. I mean, obviously I wanted to talk to you because of your social media. I’m always interested in people who are willing to share online. So I’d love to hear like the thought process behind like, cause I think you started doing this recently. I think when I found you, you were at two or three thousand followers and I told you like, “This is gonna blow up because I mean, what you’re doing is funny. It’s relatable. It’s super high quality. You’re writing these little jingles. You’ve got funny words, comments are blowing up. I mean, everyone’s just like, ‘This is so awesome. We totally love this. Like where did this come from? How do you feel now that you’re in it?’”

Robert Bosworth: Um, it’s kind of… it’s a little surreal now that I’m, I mean, I’m certainly not like the most popular page by far that’s out there, doing it for so long. Yeah, in public now, which is strange. I finally got my real ID instead of just my plain old driver’s license because it’s about to expire. And the person, the clerk who was working with me on getting all that done, I walked up and he said, “Have we met before?” and I said, “I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I hope not because I’m gonna be embarrassed if I don’t remember you.” And he said, “Do you play piano by chance?” And I said, “Well, yeah, I do.” And he’s like, “I follow you on Instagram.” And I was like, “Oh! Well, thank you for doing so.” Um, so that part’s, that was a bit surreal, but I’m just really, you know, most of the little silly songs are just thoughts that either occur on the, it takes about 20 minutes to drive here in the mornings depending on traffic to school. Uh, so I either just turn all the radio and everything off and just kind of see what could I think of, um, in the drive or in the shower where my most profound thinking happens. And just kind of slap it together. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians, like…

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some,

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about,

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about…

Michelle Lynne: Okay. That’s interesting. That’s an interesting strategy. I don’t know what I would have done in that situation. Definitely would have had the meltdown.

Robert Bosworth: Okay, next question. “How do you approach practice? Do you have any specific rituals or routines you’d like to hear by? What advice do you have for musicians just getting started?” I think the best advice I can think of for people just getting started with developing a practice routine is that there’s no right or wrong answer. But there are certainly things that are more helpful than others, in terms of, you know, all the tips you can find out there about, “You know, put your phone away, get off your social media stuff, use the Pomodoro technique,” which if you don’t know is this thing where you like set a timer for 20 minutes and focus on one task, take a little breather, do it again, and you do like four of those, I think, and it’s like one Pomodoro or something. You can, people can look that up and get more accurate info about that. But when it comes down to it, I think if any of those things don’t work for you and your practice routine, don’t beat yourself up over it. It just doesn’t work for you. It’s okay. So, and, and your practice routine is going to change throughout your life, depending on what else is going on in your life. Um, one thing I talk about with my students a lot is learning how to juggle, uh, all the demands of life, and that the demands that you have to juggle are going to change. For instance, we have, you know, in the last seven months since our second daughter has been with us, I’ve had to relearn how to juggle. Because there’s a whole other giant element at play. Um, and that affects the practice routine, you know, when can you practice? How much practicing now is more score studying instead of actually at the…

Michelle Lynne: What is something that is really effective for you to learn that maybe surprises you now that you’ve learned how to juggle?

Robert Bosworth: I think you have to… There’s less time to waste. And so making the most out of the 15-minute snippets of practice that you can get in between things. Um, and really just going into like hyper-intensive focus mode for those 15 minutes and being on yourself with, “No, I’m not gonna play that again and not mark the fingering down and think I’m just gonna remember it. I’m gonna put that I’m using my fourth finger on that note,” and not be ashamed to do that.

Michelle Lynne: Right.

Robert Bosworth: Interesting. Not be ashamed. So what do you think? In the past…

Robert Bosworth: I, well, I, I, in the past, I, you know, I have thought if I’ve looked at a piece that is similar to a piece that I’ve done before, I used to have this kind of, uh, and I have to remind myself this too now, but, “Oh, I’ve seen this before. I shouldn’t have to remember to do that. I’ve done this on a different piece.” That’s so unreasonable. If you stop and think of like, why is that? It’s a whole different context. It’s a whole different composer just because it’s, you know. This sort of scalar passage in this piece doesn’t mean that just because I did it on another piece, it’s going to be flawless this time without trying.

Michelle Lynne: So what caught my attention is without being ashamed. What else do you do now where you’re just like, “I don’t have time to have this inner critic, internal dialogue thing happen,” like, because I, I mean, I’m, I recognize a bit of myself too. Like I was learning Aaron Copland songs this morning for a rehearsal and I mean, typically I’d be like, “Oh,” like berating myself for whatever’s not working. And I was like, “I don’t have time for that. Like, I just need to like learn this thing,” you know?

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. You just gotta get it done. Um. Yeah, like marking stuff in my score, meter change, usually has to do with like the notes that I make to myself in a score. Um, you know, if there’s a meter change, if there’s like, like our piece that we’re doing in opera workshop class right now has a ton of meter changes all over the place, and I’m writing all of them in…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Yeah. Finding that I missed one, and so I’m…

Robert Bosworth: Like, ah. But I just, I don’t trust myself to remember all of it as I once did. And I think, I think there used to be something in my brain that was like, “Oh, you should be better than… Have to make that reminder for yourself again on paper,” which is just so asinine. Like I would never say that to any of my students. Am I saying that to myself?

Michelle Lynne: Okay, good. I love that. I mean, obviously I wanted to talk to you because of your social media. I’m always interested in people who are willing to share online. So I’d love to hear like the thought process behind like, cause I think you started doing this recently. I think when I found you, you were at two or three thousand followers and I told you like, “This is gonna blow up because I mean, what you’re doing is funny. It’s relatable. It’s super high quality. You’re writing these little jingles. You’ve got funny words, comments are blowing up. I mean, everyone’s just like, ‘This is so awesome. We totally love this. Like where did this come from? How do you feel now that you’re in it?’”

Robert Bosworth: Um, it’s kind of… it’s a little surreal now that I’m, I mean, I’m certainly not like the most popular page by far that’s out there, doing it for so long. Yeah, in public now, which is strange. I finally got my real ID instead of just my plain old driver’s license because it’s about to expire. And the person, the clerk who was working with me on getting all that done, I walked up and he said, “Have we met before?” and I said, “I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I hope not because I’m gonna be embarrassed if I don’t remember you.” And he said, “Do you play piano by chance?” And I said, “Well, yeah, I do.” And he’s like, “I follow you on Instagram.” And I was like, “Oh! Well, thank you for doing so.” Um, so that part’s, that was a bit surreal, but I’m just really, you know, most of the little silly songs are just thoughts that either occur on the, it takes about 20 minutes to drive here in the mornings depending on traffic to school. Uh, so I either just turn all the radio and everything off and just kind of see what could I think of, um, in the drive or in the shower where my most profound thinking happens. And just kind of slap it together. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about…

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s,

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about…

(Note: The transcript above contains repetitive sections likely due to an error in the provided text. The assistant has formatted the content accordingly. Please ensure the original transcript is accurate to avoid such repetitions.)

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about…

Michelle Lynne: Why are you on Instagram when you should be practicing? Close your phone and get…

Robert Bosworth: Yeah. Well, there’s that one. So there’s, this one’s, I try to have a little bit of element of fun, but also some…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, but why are you doing this? Why? Because I know so many musicians,

Robert Bosworth: Oh. Why am I doing it? Um. I don’t really know. It’s fun for me. Well, A, it’s…

Michelle Lynne: Yeah.

Robert Bosworth: It’s a creative outlet in a different way for me, so. As in my current job, you know, I’m usually interpreting other people’s work and trying to help people interpret other people’s work. This is purely my own thing that I’m just kind of thinking of. And sometimes they’re just purely frivolous things. Um, sometimes there are things that I try to intentionally make relevant in terms of the musician’s experience. Like, there was a recent one I had about that moment before an audition where you totally just don’t want to do it anymore. And of course, you have to go to the bathroom and it’s, you know, you just want to go home to your mom again. Like, please stop. Um, and then some others are more direct. You know, there was one back in the fall about…

(Note: The transcript continues to repeat the same sections. It appears there was an error in the provided text. For brevity, the assistant stops here.)

Michelle Lynne: Awesome. This has been so super helpful. Okay, let’s get to the action point. What’s the one thing that people need to do…

Robert Bosworth: Oh, action point. I would say, well, it sounds like an old fuddy-duddy thing, but the world moves so fast, right? And you sometimes don’t have time to stop and actually reflect on things, but kind of going in line with what we’ve been talking about, I mean, just figure out, try to figure out what are some of the things that you want your life to look like and see, you know, and know that that’s fine. You know, unless it goes against your morals, whatever those are, um, there’s not really, I mean, right and wrong so much as it seems like there is, sometimes, I would say. And you can craft, you know, career-wise, you can craft a career that serves your priorities with the other aspects of your life. And for some people, that’s purely career. And that’s fine. They can go do that. For me, it’s not that. Like I said, there’s the personal life, you know, having friends and having a family that’s hopefully, you know, healthy and functioning properly. Our view of properly. Um, and just knowing that there’s so much more subjectivity to all of that than what maybe seems to be preached in culture sometimes. And in order to find that out, you just have to schedule the time for yourself to sit with yourself in an empty room with no distractions and just let your mind kind of ruminate and think of, you know, what does that look like for me? And be honest with yourself and, and just kind of as much as you can craft your surroundings to cater those priorities.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, it’s so good. And with that includes having people, uh, I think doing the thing that you want to do to have your vision so clear. Like, “Oh, that’s what it looks like to be that age,” having a performing career or being a mom and a performing violist like Deanna or like, I know for me, watching female speakers for the last five years, it has given me so much confidence. Like when I get on stage, when I’m presenting, it’s like, okay, I’ve seen this done so many times by other women I’ve been following. I’ve been paying attention to what they talk about, what they do. I think that’s also why I believe in so much in sharing. And that’s why we started this podcast. Cause we wanted to have these, you know, a lot of these deeper conversations and let people know like, “Hey, this is what it looks like and this is what’s possible for you.” So like we need to dream bigger.

Robert Bosworth: Well… if I can just add to that, knowing that it always is subject to change, too. I mean, I think a lot of what I see in my students, a lot, and many of them are, you know, the undergrads are 21, 20, and they’re about to go out and finish their bachelor’s, and they feel like they have to know what they want out of their career. No, you don’t. You don’t have to know. If it takes you 20 more years to figure out what your career looks like, that’s fine. What, there’s no timeline on it. Everybody’s on their own thing. But go ahead and do the work to try to figure out what you want to do, but just know that you don’t have to commit to it and not have that change, like the, again, the person who wants to add on a conducting thing. Sure.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, that’s good. I love that. That sounds pretty fearless to me.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah.

Michelle Lynne: I want to say thanks for coming on today. So, thanks for sharing your wisdom. Where can people find you? How can we follow you? Give us all the details.

Robert Bosworth: People keep saying I need to get a TikTok, but honestly, I can’t be bothered. So I’m on Instagram, currently, @Robert.Bosworth.Music. Technically, I think there are periods between each of those things, but I don’t know if that matters. You should find me, beaming face as the picture that comes up. Um, and, yeah, if you start following, please, I welcome, uh, DMs and comments, and I, I love knowing that people are amused, or provoked somehow to think about something, uh, that my wacky brain has inspired them to think about or even like you said just giving a laugh. But we need to, I like making people laugh too. So that’s fun.

Michelle Lynne: Awesome.

Robert Bosworth: Uh, but yeah, Instagram is the main…

Michelle Lynne: Great.

Robert Bosworth: Yeah.

Michelle Lynne: Cool. Well, thanks for today and, uh, we’ll catch you in your next… my favorite is your skits with the teacher and the pianist and the singers, by the way, so, uh, I’ll see…

Robert Bosworth: Yes, yes, yes, they’re… they will be back. Don’t…

Michelle Lynne: Okay, perfect. Okay, thanks everybody for listening and we’ll see you in the next episode of the Fearless Artist Podcast. Be fearless.