writing a new CV

I recently had to update my CV.

Curriculum Vitae.

Artist´s biography.

Few things are less sexy than writing a CV.

You have to highlight your accomplishments, mention your prizes and awards, let everyone know the places you´ve played in, the orchestras that invited you to perform as a soloist with them, the masterclasses you´ve taught, the incredible teachers you´ve had, etc etc etc. Bla bla bla.

I don´t like reading CV´s either. I like listening to the musicians play. That tells me infinitely more about them than any words will ever do.

But, it´s necessary. That way, people can “place” you.

You see, the human mind is so complex that it needs structure to think correctly.

We classify everything into little “boxes” in which we store different concepts and ideas. Whenever we are exposed to something, we classify it accordingly and put it in the proper box. Whenever we need that piece of information, we already know which box to look for.

In that way, we can classify an artist as more or less traditional, more or less innovative, more or less influential, or more or less important, depending on what we´ve read on the cv. We´ve placed them in our minds and now we´re ready to listen to them.

Maybe I´m just exaggerating.

Maybe I´m just lazy and don´t want to do it.

I remember a friend who had a very funny CV, it´s my favorite CV I´ve ever read.

He said things like:

“I once sang at the Olympic stadium, the rest of the 15,000 spectators were singing as well”

or

“Once I played with Caruso, and won the game”

Here ends my rant about CV´s. 

I´ve got some more interesting news to tell you, but that’s tomorrow.

Have a nice day,

Claudio.