Adam The Learning Coach

Dear Musicfriends, Awaywithers* and Adam Cole Watchers,

I can't very well go proclaiming myself the world's best anxiety coach unless I do scary things myself! Can I?

So here's what I did yesterday.

I've been planning to create a series of ads for our upcoming performance of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album in April. I knew what I wanted the ads to look like: me playing some of the gorgeous Roy Bittan piano parts from the album, with mysterious and tempting words. The problem: I'd have to play those parts on camera!

They're hard!

I had just finished up my church job yesterday and I had some time to kill. I thought, “Let's go for it.” I asked my music director to video me, and I dove in! This is the first ad I created !

The reason I had time to kill is because later that day I had a studio session scheduled to record the vocals for my newest track on my upcoming album, Mix Six. The song is called “I Picked Up My Guitar,” and not coincidentally, it's about stepping out of your comfort zone! I had this bass and drums track that we recorded to practice on at home, and feel free to sing along to it!

I've been having trouble with my throat for about a year now, have lost my voice frequently, and have been to the doctor to find out I'm clear in every way. So a mysterious throat ailment means you just have to work around it. I've been warming up and hitting the Feldenkrais a lot to get myself as ready as I can be.

Lo and behold, the session went great! I even hit a really high note that I've been dreading for months since I wrote it, and it sounds really good! I'm eager to share the track with you when it's done!

What have you been up to?

Love,

Adam

Adam Cole, Performance and Confidence Coach

https://acole.net

*Awaywithers are our newest group, people looking for coaching on presentation topics that are separate from music, like writer's block, public speaking, and marketing challenges! If you're one of those people, or you know someone who needs help, please contact me!

When I Found Out I Was Neuroatypical - The Problem Solving Problems - Presentation

The Problem Solving Problems

This is a discussion about how to solve problems, both simple and hard. After a life of solving problems with a neuroatypical brain, Adam goes into detail about his own journey in discovering what he perceived was his greatest problem and the surprising solution.

The Video Summed Up

1) Problem solving requires breaking a problem into comprehensible pieces (not too small, not too large) and then reconstructing the pieces into something that can be "carried."

2) Sometimes the connecting element is bigger than the problem, seemingly unrelated.

3) After a lifetime of solving very difficult problems, Adam discovered that the connecting element was his neurodivergence. It both caused his difficulties and enabled him to persevere. Ultimately he was working on those problems to discover who he was and to learn to love himself.

Adam is the producer of the YouTube podcast "TruerMU" and the Director of Willow Music in Atlanta, GA, as well as the Assistant Editor of the Feldenkrais Journal. Through his talks and workshops, he addresses issues of problem-solving and cognition in children and adults, offering concrete strategies for working through anxiety and adversity. Learn more about Adam at http://www.acole.net Help for Helpers Nov 20, 2023 For a transcript of this presentation, please visit https://acole.net/the-feldenkrais-method