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It is gratifying that a few of my commentaries about the future of music [largely from the business/financial perspective] have generated both public and private notes exploring many aspects of a subject of vital interest to most artists who visit this site that extend well beyond the realm of my personal experience. As someone climbing a steep learning curve about the creative process of music, I see part of my function to collect, frame, and disseminate content. Here is another cut on the subject of young people wanting to make a go of playing music for a living shared with me by a teaching pro that could provide a much needed dose of reality and prevent hardship and inevitable disappointment:
I have knowledge and experience as a musician. I've actually made my living doing this for a long time, and still do, because I love it. But, I'm usually not real forward on spreading my opinions because they are just that. The people that believe in me tend to develop that belief over time. The students that I have almost always quit after a month or so because I don't water down what they need to learn. If they come to me and say I want to play music, and they've usually dabbled with it for some years, spent money on it, etc. I give them the path I took, we don't just talk theory we put it into practice. I will use whatever emotion I have to, to help them realize what they told me they wanted. Most of them get angry at some point, some quit, if they are true to themselves they go to another teacher. Then they make a realization. They are wasting time and money, and they come back to me ready to do the work.
The interesting thing is I don't have any fluff in my teaching schedule I keep trying to make them quit, and they just won't. :) The ones that are real come back to stay, usually for years, and we become friends. They figure out that I'm doing people a favor if I can make them quit. I teach students from 5 to 85 years old right now. I'm easier on children because they're children. Adults need to get real. 17 year old rock guitar wannabe's with the Dimebag Darryl guitar need a serious dose of reality usually. Only because the only thing bigger than the amp they use is their ego trip.
Just a few of my take-aways from the foregoing are as follows:
1. Young artists in the making need experienced mentors.
2. There are some great teachers out there; you may have to shop around before you find a good one that will tell it like is it, rather than tell you what you want to hear and just pocket the lesson fee.
3. There is a winnowing process at work in the making of an artist, just like developing a fine sword. Those that go through it, develop both the unbreakable backbone and the cutting-edge finesse necessary to survive in a tough business.
4. Success is a self-selecting process.
That is crucial for the sake of maintaining sanity of the individual alone, and yes indeed absolutley to keep the flame of creativity alive, as you said, as well . Sometimes you have to search deep for that optimism, but its always there to be discovered. For me personally, I think it might be easier than for some to find that. Mainly because of 2 reasons... 1. is I went through some rough times back in the mid 90's and the outcome thankfully made me realize life is about living, and that it can unexpectedly be gone at any instant, so live now, or better put, ALWAYS remember to enjoy the JOURNEY while traveling towards your goals. 2. I've been an actively gigging musician for 15+ years (until this last year and 1/2), for me music has always been all about the amazing act and process, and ART of "sculpting sound" as I like to put it. I do it 1st and foremost as an outlet for every emotion I experience. It's always a struggle to get it out there. All in all I've spent WAAAAAYYY more on my music, than I've seen come back to me, but I got to travel a little bit, play a lot of shows, met a lot of good folks along the way, and learned a lot about life through experiences. I don't look at music as a "job". To me, job = something that I don't really want to do anyway. Now a "career" on the other hand is completely different. I of course want to make a living playing the music that I love to play, and I intend on pursuing that to the fullest, and that is a TON of work, especially when you also work the day job thing. You learn to juggle quite well. Where am I going with this?? Hmm. I guess I'm trying to say
that it is a whole lot of work, but also a lot of fun, and one should be careful because in the act of juggling writing music, arranging, going through multiple rough drafts before you reach the final version of a song, finding the right people to play with, spending a lot of $$ on rehearsal places, promoting, marketing, advertising, management, brainstorming marketing strategies, oh wait then you have to maintain the creative juice supply, work a day job maybe, everything else involved in living, finding time to sleep, have a life... etc. it can be real easy to slip into the mode of always living and planning 10 minutes - entire days ahead of where you are RIGHT NOW, and therefore if that happens, you are not actually living right NOW and seeing what is right in front of you, and all around you. This can happen without one even knowing or realizing it, and it did to me for years... I struggle more now with maintaining the balance of working on my goals while still trying to make sure I live in the present some too. Wise man once said, don't forget to stop and smell the roses from time to time...
**sorry if that wasn't entirely related to your post, but I think it was to the portion I pasted there in the begining, oh yea - watch the Mahavishnu Orchestra video on my blog. My golly, wow, incredible!!
T-CUB
I guess I have been, and always will be, a better student than teacher. I think I am a pretty good listener tho' and like to frame and feedback those lingering echoes of sound that resonate in my minds-ear.
This is the key point inside of many that you made Beradley. Making music at a high level is a lot of work, and those who truly excel almost always have an insatiable passion for it, such that it does not seem like work, even though they spend hours each day perfecting some part of their craft. So when they play, it appears effortless, even though it's freakin' hard. So the real 'talent' that one is born with is the passion and persistance to excel.