What Music and Being a Musician Have Taught Me

From my first piano lesson at age 5 to where I am now, music has provided me many lessons about the subject itself. It has also given me many life lessons which I hope can enlighten you about aspects of yourself as you journey through your musical life. Here are a few realizations that have occurred to me through my experiences.

1. Don't lose sight of the end goal. The musical learning process is a journey in which you must enjoy the trip. Too many people (mostly beginners, but not always) will get stuck in the moment practicing and lose sight of what their piece will sound like when they're finished. They get bored, unmotivated and then give up. Never forget how fun the piece you want to learn will sound once you finish!

2. Music making is not instantly gratifying. This pertains to mostly the novice students. Most people don't realize that in order to sound good you have to spend A LOT of time practicing. As in...years and years and years of time, to sound good. This isn't a discouragement, but merely a realization for myself. I played violin from elementary school all the way up to high school (almost 10 years) and in that time span I had relatively little vibrato, some notes were still out of tune from time to time and definitely did not have mastery of the fingerboard. While violin wasn't my main instrument, it goes to show that even someone with a strong musical background still needs a very long time to develop these skills. My next goal that I'm currently working on is getting better at jazz improvisation (which I can safely say I need MUCH work on). And again - I've played some of the hardest classical piano repertoire, from Bach to Liszt! Music making is a lifelong journey.

3. Music (as does life) favors the hard working. We as humans love to revel at the child prodigy, or admire someone with an inherent talent. There's nothing wrong with this, but I've seen people give up because they thought they weren't good enough, or they didn't believe they didn't possess that "natural gift". Music (as with many other things) favors those who work hard. If you set your mind to it everyday and stay consistent you will get better. The student who relies only on natural talent can only go so far without hard work. (This is coming from someone who others have described as having a "gift" but trust me, I have to work my butt off everyday to progress!)

4. Music is not always fun (as is life). This is not to scare you or discourage you. When we see a fantastic musician on stage it's easy to revel, stand in awe and become inspired and motivated to be like that. But, as soon as we sit down to practice we get discouraged again because we realize what hard work this is. Practicing your instrument requires mastery of scales, etudes, breath control, finger strength/dexterity and myriad of other aspects that we forget are not as interesting as performing the actual piece. It's actual hard work! Realize that each time you do one of these daunting activities you are getting better. And refer to number 1 on this list if you find your motivation faltering!

5. Music is for everyone. This ties in to number 3 on the list. I've known many people who never even tried to do music simply because they thought they weren't good enough or didn't think they possessed the right intellect or talent. You were born with a voice and your hands transform the physical world into a percussion instrument. Music is a naturally occurring part of all of our lives that connects us physically, emotionally and spiritually - not too many other things can do that. As spoken by classical Indian composer and philosopher Hazrat Inyat Khan; "Someday music will be the means of expressing universal religion. Time is wanted for this, but there will come a day when music will become the religion of humanity." Hopefully this day comes soon.