So you want to be a musician, huh? Maybe you have some training. Maybe you have some talent. Maybe you have some drive. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you only have some of those things, but you still want to be a musician. Well, let me ask you this then: why? Do you hate money? Do you hate free time? Do you hate spending holidays with your families? If so, then perhaps being a musician is for you. But maybe you are here looking for some advice on the matter?
I don’t know if I have much advice for you. I am currently traveling to Kansas with several folks for a church conference. One person on this trip with me said that his father forced him into classical piano lessons, which caused him to get a music degree which he later escaped. Another person said she really wanted to take lessons as a child, but her father told her she had a one in a million talent, but less than one in a million ever make it. She did not become a musician, although now secretly kind of wants to be one I think. Which advice was better? Sometimes I wish someone had warned me off of music before it was too late, but other times I give thanks for one of the most important and fulfilling parts of my life.
So here is some advice that was given to me at an actual musical training experience that I paid money to hear. “If you can do anything else at all, do that instead.” I have heard this said about many other professions as well, but it is true of music in a very strong way. Music will not make you a lot of money. Music will take up a lot of your time. Music is a giant pain in the butt most days. But it is also unique. You don’t get what you get from music anywhere else. It is a universal force. Some do not feel its pull as strongly, but for those of us who do, it is impossible to ignore that call. If you cannot shut your ears and block out that sweet voice calling you to a life of trouble and mischief, then you must, of course, become a musician. I’m sorry. And you’re welcome.
But there is hope! You don’t have to become a professional musician! You can join a local chorus, or sing in your church choir! You can start a garage band! You can write tunes in your head and use free online software to transcribe them. You can even just start a YouTube channel and spew out whatever musical impulses flow into your body! Many, many people are doing this even as we speak. Most of them are terrible. It doesn’t matter. Music has more than one function, and having other people enjoy it is not the only, or even the primary, one. When I was younger and an idiot teenager, I used to make fun of my sister for singing out of tune. That was a mistake. I was a jerk. I did not understand music. She loves singing, and the making of music is its own reward. Who cares what other people think?
Unless you want to be a professional musician of course. Then it matters what other people think. Then you have to create a product that someone else is interested in. And that product is probably you. And not everyone will like your product, which can feel very personal sometimes. It’s not easy. So here is my final say on the matter. Be a musician. It is good for you. Just don’t try to make it your profession. That’s not a good idea. Unless of course, like me, you don’t really have a choice. In which case, have fun, make loud music for the world to hear, and try to see if you can get featured on Dr. Dre’s next album. He’ll let pretty much anybody on one of those things.