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MUSIC AS A MIRROR

Something has always fascinated me throughout the years of being a music instructor.  That something is the fact that learning or playing music is frequently a reflection of what is going on in your life at the time.  

As a music instructor, I see anywhere from 35 - 45 students a week and they are all in a different state of mind each and every week they come in for lessons.  Their lives are, like everything else on this planet, constantly changing.  Some are changing for the better and some for the worse.  Some have relationship problems, some have work issues that affect their free time, some just have the "day to day grind blues" and are bored with the status quo.  With the economy being what it is, most of us seem to be facing new challenges that we have never faced before.  If you watch the news every night you will be bombarded with news stories about any number of tragedies or events that can cause you to feel a certain way.

The fact is that no matter what is going on inside you or outside of you in the world, as a student of music, you are striving to become an artist.

Yes...an artist!  

Perhaps you have heard of artists that need inspiration to paint.  Frequently that's true but you can bet that artists don't wait forever for that inspiration.  Sometimes just starting is inspirational.  In fact, for many artists, starting to paint is an absolute necessity if you want to get paid.

There are works by famous sculptors that are defined by the period in which they were experiencing certain hardships in their lives and those works exhibit some rare and unique qualities.  You have heard that some song writers write their best work when they have had some emotionally trying circumstances crop up in their lives.  After all, how do you think the blues come into being? 

All of the above are examples of artists in different states of change and emotional states of being.  

All artists start somewhere.  That implies that at one time they were not artists or at least not considered such.  During their initial learning period they were going through changes, and in some cases, hardships that everyone experiences from time to time.  When you are in the learning stages of becoming an artist you don’t get the same recognition for having life kick you around a bit.  What I mean is that the struggles you experience while you are learning might not have the same creative effect as when you have gained a certain level of skill and experience or recognition.  For example, if you are having a heap of trouble at your job while you are trying to learn the fiddle, it just might make you want to eat pizza, drink a beer or two and watch TV instead of practicing.  Whereas, if you were already an experienced musician, something like that might actually inspire you to write a good fiddle tune....with a bluesy feel.  Same trouble just different results.

I have a student that is a trauma surgeon in a local hospital.  One of his sayings is:  “It’s  a tough planet.”  He’s right in a sense.  It seems there is always something going haywire in our lives. Our goal as musicians and artists is to take those things and use them to inspire us to greater heights by remaining determined.  We have to keep our eyes on the goal at all times.  Our musical development will always be poked and prodded by life’s little annoyances.  We can either use them to become more determined or allow them to short circuit our progress.  Your music will reflect your attitude and how you look at things.  Ultimately we have to rise above our circumstances in order to move forward.  

Thinking forward to a time when you expect to be better will actually help get you there. Conversely, becoming mired in your current circumstances can frequently de-rail your future status as an artist....and even prevent you from becoming a musician at all.

That is true at every stage of artistic development.  In other words....artists become better artists and then become great artists by looking ahead and then moving forward....no matter what is going on in their lives.  

Let’s face it....*%!@ happens...no matter what.  We might as well become better artists while it does.

Stick To Picking...really!