Five Things I’ve Learned From Being A Musician
1) Mistakes will always be made. Whether you’re Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and break your leg at the start of a concert, or just a high school student like me who forgets the chords to a song halfway through a performance, you can’t just stop. You have to power through and use those mistakes to fuel your rise to the top. Everyone is going to make a mistake at some point, and being able to recognize those mistakes allows us to grow as people.
2) Practice makes perfect, but so does your attitude. Sure, especially as a musician, practice is important. Without practicing, there really is no way to improve. However, your attitude determines how efficient your practice is. If you hit a wrong note during practice, do you just give up and stop playing music? If you miss a shot during basketball practice, are you benched for the rest of the season? The answer to both of those questions is no, because those are the same kinds of mistakes I mentioned before. Being open-minded and positive is extremely important in anything that you do in life. Embrace that you played the wrong chords, and use that as motivation to learn the chords for the next performance and perfect the technique with which you play those chords.
3) Working with others is key. I know it's something that is said by every coach and every teacher, but I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to work in a group. There is absolutely no way a band can function unless all the members work together and understand each other’s roles and parts. A sports team cannot function unless all team members work as one to achieve their goals. In band, we say that it is crucial for the bass player and the drummer to lock in with one another in order to keep the rhythm of the song tight, and that’s no different for anything else. When working with others, think of yourself as one of those two musicians, and work with whatever group you’re in coherently, and achieve the common goal as one.
4) There is no reason to fear the spotlights. As an actor and musician, if you’re afraid to be in the spotlight, chances are your performance won’t be as solid. Confidence is a key part of quality work. As a musician, confidence adds to the tone of your music. Sure, you can be the next Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler, but if you get on stage and you aren’t proud of your work, it will never sound the way you want it to. As I said earlier, attitude is key, and confidence is just another part of that. This lesson applies to everything. You need to be confident when speaking publicly, when playing sports or music, or even when doing homework.
5) Having fun and making memories is the best part of anything. The best part of any sport or performance is getting to make so many amazing memories. I can’t begin to express how many amazing memories I’ve made during my time in the school band. All my favorite moments and all my best traits have come from performing with this amazing and extremely talented group of musicians. To quote the President of Nintendo of America, “if it’s not fun, why bother?” If you aren’t having fun doing something, then why waste the energy on it? For me, I wouldn’t be performing or learning all the instruments I do if they weren’t fun to play. Having fun makes every event exponentially better.
