Become The Musician YOU Love

I think it's great that nowadays music programs are taken seriously in universities throughout the world, and that students like myself can immerse themselves in it on a very high level. However, I have noticed a common trend:

While many schools have music programs, these programs can be somewhat limiting. In general, the teaching of something as personal as music takes away the freedom it intrinsically comes with. Because many universities only offer classical or jazz music programs, many great musicians lose sight of the kind of music they really love, because they feel on some level that only jazz or classical musicians are taken seriously. It's very understandable that knowledgeable musicians would be drawn to jazz and classical music-- these genres are very developed, and push the technical limits of every musician. The problem is, a lot of people get caught up in these styles of music for the wrong reasons.

Golden Rule: If jazz is the first thing you want to listen to when you turn on the radio or put in a CD, and if it is really your passion, then by all means go for it. But if it's not, what kind of music do you love to hear? What artists do you wish you could sound like? This is the style of music you should focus on, and it doesn't matter if it's Tupac, Taylor Swift, Chopin, or RJD2.

Your teachers may be pretty impressed if you can come in and bring one of their favorite tunes to life. But music isn't about impressing your elders-- if you want to do that you might as well just go ahead and enroll in medical school. People become musicians because they want a means to express themselves creatively, so why limit yourself?

Make music for you first, then for other people will start to truly appreciate it. Don't play jazz tunes because your teacher is impressed, play them because you love them and you want to learn more about them. And if you don't love them and don't want to learn more about them, that's not necessarily a bad thing-- there are plenty of great musicians that would be lost in a beginning level Aebersold book (not to mention those who have never even heard of the guy), but they can still hold their own and create something meaningful.

Many serious musicians face a dilemma, especially those who enroll in music school: You can constantly try to impress other musicians, or you can do what feels natural.

I have been through this myself, and I realize now that you don't need to impress other musicians. Think about it, how many people in this world are serious musicians? Your music school may have a few thousand people in it (if it's a big one). These people are impressed by fast licks, asymmetric meter, Locrian scales, and abstract harmonic principles. But guess what-- no one else cares! "Normal people" don't know or care what you play; they only sense emotion, which incidentally is the one thing that many serious musicians lack!

After my first couple of years of guitar lessons, my teachers started pushing me into jazz, since I was familiar with music/theory, and could read fairly well on the guitar. I kept saying. "No, that's not what I want to do." I even switched teachers a few times, but they all kept showing me these jazz tunes. Inevitably though, I did begin to explore jazz, and it has become a big influence on my playing, however, I luckily never lost sight of what it is I really care about (I am a pop musician and proud of it), which is the reason why I decided to transfer from UNT (which only offers jazz/classical) to Berklee College of Music.

It's not a bad thing to delve into all different genres of music, and in fact I encourage it. But I advise you first to question yourself: you know you want to become a musician, but what kind of musician do you really want to be? Remember to always stay true to that. Remember that jazz and classical music are just a means to an end-- they are your vehicle for learning music, but after you have the proper skills you should apply them to the music you love. There will always be people who say "ugh...pop (or rap, or country, etc.) isn't real music." But then, there will always be the thousands of other people who disagree, and that's just how the world of music is. If you want to be taken seriously, don't change your style-- demand to be taken seriously by showing that you are the master of your trade.

Play to your strengths, because there will always be weaknesses. You won't necessarily be able to be the best at every style of music, and that's okay, because people will love you for what you do best.

So don't try to become the next Miles or Coltrane, Haydn or Mozart-- the world has already seen and loved them, and now the population is ready for you. Don't deprive them of that.