5 Non-musical Things I've Learned Working as a Musician
First blog post! Just a quick brainstorm to get the ball rolling. Here are 5 Non-musical Things I've Learned Working as a Musician:
How to Navigate The City
Being a freelance musician in the Entertainment Capital of the World has taken me all over Las Vegas - from extravagant private parties on the Strip to accompanying opera singers at the county fair, I’ve played and rehearsed all over the Valley. Thirteen years later, I definitely know how to get around Sin City (and where to find good food in every neighborhood!)
How to Hone Something so that you Own It
Being a working musician isn’t just about fooling around at the keyboard and playing what you feel like/whenever you feel like it. Music-making can be just as easy as pie - but to make a living at it, you have to cultivate the patience, discipline, and consistency of a Master Craftsman. Working as a musician has taught me what it’s like to push past my boredom and impatience and to keep deliberately practicing the music I’ve been hired to play until I “own it” and can play it well when the crowd is roaring and the pressure’s on. That’s what I get paid to do - and I love it!
How to Get Over Myself
One of the peculiarities about being a pianist is that there are lots of different ways you can make a living at being one. Some people are concert pianists, who tour the world and astound audiences by playing virtuosic classical music; some are lounge/cocktail pianists, who provide upscale, jazzy entertainment for classy parties. I work mostly as a collaborative pianist and orchestral player - I accompany singers and I play in the orchestra pit for musicals. Unlike the concert and lounge pianists, who are the central musical focus of their respective domains, I’m just a cog in the machine, a supportive partner in musical crime. And it’s wonderful - I love being able to make music and friends at the same time, and I’m more than happy to share the stage or just be in the background.
Most Things Are Just Made Up
A lot of people I know get excited every Friday afternoon and sad every Sunday night. Is there anything inherently special about those days? No. But most people who work a conventional, 9-5, Monday-through-Friday job just assume that’s how it has to be: you get the Monday Blues and then can’t wait for Friday night. People are always surprised that I don’t feel that way, but it’s because I made the choice to not live out that particular version of reality. Sure, I get down and out about plenty of other stuff - but I’m grateful I don’t suffer from weekly up-and-down cycle of dread and delight that runs other folks’ lives.
Life is a Mental Game
Any time I’m struggling to play something at the piano, it’s inevitably because of a defect in my mental approach. Either I’m not being sensitive to the finite details of the movements I’m making or I’m misperceiving what I’m doing physically and I should record a video to assess the problem. My point is, there’s almost never a “problem” with my hands, fingers, tendons, and muscles themselves - rather, the issue is in my brain, how I’m thinking about playing. In fact, most people have all the musculature and physical elements you need to play the piano well - but they’ve never trained their minds to coordinate the fingers, hands, body, etc.
Life is like that a lot of times: we physically have everything we need to thrive - or to work so that we can eventually thrive - but our minds don’t know how to execute. To really live at a high level, the real challenge is to teach the mind first - your body, and eventually your entire Life, will follow.