06 Sep Ten keys to becoming a good musician

Fourteen years of regulated education give to assimilate a lot of information. The current educational system covers a large part of the aspects that a person needs to be a musician, but there is more, much more. Here are some important things that do not appear in the books of scales and studies:

Training

Although it is true that there are those who are born with a special aptitude for the arts. Music also has a very important technical aspect that must be paid close attention to. To learn to master the possibilities that music offers us, we must study and know the ins and outs of art, know how to “read” the score, and everything that lies beyond it on a technical and aesthetic level. Of course, mastery of the technique with our instrument is essential, and this is achieved through training and, above all, many, many hours of study.

Team

The habit does not make the monk and Although the monkey dresses in silk, the monkey stays. A good musician will make music, with capital letters, with any instrument regardless of its quality. But, if we want to become good musicians, we must invest in one that allows us the highest degree of technical perfection possible in such important aspects as tuning, color, versatility… or the durability of the instrument itself. Now, you have to keep in mind that the instrument by itself won’t mean anything, the results will be the best that can be expected if you establish a relationship with it, and that is achieved by spending many hours together…

Listen

A good exercise to develop the “musical ear” is to listen to a lot of music and learn from others. Music of all times and styles. Man does not live by «classical» alone, and neither does the musician. You have to listen to a lot of what we call “classical”, cultured or conservatory music, yes, but also jazz, rock, salsa, pop, traditional music from the five continents and anything that falls into our ears… In this way, we will assume Naturally, that which is known as musicality, which is nothing more than internalizing the musical “language” with its phrases and its syntactic system, tensions, intentions… The more and more varied music we listen to, the more open our musical panorama will be.

Experiment

Listening is important and playing even more. Our profession reflects our attitude towards life and even when we have understood and assimilated the technical concepts, the great variety of situations that we can find on a stage forces us to experiment to see how we feel in each one of them.

Grow

As we make music we vary our tastes, our style, sound, etc… and over time we will notice growth and greater security in our way of being a musician.

Contests And Concerts

Although it is not about creating a fanaticism for contests, the mere fact of participating in quality obliges us to meet certain standards that will surely result in an improvement in our practice. In addition to the possibility of generating great self-esteem by participating, for example, in a group or individual concerts, which will help us to assume ourselves as serious musicians.

Community

Approaching people who feel the same passion for music will bring us the benefit of an important exchange of experiences and knowledge and will allow us to position ourselves with respect to the rest in terms of quality and work. The more we participate and share, the more we will receive. This includes amateur formations, youth orchestras, coffees after class, and social networks….

Observe

Music tells stories and talks about life. Observing the world that surrounds us, the people around us, their stories, their desires, passions, fears, dreams… It will increase our ability to empathize, something fundamental when we are supposed to interpret the composer’s intention. The same as good literature, the one that deals with the human being. Read.

Differentiate Yourself

There are many musicians, and depending on the instruments, even more. Contributing something different and unique will make you be, precisely, different and unique, and therefore more valued. Carrying the same work as everyone, doing the same as everyone will not help you make a difference. You have to innovate, explore and dare to get out of the fold. But with good taste, please the experiments, with soda.

Look For Opportunities

Getting the first pins is something that comes with time, but it doesn’t come by itself, and even less so in the age of social media, where public visibility is as important as performance quality. Theirs is to look for their own opportunities, offer themselves, get involved in emerging projects, providing added value to them. That is, always maintaining professional dignity; a minimum of seriousness and ethics (which does not mean going divo through life) will not only increase your respectability in the “world”, you will also contribute to the dignity of the entire profession.

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