IntellectualMusician.com

If you’ve managed to find your way to Intellectual Musician then there’s a good chance that you are someone who has all the ingredients for a successful musician. “What?” you say, “how can that be?” What you may not have realized is that the only tools you’ll ever need are already in your possession: curiosity and drive.

I can still very vividly remember a conversation I had with one of my high school teachers after completing a presentation for my class on “Careers.” Laced with all of the undertones of impending doom, my teacher cringed out a nervous smile after my great revelation and said to me, “This was a good effort dear, but I really was hoping everyone would give a presentation on a more realistic career. I’d really like you to select something different for the next assignment.”

-I hope you’re laughing as hard as I am right now. This from a person who can justify the practical need of trigonometry in every day life.

I’m happy to report that by the end of my freshman year in college, at age 18, I was already earning a significantly higher income than that teacher on an hourly basis by working part time as a freelance musician.

The sad truth is that it’s quite easy to become discouraged when contemplating a musical career. It can often seem far beyond your reach, and if you bother discussing it with any of your friends or family it can start to appear downright impossible. The good news is that it’s really not that complicated. In any case you may need to re-think exactly what your definition of a successful musician is.

Separating fact from crap:

Common misconception #1: There is no such thing as a middle class musician.

I also call this first misconception the “American Idol Syndrome” although it has certainly been around for much longer that wretched TV karaoke contest (sorry, but a spade is a spade). The idea here is simple: pop culture leads you to think that a musical career is only granted by lottery ticket. You walk on to a stage, blow every one’s mind, and three months later you’re the world’s new greatest thing ever. Or maybe you’re rapping on the street when a record producer drives by. Naturally, when they have their first glimpse of you they throw on the e-brake smashing their new Lexus into a pole just so they can hand you the dough.

This is the pop-culture-inspired-delusion that you’re family automatically assumes you’re suffering from when you talk about becoming a musician. -Perhaps you even are. Fortunately however, this delusion has little to do with what it means to be a successful musician. I might even go one step further and say that I wouldn’t classify 90% of today’s “Celebrity Musicians” as actual musicians. Maybe that’s harsh, but I have a hard time grouping myself musically with people who can’t spell a C-7 chord (comes back to the spade thing again).

The simple truth is that these people are not successful because they are musicians, they are successful rather because they are famous. Fame entertains people, it has sustained a great deal of royalty for a very long time, and it is a very lucrative commodity if you can harvest it. But spin it any way you’d please, fame is still not the means or the measure of a successful musical career. And this is good news for you, because you can throw away that musical lottery ticket.

And what of the other end of the spectrum? What happened to that starving artist that we’re so familiar with hearing about? This person is simply the tragic after-effects of AIS (American Idol Syndrome) and unfortunately has falsely believed that fame would be a good career choice instead of working to become a musician.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this poor fellow did his fare share of practicing, maybe even more so then most professional musicians, but what he missed out on what the fact that being a musician is about much more than simply playing an instrument. As a musician you are an entrepreneur as well as an artist. Intense practicing of an instrument, is, on its own, not enough to sustain you. Rather, you must play your instrument well and collect money, only then can you truly live with some deal of comfort.

Common misconception #2: Practice, practice, practice.

Let me forever correct this HUGE mistake. This statement should read: “Know what you’re doing, practice, practice.”

As odd as it may seem, this simple concept of “knowing what you’re doing” seems to escape 95% of musical hopefuls (especially my fellow guitarists and singers -sorry guys). Why do we still want to believe that study and concentration of musical knowledge are not as helpful to us musically as learning the latest Metallica tune? Do we really think that we can have a successful career doing something we haven’t taken the time to throughly study?

The blunt and unforgiving fact is that if you don’t know why you play the notes you play, and cannot easily explain to others why you played them than you simply are not very good at your “job.” The good news is that learning to understand what you’re doing is not all that overly complex. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can get a good grip on the fundamentals of music to the point that you can provide a solid reason for every note that comes out of your instrument in less than 6 months with the proper resources.

The fact is that it’s easier than ever to become musically educated. Go to a music college, find a music teacher who has, go online and learn everything you can about chord tones, and secondary dominate chords, and analyze EVERYTHING!

My grandfather had a saying, “If you ask yourself why you’re taking an action before you take it you will never make a bad decision.” In order to really connect the dots for you I’ll go one step further and say, “If you ask yourself why you’re playing a note before you play it you will never sound like crap.”

As for “practice, practice” repetition is only useful if it is correct. Never do anything that you don’t know the reason for doing.

Common misconception #3: Get a haircut and get a good job.

Who knew that George Thorogood could have been so insightful? For the sake of simplicity I can sum up this misconception with one direct quote of myself:

“No one has ever become a billionaire working for someone else.Period.”

If you’re looking for job security in this century you have got one long row to hoe. Getting a job no longer equates into fiscal security, no matter what your parents tell you. We’re in an age where pensions are a thing of the past, health care is on the decline, and employee loyalty is a non-issue. Why would you submit yourself to the mercy of that corporate machine? (Sorry, but if I don’t use a really bad cliche’ like that once in my life I’m not living right!)

So what’s a musician to do? How does one “Make It in Music”? Take the helm of your financial ship. The work is out there, it’s up to you to find it.

• Figure out what it is that you have to offer.
• Figure out why what you have is better than the next guy.
• Make yourself available for work.
  • Create a eye catching web-page/web-presence for yourself.
  • Advertise any where you can (including online! -that’s how I got started!)
• Sell, sell, sell!
• Be professional, reliable, and focused!
• Focus first on giving as much as you can, and you shall be rewarded tenfold!

Conclusion:
I hope at very least you’ll be able to walk away from reading this article with a bit more confidence in a musical career than before. But if you’ve read this far then I will tell you that I have the confidence in you. The best tool you have on your side is your ambition, which you have demonstrated by seeking out a resources like Intellectual Musician and taking it on yourself to improve your craft.

Here’s to a bountiful career!

more articles by Tyler Oakleaf

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