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Topic: How to be ready for a musical future?  (Read 1921 times)

Offline kinode

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How to be ready for a musical future?
on: December 30, 2016, 03:59:39 PM
I've recently decided to dive head-in and pursue music as... well, whatever I can make it be. I've just finished school and applied for a music course on an university(Still waiting for the results, but I have a pretty good chance to make it in...). I've been playing piano for about 6 to 7 years now, mostly playing by ear and learning by myself. Right now I'm in a considerably high skill level (I think? I'm always afraid to say this tbh). I just turned 18 and I'm very scared of making mistakes or building bad expectations.
I'm very unsure on what to do from now on. I don't know if I wanna teach music or if i want to explore making music for different kinds of mediums. I don't know anything about building a name for myself or advertising myself or my music as a business. And deep down I'm kinda worride that I'm making some crazy mistake and that I might not get anywhere with music.
Was wondering what kind of advice people have for young musicians like me trying to find out where to go. Everyone says musicians should have a plan B, but is it that wrong not to even have a plan A yet?
My only "plan" right now is to focus on studying music and perhaps trying to participate on some music competitions. Though I'm not sure just how useful that would be.

Offline stevensk

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #1 on: December 30, 2016, 04:09:27 PM
I assume you have a teacher?

Offline kinode

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #2 on: December 30, 2016, 04:29:48 PM
I assume you have a teacher?
Not currently. I do have a chorus teacher but not a piano teacher. That's soon to change when/if I start university classes but meh. I don't know if teachers are going to solve all my problems regarding my future.
I hope my doubts didn't come across as "I'm worried about my piano skills" or anything. I'm more worried about the music market and making a name for myself, like knowing to be on the lookout for certain opportunities or whatever. I'm just too new to all this stuff and that worries me. I'm not mature enough to have a notion about these things yet

Offline quantum

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #3 on: December 30, 2016, 04:31:04 PM
Hi and welcome to Pianostreet!

If you are considering the serious study of music, my advice to you would be to embrace failure.  It is a scary thought in a music industry of auto tune, note perfect recordings, and super human child prodigies. However, proceeding on the music path with the expectation of perfection and getting a pat on the back with every step is wishful thinking and a disservice to your own efforts. If you allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them you can grow.  Setting yourself up to avoid mistakes puts you at much greater risk for a crash and burn when you eventually do come across one, because you will not have developed coping mechanisms to deal with them.  Learning involves hurdles and struggle and in moderation these things can be surmounted.  

As for plans, think about what kind of education you want to undertake.  A degree, conservatory diploma, private lessons, etc.  What do you want to do after you have finished this? Seriously think about it, because the type of education you choose can point you in a specific path.  If that is not the path you want to follow, then you need to re-consider your options.  So for example, you wanted to do a masters degree in music afterwards, then it would be a good idea for you choose courses that would support that graduate degree as well as watch your GPA so you are more competitive for admission.  Say you wanted to do competitions, then you should be planning your your competition repertoire programs now. It will save you time if the music you use in competition would be the same music you study in university classes.  What if you wanted to teach and maybe even get a BEd. You can start building your volunteer experiences with your target age group now, so you have experience to put on your future applications.  

When thinking about your next steps in your own music education, think well into the future and how the education you choose will support that future.  

What can you do in the meantime?  Look at various music schools and their admission requirements.  Do you have those under your belt? If you want to attend music school, you first need to meet those requirements.
Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach

Offline avanchnzel

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #4 on: December 30, 2016, 04:34:11 PM
Hi there. I'm in the same boat - no pun intended, but my Plan B is to get more experience sailing and then sail around the world! I've got conditional offers to study music at four universities and am waiting for a fifth.

The idea of building a name for yourself at this point is usually knowing the right people - and you will definitely find them at university later. They will give you the opportunities, and from there you will get more opportunities. I played at a masterclass at a music festival a couple of months ago on the recommendation of my teacher (got slaughtered by Janina Fialkowska), but during the break I was approached by the representative of a music club in a nearby town, who invited me to play before some of their concerts at the club. And they've had internationally renowned artists perform there including Martha Argerich.

I can't say much else about building names and advertising. I got asked at an admissions interview where I saw myself in five years - if you're going to attend one, you could very well be expected to answer that sort of question. I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to go after my degree (I told them I wanted to do a doctorate in one of my pet subjects, the funding for which I have no idea where to get), but a lot can happen in three years. I might be interested in doing something completely different.

Offline quantum

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #5 on: December 30, 2016, 04:41:00 PM
Worry about building a skill set first, before making a name for yourself.  When you have a marketable product or service, then you can start selling it.  

At this point in time, how do you believe making a name for yourself would help you?
Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach

Offline kinode

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #6 on: December 30, 2016, 05:08:20 PM
Hi and welcome to Pianostreet!

If you are considering the serious study of music, my advice to you would be to embrace failure.  It is a scary thought in a music industry of auto tune, note perfect recordings, and super human child prodigies. However, proceeding on the music path with the expectation of perfection and getting a pat on the back with every step is wishful thinking and a disservice to your own efforts. If you allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them you can grow.  Setting yourself up to avoid mistakes puts you at much greater risk for a crash and burn when you eventually do come across one, because you will not have developed coping mechanisms to deal with them.  Learning involves hurdles and struggle and in moderation these things can be surmounted.  

As for plans, think about what kind of education you want to undertake.  A degree, conservatory diploma, private lessons, etc.  What do you want to do after you have finished this? Seriously think about it, because the type of education you choose can point you in a specific path.  If that is not the path you want to follow, then you need to re-consider your options.  So for example, you wanted to do a masters degree in music afterwards, then it would be a good idea for you choose courses that would support that graduate degree as well as watch your GPA so you are more competitive for admission.  Say you wanted to do competitions, then you should be planning your your competition repertoire programs now. It will save you time if the music you use in competition would be the same music you study in university classes.  What if you wanted to teach and maybe even get a BEd. You can start building your volunteer experiences with your target age group now, so you have experience to put on your future applications.  

When thinking about your next steps in your own music education, think well into the future and how the education you choose will support that future.  

What can you do in the meantime?  Look at various music schools and their admission requirements.  Do you have those under your belt? If you want to attend music school, you first need to meet those requirements.

Hi, thanks for replying and for the warm welcome. I forgot to mention that I live in Brazil and universities and education work a little bit differently here (I have no idea what a GPA is per example) but the rest of your post seems to be very nice advice. The course I tried for is music licentiate(hope this is the right translation), so my education for now will definitely be a bit more focused on learning to teach and whatnot. Though I do think I might switch that later if it suits me.
I'll definitely think more carefully later about building a repertoire and consider building some teaching experience on my own for now. I guess only life will tell what direction I go from there. :)

Offline kinode

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #7 on: December 30, 2016, 05:12:06 PM
Worry about building a skill set first, before making a name for yourself.  When you have a marketable product or service, then you can start selling it.  

At this point in time, how do you believe making a name for yourself would help you?

That's a good question, and I guess my mindset is that my skill will develop over time, and that's no excuse for me to not be preparing myself in other aspects while that happens. I know I'm capable of doing great stuff if I put all my effort into it but the specific knowledge I might need to truly make it shine might only come after I'm in university.

Edit: I apologize for the double post. I thought they'd automatically be merged as it is in some forums!

Offline indianajo

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #8 on: December 31, 2016, 01:47:44 AM
There are a lot more opportunities to spend your money getting a music education at college or university, than there are opportunities to earn a living playing music.
I had 100 invitations from colleges/univerities to apply to their music program when I graduated from high school.  I chose to study physics.  
Engineering would have been more appropriate, but the scholarship I qualified for at a science contest wouldnt pay for that.  Much more lucrative would have been a medical career, as my Mother told me, but I dnd't have the immune system to cope with patients. (I'm part native Am. with the same suceptibility to infections the upper Amazonians have)
The key to earning a living, is find something you love, or can tolerate, that nobody else wants to do.  Also doing something that you are better at than most everybody else helps you earn a good living.
I could do mathmatical modeling calculations, and got through my work doing that. I quit working age 58 in the middle of the great economic crash, and am doing quite well, thank you. NOW I can concentrate on my music hobby full time.  I did take up music as a hobby again age 32 when I bought a piano and some sheet music that was too hard for me (then).  
Music, photography, art, crafts, IMHO can get you a college degree, but you have to have a rare talent to make a living at it.  Many of the people in those fields that make the most money, have no degree in it at all.  Oh, BTW, piano is not the instrument of the future.  The instrument of now is the guitar, I can't really predict the future.  I was blindsided by the popularity in the oh-oh-s of recorded hip-hop, that has no melody at all.  The next big thing might be designer body parts or designer genes or drugs, not designer art involving things at all.  Read Steel Beach for a view of the future that is happening now involving body modifications.  It's a novel by Varner or Varney or somebody.  The plastic surgery they do now in Rio with a knife, is like a 1898 car versus a 2016 self driving car, compared to what will come in the future to body modification with nano-robots, gene modification, and designer RNA to express different sides of your genes.  I'm too old to get into that movement, you are not.  You're in the right place too, the USA tort lawyer industry will keep the big breakthroughs from happening here.  No mistakes allowed, no progress will happen.  
Thanks for listening.  

Offline nastassja

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Re: How to be ready for a musical future?
Reply #9 on: January 02, 2017, 01:17:23 AM
Hi!

Learning music and then teaching it could be a realistic option. I don't know about university requirements, but conservatory usually expect 18-year-old students to have a rather significant background (usually by age 12 they already have years of training, a couple of concerts and they may even have started piano competitions). There are still exceptions, but you can expect your classmates to have a lot more experience, so yes, the ability of coping with failure is almost a requirement.

I was the "oldest" to enter the conservatory when I was 19, believe me it was a real shock at first (and I had been taking piano lessons since I was 6...), we were only 2 accepted after the auditions, and the youngest girl dropped out after a few months ... it is hard to go from "private teacher's best student" to feeling like you are now the least skilled pianist of the class. It is always easier to think we are "high-skilled" when we don't compare ourselves to better-skilled students and prodigies. Also, you may also have acquired some bad practicing habits since you don't have a teacher, and habits are usually harder to get rid of, so double the amount of work... but if you are motivated enough and have the time and money to study music, then why not.

Now I agree with Indianajo, it is really hard to earn a living playing music (or even teaching it)... actually I know students who won competitions and even got to play on the radio, but they are still struggling years after their graduation (driving from one city to another to accompany other musicians, part-time teaching...). Of course if you are hardworking and lucky enough to get a teaching job at a public school, you may actually earn a living.
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