In a Zoom Q&A this week, I was asked if I had advice for students planning to go into music. Of course, I’m constantly giving advice to aspiring musicians, so I immediately went to these three ideas I share often:
- Don’t Quit. The successful musicians in thirty years will be the ones who didn’t leave to do something else.
- Work harder. Fortune favors the prepared.
- Keep low overhead. Go to schools that won’t send you into a level of debt such that your loan payment determines your career decisions.
With more time to think, I would add these:
- Don’t listen to the naysayers. Or at least don’t let them stop you.
- Do listen to as much music as you can. I think wide and deep listening is key to future success.
- Keep an open mind. The career path you take might not be exactly what you imagine at the outset.
- Always remember why you love music.