Ten questions from Nyx # 5 What advice can you offer to those interested in becoming successful musicians?

5. What advice can you offer to those interested in becoming successful musicians?

Well, I am a successful musician, but only because I choose to define my own terms for success. Rich and famous, I don’t know much about, but I’ll offer a few observations.

It takes ten years to get good at something. Mozart started composing when he was 12, but nobody really plays those pieces. When he was 22 he started setting the world on fire. Good music takes time. Mastering an instrument takes time. Understanding music takes a lifetime. You really can never take it all in, just small slices at a time. The longer you are involved the more you come to understand.

Don’t be afraid of the business end of the music business. Most musicians tend to think, if I get a manager, I’ll be set, I can just concentrate on the music. While that might seem like a more perfect world, no matter how well meaning your manager may be, unless you are intimately involved in the plan for your career, your career might end up somewhere you don’t want to be. Managers look at things from the business end, they don’t take into account the musical/artistic requirements unless you make them clear as crystal.

Avoid the word “No”. That word ends conversations, and close doors. Of course there are times you want conversations ended and doors closed, but the more you say “No” to other people, the more likely people are to say “No” to you.

Also, use the word “Yes” with great discretion. People like to say “Yes”, and like to hear “Yes”, but “Yes” is a commitment, remember that.

Expect to succeed. Even when you fail, you find out what doesn’t work quite successfully.

Talent is great, but ambition and commitment get the job done.