Consider these types of musicians:
The historical musician:
Cares mainly about preserving the music that has been written long ago by introducing it to a new generation
The present day musician:
Cares mainly about connecting with the people with the music they can already relate to
The futuristic musician:
Cares mainly about writing / performing music that hasn't been done before by exploring untapped possibilities.
I consider myself a present day musician. My main attraction to music is its ability to bring people together. I would like to connect to as many people as possible, even if this means doing so through music that is popular. I happen to really enjoy popular music as a whole, as I enjoy different kinds of music. I suppose that if symphonies were enjoyed by the masses, I would write symphonies.
I also want my music to be part of a larger puzzle. The puzzle I am trying to solve is the one of helping people by doing what I love to do (write music).
I have boiled my idealistic aspiration into a practical one that will happen over time with a lot of hard work. I aim to write music and put on events that 1) feature speakers that are experts on issues our generation needs to deal with and 2) raise money for these issues.
The music is part of the product. I am going to music school to make a better product than I could have made otherwise.
Since social awareness is the ultimate goal, I can't justify spending most of my waking hours perfecting my instrument. However, it is worth noting that in order to make the 'best musical product' I need the people that do spend their time honing their instrument. I might also need to work with the historical musician and the futuristic musician, depending of what the audience wants to hear.
I urge you to consider the following broad categories and ask yourself which one you mainly want to belong to and why. It has truly helped me think about my career after graduation.
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1 comment:
Ivan, you are over simplifying the reasons musicians perform and promote various types of music. Why must you think that most people only care about one of these 3 types you name and not the others? Having an awareness and appreciation of the present is certainly important, but to say that its the foremost of the three may be a bit short-sighted. I believe that a responsible practitioner of any discipline who want to contribute to the advancement of a particular field should strive as much as possible to have a good understanding in the accumulated knowledge from the past, the current state of the field, and to actively seek ways to break new grounds.
BTW, Hello everyone at Longy! I miss being with you!!
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