The Musician’s Progression Through Time
Recently, I overheard a progressing musician listen to a recording of one of the top musicians in their instrumental field and state “I will never play it like that.” I responded with something like “if you keep up your practice habits, you will one day. Remember, at some point when they were younger and were at your level. There have been numerous times my teaching career where students assume that either myself or someone they have heard, especially on YouTube, is better than them because of natural ability. They do not see the countless hours in-between. They do not see the blood, sweat, tears, and grit that goes into accomplishing things. These individuals set goals and work towards them. More often than not, the best people in each field in the world are constantly seeking the next step in knowledge, inspiration, and progress. People do not see that these people are the first to arrive and the last to leave. Some young musicians even have a hard time seeing someone just a year or two older than them in their shoes.
We have all heard the stories of great work ethic. Michael Jordan was still practicing free throws at the peek of his career before games. Michael Phelps has trained for countless hours to push to win olympic gold medals. But what we need to see more stories of even where the people at the top of their field came from. Keegan Paluso, a friend and colleague of mine, was denied cut during auditions for middle school choir; years later, he found himself to be the director of that same choir. I was one of the worst musicians in my beginning band class and now find myself teaching beginning band yearly with success. There are countless other stories. It all deals with starting, working, setting goals, and being humble.
For some musicians, a progression of time shows us where we have come from. With the technology of today, it is easier than ever for individuals to record themselves and track progress. I try to encourage musicians not to delete recordings and instead store them. Over time, they can go back and remember where they have come from, the mistakes they have made, and the progress they have made. In general, we need to go back and watch video more. It keeps us humble, as we realize that we are all still progressing forward in a musical community.
We all start somewhere. I am going to put myself out there, which I know will open me up for scrutiny. However, I am doing this for my students. I was fortunate enough to have parents and a brother that recorded a lot of my performances. I have edited down some of these videos into about a 4-minute clip demonstrating my progression from my first concert to my undergraduate recital my senior year of college. You can definitely see the progression from nerdy hair-cut to long hair back to nerdy hair-cut, but what you do not see is the work that was put in-between and the people that did not give up on me. I was very fortunate to have teachers like Jon Young, Jon Findley, Earl Lowe, and Frank Shaffer who pushed me to be better than I was. Each one of them taught me numerous things that have made me who I am today. This video is not perfect. It is not a progression of a young lad to a perfect professional. I had and still have much to learn. As I said, this is for my students. I want them to see that I was not always the band director on the podium waving a stick and playing all the band instruments. This video shows that I was once a beginner just like them.
For older musicians, we often forget what it was like to be a beginner and how to learn as a beginner. There is an energy of excitement and nervousness that comes with it. It brings a fantastic atmosphere to performance. I encourage everyone to think like a beginner.
Anyway, never forget where you came from, where you have gone, the work you have put in and that everyone that is phenomenal was once a beginner or at your level at some point.
