While I usually talk about perspective and improvement, this article is about how to be mediocre. It sure sounds awful but I’m sure anyone wants to be one. So while these steps are tongue-to-cheek, they will help you to know exactly what not to do if you want to become a serious musician.
Step 1 : Don’t learn everything in the 12 keys
The ability to play in every 12 keys are essential for every musician. At the beginning, it may look like you never use some keys or may appear not necessary, so why even bother learning everything in 12 keys? Knowing your major scale in a key is just a start to becoming proficient. As a serious musician, you should be able to create and develop ideas, use progressions in any key without thinking twice. This a very important task and it requires hours of practice, every dedicated musician had to do it at some point in their career. Developing this ability is a very difficult task and takes years of practice and work. No one can put pressure on you or force you to do it but beware that soon or later it will catch up with you. If you have a daily detail plan you will sure be on the way to easily express yourself in 12 keys. Don’t be a lazy musician or a one-key-mastered-musician, get out there and practice everything in every key.
Step 2: Don’t ever try to bring something new
Playing music is not just about sounding good and being capable of entertaining the crowd or even feeling content. Some musicians spend their entire life looking up for their favorite improvisers and repeating them. As a matter of fact, listening to the best performances and learning exactly what you want from them is one of the best ways to improve and get better but as a musician, you need to allow yourself to think and create your own music. The records you listen to, the musicians you emotionally feel connected to, have an immense impact on your musical creativity and it’s something that can’t be copied, it’s unique only to you. Don’t be afraid to express yourself and get creative. Remember that developing your own voice takes time and produce an original voice begins with imitation. With dedication, study, and consistency you will bring a sound that is truly original.
Step 3: Practice only when you feel like it
This is certainly one of the most important points in this article. Who wants to spend several hours every day or every week in a room learning, sometimes very late at night, trying to figure out how some progressions works, working on melody lines, licks, chords extensions…? We all want to be just good the first time we hit the rehearsal home. Some of us after reading tons of theory and trying to understand as many as information as we can, feel like the Job is done and it’s time to move on. Others, from time to time do not really feel any need to learn new concepts, theory or even touch the instrument. Some others adopt a more drastic attitude; they think that as long as their performances are good (according to them) practice can be skipped !
Even if this article is entitled 5 step to master mediocrity, my intentions are not to blame or to make anyone feel bad. I want the best for everyone including myself, who are fighting to produce a perfect sound. We are all on the same road and few of us can use some good tips and encouragement. The goal here is to help you find the perspectives and confidence you probably need right now. If you really want to stay connected with this art form you better get into it and embrace it. You never going to stay at one place, it’s either you progress or regress. The decision you make today while reading this will determine what kind of musician you are and where do you want to go from here.
Step 4: Blame your equipment !
Many of us spend countless hours practicing, gathering tons of information to better our skills. Because of that, while performing we expect the sound we produce to be excellent. Our mind put us in a state where, when something wrong happens it’s certainly not on us. We did our job, we practiced we got ourselves ready to perform, we were errors free. Once in a while, we think that way. In fact, musicians who take their career seriously, by nature have the tendency to exaggerate a little in that kind of thinking. However, it’s not necessarily a bad thing because what we’re trying to achieve is the ability to produce a perfect sound and it requires confidence.
At a point of my music life, every time I come across roadblocks I blame it straightaway on my equipment. It was either the sound that the speakers produce or the mixing is not good. I said to myself, the instrument sound bank is useless or the instrument itself is bad if I could put my hand on a real Pro Piano, I’d do so much better. I even had piano brands in my mind that I was convinced can make me sound amazing. This attitude is completely delusional, yet many of us keep thinking like this for years. Now, I’m not going to deny that having good equipment don’t help your performance. The point here is, you are the sound you produce, no instrument will make you a better musician than what you are. No speakers will make your performances greater than what is playing in your mind. Therefore, when you feel like blaming your sound engineer [who sometimes deserve it] or planning on buying better instruments so you can sound better think first about who you are as a musician. What kind of sound is in your mind? What do you do and how do to externalize it?
Step 5: Don’t bother training your ears !
I’ve heard a story about a young boy that had perfect ears. You can drop any kind of coins on the ground he could tell you in a blink of an eye what musical note matches it. But let us be more practical, in our musical journey we find ourselves sometimes in the presence of a musician with amazing ears. Someone who have the ability to pick the melody to any tune easily. Someone who can solo on any chords progressions without guessing. These are the people who put a lot of efforts in what we call “ear training”. In an article Forrest and Eric wrote, they said: “Essentially, ear training means the process of learning to identify intervals, chord qualities, chord tones, chord progressions and the ability to play what you’re hearing. And real ear training happens when you put your ears to the test.” Fundamental Ear training exercises.
Listening and training your ears is a very essential in the process of learning and understanding music. Some consider it not important and others too difficult but either way it’s a step every serious musician should take. Don’t just put your fingers on your instrument or blow, don’t get comfortable without knowing how your next notes or chords will sound. One of the advantages the ear training exercises has is, you don’t need an instrument to understand what’s playing in your mind. You’ll spend less time cracking chords progression and learning new songs. If you are reading this I assume it’s because music is very important for you so, I suggest if you really want to be fluent in music languages you should start now and have a little fun with it.
Whether you’re a professional player or a beginner, you as musicians sometimes should take a step back and have a look on your progress. Being a musician is not easy and it requires efforts and sacrifices, you don’t perform for your own joy and pleasure. Music is not self-centered, it is something you create and bring to and for the world. Because of that, it is imperative that you know what you’re sharing, understand it and master it as much as you can. If you were discouraged or heading in a bad direction I hope this article is a great help.
If you love it, do it right, keep working hard and enjoy it !
Donald Remonvil
Behind the Music : The Inspiring Journey Of Christian Musician 