A thought on Wednesday

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
- William Feather

I've always been mystified by how people perceive the ascension of successful musicians. In most cases, it seems as though people think rock stars appear out of the sky, sent into our world by beings from another universe for the satiating of our entertainment appetites. That is to say, most people don't give it a lot of thought and think it just... sorta... happens.

Believe me. It's not like that.


As a succeeding musician - one who is on the path of living his dream but still in the process of "making it" - I can assure you that making a life for oneself out of the musical arts is a difficult proposition. Yes, it requires dedication, perseverance, and tenacity. You have to spend hours and hours in the practice room in order to craft a sound for yourself on your instrument that other musicians deem special and valuable enough to want to perform with. But more than the nitty-gritty, teeth-grinding, day-in, day-out commitment to learning the craft of music, keeping one's heart and soul in the game long enough to pull out a victory could very well be the toughest aspect of the whole shebang.

My experience on this road of musical life has been littered with both personal disappointments and the abandonment of people I thought supported me, musician and civilian alike. Friends that cheered me on as I grew up suddenly turned their backs when I decided not to go to college in order to continue pursuing my dream. Fellow musicians that claimed to believe in the same vision of musical success that I ascribed to bailed, and either gave up on music altogether or decided to spend their time chasing a more immediate financial benefit. And to each his own. But for every successful musician on the scene today, there are probably a dozen people who caved because the going got too tough.

It is a sad reality that while each and every one of us spend our hard earned money on the products of musicians' efforts, most people put up roadblocks in order to keep others they know from being able to accomplish such a dream. It is as if people think musicians just spring up from the ground in LA or Nashville, put out records, go on tour, and then go back to live in the alternate dimension that spawned them. The reality is that the music world is made up of only one kind of person - the real kind. And yes, while some people get their record deals handed to them on a silver platter by a rich mommy & daddy or slip on a banana peel and fall into success, the vast majority of the music world is comprised of people who worked really, really hard to earn the opportunity to perform their art for you. And I can guarantee you that most every one of them can remember people who spoke encouragement into their lives as well as those who called them crazy for not putting on a suit and tie and joining the machine.

It is not wrong to live life according to the "usual's": school, college, job interviews, 9-to-5, Monday-through-Friday, 401(k) plans, and the like. There is nothing wrong with any of this, especially if your own passion is found along this particular kind of path. But what is wrong is to convince yourself that those who dare to do something different are themselves wrong and to feel noble in actively resisting them.

If you celebrate the achievements of artists, you should encourage those who seek to become artists themselves. I know it's far-fetched to think that someone you know personally might one day be selling out the O2 Arena, or starring in their own network sitcom, or writing their own bestselling novel. But it happens. And we all know it happens because each and every one of us enjoy this kind of stuff every day. Passing along a word of encouragement can go a long way in an aspiring artist's life - it doesn't mean that they will necessarily end up having what it takes to succeed in the arts, but it means that you are willing to entertain the possibility that they could. And sometimes, all somebody needs is a possibility.

 There is more to this thing called life than success - more to it than what we get paid or the status we attain or the stuff that we own. Most of the time, we learn more on the journey then we do once we reach the destination, and the way that we treat people who are bucking the system in order to pursue their passion says a lot about us - like maybe we don't like seeing the system getting bucked because we're so much a part of it. Just remember that the next time you pop in your earbuds so you can listen to your iPod.