Nose to the Varnish
The longer you play an instrument, the harder it is to put it down. Creativity in general can be addictive. Some find the addiction in the process -- working through problems and manipulating materials over and over. Or others (and I count myself among this crowd) find it in the Sisyphean search for completion and achievement. Practicing can hook you the same way a video game does: it provides you with a completed world to unravel using your own skills within the limits of the game, or in the case of music, the limits of the instrument.
And yet a career in music is no video game. It is inherently wrought with rejection, failure, disappointment, injury, unemployment, and many other difficulties that many if not most musicians who choose such a path have to face eventually. It involves years of patience and determination, followed by a lifetime of trying to retain the love for music that inspired you to do it in the first place. So why are there so many pursuers of this career? A growing number of universities offer music degrees in performance, education, composition, music production, recording engineering, conducting, musicology, music theory, etc. And students are there to take those open spots in droves, often going into great debt to do so. Not to mention the thousands of musicians that forge their own path outside of the academic world.
This blog will not answer the question why they do it, or at least not thoroughly answer it, because it is a different answer for each and every one of those folks. But hopefully it will be a place for those folks putting their nose to the grindstone, or in cases like mine, putting their nose to the varnish. There will be information to be shared, anictdotes, poetry, topics to be deeply considered, and maybe even a humble drop of advice to be given once in a while. Each post will hopefully be the beginning of a conversation, rather than some statement of absolutism. And maybe, just maybe, we can build a little community of musicians who just want to know they're not the only one on this crazy ride. Thanks for reading.
P