We’ve all stumbled upon more than a few reasons to continue or not continue any particular endeavor, at least halfway through the initial learning stages of any particular art. What sets original goals for people to act on, within the context of hobbies and career choices, is the continuous intermingling between passion and potential – and often, passion itself is derived from newly discovered potential. So, if you’re a music enthusiast who is currently studying music, learning how to play an instrument, or thinking about committing to these practices – don’t second guess yourself during complications until you understand that you were definitely not destined to "suck at music" – whatever that may mean to you. When I use the term potential in this piece, I’m trying to address the "specific capacity to become something," which in societal contexts, is measured by weighing multiple factors against each other. However, I believe that potential is rather hard to measure from an external viewpoint and is better understood through personal experience and self-assessment. But, how do we ourselves really know if we have the potential to become artists of any form at all, let alone music?

To better understand the ways in which we can assess our ability to develop as artists, we would have to understand the world of the specific art we’re concerned about, since diverse forms of art function quite differently from each other. So let’s jump right into music. The first thing that comes to my mind when we’re talking about the definition of music is that music is a language. I do not believe that all languages require us to speak or write, and although music theory dictates a writable/readable language, here I am more focused with the basic fundamentals of just communicating with sound alone. A language is used for purposes of expression and communication, and music does that quite brilliantly and rather universally, often without any words.

We all pretty much get a good hang of at least one language by the time we’re in our mid teenage years. I know all of us give most of the credit to our parents, our teachers, and our circumstances, but really, most of the credit belongs to our brains – in this particular case, the marvelous functions of cognition. Anyone who has started learning a foreign language in their mid-teenage years can surely comprehend the difficulties of mastering a language which they are not exposed to on a natural, daily basis. Much is the case with music. If you’ve grown up listening to music, and more than that, being frequently exposed to it (and experiencing and indulging in it), then you definitely have an advantage at learning music faster. You might say that this is one form of potential you have, since a lot of information related to music is already stored in your brain. When it comes to the current competitive societies we function within, this can also be seen as one form of privilege, especially when you were brought up in a musical environment, and rather encouraged to take advantage of that. But by no means does this one factor solely determine your ability to invest in your potential.

So, does lack of exposure to music at an earlier stage of life mean that you don’t have the potential to become a good musician at all? Definitely not. Being exposed to music from an earlier stage might only give you an advantage at learning music faster, but most of it really depends on the amount of interest you take to music, and the amount of time and effort you put into practicing your chosen form of art. Let’s forget about the conscious approaches for a while; Have you found yourself moving to music subconsciously? Have you found yourself singing along to most of the songs you listen to? Have you tried making some sort of music by banging pencils or pens on tables and other household objects? If you said yes to all of these questions, then you definitely fancy music more than the average music listener. Now it’s all about a matter of interest and effort – Do you want music to be a significant part of your life? Do you take fancy to a particular instrument (your voice being an instrument as well)? Are you willing to put in time and effort into learning this instrument? Do you feel as if all this is a priority? If you’ve answered yes to all these questions now – You love music and surely want to learn more than the basics of this art form. People who might have been exposed to music at an earlier age might also develop more of an interest for it from a young age, but again, the whole process of developing interests for art forms isn’t a race, and it normally won’t affect your ability to become a great musician. That being said, it is good to keep in mind that our brains certainly process information differently at certain stages of our lives – and music being a language, does become slightly difficult to pick up and master as we get much older. But the point I’m trying to make is less about the fact that biological limitations create barriers for human beings in everything there is to do and be, and more about the myth that "musical potential or talent is purely internal" or that "it is a gift from the heavens that not everybody possesses."

Now, coming back to developing an interest in music, some people might suggest that there is no direct relationship between loving music and having the potential to excel in it. While that may be true, truly connecting with the field within which you aim to operate is indeed a significant step, because without the love for an art form – it is extremely difficult to convert it into a passion-driven practice, and without that passion – it’ll just become "work." A lot of people pick up an instrument under parental/educational influences or instructions, or even to impress other people. Some people also take fancy to learning music because the lifestyle of a ‘rock star’ might seem undeniably ‘cool.' If that’s what got you started, you might be able to relate with certain scenarios, where some people might tell you off because they believe that this is the "wrong" or ‘disrespectful’ way to get into making any form of art. They might even go so far as to call you a ‘poser’ and bully you. But don’t let them get the best of you, because truly, we all need a driving force (or inspiration), to take enough fancy to something, to want to practice it willingly, and slowly make it part of our lifestyles. Believe me, that inspiration can very well be generated from a syllabus, or from the wants of impressing an individual you’re romantically interested in. It can all start with a few chords here and there, and ultimately reach a point, where you might feel as if you want to do more than just cover love songs for lovers, or party songs for party folks – you may now very well want to do music for yourself. That point can represent an important step in evolving as a musician, and starting to develop your potential. You don’t necessarily need to come to the same realization – any phase that inspires and aids you in constructing a musical identity that you appreciate and invest in, can be a turning point for your music.

One of the most common problems every music enthusiast faces during the learning stages of a particular instrument is learning the "not so fun bits." I’m sure that almost everyone who picked up an instrument initially thought of how fun or cool it would be to learn to play it properly. But the truth is, once you’re done messing around with the basics – the somewhat annoying part kicks in, and brings with it, a whole new blanket of frustration, that might sometimes cover up the better part of you, and prevent you from acknowledging how well you’re developing your potential. This isn’t always necessarily the pattern that everybody experiences, but it’s usually a common one. These "not so fun bits" differ amongst individuals – for some people, it’s advanced theory, and for others, it might even be new techniques. During this phase of your learning experience, there will usually come a time when you will contemplate your progress (and your musical identity), and even want to give up learning your chosen instrument or area of special interest as a whole. You might feel as if another instrument would be better for you, or you might want to give up learning music completely. And this phase will repeat itself from time to time during your learning stages. But isn’t everything hard at first? Actually, this phase meets with advanced musicians too from time to time. It usually comes in the form of an unwelcome guest, and leaves you feeling dissatisfied and unconfident about your abilities and your choices. I certainly do not socialize well with this phase, and I’ve very recently said goodbye to it for the hundred something time. So do not be alarmed during this phase, and do not let it influence your decisions – know that it certainly does not affect your potential, but rather makes you feel like you had none to begin with, which you know at this point in the article, cannot be a fact. And if you find yourself going through such a phase during your beginning stages, know that you can really understand your true potential once you’ve passed this stage of investing in the basics, and grasping certain technical and theoretical concepts. Late,r when you venture into a style or an area where you feel more comfortable and productive, you’ll have realized that those second guesses were more misleading than you ever could have imagined.

A lot of musicians are never really satisfied with themselves until they’ve entered the area of performance. The art of performance can be a very good judge of your potential as a musician. I’ll remind you here that, potential is not fixed – it has the ability increase over time. As you continue performing over the months, you continue to not only improve singularly, but also improve as an essential piece of a band or a group. You begin to comprehend the mechanisms of sound, assess your strengths and weaknesses, and slowly find your comfort zones. Then you begin to experiment outside of your comfort zones and further solidify seemingly foreign concepts, and use these to develop new skills. If you don’t quit after a few performances and march on passionately – you begin to learn new techniques and skills, such as new improvisational abilities – which are all obviously polished with more practice time. There’s really no end to learning and improving as an artist, but you can easily meet an end if you believe you can’t improve anymore at any given stage. Also, do remember that the reactions that you may receive from a crowd of people aren’t always good ways to judge your performance ability. However, feedback from others can always help you with reassessing yourself. With all this practice and performance, you learn to harness your skills and ideas better and in turn, improve in reaching great heights of potential. This may all seem lengthy now, but if you’ve invested some time in reading this piece so far, you can hopefully invest some time in not letting your fears, other people’s opinions, and misconceptions about musical talent, create roadblocks within your journey to becoming a great musician.

As long as you have the want to express yourself, the passion to continue doing so, and the love and enthusiasm to never stop doing music completely (and all of this is interconnected, codependent, and gradually shapeable), there’s no way you can’t become a legendary musician. Honestly, if you think about it, potential is directly proportional to how much you're willing to let the idea of it limit you. So, what are you waiting for?