Musicians spend a lot of time and money in their craft. Between the expenses of maintaining and instrument, the cost of lessons, the time spent in those lessons (along with rehearsals and performances,) it seems that it’s just a lot of effort. And honestly, it is. But in the end, it’s all worth it.
I was fortunate enough growing up that I was able to take voice, piano, acting, and horn lessons. I devoted a lot of time to those lessons, rehearsals, and performances, and here’s the life lessons I learned from it:
1. Patience
No matter how good you get at your instrument or talent, there’s always a harder piece of music to work on. It’s extremely challenging, especially when your teacher assigns you a piece that seems like it’s way past your skill level. But you learn to be patient and to practice smart and slowly. You learn that even though you want to pick up a piece and play it perfectly immediately, that it takes patience to do it.
2. Perseverance
You also learn that to be able to do something with great skill and to the best of your ability, you need to be able to push yourself and have determination to keep going and working for it. It may take time and dedication, but in the end it’ll all be worth it.
3. Dedication
Music takes a lot of dedication, and you learn how to put all of your free time toward your craft, making room for social time later. When you want to be the best you can be and improve yourself, the dedication comes in handy.
5. Appreciation
No matter how good you get as a musician, you’ll always find yourself at a recital or a concert with very young musicians, and you can still appreciate the music, no matter how squeaky the sixth grade band you’re watching is. Everyone on the stage is doing the same thing you love to do: make music.
6. Passion
If you’ve ever been to a recital, you may have seen a musician close their eyes and get really into the music. One thing I’ve learned from my years as a musician has been passion. You learn to give it all you’ve got and not look back.
7. Determination
You learn to have the determination that is required of a musician to get better. You can’t look at a piece of music and be discouraged, you should be able to look at it and say “I like this piece. It will be a challenge, but it will be well worth the challenge, and I can do this.”
