Final Draft
In today’s world, everyone has a role. Most people find themselves in labor, however the most respected field is academia. We have put those in the science and health fields as the most desirable positions to acquire, and they are necessary for our advancement as human beings. However, to me, the arts are where humanity lies. It shows that we are truly advanced as a species, as if we have the comfort of health and structure to hold us, then we have not but to decorate our world. The arts are so easily forgotten as a career, as we focus on the necessary positions in life; without them our progress would stop. But it is art that shows we have life, the creative mind to build and become the most advance species on earth. There is not a single other species who can create drawings, poetry, or music. I am personally joining the ranks of the musicians, and finding a career in this community is bloody, hard, and takes everything a person has in them. Even with these challenges many people find success, and with this success there is much to learn from.
The largest employer is with music educators, followed by a growing field of therapists. The smallest field is music performance. These include the artists on the radio, those who compose for movies and concerts, and simply the live performers under the subways in New York City. Performers are likely to fail in finding a career. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, there are currently 173,000 jobs in the United States total, with about 280,000 seeking a position at any point. For those who do get a position, the median pay of around $25.00 an hour. Even at that rate, it makes it extremely hard to keep a position and build a family with a salary at that level. In the creation of this paper, I had the opportunity to interview Katherine Weintraub, the successful saxophone performer and FSU music professor. I asked her if she was nervous about pursuing music as a career, and she told me that it was a “passion.” She told me that she had to be a musician, no matter what obstacles came to be. Passion is something that many of these musicians have, yet how do they find success? As an aspiring musician, I thought it to be valuable to investigate the members of the music performance field, and how they managed to root themselves amongst the weeds of failure that surround them.
What does it take to become a successful performer in the United States today? This is a question asked by Linda Jarvin and Rena F. Subotnik written to the Roeper Review. They discovered a trend that musicians tend to follow as they are in three forms; Ability, Competence, and Expertise. The beginner will find themselves learning technical proficiency and musicality, but a necessity to move on towards competence is teachability. As a musician improves they learn how to teach themselves and begin to find financial independence. Once you find this independence (according to this article), you are considered competent in music. However, to become an expert you must know something extremely difficult, and that is engaging patrons. Playing the game as some call it; a performer must be able to go to competitions and performances that are of opportunity to them. A musician must find a way to become noticed, or to put yourself in touch with others who can be of even more helpful to you.
Music has always been known as an industry that relies on not just talent, but also on the connections made on the way. I like to view this as building the spider web of your career. By building connections and making new friends you are going to be given more opportunity. This may be that a club owner saw a performer at a festival, then spoke to the man/woman and found out they were great workers. In a matter of days that owner could come back to you with a position and a way for you to continue that financial sustainability that is so hard to come by in the field of music. Michael Parsons wrote an article on a new type of music education that has started to spread known as Commercial Music. In this class students are given the opportunity to go and perform across the nation. These may be school concerts or chances to tour with celebrity musicians as a member of the stage band. This positive movement of performers allows the young artists to meet established members of the industry and gain their knowledge and connect with them on a personal level. These connections have led to past students continuing to tour with artists. I see potential in this program, as performances allow an artist to meet new friends, continue the web, and find footing in establishing themselves. Ernest Greene, graduate of The University of South Carolina School of Library and Information science found himself in music through a program similar in nature. He recorded music with his parents and posted it to MySpace, until he was contacted by friends in the music business and began to tour with many musicians as a career. Popular rapper Drake has found himself very successful by a small group of friends he made by chance. Drake says that he owes all he is to his friend Lil Wayne, who he met when a member of the television show Degrassi. (Biography.com Editors) Katherine Weintraub told me that her connections she made along the way helped her achieve everything she has today. She says, “If my teacher (Dr. Sinta of the University of Michigan) had not recommended me to my first teaching job, I would not be working here today.” She needed the connections to move with her career, build her resume. These are a few of the thousands of examples of why the web is so critical to the success of a young musician.
While the web is important for musicians, finding one’s own musical self is perhaps the hardest part. In music, a standard is something that most higher-level musicians will know how to play. The technical performance of any musician on a standard can be flawless, but as a musician improves they will find more than technicality in the page. Discovering Expressive Transformation Rules from Saxophone Jazz Performances describes the differences in a successful performer’s musicality and a student of music. What was found through logic programming and descriptive progress of musicians was that for a considerable number of cases, the way that a note is played will be nearly identical to how many other performers play. These similarities will often be based from a teacher’s stylings or a recording that they may have heard in the past. As a player gets more advanced however, it begins to change. Professionals all sound drastically different from each other. They can make new stylings out of their feelings, emotions, and experiences. Musicality is found as a player begins to develop; people find new experiences every day that build upon the wisdom a person stores. Katherine Weintraub called this development the difference between average and advanced. “Anyone can practice until they play a piece perfect, but no two people feel the same emotions… and therefore if you can’t convey them then you are just going to be average.” As a musician, I try to put my own thoughts and struggles into everything that I play. This is noticed as musicians become more successful is that they become different from the rest. While this may fault in certain cases, such as imitators, artists tend to distinguish themselves as a person who cannot be replaced. In popular music today, the largest musicians try desperately to make themselves different and make things that only they can create.
This is seen in the works of Bruno Mars. He began as an Elvis impersonator, then when he grew up he became a pop singer. His music helped move “pop” to be less focused on rock and roll, and more on love songs and ballads. He brought it almost back to the 70’s. However, when everyone began to copy his style and create music similar in nature to his, he changed again. His most recent album is almost exclusively electro-funk. This style is a mix between funk music in the style of Earth, Wind and Fire, but also includes elements of electronic music that has risen amongst the past decade or so. The reason he is so successful today is that with him, every song is not the same. Listeners can go to his newest works to find him, what he feels and his ‘vibe’. Musicality is a necessity for all of us, and individuality is the hardest. There are billions of people on this earth, and being different is something that is hard to convey when we learn everything we know from other people’s stylings. Many learn by mimicry, as noted by Jarvin and Subotnik’s article noted above. They learn the style of their idol and lose track of themselves. Bruno Mars is a rare case of a man who refuses to stay by anything but what he likes, and tries to make music to please himself. Another case is in Donald Glover, also known by his alias, “Childish Gambino.” Up until his last album, he has always been a rapper in the same style as Drake is. He found success with his first album even though it took few creative liberties. His second album, Because of the Internet, was new, the music was more electronic and based on rhythm, but his rapping was the same. He then released another album in similar style until reaching his newest record, Awaken, My Love! This album has no rap music in it, and is entirely folk and R&B. It met with critical acclaim for how different it was, and truly pushed music forwards. It is a goal of every musician to make their music special, and yet few can truly differentiate themselves from those they learn from. I believe this differentiation builds an artist’s success. Hearing something new and revolutionary is exciting; listening to it is enjoyable. This drives popularity in new and returning musicians.
In conclusion, musicians must endure several challenges as they grow into success. These challenges are learning experiences for many and create artists and experts out of the turmoil. There is no success without work, and no work without connections, and no connections without personality. Everything comes together when an artist is able to develop, and they can become successful as music performers. It truly is a challenge joining this community, however it is one of the most deep and elite communities in the world today. The international musician says that anyone can become successful in music, with the sheer power of determination. I believe this is true. As you work, practice, put all you are into music, you will find yourself. As you find yourself you will make friends and connections. Finally, as you learn you will become wiser, and finally successful. Everything is possible, and if the determination is there, success will be found.
Works Cited
Jarvin, Linda, and Rena F. Subotnik. "Wisdom from Conservatory Faculty: Insights on Success in Classical Music Performance." Roeper Review 32.2 (2010): 78-87. CrossRef. Web.
Michael Parsons. "Commercial Music: A Paradigm Shift in Music Education." ILMEA (2017): 33-6. Web.
Oder, Norman, et al. "From LIS to Music Success." Library Journal 134.19 (2009): 11. Web.
Ramirez, Rafael, et al. "Discovering Expressive Transformation Rules from Saxophone Jazz Performances." Journal of New Music Research 34.4 (2005): 319-30. CrossRef. Web.
"Sheer Determination Leads to Lifetime of Music Success." International Musician May 1, 2012: 20. Music & Performing Arts Collection. Web. <http://search.proquest.com/docview/1016221043>.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, Musicians and Singers, on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/musicians-and-singers.htm (visited July 25, 2017).
Biography.com Editors. "Drake (Biography)." The Biography.com Website. May 31, 2017. Web. July 27, 2017 <https://www.biography.com/people/drake-596834>.