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10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Young Musician

byCHARLES NOBLE on JANUARY 6 , 2010

When it comes to most things in life, there isnt much of an advantage of being older except for one thing:experience. When you live longer, you have more experiences, both good and bad. When I was in high school, andeven college, there were many things that I know now that I wish Id known back then. Heres my top ten list of

things that I wish Id known when I was a young musician.

1. Practicing isnt a matter of how many hours you put in, but how manygoodhours youput in.Its quality, not quantity. Practicing intelligently is something that my best teachers instilled inme, and its vital if youre going to survive in the professional world. You dont always have months toprepare your repertoire, and after school is over other demands will fill in the open spaces, and beingable to be efficient in your practicing will pay for itself many times over. Trust me on this one.

2. Your body is also your instrument learn how it works and take care of it. I cannot stressthis enough. Every year I see high school aged musicians who are suffering from overuse injuries (see#1 above) that might have been avoided with some basic knowledge of how the mechanics of playingtheir instrument affect their physical well-being. A book of stretches is essential: daily stretching before

practice and rehearsals can absolutely save your future career. I recommend the classicbookStretching by Bob Anderson. There are also such disciplines as theFeldenkraisMethodorAlexander Techniquethat can help you become aware of your body and its motions that can

be extremely helpful both before and after an injury happens.

3. Being professional is a 24 hour job. When I was in school, we used to have a phrase that describedthis: The Conservatory Curse. If you were talking trash about someone elses performance, chancesare they were standing right behind you no matter where you were. What to do? Dont talk trashabout or to other musicians. You never know when or where youll run into them again they might bein a position to help your career later on when you least expect it, and chances are they wont be in acharitable mood if youve been rude to them. I had a teacher who was at the very pinnacle of hisprofession who I never, ever heard utter an unkind word about anyone, either personally or

professionally. Its a standard that I strive to attain myself, and the old saw that one catches more flieswith honey than vinegar is absolutely true.

4. Keep busy, and do a variety of things. This was a hard one for me to learn. When I joinedtheOregon SymphonyI was consumed by the demands of my first full-time professional job, but I alsoplayed chamber music, filled in withThird Angle New Music Ensemble, played recitals and concertos

with various orchestras, and in general stayed busy and kept my workload varied. Variety is the spice olife, they say, and its very true in the musical world. The main advantage of variety is that eachdifferent sort of music-making that you do will reinforce the other. Playing in orchestra demandsensemble skills, which are reinforced by playing chamber music. Solo playing demands the height opreparation and rigorous performance standards, which benefit all of your other playing, and so on. Inaddition, do things outside of music. I cycle, read, blog, and cook regularly, and this makes my lifemore balanced and enjoyable. Sure, I still live for my music, but music is just a part of my life, not myentire life.

5. Respect your elders and those who have more experience than you do. In music school thereare various classes of musicians, but most often it boils down to two: those who can really play, andeveryone else. This is all well and good in school, where there is often an unhealthy obsession withcompetition. In the real world, however, its not always about who plays the most accurately. That oldguy in the back of the violins might not shred like you do, but he might have played under Copland orStravinsky, and would have some great stories to tell. He also, chances are, knows pretty much everystandard work that an orchestra plays, and would have a wealth of information about bowings andfingerings to share should you hit it off. Plus, its just a matter of manners. Be respectful to those who

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have gone before you. This is a relatively rare thing to encounter these days, and if you adopt thesemanners, you will distinguish yourself from the crowd.

6. Be a sponge, not a faucet. Most of the great musicians, artists, and people in the world have onething in common: they are constantly learning from the world around them. This is especiallyimportant for a young musician. Every new concert, rehearsal, or gig is an opportunity to learnsomething. You might have played the Dvork cello concerto several times, but did you ever really payattention to that second oboe part at the beginning of the second movement? Its cool, and wicked hardto pull off. Listen to how good wind players phrase try to emulate that if youre a string player orpianist. Listen to how great singers phrase everyone should try to aspire to that kind of phrasing. As

you learn more, resist the temptation to spew your advanced state of knowledge all over yourcolleagues. You will quickly earn a reputation as a blow-hard, and no one will every take you seriouslyagain. Seriously.

7. Choose aspiration over competition.Its easy to be competitive sometimes its even fun but itcan go too far. Its easy to let it go to the dark side. Resist that temptation. You want to play morenotes faster than the other guy. Louder. Higher. Whatever. Instead trying to tear someone down, lookat what it is that they do that you like, and try to figure out how to integrate it into your own playing.Listen to recordings of the great players or singers and try to figure out what they do that makes themunique. YouTubeis a boon, because there are all sorts of videos of artists new and old, and it is verypossible to learn a lot from viewing them. Good teachers take the time to point out great players thatcan be learned from, and often will loan a student recordings or videos, or even have their studio watchor listen to them as a group. The main point is, make your quest to be better a positive thing. There wilalways be someone better than you, and always someone less good, and its something you shouldalways keep in mind.

8. Diversify: learn about other art forms. When I was in high school and college I was alwaysinterested in lots of stuff other than music. I built models, took photographs, rode my bike, read tons of

books. Aside from the outside activities, its also very valuable to learn about the other fine arts fromthe time periods of the music that youre working on. When I was in undergrad at the University ofPuget Sound, there was a lot of coursework outside of the music program, and writing was stressedthrough the entire curriculum. My final senior paper was about Schoenberg and theBlaue Reiter

Almanach, which took an entire semester to research and write, and coincided with a chamber group of

mine doing SchoenbergsTransfigured Night. I found that being exposed to the entirety of whaSchoenbergs great artistic school was up to at that time very helpful in trying to figure out how topresent the piece. When listening to lieder, for example, you might want to read more of the poetry bythe poet whose words are set by the composer. Or you might want to take in a play related to a work

youre performing, or thats contemporaneous to the work youre studying. Music doesnt exist in avacuum, its part of a greater artistic and social movement, and so too should you.

9. Learn the business of music. This can never begin too early. If you do wedding or occasional gigslearn to draft a contract to cover the eventualities of things going awry. The musical portion of an eventis often the last to be hired, and there is almost never time to get things staked out much in advance. Inaddition, learn how to write a good, attractive resume. Make sure that you know how to use onlinesocial media to your advantage: put up videos of your playing on YouTube (but only if its real ly good)

set up a fan page onFacebookwith photos and audio files, and set up a Twitter account related to yourperforming activities. The possibilities are virtually limitless, and as the generation that is the first to befully immersed in these new media formats, you have the power to make them work for you. This issuch an important arena that such formerly conservative institutions as Juilliard, Curtis and Eastmanare adding curricula that address self-promotion and survival in this new media landscape.

10.Love what you do and remember to nurture that love.When youre young and just findingyour way, your relationship with music is passionate and full of zest and ardor. Over time, setbacks andthe less positive side of the business (and it is, ultimately, a business built on an art form) can make one

become lazy, jaded, and cynical. Its easy to forget that you used to love the Beethoven Fifth Symphonyafter youve played it a dozen times or more. Thats why its so important to nurture the basic love for

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music and performing that you have right now. Spend time regularly investing in that initial stock oflove that you have for music, and it will sustain you over the long haul.