So, you want to become a famous musician and have your tunes become known worldwide?
It’s definitely possible, although we should warn you that talent is not enough for a successful music career. Talent is important, but it’s not everything - oftentimes, it’s overshadowed by personal qualities that help people reach the musical Olymp.
What are these personal qualities?
Let’s find out.
1. Persistence and Hard Work
Talent is hardly anything without hard work. It may help you perform better than others, but you shouldn’t take it for granted because if you do, someone with less talent and more persistence can outcompete you.
How long should you work on your skills a day?
You’d be surprised, but the more experience you gain, the more you should practice. Some renowned classical musicians practice for a minimum of three hours a day, and when they are getting ready for a concert, they work on their skills for around seven hours daily.
Another thing is persistence. Sometimes you will have to work on a challenging passage in a music piece that will blow your mind. This is your call to keep working until you master it and not give up halfway. Talent is hardly helpful in situations like this; hard work and persistence are what you need to perfect your craft.
2. Patience
Patience is also an important personal quality to improve your skills, but it also plays a crucial role in the growth of your career.
If you’re trying to pave the way for yourself in the music industry, you will have to deal with disappointment. Besides, there will always be someone better or with more helpful connections, and it will seem that everything is easy for them. This is where you have to exercise patience, too, and keep searching for opportunities that will help you get noticed.
Patience is also a tool to deal with rejection, and you have to be ready for it, as it often happens in the music industry. One singer from Tupelo, Mississippi, was repeatedly rejected by many music labels until he was discovered by Sun Records. This was, of course, Elvis Presley, who, based on this life experience, said, “There is a season for everything, patience will reward you and reveal all answers to your questions.”
3. Open-Minded Attitude
Open-mindedness is true virtue, as it helps you discover opportunities where others see nothing. This personal quality opens the door to new experiences and can help you come across people who will give your musical career a push.
Having an open-minded attitude can also help you find exciting gigs and diversify your portfolio as a musician.
How can you become more open-minded?
Several activities can help you form this personal quality. For instance, you can apply for Japanese classes and learn this language and the culture behind it. Apart from opening doors to new opportunities, knowing a foreign language and culture makes you more tolerant, non-judgmental and accepting. As a result, it brings you the experiences others could only dream of.
Another way of becoming open-minded is to doubt things you normally perceive as a given. Yes, it sounds weird, but this exercise helps you learn how to see two sides of the medal and accept them. As a result, such an attitude helps you see several solutions to one problem and makes you free of prejudice.
4. Openness to Criticism
Finally, just as you will have to face rejection, you will also have to deal with criticism, which sometimes can be quite harsh. And you have to be ready for it; otherwise, it will eat you alive if you take it too close to your heart.
So, how can you deal with criticism and not let it affect you in a negative way?
The most important thing to remember is that criticism is just an opinion, even when voiced in a disrespectful way. Watch the person’s emotions when they’re criticizing you - if you feel like their opinion is not constructive and is being overshadowed by too many emotions, just accept it and move on - you won’t be able to learn any helpful lessons from it. However, if you feel that a person’s opinion can really help you improve, by all means, draw conclusions from it but still remember that it’s just an opinion you can accept or reject.
And keep in mind - the greatest musicians were hated at some point, too. Louis Armstrong, the king of jazz, was criticized by many people, but it didn’t stop him from achieving success.
Over to You
As you can see, musicians really have to possess certain qualities to become successful, and they have nothing to do with talent. Personality plays a way more important role here.
So, let’s recap what essential qualities a successful musician should have:
Persistence and hard work
Patience
Open-minded attitude
Openness to criticism
All these qualities play a crucial role in paving your way to a successful career. They will help you withstand challenges and find opportunities to grow.
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Ryan is a passionate blogger and writer who likes sharing his thoughts and. Now he works as a content editor and internet researcher, you can check his website https://preply.com/. He likes to travel and explore new countries.
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