I think there are myths and misconceptions around how one learns how to do music (becomes a musician), and if it requires innate talent. First things first; No, you don’t need talent! A desire and curiosity to learn, yes! Talent is basically skill building.
These myths are sometimes corroborated by people in various music fields, and I think it can feel elitist and judgmental, as if being a musician is for a select chosen few.
Since I train and coach singers, many new to the skill, I’d like to clear up a few myths that pop up as obstacles for the beginner.
IF YOU ARE FORMALLY TRAINED (went to school?), YOU ARE A GOOD MUSICIAN (Myth 1)
I see the collective time I’ve spent in music, learning in choirs, learning in school, learning by doing has made me a musician. My formal training alone? Nah. It gave me lots of good knowledge, contributed to my musicianship, and gave me an academic edge, which sometimes prohibited me from working on my actual skills. My formal training did not train me to become a good teacher, or a good entrepreneur, or a good singer or player.
I was a good singer before I went to school. It’s why I studied music; it seemed easy. I had no idea what career path I wanted at 18. I witnessed both my parents hop from job to job, never happy or fulfilled in a career.
And what do people mean by formal training? That we study an instrument with a pedigreed teacher, that we went to college? I think people may mean different things.
WHAT IS A MUSICIAN?
If you ask 10 different people you think of as musicians, “What is a musician?”, you are likely to get 10 different answers.
If you follow me on the socials, you may have read some of my musings on the difference between a musician and a singer/player. While I am “trained and educated” I’ve come across many people who assume that I should be a good musician, anywhere and in everything to do with music. And, I think in essence that’s true: I am a good musician overall. But that does not mean I am competent or an expert at performing all musical styles.
Here are different definitions of “musician” picked up from the interwebs…
“a person who plays a musical instrument, especially as a profession, or is musically talented” - Oxford
“A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music.” - Wikipedia
“Technically speaking, a musician is anyone who plays a musical instrument. Some would narrow this definition to someone who is particularly talented or plays professionally.” - ipr.edu
Let’s just say that there are a whole lot of opinions on the subject. Related questions that came up: “What is a good musician?” and “What is a great musician?”. We can quickly find that this conversation is filled mostly with opinions.
KNOWING V. DOING
One of my musical comrades described his view on the subject as this: a musician “knows what music means” (how to read music, understands music theory, why certain chords work or don’t, etc) and a player/singer “does” - they sing/play, and may not understand how it all works.
And, there are some folks that live in both worlds - have the education AND play/sing out. But, we still can’t break this down into “knowers” and “doers”, because a lot of the doers can know a lot by figuring it out through the doing. And, leaving this as some kind of definition means that the knowers/educated are Musicians and the doers are Players/Singers. I’m betting there are many doers that view themselves as musicians.
I think of musicians as skilled players/singers (formally educated or not) who are also expressive.
IF YOU ARE FORMALLY TRAINED YOU CAN SING/PLAY ANYTHING/ANY STYLE (Myth 2)
That’s not been true in my case.
I had to study, observe, and learn to play and sing in lots of different music styles after my school education was over. The formal training gave me a slice of thinking/knowing and doing skills, that mostly focused on Classical music of the Western European tradition.
This distinguishing of ‘knowing v doing’ does make sense to me in regards to what kind of musician I’ve become. I knew a great bit for a long time, and did very little. And, the doing is not inclusive to all genres.
Being a great player/singer in one particular genre doesn’t mean that they will be a great singer/player of other genres. They each come with their own specific traits, culture, sounds, etc.
EDUCATION: SCHOOL V. FIELD TRAINING
I am a school educated musician, and was “trained” as a singer in the styles of choral music, church music, classical music. As a soloist in high school and college, I mostly sang with a recorded track or a single piano player as accompaniment, not fully appreciating a collaborative experience for several years.
None of that education and training prepared me to sing with a jazz band, or sing popular musics with an acoustic/electric band. None of that school training taught me how to use a microphone!
MICROPHONE SIDE BAR (Myth 3)
In fact, come to think of it, I was using a microphone in church as a kid and youth singing solos, and that felt natural, but I was told in college that learning to sing classically meant I didn’t need a microphone. I guess that’s another myth that need to be exposed.
It is true that most classical singing does not require the use of a microphone, b/c that specific training is teaching us how to create a vaulted space in the mouth and using power and projection to fill a concert hall. That kind of singing would indeed be overwhelming to a microphone. But, almost all other styles of music require a more speech-link approach to singing which requires amplification.
To MIC or Not to MIC
I went to my first Open Mic in 2011, at the request of an adult client who wanted to sing a song there. That was the beginning of my field training! I was 37 years old. It was exciting and unnerving. After all, I’d been performing music my whole life, but nothing that felt this exposed or intimate. And, it was back to microphone land.
I was even terrified to go sing karaoke.
People assumed that because I’m a singer - with degrees even - that I must be good at karaoke (Myth 4). Nope. I had to practice! In fact, my first karaoke experience was during freshmen orientation in college. It went bad enough for me to tell myself, I better stick to the church and classical singing, because I wasn’t any good at pop songs. That limited belief kept me stuck for decades!
In my late 30s, I opened my own studio after leaving academia and went out to karaoke to practice ‘falling on my face’. I invited my adult clients to come join me. It was good practice, and wound up being a lot of fun!
Until you sing a song without the singer to guide you, you find out fast what you don’t know (that you thought you knew!).
In addition to karaoke training, I had to go find applicable training to become skilled in collaboration and singing in the popular musics I enjoyed.
JAMS - more Field Training
I took up guitar and went to Bluegrass jams. Learned the style, the language, the motions and nods giving cues to other players.
DOING this thing was very different than LEARNING about it. I had a Masters degree in music, with a ton of music theory knowledge, but my eyes crossed when my guitar teacher was using language I knew (theoretically) and applying it to actual playing.
Typically, there are no microphones at these jams, so singing high and loud is a plus in order to be heard over a dozen plus guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles!
I went to a few jazz-oriented open mics with a house band. On stage with a mic.
I took “History of Jazz” in grad school. Knowing about the history and musical form, and listening to a bunch of jazz for a semester, did not help me with the experience of singing with the people; doing the thing. It may not be everybody’s experience, but more than not, I hear from other singers, that the singer is considered a little less than skilled, in that forum. I did not feel comfortable learning in that avenue; it felt a little judge-y. So, I didn’t do it very much.
Really, unless you studied in a jazz program in college, or grew up cutting your chops with other jazz musicians, you don’t get this training. There is an etiquette to learn they style; for both genres!
A surprising finding through these different experiences, was noticing the similarities in these seemingly vastly different genres.
Jazz and Bluegrass have solos/breaks, encourage improv and playfulness, use a lot of 7th chords!, rely on ensemble communication, and knowing the etiquette that makes that communication flow smoothly. The instrumentation and repertoire varies of course, but they’re pretty similar in form.
The bluegrass folks were relaxed and easy and inviting, so I stayed in those forums longer. There has always been an encouragement to learn and participate in those communities I’ve joined. A little more “music of the people” perhaps.
A Note: both genres are stacked with male presence. So, if you identify as femme, it’s just a noticing like other places where we’re the minority. Being femme and new, we can be welcomed as a novelty, or passed over easily.
SINGER V MUSICIAN (Myth 5)
And, then there is the added layer of being a singer. Even though I play the guitar and ukulele now, and even piano with relative competency; I was historically, only a singer. Very little of my formal musical knowledge carried over to become a competent player; those skills were learned separately.
It has been all too common to hear and read the phrase “singer and musicians” - makes me wince a bit as as someone who identifies strongly as a singer.
Dominick DiOrio helps clarify this slight in a 2019 article for Newmusicusa.org:
“Singers and musicians are not mutually exclusive categories. All singers are musicians, but not all musicians are singers (some are players, some are composers, etc.). Language matters. When we use the phrase “singers and musicians” in one breath, we communicate—even if inadvertently—that they are mutually exclusive categories. In other words, singers are not musicians.”
If you’re a femme identifying singer, it helps to have confidence in something you’re doing well and/or an eager, curious mindset that can persevere in male dominated instrumental gatherings. Every bluegrass jam I’ve entered has been thrilled to have a singer. They’re itching to have someone sing!
For both the jazz and bluegrass jam/open mic experiences, singers must know what key they sing a particular song in. This is part of the etiquette!
A FORMAL MUSICAL EDUCATION IS REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS IN THE INDUSTRY (Myth 6)
Nope; school is not necessary!
There are plenty of musicians that did not go to school to make it as a successful singer, band, songwriter, artist, etc. The “Top 40” song hits of the last 50 years is likely proof of that.
Fun fact: The American Top 40 began on seven radio stations, the first being KDEO in El Cajon, California (now KECR), which broadcast the first show on July 3, 1970.
Being trained in school was actually what kept me from exploring things like songwriting or seeking a singing career in popular music. I entered the classical world, believing I wasn’t “good enough” to be in the pop music world. And, a larger reason, was that I craved structure and direction. My childhood was chaotic and unpredictable, and school, for better or worse (for my artistic self), gave me that structure and stability.
These days, there are options to study contemporary music and songwriting in college. Longer still, there have been jazz and music theatre programs at universities in recent decades, but I didn’t have that knowledge or interest when I was going to school.
The assumption back then was that if you wanted to be on the radio, you just had to be lucky enough to be discovered. You didn’t need school for that. Today, with over 100,000 uploads to a day to Spotify, anyone can have their music heard! Which brings me to our final Myth of the day…
I’M TOO OLD TO BECOME A SINGER/SONGWRITER (Myth 7)
Oof! I’m proof that that’s not true!
I’m so grateful I began teaching, because it was my desire to help other singers, that led me to all the training in other music styles that I was missing. I did the training so that I could pass it on to my clients, and in the process, realized my own artistic dreams.
Opening up myself to different styles of music led me to different kinds of singing opportunities, and also revealed fears and limitations I was avoiding.
Choosing to leave academia required me to learn how to be an entrepreneur, which is still the hardest part of the work that I do. It’s the nitty gritty, spreadsheet-making, learning new tech, researching stuff that is a challenge. I’ve finally learned to face the hard things!
I do not tire of the scientific and philosophical researching and learning, especially on subjects like self-compassion, overcoming perfectionism, confidence, the effects of (and recovery from) trauma, nervous system regulation, self worth, vulnerability, and authenticity. These traits give us artists peace and power to more effectively communicate our music with creative expression. This incorporation is what makes me FEEL like a good musician!
I became a songwriter at the age of 41 and am immensely fulfilled by the creation and writing process. Another example of how the DOING is essential to the learning process! When I started recording my own songs last year, I got a big dose of the DOING, and got the chance to continue to improve my technical and musicianship skills.
My first SINGLE, “Ocean Divine” will come out in July.
I’m 49.
It is never too late to start learning, studying, training, playing, singing! I’m here to chat if you want to get started! Or, if you’ve been away, come back to creating and singing with me!