One of my Facebook friends recently shared a few words of advice to aspiring musicians by pianist, singer, songwriter, and producer, Ben Folds. This earthy collection of thoughts struck a chord with me. Also, I find it entertaining and awesome that he wrote it while on a flight to Boston.

The advice applies to us all no matter the genre or where we are in our musical journey. So, this PA Shorts is a collection of quotes from Ben’s FB post. I hope it will strike a chord with all of you as well.

Thank you Ben!

It may become important for you to be savvy about distribution and promotion, but it won’t do you any good if you’re not making music first.

There isn’t really a break. It’s a lot of different breaks, some good and some bad. There will be significant lucky opportunities that you may or may not recognize as such.

I do believe that if you’re not ready musically, the best opportunity in the world isn’t even an opportunity.

Everything I’m not made me everything I am – Kanye West

Finding your Voice takes a lot of frustrating time. That’s a painful period that all artists go through, sometimes more than once… You will eventually find that it takes no effort to just be yourself, but the road to that place can be long and rough.

Be schooled in form and technique as much as you can swallow and abandon it when you feel it’s nearly killed you. Know how people did it before you… It will make you suck for a while.

Any gains you make as a musician, especially technically generally have the side effect of rendering you unfocused for a short period of time. Basically, you can expect to play and write like a goober for a while when digesting concepts.

I say, try, try, and try again but just put the effort into the right things. That’s probably the basis of good musical technique. Intense effort, focused into what it takes to express.

Don’t spend effort on crap like… well, being cool. It’s a killer. It takes effort to appear as if you don’t care. What a waste.

You can’t make people like you. You just can’t. You can’t make people who won’t understand your music, understand your music. Effort spent trying to win votes steals from energy needed for pure expression… It’s about taking the music you naturally make and finding its home.

Keep an open mind to the distinct possibility that you might be moving on… Don’t try actively to evolve, just be willing.

Nobody needs to be told what they can’t do. If they can’t do, they’ll find out. Lift your standing if you must by the quality of your work but not by pushing somebody else down. If for no other reason, it can stifle your own work as you succumb to the idea that there are rules of what sucks and doesn’t suck. It’s like letting praise get to your head.

 

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