anyone shot down by a guidance counselor?

[golias]

If High School guidance counselors knew ANYTHING about plotting a satisfying and rewarding career path, they wouldn't end up working as High School guidance counselors.

That said, I know a lot of professional musicians (as a Music Ed major, I was in classes along side a lot of them), and I find it hard to imagine a more miserable existence than making your living as an orchestra member, session guitarist, or working for the music industry in any kind of business capacity.

My degree is in music, but the same math-oriented mind which allowed me to be a pretty okay musician also provides me with a knack for databases and computer software. People throw LOTS of money at me to wiggle a mouse around and type stuff on a keyboard for eight hours a day, which allows me plenty of time and money to annoy bar patrons with my original songs on my Gibson at night.

I've never once been forced to play "Brown Eyed Girl" as part of a wedding-reception band or, for that matter, do anything with my music that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, and I can keep up the mortgage payments on a pretty nice house in the middle of a miserable recession. Win-win.

[ashtray]

I think some high schoolers completely miss out on the BENEFIT of going to college... PARTY! Ok, it's more than that - but look, you move out of your parents' house, but they still pay for all your bills (hopefully). You get to choose a school in whatever state you want to (hopefully) - so if you live someplace that sucks, this is your chance to change that. Then you get to college and while there is a bunch of classes to attend and work to do, there's parties all the time, and great fun stuff to do - without asking your parents first. You go OUT at 1am, come back at noon when you wake up on the floor of someone's apartment.

 

Ok - so, while "college" can have this whole "downer" cloud over it b/c adults think you should go - well, there's this whole freedom without responsibilities side that goes with it.

 

So - you're at college - just follow the rules, go to classes, get decent grades, and pick a major that will make you money when you graduate. You can pick a hobby that you LOVE and have fun with on the evenings and weekends, but you gotta support that hobby somehow.

 

College is one of the only times in life when you'll have freedom to do what you want to, but not the financial responsibilities that go along with that (and trust me, they're a complete buzzkill).

 

As for studying music in college - it's for some people, but taking something that is fun and you enjoy and making it 4 years of study and work (and studying things about music you might have no interest in learning) - that can take the fun out of anything. And the ability to support yourself after college with a music degree becomes a challenge too. (you might even find, aside from being qualified (maybe) to teach music, your degree doesn't open any doors for you)

 

Some people approach me after a gig and ask if we're full time professional musicians (some naturally assume that we are). I say "no!" - this is a fun hobby for me. We're all employed and do the 9-5 thing. I think that surprises some people who never thought you could have it both ways.

[golias]

Some people approach me after a gig and ask if we're full time professional musicians (some naturally assume that we are). I say "no!" - this is a fun hobby for me. We're all employed and do the 9-5 thing. I think that surprises some people who never thought you could have it both ways.

 

 

Yep. I've got plenty of friends with multi-record deals from legitimate mid-size labels who spend half the year touring... They still need to hold "day jobs" when they're home anyway in order to pay the bills.

 

So you might as well find a way to get a day job that pays well. Then whether you make it "big" or not never really matters.

[bsman]

I always figured that if guidance counselors knew {censored} from shinola or had any inherent, natural talent, they'd be in careers far more satisfying, remunerative, and worthy of respect. In my (and my kids' experience), few, if any have anything useful to say about anything...

[Orange Jackson]

Im making this thread because i was reading the church musician one and it got me thinking about some of my conversations and experiences with ignorant people... so here we go... When i was a junior (11th grade) in high school (a whopping 3 years ago lol), the respective guidance counselors (you were assigned on based on where your last name sat in the alphabet) came to talk to you on what you wanted to do with your life... that whole deal everyone goes through about what your future should be. To start things off, the lady i got assigned, or rather sentenced to, was a complete incompetent. she could never remember my damn name, or anything that i was interested in, or anything important about me. If you need a good example think of the guidance counselor from Orange County... the one who mixes up the transcripts... that was basically her... in fact they even looked the same. So this lady brings me and a few other of my class mates, who were also assigned to her, into her office to talk about "the future". As usual, the lady began to push the "college experience" to the extreme. I had already planned on going, but some people have other plans right? After the other kids get the rigamarole on which school they "should" being going to and what they "should" be studying... finally it my turn comes up... She sits me down and begins to ask me what Im interested in, even though we have already talked about this a hundred times before... I give her my simple answer, "I want to study music, and specifically the guitar". I continue to explain to her that iv researched a few different schools, and looked into different degrees and certificate programs, and talked about it with my dad, and even went to a college fair, and talked to several of the schools I had looked into. Sounds like i did my homework right? Her response to all of my dreams, hopes and ambitions was this this... "That all sounds nice, but you need to grow up and get a real job..." - exact quote... I couldnt believe this crap. naturally I told her that wasnt her decision to make, and that this was the right path for me, and that everyone i knew was supporting me. I went home and told my parents and private teachers and even my guitar teacher at the high school, all of which were shocked that this was the "guidance" i was getting. Luckily i haven't let it bother me too much. Im in school studying music production and jazz guitar, and will be starting my second year in the fall. If you all have any stories like that post em. Lets all share our emotion beatings from the one they call the "high school guidance counselor"

 

 

 

 

I would have walked out of the room.

Don't listen to people who tell you what you can't do.

You can do anything you put your mind to. It takes time and dedication, but if you stick with it, you will find your own way.

[Pine Apple Slim]

My high school GC could have been "Major Major" from Catch 22.
He never sought me out, and nor I him.
A teacher who didnt teach anything.
Not really someone I wanted to take advice from.

[strtdv]

If High School guidance counselors knew ANYTHING about plotting a satisfying and rewarding career path, they wouldn't end up working as High School guidance counselors. That said, I know a lot of professional musicians (as a Music Ed major, I was in classes along side a lot of them), and I find it hard to imagine a more miserable existence than making your living as an orchestra member, session guitarist, or working for the music industry in any kind of business capacity. My degree is in music, but the same math-oriented mind which allowed me to be a pretty okay musician also provides me with a knack for databases and computer software. People throw LOTS of money at me to wiggle a mouse around and type stuff on a keyboard for eight hours a day, which allows me plenty of time and money to annoy bar patrons with my original songs on my Gibson at night. I've never once been forced to play "Brown Eyed Girl" as part of a wedding-reception band or, for that matter, do anything with my music that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, and I can keep up the mortgage payments on a pretty nice house in the middle of a miserable recession. Win-win.

 

 

 

Pretty much this.

 

Lots of people have musical ability, but the music business is generally the kind of place you don't want to work.

 

Better love it as a hobby than hate it as your livelihood.

 

I'm starting work in August, but, thanks to the European Working Time Directive, I should still have time to play in the band I'm in. I get to enjoy making music, and earn pretty good money in a career that the recession hasn't really hit.

[Haden Olmsted]

This "emotion beating" you received is actually pretty sound advice. She was speaking from statistics, which show that the U.S. is churning out vast numbers of musicians, poets, and creative writers: very few of whom ever become productive in those fields. Its better to get some "tough love" from her than it is to wake up ten years from now wondering how you spent 4 years and $80,000 on a degree that landed you a part time job at Kinkos. College is about getting skills you'll need to succeed professionally. The artsy-fartsy idea that its about following your bliss went down the tube when the U.S. economy collapsed and our manufacturing base evaporated. This counsellor knows that it is not her decision to make -- she is attempting to guide you. Who cares if she doesn't know your name? Get used to that. If you truly are destined to be a musician, you'll find a way. You'll scramble, starve, and then you'll succeed. And maybe along the way you'll get someone to sign a slip of paper that says you mastered your scales, or maybe you won't. Either way: you have to battle past all the people who want to slow you down. That's what an artist has to do. If you don't make it, don't blame this lady for crushing your dreams. Your dreams don't need her approval.

 

 

This is why performance degrees arent the way to go... hence the music production and recording technology degree im doing... tech skills, that will get me a job almost anywhere doing something with music... everyone uses music in something, be it commercials, movies, video games, plays, shows, studio's. I agree though with not needing her approval, i just thought that she did little advising, she could have tried to atleast listen to what i said, but the fact that she just simply shot me down because i didnt say "business management" or "construction engineering" or something along those lines, I feel like to many people deem success off of how reliable it is to get and keep a job and how much money that job pays a year. not to say money isnt important, because in reality it is... im not one of those "i dont care if i never make a dime, as long as i can just play man" iv just realized that making it with music requires doing several different jobs in the field.

[golias]

This is why performance degrees arent the way to go... hence the music production and recording technology degree im doing... tech skills, that will get me a job almost anywhere doing something with music... everyone uses music in something, be it commercials, movies, video games, plays, shows, studio's. I agree though with not needing her approval, i just thought that she did little advising, she could have tried to atleast listen to what i said, but the fact that she just simply shot me down because i didnt say "business management" or "construction engineering" or something along those lines, I feel like to many people deem success off of how reliable it is to get and keep a job and how much money that job pays a year. not to say money isnt important, because in reality it is... im not one of those "i dont care if i never make a dime, as long as i can just play man " iv just realized that making it with music requires doing several different jobs in the field.

 

 

Here's the point you might be missing, though. Being a middle-manager in a music corporation is exactly zero more fun than being a middle-manager in a company that makes cardboard boxes, and is probably less secure.

 

"Loving Music" does not necessarily equate to a passion for being a cog in the music industry, or wanting to get up at 6:00 AM for dull office meetings.

 

And if your dream is to be a recording engineer, make damn sure that being a recording engineer is your FIRST choice for what you want to do with your life, because you'll be competing against a hell of a lot of people for whom it is. If you're just "settling" for a studio support role because a career as a guitarist doesn't seem very realistic to you, you probably won't succeed at that either.

[guitarcapo]

Im making this thread because i was reading the church musician one and it got me thinking about some of my conversations and experiences with ignorant people... so here we go... When i was a junior (11th grade) in high school (a whopping 3 years ago lol), the respective guidance counselors (you were assigned on based on where your last name sat in the alphabet) came to talk to you on what you wanted to do with your life... that whole deal everyone goes through about what your future should be. To start things off, the lady i got assigned, or rather sentenced to, was a complete incompetent. she could never remember my damn name, or anything that i was interested in, or anything important about me. If you need a good example think of the guidance counselor from Orange County... the one who mixes up the transcripts... that was basically her... in fact they even looked the same. So this lady brings me and a few other of my class mates, who were also assigned to her, into her office to talk about "the future". As usual, the lady began to push the "college experience" to the extreme. I had already planned on going, but some people have other plans right? After the other kids get the rigamarole on which school they "should" being going to and what they "should" be studying... finally it my turn comes up... She sits me down and begins to ask me what Im interested in, even though we have already talked about this a hundred times before... I give her my simple answer, "I want to study music, and specifically the guitar". I continue to explain to her that iv researched a few different schools, and looked into different degrees and certificate programs, and talked about it with my dad, and even went to a college fair, and talked to several of the schools I had looked into. Sounds like i did my homework right? Her response to all of my dreams, hopes and ambitions was this this... "That all sounds nice, but you need to grow up and get a real job..." - exact quote... I couldnt believe this crap. naturally I told her that wasnt her decision to make, and that this was the right path for me, and that everyone i knew was supporting me. I went home and told my parents and private teachers and even my guitar teacher at the high school, all of which were shocked that this was the "guidance" i was getting. Luckily i haven't let it bother me too much. Im in school studying music production and jazz guitar, and will be starting my second year in the fall. If you all have any stories like that post em. Lets all share our emotion beatings from the one they call the "high school guidance counselor"

 

 

I agree with her. Music is a bitch to make money at. She's giving you great advice. Keep music as a hobby...but don't ask the love of your life to make money for you. It really turns her into a whore you resent at best.

 

What's the difference between a guy with a Phd in music and a Dominoes Big Foot pizza?

 

The Dominoes pizza can feed a family of five.

[Willyguitar]

Career guidance is a very peculiar thing. The only person who knows what you can or should do with your life is yourself.

Curiously, the main function of such advisors seems to be to put you off the kinds of careers you would like to reach for, to make you lower your sights. This is despite the fact that (as most advisors even know), if you really want to do something, you should aim for it, regardless of how competitive it is. You can't go through life aiming for your second best option. You will never ever be happy that way.

[mightysasquatch]

I was told by my guidance counselor that I "was too old to start playing guitar" (I was all of 15) and I should work on something else because that wasn't realistic. I started playing guitar at 19, and 17 years later, I make a living teaching guitar, gigging, and writing an occasional magazine article for Guitar Player & Guitar World.

[Haden Olmsted]

Now that things have worked out for you, you might want to think about taking some English classes. I'd recommend something along the lines of "English 102, Introduction to the Apostrophe, Contractions, and the Possessive Case."

 

 

dude... this is an online guitar form... are you really pulling the grammar card here?

[Haden Olmsted]

If High School guidance counselors knew ANYTHING about plotting a satisfying and rewarding career path, they wouldn't end up working as High School guidance counselors. That said, I know a lot of professional musicians (as a Music Ed major, I was in classes along side a lot of them), and I find it hard to imagine a more miserable existence than making your living as an orchestra member, session guitarist, or working for the music industry in any kind of business capacity. My degree is in music, but the same math-oriented mind which allowed me to be a pretty okay musician also provides me with a knack for databases and computer software. People throw LOTS of money at me to wiggle a mouse around and type stuff on a keyboard for eight hours a day, which allows me plenty of time and money to annoy bar patrons with my original songs on my Gibson at night. I've never once been forced to play "Brown Eyed Girl" as part of a wedding-reception band or, for that matter, do anything with my music that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do, and I can keep up the mortgage payments on a pretty nice house in the middle of a miserable recession. Win-win.

 

 

you working as a software engineer and me having to play some crappy songs at a wedding or lay down some guitar work at a studio on some sub par pop song seems like the same gig to me. Both arent what you want to do with the majority of your time, or at least thats what i took from what you said about working with computers the only difference is the money. I get that everyone expects you to get a degree in something that will get you paid, but the long and short of it for someone like me is, music is music. Wither its a {censored}ty bar band that im in, or a wedding that i have to play at, or a studio track i have to play over, or a crappy band iv been hired to produce, its all still part of what i wanted to do anyways. Im still getting to work in the field i wanted, and yeah maybe its not the most amazing or glamorous people/bands/jobs, its still a step in the right direction for me.

[nuke_diver]

Here's the point you might be missing, though. Being a middle-manager in a music corporation is exactly zero more fun than being a middle-manager in a company that makes cardboard boxes, and is probably less secure. "Loving Music" does not necessarily equate to a passion for being a cog in the music industry, or wanting to get up at 6:00 AM for dull office meetings. And if your dream is to be a recording engineer, make damn sure that being a recording engineer is your FIRST choice for what you want to do with your life, because you'll be competing against a hell of a lot of people for whom it is. If you're just "settling" for a studio support role because a career as a guitarist doesn't seem very realistic to you, you probably won't succeed at that either.

 

 

Very true. And the number of jobs as a recording engineer is falling I think as more and more people have their own studios/recording. Just ask around here. If you want to follow you dream do so but do so with open eyes. There are monster players here that are not pros and that tells you something about how difficult it is. You need to decide what you really want in life...and an college education can open doors that otherwise would never open. It doesn't mean you cannot be successful it only makes the chances better. A music education is more of a risk than say an engineering one but if that is your passion and your desire good luck

[clay sails]

This is why performance degrees arent the way to go... hence the music production and recording technology degree im doing... tech skills, that will get me a job almost anywhere doing something with music... everyone uses music in something, be it commercials, movies, video games, plays, shows, studio's. I agree though with not needing her approval, i just thought that she did little advising, she could have tried to atleast listen to what i said, but the fact that she just simply shot me down because i didnt say "business management" or "construction engineering" or something along those lines, I feel like to many people deem success off of how reliable it is to get and keep a job and how much money that job pays a year. not to say money isnt important, because in reality it is... im not one of those "i dont care if i never make a dime, as long as i can just play man " iv just realized that making it with music requires doing several different jobs in the field.

 

 

You sound like you have a solid plan and a sense of what is required. Go for it.

Just do yourself a favor: get "plan b" under your belt in case music turns out to be just a hobby.

[Haden Olmsted]

I wasn't really expecting this kind of response from this many people. I think a lot of people here still have the idea of when a kid says he wants to play music, that he/she wants to be a rock star. I probably thought that until I was about 15, maaaybe. I kinda out grew that when I started taking notice to the guys who were working at guitar center and were waiting to make it, and a few people that I worked with at a retail store trying to make it also.

 

As far as the engineering goes, I actually don't want to be an engineer. To me thats pretty boring stuff (incase some people didnt realize its not just hitting a record button, but actually knowing the ins and outs of every piece of audio equipment/microphone/interface and knowing tons of mic recording techniques and different polar patterns and memorizing tons of complex equations... basically being really good at technology). Im not really a huge math person, nor am I a huge tech person, but I learn it the best I can so i know the information, at least in its rawest form so that I can preform the tasks.

 

The reason I am in this major is because I want the production skills to be able to run sessions and guide bands through recording and writing and help them get the best possible sound and best possible record. I have good people skills and like to work with other musicians and throw ideas around and that kind of stuff.

 

As far as other things go, after Im done with this degree, I plan on getting a masters in ethnomusicology, which is the study of African American music like the blues and jazz. With that I hope to teach in college as a professor of musicology, and write as a part of my living. In addition to that Ill teach lessons, and still work producing and playing the occasional gig, and working on my own music hopefully. This is kinda the rough plan I have put together but there are still tons of music avenues that Im open to. Iv always found film scoring interesting so thats another possible route. Making it playing gigs 24/7 isn't really my main concern. If that happens great, but I playing for me is kinda the personal hobby I suppose. I know that Ill never be the most insane guitar player ever, and Im ok with that. I know Im good enough to play in a moderately popular jazz/funk/blues group, recording a few songs, and make some OK money doing that. Thats more then enough for me when it comes to playing.

 

Iv had this discussion with my parents, counselors at school, and my current teachers and professors at the conservatory I attend. Most of them have approved of my loose plans. Again, I say loose because, lets face it, Im only going into my second year, so there's a lot of time for other things to happen, and influence what I want to do, as well as me not really having a huge pool of experience to base my decisions off of

 

This is the best Iv come up with, and I think for my age, that its pretty good. Being a music major has actually made me care more about what Im doing more then I ever have. In high school I never got more then a C + average because I knew most of it was a joke. Half the tests were a joke, and the majority of "college level" AP classes were a breeze, as far as intelligence is concerned.

 

Now that Im in college, My GPA is much higher then it has ever been. I think for my first year it was right below a 3.5ish. That isn't the most spectacular thing in the world, but at least Im taking more initiative to what I am doing. Most other college kids I know majoring in something "practical" that will get them paid, are all out drinking every weekend and doing pretty much everything but studying. I on the other hand, spend hours a day in the practice room, and hours each night studying for my recording and theory classes. I still take general education classes, such as math and english, so i feel Im getting a pretty good education.

 

Out of curiosity how many of you all how said that she gave me good advice are or have ever done anything in the music field? Im not saying that she was wrong though. Like any industry the music can suck big ones, Im just wondering if you all are speaking from personal experience of from what you've heard.

 

rant=rant

[Warfish]

I go to Shenandoah Conservatory of music in winchester va.

 

 

Be mindful of the round pond. It may look nice, but it has big fish in it.

[Haden Olmsted]

Be mindful of the round pond. It may look nice, but it has big fish in it.

 

 

the one in the park right behind campus? that pond always seemed pretty nasty. Iv known some kids who swam across because of a bet.

[Gumkick]

I recommend college. It is an experience that you will always remember fondly. But don't get some bull{censored} liberal arts degree. Get something you will get paid for. Then do what you want while you make too much money.

 

 

This makes sense in a utilitarian way but I disagree. If you're fortunate enough to want to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer when you're 17 that's great, but for most people... I don't know if it makes sense to commit yourself to a career that you may not like or be good at. As long as you get good grades from a halfway decent school you can always get a specialized degree later, when you have a better idea what you want to do.

 

An arts degree, that's totally different, it really guarantees nothing and moreover it's not even required for most careers. However it will make you take your art seriously and work really really hard at it.

 

I'd say the safest advice for the OP would be to go to a university with a good music program where you can also get a well-rounded education. Major in anything but music and then maybe get an MFA if you're good enough to get in a good program.

 

But even if you do music as an undergrad you'll still be as qualified as most people for whatever they end up doing, you'll almost certainly be making less at 24 than the business majors but at 40? Who knows.

[BryanMichael]

I'll chime back in. I've lived an "artist's" life. Doing time in the corporate world, a couple of factory jobs, and making ends meet by playing music, acting, and trying to find ways to profit from my voice, my looks, my acting, my music, and my writing. I got lots of conflicting advice in high school about pursuing a music career. My guidance counselors were nice...but they didn't know what to tell me. My band director at school (I played saxophone, drums, and bass- upright and electric) wanted me to stay in school all day and take music theory classes and go to college (I wanted to take an electronics course at the career center for half a day my junior and senior years) and my string teacher (on loan from Capital University here in Columbus, which is known for it's music program) told me and my parents that I had "good instincts and great hands" and that if I took private lessons from him and really studied hard over the next couple years, he could virtually gaurantee me a scholarship to Capital for playing bass. Now, initially all of this sounded good. But subsequent conversations with both my band director and my string teacher turned me OFF. They kept focusing on being a "music teacher" and getting the degree in music education because it was more of a career path. When I emphasized performance, they talked about JAZZ, JAZZ, and more JAZZ as well as classical and reading charts out the wazoo- While all of this WOULD have been fine, I was 17 and playing in a rock band. I was writing songs. I liked jazz okay, I liked classical okay, I liked MUSIC...but when I asked about becoming a songwriter or writing music for films or anything outside of music education...they really took me down a notch and belittled my "rock star dreams" even though I thought I was being rather realistic, considering the circumstances. My end point came when my string teacher told me I should concentrate on upright bass...when I told him that electric bass was where I thought my future lay, he literally said "IT'S NOT A REAL INSTRUMENT! HOW CAN YOU CONCENTRATE ON THAT??" At that point (being 17 and from a blue collar working class family that had NO WAY of paying for college for me) I decided that I wouldn't listen to these people anymore because they weren't hearing me. All it would have taken is simple encouragement to say "You can do all of what you want to AND MORE!" but instead, they chose to shut me down- and I just bailed. I stopped being in band, I went to the electronics program, and I finished high school without college...and that electronics program got me a factory job on an assembly line. ANd I kept playing in bands. I did original projects, sure- but the money was in cover bands, wedding gigs, corporate stuff- and honestly, I had A BLAST doing that stuff. I'd rather play bass any day than sit in a cubicle- I don't care if I'm playing "Brown Eyed Girl" for the 1000th time! BUT...eventually even that wore off. By the time I was 30, I quit gigging. I had had enough. Even "originals" (If I didn't write them- but someone else did and I was learning them...) were just another cover to me! ANd yes, I heard all the criticism "you're not a REAL musician, you play in a cover band!" and all that- of course, most of the people that said that {censored} to me...well, I could out play and out sing...and out WRITE those folks, and they didn't realize that being a "real" musician was being versatile and adapting and getting paid and being gracious with other musicians on the same road...but taking a different path. My friend Matt always inspired me, he heard the same bull{censored} at his school...but he had his mind made up. He went and studied music business, he played every style, he learned theory, he RISKED it all and stayed flexible and he is a professional drummer in Nashville now- Oh, he isn't famous, and it's DAMN HARD WORK, but he makes a living playing music- Me? I ended up in college in my 30's, and I still create for a living, but it is much more corporate. I still act, I still write music when it strikes me, and I like to play my acoustic guitars and make noise in the basement- but living as an artist is a journey, and once you become a musician you are part of an international multicultural fraternity- if you allow yourself to be, but if you shut yourself off- you will be what you are and nothing more.

.02

[Haden Olmsted]

I'll chime back in. I've lived an "artist's" life. Doing time in the corporate world, a couple of factory jobs, and making ends meet by playing music, acting, and trying to find ways to profit from my voice, my looks, my acting, my music, and my writing. I got lots of conflicting advice in high school about pursuing a music career. My guidance counselors were nice...but they didn't know what to tell me. My band director at school (I played saxophone, drums, and bass- upright and electric) wanted me to stay in school all day and take music theory classes and go to college (I wanted to take an electronics course at the career center for half a day my junior and senior years) and my string teacher (on loan from Capital University here in Columbus, which is known for it's music program) told me and my parents that I had "good instincts and great hands" and that if I took private lessons from him and really studied hard over the next couple years, he could virtually gaurantee me a scholarship to Capital for playing bass. Now, initially all of this sounded good. But subsequent conversations with both my band director and my string teacher turned me OFF. They kept focusing on being a "music teacher" and getting the degree in music education because it was more of a career path. When I emphasized performance, they talked about JAZZ, JAZZ, and more JAZZ as well as classical and reading charts out the wazoo- While all of this WOULD have been fine, I was 17 and playing in a rock band. I was writing songs. I liked jazz okay, I liked classical okay, I liked MUSIC...but when I asked about becoming a songwriter or writing music for films or anything outside of music education...they really took me down a notch and belittled my "rock star dreams" even though I thought I was being rather realistic, considering the circumstances. My end point came when my string teacher told me I should concentrate on upright bass...when I told him that electric bass was where I thought my future lay, he literally said "IT'S NOT A REAL INSTRUMENT! HOW CAN YOU CONCENTRATE ON THAT??" At that point (being 17 and from a blue collar working class family that had NO WAY of paying for college for me) I decided that I wouldn't listen to these people anymore because they weren't hearing me. All it would have taken is simple encouragement to say "You can do all of what you want to AND MORE!" but instead, they chose to shut me down- and I just bailed. I stopped being in band, I went to the electronics program, and I finished high school without college...and that electronics program got me a factory job on an assembly line. ANd I kept playing in bands. I did original projects, sure- but the money was in cover bands, wedding gigs, corporate stuff- and honestly, I had A BLAST doing that stuff. I'd rather play bass any day than sit in a cubicle- I don't care if I'm playing "Brown Eyed Girl" for the 1000th time! BUT...eventually even that wore off. By the time I was 30, I quit gigging. I had had enough. Even "originals" (If I didn't write them- but someone else did and I was learning them...) were just another cover to me! ANd yes, I heard all the criticism "you're not a REAL musician, you play in a cover band!" and all that- of course, most of the people that said that {censored} to me...well, I could out play and out sing...and out WRITE those folks, and they didn't realize that being a "real" musician was being versatile and adapting and getting paid and being gracious with other musicians on the same road...but taking a different path. My friend Matt always inspired me, he heard the same bull{censored} at his school...but he had his mind made up. He went and studied music business, he played every style, he learned theory, he RISKED it all and stayed flexible and he is a professional drummer in Nashville now- Oh, he isn't famous, and it's DAMN HARD WORK, but he makes a living playing music- Me? I ended up in college in my 30's, and I still create for a living, but it is much more corporate. I still act, I still write music when it strikes me, and I like to play my acoustic guitars and make noise in the basement- but living as an artist is a journey, and once you become a musician you are part of an international multicultural fraternity- if you allow yourself to be, but if you shut yourself off- you will be what you are and nothing more. .02

 

 

Best advice so far man, thanks.

[Mermph]

The Guidance dept. at my high school was a joke. It was more like the Scheduling dept. They were completely uninterested in the future of any of the students. I went to a pretty {censored}ty high school.

[Virgman]

4 "That all sounds nice, but you need to grow up and get a real job..." - exact quote... "

 

 

Yes, but you haven't got a job yet.

 

Get back to us on this in a couple years when you get a job.

[Haden Olmsted]

Yes, but you haven't got a job yet. Get back to us on this in a couple years when you get a job.

 

 

got a point sir, got a point... and your avatar totally helps sink the message in lol