inBachs / Music Career Late Night Thoughts

I wanted a music career so bad that I put in long hours, had sleepless nights, battled performance injuries and was literally told by professionals that all of my hard work was never going to matter. Here are 5 things I learned along the way:

1. You don’t need to suffer in order to feel accomplished or feel that your value is based on whether or not you ‘practiced enough’

2. Explore things that don’t feel “traditional” because in my experience, university music programs really only spoke about winning auditions or professor jobs. Working in sales & marketing, posting on social media or teaching private music lessons weren’t really talked about all that much, yet they have become the skills that have literally paid off most for me.

3. You can have a life outside of your instrument. The more I become confident in this, it unlocks so much for me.

4. If someone is giving me career advice, I take it with a grain of salt if their experience wasn’t exactly in our modern era of the internet, social media and earning opportunities in today’s landscape.

5. Wanting to achieve your goals can feel painful. I was terrified of giving up on music and ending up in a life that didn’t feel like mine. For me this was a really good thing in the long run. At the same time, I wanted a life in music so badly that I kept saying yes to opportunities that weren’t really opportunities. Learning how to say “no” to things was a skill I feel like I developed later.

Do you agree or disagree with any of these points?

What might you add to this list?

Would love to hear what you think! Thanks for reading all the way though.