It’s 4am in the morning and here I am awake, albeit feeling heavy headed.
It’s not the caffeine…it’s not the rain…i don’t know what it is.
On that note, I’m so series-deprived. Heroes, Prison Break, One Tree Hill, Las Vegas & Grey’s is on season break(did i miss out anything?) and Gilmore Girls and American Idol has ended. Very depressingly too! How can Rory not marry Logan and just leave like that? How can Blake not win? 😡
Jordin Sparks – This Is My Now
Blake Lewis – This Is My Now
I agree that Jordin’s version is better..but nothing beats the original version by the songwriters themselves. Jordin gets…boring after a while. I mean, watch Blake’s version of Bon Jovi’s song! Soooo cool. ^^
Blake Lewis- You Give Love A Bad Name
Digressing…
I’ve been catching up on blogs which (sad to say) I’ve neglected a bit the past few days.
Everyone seems to be so stressed. Student or not. Exams, jobs, relationships 😡
But that’s not the point of my entry.
I came to a conclusion today…that…among all the careers there is…
Being a musician is the hardest.
I know all you engineers/doctors/lawyers etc etc will kill me for this.
Okay. Perhaps I’ll rephrase that.
Becoming a musician is the hardest.
Bias-ness aside, let me make my point before you doctors surgically cut me into pieces, you chemical engineers poison me, you lawyers try to put me behind bars and you accountants try make me broke.
I’m no musician.
At least not anymore.
But you see, studying medicine, law, commerce, even mass com…we have texts to study from.
If you don’t study, you fail.
As simple as that.
It’s all “text book”.
You can’t argue that 2 + 2 = 5.
Nor can you say that Ethanoic acid + ethanol does not equal to ethyl ethanoate and water.
But it’s different for a musician.
You play a song, and everyone has their individual opinions on it.
Your teacher tells you to go loud this part, but when you go for exams, the examiner tells you it should be soft.
Take a song for example. I might like one particular song, and you might hate it.
And sad to say, musicians don’t last long.
You get a numb finger, break a finger, lose your voice, go a little deaf…it’s all gone.
Or if you’re feeling nervous, cold, and sick right before an audition or exam…it’s all gone too.
And you can’t deny the fact that some people thinks that “Those who study music is those who can’t study one”.
I’ve even heard some people say “Study music? Aiya…so easy what. What for need to study?”
Well, studying music = studying to please everyone.
To become a successful musician(performer/writer etc etc) you need a large audience.
You need to write music which everyone will love.
You need to play music which everyone will love.
You need to conduct music which everyone will love.
Impossible.
Practicing, rehearsing and performing becomes central to your life regardless your area of emphasis. Then there’s theory, analysis and history of music, training your ear to listen and reproduce music in absurdly complex ways, learning repertoires from various periods and styles and thats only the foundation!
And those who say “Musicians don’t have real jobs”. Total BS!
Do you not see the amount of time, hours, energy and money put behind a concert you attend?
You sit there, watch a concert, and you don’t see the behind-the-scenes part.
You think musicians walk on stage and are able to do what they do?
Be it a pop concert, ensemble, band at your favorite pub…
You see him struggling to find the perfect name to tie a self-composed piece up, you see her trying to pull it together to ace in the finest conservatories in Sydney…just to name a few.
So next time you wanna blah out something about musicians, stop and think for a moment.
Musicians don’t ask you to worship them.
But they deserve the respect that you would give yourself.
For what it’s worth, give it to them.
EverydayRojak 
Pingback: Bayt » Blog Archive » Being A Musician
yea and don’t forget about stage presence… isn’t that the hardest part of being a musician as well? I mean who would go and listen to someone who looks like sh*t, dresses like a vagabond and then has expressionless face when he/she plays on stage. Being there in front of a hell lot of people, you gotta have skillz to please the crowd and I’m not just talking about musical skillz, it’s also about acting.
somebody: hehe..that’s true. musicians are actors too. and there’s a lot more than that. i take it ure one urself? (=
Hmmm, true true…
but you do not see a musician growing bald at the early age of 30-40 like engineers do.
Why? Because musicians do not deal with life and death situations like doctors and engineers do, some things that would give you sleepless nights even if you mistype one single digit in your official report.
Well, it never is fair to compare, im sure neither side would agree, but yeah, if you want to put it in simpler terms, I would suggest you say that…
Most people can be engineers and doctors.. all they have to do is survive the uni years and work their way through career…
but..
not many people can be musicians. There is talent and most importantly, passion involved in the line of music, which not everyone possesses.
If you talk about effort and time and commitment, well, arent those required in all other jobs too? what about lawyers? they have it worse !!
I do believe music is more than just effort time and commitment. Its art, and creativity, and like you said, there is acting involved, the whole presentation and stuff. they all come in a huge package.
haha… i don’t deny the fact that doctors and others have tougher jobs.
but they do get the credit for it.
if you’re a doctor, you gain respect for being one, whether you’re good at what you do or not. heck, people call you Dr, and not Mr or so on.
the fact is that musicians are often think of lowly. i know u don’t but there are ppl out there…
owells. its a dog eat dog world out there and we’re all trying to survive it. 😀
on a different note…now, do u want anything from miaw miaw land??? hehehe
i want laksa…
i can almost smell itttttt )=
ya but when u go back kch.. all laksa kolomee kueh chap kopitiam on strike 2 weeks… coz garmen erm.. increase service tax
so nothing for u