Lessons from a Teacher
“Take the time it takes to realize something.”
By T. Perry Bowers
My teacher once told me a story about one of her teachers. A teacher who was on his death-bed when he told her: all he every really wanted to do was teach people to “take the time it takes to realize something.” Ever since I heard the story I’ve been contemplating the meaning of it.
On a very basic level, I can relate this statement to music when I think about practicing my instruments.
You can’t rush practice. You’ve probably heard it a million times but it takes ten thousand hours to master any discipline. This holds very true when it comes to playing a musical instrument. Your fingers, limbs and brain learn to make the proper connections by relentless repetition. The younger you are the faster connections can be made. But for some reason, I didn’t have the drive to practice when I was in my formative years. I didn’t get serious about drums until I was twenty years old. I’m almost ashamed to say it, but I didn’t start playing my guitar religiously every day until about six years ago. “If only if I knew then what I know now” often runs through my head when I’m trying to get my forty something fingers to learn some rudimentary lick.
Performing, practicing, recording and running your band like a business are all things that take time to learn. Some of you may have put more time into one aspect of your band over another. Maybe you’re more of a live band than a recording band. That’s probably because you’ve spent more time rehearsing than recording. Have you ever thought your band should be further along than it is? You sound great. You write great songs. You play well. But you’re not making any money or headway in the music business? Maybe it’s because you haven’t “taken the time it takes” to realize you need to spend as much time running your band business as you do practicing, playing and recording.
When I was in my twenties, I spent hours every week promoting my band. Obviously, it didn’t turn me into a rock star, but it did lead me to a career in the music business. I made a lot of connections with other bands who wanted to record, so I started recording them. I met a lot of people in the industry who needed rehearsal space, so I started providing rehearsal space. As I spent more time in the field, I was able to see what was in demand and I strove to meet those demands.
When you begin to work on the business side of your band, you’ll start to see how to realize your own potential as a musician. Do you really want to play festivals next summer? If so, start now and focus all your energy on booking festivals. Is your goal is to make a record with a big producer? Then start making calls. Create a go fund me page, corral your resources. If your goal is to pack your favorite small club in your hometown, begin by printing fliers and making videos for web promotion. Whatever your goal is, start working towards it. At some point, you will realize the effort and time it takes to accomplish your goals.
When I was in college, it took me a couple years before I began to pull A grades. By the time I was a junior though, I was pretty much an A student. Once I figured out the formula for getting As it was easy. I knew how much time I needed to study for each exam to get an A. I knew how many revisions it took for me to write an A paper. And I learned how many meetings I needed to have with each professor so that they knew I wanted an A grade. They’d tell me exactly what they wanted and how to meet their expectations. Life is actually no different. People will generally tell you what they want and how to give it to them – all you have to do is take the time to listen.
I do a lot of different things on a weekly basis: hunting, archery, parenting, aikido, guitar, drums, running my business, meditating, writing. I’m only average, even at the things I spend the most time doing. But you can’t rush anything. The more time you spend on something the better you get at it, but the same learning curve applies to everyone. Life can only teach you so fast. And to be honest, unless you’re going to start a new discipline after reading this blog, I’ve probably just wasted your time – time that could have been better spent realizing something important. Energy in equals energy out. So don’t just read about it. Go do it.
