“Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am through my own efforts. There have been thousands of princes and will be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven!”
I really like this quote from Beethoven, because it states what I have believed all along -- you are responsible for your own success. How do you achieve it? As Beethoven says, through your own efforts.
When I first went to college, I was a flute major. I began playing the flute in the 5th grade, and I was absolutely entranced by it. I can remember practicing it for hours each day. When I entered the 6th grade, I can remember my instructor giving me a high school march booklet -- the kind that was played at school ballgames -- and I took it home and learned how to play them all. I would play them until I learned them, and then I didn't want to play them anymore. The challenge of learning them was no longer there, so they no longer held my interest. As I grew older, my interest in the flute continued, although my intense practice schedule did not. While I took private lessons and still continued to practice, my teenage life tended to get in the way, preventing me from practicing for hours each day.
I have shared this in an earlier post, but I will mention it here, as well. When I went off to college, I was one of two lucky freshman students who got to study with the primary flute instructor. While you may think that was a real honor -- I certainly did -- it ended up being the worst thing that could happen to me. Somehow he was able to destroy my self-esteem as a flutist. My hours of practice each day were clearly not helping. My confidence in my ability was destroyed. During my sophomore year, when my degree required that I perform in front of my peers, I couldn't do it. I knew that if I couldn't play in front of people, I couldn't continue with my study. Consequently, I dropped out of college.
That's not the end of my story, because I went back to college years later and opted to study voice. When I auditioned, I was assigned to study with one of the adjunct voice instructors. While I thought I was a pretty good singer, my audition evidently proved otherwise. I was not given major status; I was given double minor status. This was not a good situation, as I was now at a late sophomore/early junior level in my college studies, and I needed to be at a major status. My instructor shared with me early in my study with her that she was the only teacher who was willing to work with me; no one else thought I would be successful. That statement made me determined to succeed. What did I do? I practiced, and I practiced, and I practiced some more. At the end of the first semester, I was required to do a voice jury. I went into it with confidence, and my practice paid off. I was given major status in voice.
Many people attribute their musical success to genetics. Neither of my parents were musically talented, nor did my two older sisters show any interest in music. I was not exposed to music as a child; the only music I ever heard was at church. The children of the church would sing choruses together at the beginning of the Sunday school hour, and I loved that time. It was my chance to learn some songs, and I loved them all. My choice to play the flute was the beginning of my real exposure to music. My teacher at school wanted my parents to send me to Interlochen to study during the summer, but, with my mother and father being blue-collar employees and having five children to feed, the expense made it impossible. I wonder to this day how my life would be different if I could have gone there.
While singing continued to be my major course of study, I soon discovered that conducting choirs was my true passion -- so much so that I ended up going back to school and getting my Master's degree and a Doctor of Arts degree in choral conducting. To this day, stepping in front of a choir and helping them to reach their greatest potential through song is what I love most. While I cannot attribute my success with choral conducting to genetics, I can say that I have a lot of natural ability. Where it came from, I don't know.
As a music teacher, I believe that one of the greatest habits we can instill in our students is the desire to practice as well as understand the need for it. As a voice teacher, I find that getting my voice students to practice is more difficult than it would be if I were an instrumental teacher. Singing tends to come too easily to us, whereas learning to play all the right notes on an instrument can take some time and effort. Also, if the students aren't musically educated, can't read music and don't know the piano (or don't have access to one), they have no idea on which pitch to start. I have found that making a recording of the song on the piano helps them to practice more effectively.
I am now on the verge of 60 years of age. If I could live my life over again, the one thing that I would do differently is approach music much more seriously. I would practice even more than I did, and I would do everything I could to not let my teacher ruin my self-esteem as a flute player. I often find myself wanting to pick up my flute and play. While I can certainly still play, I know that my ability now is nowhere near where it used to be, and it makes me sad. However, I also know that if I would practice more, I would become much better at it. Unfortunately, as an adult, my work life interferes with my time to practice. I also know, though, that we find time to do the things we really want to do, so why am I sitting here blogging when I should be practicing my flute?
Later...
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