One of the life lessons, or skills, that learning to play and perform music teaches is organization. You have to be organized to learn to play, then more organized to continue to improve your playing. As well, you need to be organized to run your as a self-employed entrepreneur.
Learning to play
Learning to play music is hard work. People often mistake talent for hard work. Even the most “talented” musicians got that way through lots of studying and practicing. They became “talented” because they were dedicated to their craft and worked continuously to improve. There are stories about the greatest jazz musicians practicing on gigs in between sets.
I spend a lot or words on this issue in my novel The Musician. One of my main characters, Hacksaw, a churlish saxophonist, talks in particular about the issue:
“Ain’t nothin’ natural about it,” Hacksaw instructs my protagonist Tom Cliffe. “Even Miles. Up every morning working: writing tunes, listening to tunes. That’s the profession. People think you play all night then mess around the rest of the time—sleep late, go to the beach. … even the most talented jazz artists have to work constantly. The music drives them.”
Hard work means practicing every day. And practicing doesn’t get done unless you’re organized. My podcast partner and co-author Kevin Bales advises me to make practicing the first thing I do every morning, before the rest of my day and life get in the way.
Running your business
If you are a full-time musician, then you have to look at music as your business. That involves, first and foremost, ensuring that you have enough work to support yourself, and if you’re fortunate enough to have a family, to support them. Unless you are a leader, you probably have to rely on calls from leaders for work, which in turn means being prepared. You have to be practiced, of course, but you also have to know the material, to show up and know the tunes.
Being organized extends to your finances. Try to put a few dollars aside, in a savings account or in stocks and bonds, to build some wealth as well as keep up with your bills. That can be difficult, but if you’re organized, it becomes habitual, a habit worth adopting.
One of the challenges of being a self-employed musician is that you can hit dry spells. As COVID-19 came into our lives as a global pandemic early in 2020, clubs closed and the gig books of musicians were virtually erased. It didn’t hurt at that time to have some savings to rely on while the world fought its way back.
If playing and performing is something you want to do for a career, then being organized is one of the most important lessons you can learn learning music.