Becoming a musician is much more than playing the instruments. There are a wide variety of musical skills that can make you a complete versatile musician.
Every musician has a common dream of progressively improving his/her musical skills. There is a general perception that these skills are mainly inherited or acquired by a select few talented people.
However. reality is something different. If you have proper training, the right amount of practice and keep your focus on, you can remarkably increase your musical skill.
I personally know a few people who started from scratch and acquired great deal of skill and enthralled their audience by spectacular performances.
What is musical skill?
Music skills are the musical abilities to read the music, internalize the rhythm, perform technically, grasp the concepts of music theory and express it with proper emotion that can mesmerize your audience.
The skill will make you a better musician who can play both independently and with other musicians.
Having said that, let us explore the factors to consider to consistently improve the musical skill and to render heart winning performances in front of your audiences.
1. Choose a great teacher for yourself :
Choosing a great teacher is extremely important for a successful musical journey. As achieving success is a long journey, you need somebody to hold your hand to steer you in the right direction.
Your teacher is your constant source of learning, inspiration and innovation. He/she offers you a spirited introduction to the fundamentals of music e.g. ragas, swaras etc. Later on he/she will gradually step-up to introduce you with every genre of music detailing their characteristic features.
He/she should be a great performer and out of the box thinker. He/she should take enough care of you, plan the lessons as per your need and help you to explore music creatively.
Learning music under a great teacher is an unforgettable experience which helps to shape your future to a great extent.
2. Get solid foundation of music :
Understanding the basics of music e.g. pitch, scale, rhythm, melody, chords, tempo etc is an extremely important step to increase the range and versatility of your music. This versatility helps to achieve expression that the music demands and evoke emotion in your audience.
A trumpet player may be interested in jazz, a pianist may be focused on classical composition of the music. Get yourself well-versed in your chosen fields with bare essentials of music theory.
A clear understanding of theory will definitely help to improve your music abilities.
Your teacher should actively train you to get through this phase. At this stage your teacher will have direct influence on you and well-understand your strengths and weaknesses.
3. Develop your critical listening skill :
You might be thinking that hearing and listening are almost the same. Let me tell you the fact that they are way apart.
Listening is a conscious mental process that equally involves ear and brain both whereas hearing is perceiving the sound by ear.
Make sure that your brain and ear ( also your conscious mind) come into play whenever you are listening to music and understand the technical aspects with all its depth and dimension. Watch how the music plays within your mind.
No matter what kind of music you are listening to, critical listening will definitely fire-up your creativity and will help to improve your music skill.
4. Get acquainted with every genre of music.
Get yourself acquainted with different kinds of music e.g. classical, semi-classical, modern music, pop, rock, jazz etc. Exposure to a variety of music will make you more confident and creative.
Every kind of music has its own characteristic features, be it African drumming or Argentine tango music. Dive deep into the realm of music and collect precious knowledge.
Variety of musical knowledge and exposure to different genres of music will help you to ignite your creative thinking. You get more passionate about music and a lot of innovative ideas play in your mind.
5. Practice :
With the right kind of teaching in place from your teacher and tapping all possible sources of high quality music education, it is the time to practice.
It is an extremely important step to perfect your skill. Spend at least an hour everyday to practice whatever you have learnt.
Committing mistakes at this stage is quite common. Do not lose your patience. Keep doing it over and over again.
You may consult your teacher whenever you get stuck-up during practice sessions. He/she will definitely help you out to iron out the creases.
Your perfected knowledge will drive you crazy to dig even deeper and get even better understanding.
Practicing with complete focus and dedication will develop your music skill exceptionally. You will be a front runner and remarkably increase your musical performance ability.
6. Create a musical atmosphere:
Track the latest musical events in your city. Join those events.
Join in seminars, workshops. Register for an upcoming masterclass in your city.
Find friends who are equally passionate in music like you. Exchanging your thoughts, ideas in your peer group can go a long way to enhance your musical skill.
Final Words:
Scan your progress periodically. Analyze your skill sets you had six months before and where you want to reach six months after. Accordingly set S.M.A.R.T. goal(s) for you.
Engage yourself to the best of your abilities. Your focus, dedication and attention to excel play important roles to achieve your goals.
Don’t be hard on yourself. Keep practicing everyday. Follow the simple steps listed above.
Revisit the steps whenever needed. Start enjoying your journey. You are all set to be a musician with great musical abilities.