What Made YOU Get Started…?

People always ask me: ‘What made you get started in music?’

My honest answer: ‘My brother started getting in trouble in school (sorry, Jason!) so my parents made him join the band in an attempt to keep him out of trouble. When they saw it worked, they told me: ‘Pick an instrument-you’re joining too’’.

Such an unromantic story, right? I used to almost feel as though I was letting my questioner down with that answer. People want to hear an inspiring story about how you knew at the age of three that music was your calling. They want you to tell them that before you could even talk you were picking out songs on the piano. They want to be amazed at hearing that you used to conduct Beethoven’s Ninth using only your sippy cup and a silver spoon. But a parental plot to keep a ten-year-old child from getting in with the wrong crowd at an early age? Not quite so romantic.

But wait, it gets worse.

This question is almost undoubtedly followed by:

‘Oh…well, once you started, did you always know you wanted to be a musician?’

(Brace yourself)

‘Nope…I actually wanted to quit music in seventh grade because I hated to practice’

…Still not done…

‘So what made you stick with it?’

‘My parents made me…plus, they forced me to practice’

Oh holy sacrilege of the music world! It’s a miracle I ever held another interview again!

 

Now, before you entirely write this off as the most pathetic excuse for an inspiring life in music, read on…

 

I’ve thought about this path quite a bit as I’ve gotten older, more established and-most importantly-come to understand the true power and importance of music.

 

Music has the power to heal, to express our emotions, to vent out feelings we don’t even know we’re experiencing. But there’s another level to music. There’s a level of discipline that every musician can attest to, and it’s a trait learned in very few other areas of life.

 

No horn tooting intended (all puns intended, however), I’m what you would consider a ‘go-getter’. I love doing things in life that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable because I know in the end I’ll develop a skill that will make the next task seem like child’s play.

 

Where did this come from? I attribute it to two areas: parents who wouldn’t let me quit and the tenacity to succeed in music.

 

In eighth grade, my new band director told my parents that he saw talent hidden beneath that twelve-year-old girl who never practiced. He took them aside and told them that if they got me to practice an hour a day, they would be amazed at what happened. Six months of constant fighting with my parents later, and I was winning county-wide competitions. Fast-forward a year to a freshman year of high school consisting of waking up at 5am to practice for an all-state competition in which I went on to win first place. Not bad for the girl who wanted to quit two years before.

I don’t tell you this to brag by any means-this was my childhood and people my age have gone on to do much bigger and better things in the performance world than I have or aspire to do.

 

Here’s the point:

 

We know that music feels good. We know that music expresses our inner feelings. We even know that music drastically increases intelligence and academic performance (well, you should know that if you keep up with our blogs!). But here’s something you may not have considered:

 

Music serves as a form of discipline and training for children that builds a work ethic that will remain for life.

 

I can tell you with certainty that any tenacity I have in my life-be it running an organization, working long hours, running long distances, giving my all to people and projects I believe in-stems 100% from those days of practicing an hour a day when I wanted to hang out at the mall, waking up at 5am because the goal of all-state outweighed how tired I was before high school and spending the majority of my college years in a practice room instead of frat parties.

Yes, this story may sound quite unromantic. I have musician friends that cannot relate in the slightest (my best friend actually was playing the piano at three years old and can’t remember a single day in her life when her parents had to ask her to practice). If you find a child with that gene/talent/love, stick an instrument in his/her hand and give him/her every ounce of encouragement in the world. But, if the child is like I was-hasn’t yet found that inner love of music that would only come in later years when the hard work has paid off-don’t give up on their ability to one day do great things and discover that love of music.

 

I can’t think of a better vehicle to teach our youth about the value of hard work than through the beauty of music.

 

 

Rachel Phillips

Founder and Executive Director

Music Crossing Borders