Posted by Joe S. on May 02, 1999 at 22:22:52:
In Reply to: Music major doubts posted by Tito on May 02, 1999 at 21:35:26:
In the United States, it is EASY to make enough money to keep a roof over your head and something to eat. Even in our worst times, no one really starved to death here (at least not because of a real lack of available food). Even in my sorry town, Memphis, TN, mediocre musicians seem to eek out a living.
However! If you want to try to "be on top" or be "financially successful" as a musician, you will have to work EXTREMELY HARD to build impeccable, and incredible MARKETABLE abilities, and BE SMART ENOUGH to a/ let people know that you have these capabilities b/ avoid making mediocre musicians (who might have a bit of influence on the "way up") feel threatened by your incredible abilities -- exercise some modesty and NO "backstabbing", and c/ BE NICE!>>>>> MANY "decent" musicians have been hired decade after decade because they were known to be capable AND easy to get along with, and quite a few have been the "second choice" musically!!!
Living in the U.S., if you do exactly what your parents expect you to professionally, you will be the exception. They will end up being extremely proud of you make your OWN choices and become successful with those choices. Notice, I did not mention what to do if you fail. Failure is a decision, not something that happens to you. This statement will probably stimulate 15 posts, but I don't believe that talent weighs very heavily in a musician's success. I believe that 99% of success in music is due to INTELLIGENT work, the willingness to let others see inside of you, and the willingness to take risks. If these and other factors are not in your blood, you should pursue the engineering, if you find it to be interesting to you. However, having heard about what your parents did, I believe that success IS in your blood! They should, after proving to themselves that they overcame great odds, perhaps give YOU the benefit of the doubt.
I cannot address the issue of lack of support from your family. This makes things even more difficult, and could make receiving a quality education in music difficult. "Most things that are worth having are worth paying for...etc" You might want to try to point out to your parents that one of the reasons that they did the drastic life change and worked so hard to collect assets was to give their offspring the financial freedom to pursue any noble pursuit that they (you) choose, not just ones which would provide physical needs, but ones that would feed the soul.
(pssst....How did I do, guys?)