It’s been a few days since I blogged. A few things got in the way…not the least of which is former President Trump was almost assassinated. Nothing short of horrendous! Also here in the Boston area it is soooo hot…2 weeks of 90+ degrees. Beautiful days with not a cloud in the sky but…an oven. One can’t think other than to find cool air, cold water and a place to sit and stare for a bit whilst trying to survive as a human. Haha!

But back to music. You all know I am a professional musician, opera singer, voice and piano teacher, modest organist and choir director. So how do you attain all of that and actually know how good you are in each of your endeavors? You work consistently until you achieve it and “pass muster” with your master teachers both in undergrad and graduate school. Then…you go out into the world and make it happen. Apply your knowledge and talent and make music stuff happen. And yes, you know where your best talent lies and how to include your lesser talents. And first and foremost, you strive to be a good musician before anything else.

This leads me to those who want the instant gratification of making music in a hurry apparently just to make money. Well…what about proper training? What about how you actually present to the public? Truthfully…are you any good? Or are you banking on “doing your thing” as a way of becoming famous even though your “thing” isn’t very good at all! Everyone else does their “thing” in popular music especially but most have had some training. In fact there are some pop musicians who actually have their doctorates. Bravo to them!

But trying to shortcut your way into music frankly never works. It’s like trying to shortcut your way into learning how to walk. You can’t. All of these things are what is called “brain training” and takes an amount of time to come to fruition.

All personal achievement careers take time to blossom. Even when one is fully trained with schooling and degrees etc, you still polish your achievement throughout your life. Actively engaging in your career is like polishing furniture until you get that deep shine and sparkle. That’s how our talent grows throughout life. We can present better and better. We get more seasoned in our art. There’s no replacement for it. However if you don’t have the initial foundation to build on then you have nothing to polish. It’s DOA and that’s all there is.

So when I see people who are supposedly famous making music with faulty voices, not a lot of musicianship, or no knowledge of how to present their music or even interact with an audience, I’m done with them. If you want to count among us musicians who have worked tirelessly for our art to be known as the consummate educated and trained musical artist, then do the work. It’s that simple.

There are a lot of fakes on this Earth. And if you see this sort of thing in your own life and whatever your life’s pursuit is, you know. It shows very soon once you start engaging with them. We all owe it to ourselves to be proud of what we know and can do. Don’t let any fakes take that away from you. Separate yourself and move forward with those who speak your language. Those who put the honest work into becoming what their talent is. I certainly had to learn that as a musician.

Being authentic is the only way to live. We owe it to ourselves. Don’t you agree?