By making certain habits and traits a part of your lifestyle you become better equipped at approaching the music business. It also helps you get a better shot at succeeding and sustaining that over the long haul.
Here are 5 habits that all the great musicians have made a part of their lifestyle
Seek out a teacher
Self-learning with at-home YouTube tutorials seems very tempting but it isn’t recommended. If you’re planning a career in music, it is essential that you find a teacher whose music you admire and with whom you can slowly build a rapport with. This is essential because your teacher is not only going to teach you music but also consciously or unconsciously you are going to adapt to his or her music lifestyle. So to be able to learn, unlearn and relearn it’s necessary that you have an amazing rapport with the person who’s going to teach you all of it.
Learn the rudiments
Scales, paradiddles, arpeggios, vocal scans, Riyaaz for Hindustani and Carnatic music, and a few other base exercises must be ingrained in your daily lifestyle. Each music style and instrument has its own set of exercises. It’s essential that you spend a significant amount of time learning these to equip yourself to handle any music given to you. After a point, you can stop practicing them as a separate exercise because you would have imbibed them in your musical vocabulary.
Study musical style and apply knowledge
It is very important to explore the different depths of music. If you play an instrument, learn to sing. This helps you develop the ear for music and hear the music before you play it. If you sing, learn a musical instrument like a guitar or a piano, these chordal instruments act as step stones to understand the musical structure. Using your voice to play the chordal instruments is an invaluable exercise to develop your musical tools. Many singers and musicians have a vast set of music that they can recall at any given time. This skill is developed through singing and repetition. Along with this, it’s also important to explore different kinds of music to develop an eclectic taste. What influences you? Where can you expand and explore your knowledge? It is important to listen and study music from different cultures and create your own synthesis and style in music.
Brain exercises
You need not sit and practice with your instrument all day long to improve and develop your skills. In fact, the major practice should happen away from the instrument. The best thing about practicing music is that anything about it can be practiced in your head. The chords, scales, technique, or even composing a piece can be done built and developed in your head. And it’s better to do it this way because practicing on the instrument as that has many distractions like pedalling, dynamics, reading music, or keeping time. On the other hand if you’re practicing in your head you can give that one thing your entire attention and focus. And you can do this anytime, while taking a tea break, on the go, while waiting for someone, anytime anywhere.
Work on a solo performance piece
Pick up a difficult piece of music and learn it really well. It is a proven and essential way to develop your musicality. This way was recommended by Bob McFerrin, an American vocalist. His song ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ is the first Cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Doing this will also add to your reputation and equip you with skills that you can utilise to improve your music.
We hope this list inspires and helps you improve your music skills! Which of these habits is missing from your practice?
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