LIfeskills 101

Being a musician is an education in how to live.
Things I've learned by being a musician:
1. What you want and what you receive are two entirely different things. For example, I want to stand in X position - great. Glad that is is your desire. Stand there. Lesson learned: oh, I can really bloom where I'm planted ;)
2. People are capricious. For example: I think we should all move counterclockwise while singing the Beethoven Missa Solemnis because it would make the sound better. Lesson learned: Oh, well, I don't get it but it did work. .hmmm. . maybe I don't know everything!
3. Be prepared: For example: Hmm, I cannot even begin to sing the notes, pronounce the words, and watch the conductor at the same time. Lesson learned: Best be prepared because you'll feel like a highly uncomfortable boob when you have to perform.
4. Everyone has a different take on it. For example: Wow, I really sang that well tonight. Followed by, you missed the 16th note on the top of page 124 and it totally ruined the whole piece . Lesson learned: Other people's opinions aren't necessarily the truth.
5. Passion is part of it. For example: missing an entrance because you were stunned by a previous part. Lesson learned: it's okay to let something go because you are investing time in your passion.

Just a few things that come to mind. There are a bazillion more things that I've learned being a musician. They/We are all temperamental in our own way. We all continue anyway. . . because to do less would be to not live.