| I’ve been thinking about this question… how and when do you become an artist? I’m talking about a music artist, with a sound and a vision, an identity. Transforming from someone who tinkers and fiddles about (that’s how we all start), into a confident artist who believes in the value of their own work even if there’s no (or little) audience for it (yet)? How do you start THINKING of yourself as an artist? Or identifying as an artist? |
| I mean, maybe you don’t even think you want to do that… But if you want to finish tracks (I know a lot of you on this list do) then have you asked yourself WHY you want to do that? Is it just for the thrill of finishing a track? And then another? But as well as finishing tracks, you want them to sound like you, unique, something different. A concoction born from all your many diverse influences and life experiences. Right? Ahaaaaaaa now we’re getting closer… If you are able to transfer your inner experience into musical form, into sound waves that fly through the air and vibrate the inner-ear muscle of beings around you and make them feel something… What does that make you? A wizard? A magician? Yeah maybe. But certainly that is what an artist does. Anyone can be one. So what does it take? It takes one thing: doing the work. Not just one track. Again and again and again. Tracks. Dedication. Sweat. Frustration. Overcoming many obstacles. You do that work, and something emerges from it… an ability to tell stories, an ability to convey emotions. You do the work, you become an artist. The decision is to do the work. If you just say “right from now on i call myself an artist” that won’t work. You’ll have a hard time believing yourself. Others won’t believe you either. But when you see the result of your work, whether it’s one EP or several albums, you see it out there in the world, it’s real… THEN you realise that somewhere along the way, you became an artist. Whether you called yourself one or not makes no difference. So go do some music, if that’s what you want to do! If not, hope you got something from this anyway. I’m off to make music. |
PS Go do my new free mini course: https://learn.zoid.ie/finish-more-tracks |