Exactly What Is a Real Musician?

Musicians have long enjoyed the designation of being special. Many people believe that in order to be a musical person, one must be born with some kind of special talent. Although some researchers (e.g., McPherson & Williamon, 2016) have done very well explaining how exceptional music performance skill results from a combination of natural traits (e.g., muscularity, motor control, perceptual acuity) and environmental catalysts (e.g., cultural transmission and beliefs about learning, instruction, and practice), still many within the music world proclaim that innate musical talent is the chief determinant of musicianship. Based on much motivation research in educational psychology, it appears that among people who believe that musical talent is an inherited trait, most believe that it is a trait that they themselves were not gifted with; thus most are discouraged from pursuing skill development. To wit, most young people elect not to participate in school music when such participation is an elective.

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Also discouraging to a music educator like myself, even recipients of multiple years of music education as children, upon reaching adulthood, do not consider being musical as a part of their identity. Must it be this way? Surely the parents and teachers who support children’s music learning experiences would like their gift of music to be longer-lasting. Music-making need not become a relic of childhood that can only be reminisced about later as adults.

What must a person be able to do in order to be considered musical? Perhaps the term musician need not only apply to those who study music in college or who work in the music industry. Perhaps a musician is simply a person who is actively musical: one who participates in music-making in a variety of real-life settings, including common social situations, settings in which for millennia people have used music to form life-affirming relationships and celebrate our humanness.

This is the perspective I take in my new book Becoming a Real Musician: Inspiration and Guidance for Teachers and Parents of Musical Kids (Woody, 2019). In general, the book tackles the question of how music-making kids can grow up to become musical adults. This likely hinges on all three “players” in the musical development of children: their teachers, their parents, and the children themselves. In order for kids to “take ownership” of their own learning, the adults in their lives must empower them to do just that. Music teachers and parents must be attentive and receptive to their students’ own musical preferences and learning goals. This attitude can help ensure that kids’ music-making experiences in their formative years will lead to a musicianship that is relevant and real to them, such that it equips them to be musical for a lifetime.

I’m concerned that some music teaching in schools and private lessons has become too impractical, too specialized, and generally not real enough. If this is the case, then the solution may come in looking at how people have naturally done and continue to do music throughout history and all around the world. Although music is not a universal language, there are some commonalities about how people do music that cross cultural lines. These are ways that music is naturally human if not universal.

The phrase “naturally human” is a great descriptor of music when it’s at its best. In fact, to pinpoint just one single strategy for music teaching to improve its effectiveness with young people: it needs to incorporate into instruction and learning activities more of what is naturally human about making music.

Adults can support kids in becoming real musicians when we focus on what is natural and human about music. This is why I devote a chapter in my book to the Nature of Music and the Humanness of Music. The remaining chapters focus on other qualities of music-making that make it real. That coverage addresses the principles below:

Motivate Kids in a Variety of Meaningful Ways - People often talk about motivation as if it’s merely a feeling that overcomes them. Just as many would-be fitness buffs struggle with not “being motivated” to go to the gym, young musicians often complain of not being motivated to practice and engage in the activities that will improve their musical skills. What they’re really saying is they just don’t feel like going to work out or practice their instrument. Some music students seem content to wait (and wait… and wait…) until they do feel like it before doing what they should. By better understanding the complete nature of motivation, we can better structure kids’ music learning environments, to properly use key extrinsic sources of motivation, and also to tap into the most effective intrinsic motivators for young people.

Allow for Creativity - Because music is an art, and the arts are one of humankind’s primary means of being creative, people often credit music study for developing students’ creative thinking. It’s hard to deny, however, that formal music study in schools and private studios leaves little opportunity for students to handle music creatively. One reason is that lessons and rehearsals can be focused on performing the published works of professional composers. And many teachers resist giving their students composing or songwriting experiences for themselves for fear that such attention will take away valuable time from the paramount goal of “performing the repertoire.” Giving young people creative experiences with music does take time, but it is certainly not time wasted. Giving Creativity in Music its due demystifies it and shows that all people are capable of being creative with music. Although a young musician may not compose symphonies like Beethoven or win a Nobel Prize in Literature like songwriter Bob Dylan, having opportunities to artistically express one’s most personal thoughts will make music more real for anyone.

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Include Improvising - Often improvisation is associated with a very limited number of musical contexts, probably jazz and maybe guitar solos in rock and roll. But improvising was more commonplace in all Western music before print notation of music became so technologically easy (I’m talking about the advent of the printing press in the 19th century) at which time classical music began to rely on notation for virtually all performance. Even so worldwide improvisation remains a staple in human music making. Young musicians who learn to improvise feel especially empowered by it. They become more adaptable and able to do at least something musical in any context, even with music material they don’t know well and with other musicians they’ve never rehearsed or performed with before. And that’s part of a musicianship that’s good beyond just jazz and rock guitar solos.

Emphasize Emotional Expression and Communication - Although music is not a universal language, it is a powerful medium by which people communicate feelings to one another. Music can effectively convey broad emotions or moods such as joy or sadness, and many great musical minds have advanced that music can express some of the subtleties and complexities of human emotion even better than words. To understand the expressiveness of music, we need to first tackles the basic question of how music communicates meaning to listeners, then consider the processes through which performers translate their emotional intentions into sounded music. There are also additional other factors in play in specifically live musical performance that affect the emotional experience that audience members have.

Keep Performance in Proper Perspective - Ideally student musicians approach performance with the goal of simply sharing their music with heartfelt expression that will emotionally move their listeners. Truth be told, however, this probably happens far too infrequently in school auditoriums and recital halls. Sometimes the only emotion young musicians bring to performance is fear, as stage fright takes hold. Whether students’ experiences on stage are marked by moving expressivity or debilitating stage fright can be influenced by the way they are taught to think of performance. Is it a simple sharing of themselves or a special high-stakes presentation that needs to impress an audience? Performance anxiety is a music-killer. The best way to stop it is to avoid it altogether by helping young musicians choose their realistic goals, and to plan, prepare, and practice for performances properly.

If these topics are of interest, please consider picking up a copy of my book Becoming a Real Musician: Inspiration and Guidance for Teachers and Parents of Musical Kids.