You Just Weren't Ready Yet

Persistence, time and time again, has proven itself to be the way to musical stardom. I've seen too many musicians get disheartened when their dreams get dashed for only the first time, and they didn't get the prize they think they deserved or they watched as someone else got the contract and they were told they didn't have what it took. If this has happened to you, the last thing you should do is toss in the towel. Here are a few things to try to pick your hopes up off the ground and keep moving forward.

KEEP PRACTICING

Your first reflex might be to just shove your guitar in the corner and not go near it, or even take it to the nearest music shop to put up for sale-DON'T. Instead, try at least holding it in your lap while you watch TV, just to help you realize that it is just an inanimate object, and not attach any emotions to it being there. If you are a singer, at least keep some pleasant music around, and hum along to it. If you write lyrics, try just joining an Internet group and doing little essay exercises for a bit. If you play piano, give yours a good polish. Chances, are, after just going near these situations, you will probably get at least the urge to try a cover tune-allow yourself to do this. The trick is to keep playing, singing and writing, even if it hurts a little. Sure, your pride has been hurt, but if you want to take another chop at that stardom tree, the last thing you want is to not be ready. There have been many occasions when a person has been given an offer just after they lost out on one award-keep that dude that got humiliated on American Idol this last season in mind.

IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS

Sometimes, like Mr. Hung, you just need a few lessons. Don't feel that you have no room for improvement-even the pros constantly push themselves to improve on what they know, even if they just go to foreign lands to learn new playing styles on their instruments. I was mostly a songwriter and good backup musician until I caught a debilitating case of the flu in college, found I temporarily lost my eye-hand coordination, and decided to take Voice and Choir for my last semester rather than Orchestra, where I had landed the first chair spot in Clarinet before my mishap. Learning to sing classical pieces, which I had only done a little in grade school and casually in church, not only made me not miss playing so much, it forced me to face my stage fright issues and my hatred of performing solo (which still dog me to this day).

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