What it's really like to be a professional musician
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- čas přidán 2. 12. 2016
- It's not all sparkles, rainbows, and dancing in the moonlight. But it's what I do, and I love it anyway.
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I pracrastinate too...mostly because I live with non-musicians who complain that they can't hear the TV when I practice.
One of my biggest pet peeves are people who think I have a "Play music" button and they can just shove a book in front of my face one minute and have me perform the next. My pastor is bad for this, he'll tell me "Bring your flute next week, you're the special music" and I'll say "No I'm not" and not bring my flute the next week. I'm not an iPod, I don't play music on demand.
Darn, I know the feeling all too well. I should probably expand on this topic on another video, haha!
JustAnotherFlutist That would be awesome!
I asked my pastor once if I came up to him and said "You're a publisher? Publish me a book." (he owns a publishing company) He said no, because there are a lot of steps and processes needed to publish a book. I told him it's the same with music. Musicians don't just pick up a piece of music and start performing it. There's a lot of preparation to do first. He's let up a bit but still at least once a month says "play something".
It's tough for a lot of people to wrap their minds around, especially if they have no experience with music. They literally think it's magic and we're wizards. Which is weirdly comforting because at least it's nice to know people think we're magical. :P
In all seriousness, good on you for educating your pastor and standing your ground. We all need to do that, or else we'd all go mad!
I feel the same man. Whenever I bring my instrument anywhere people come up to me saying "Oh cool, can you play ______ song?" They don't understand the fact that you have to practice the notes and learn the song first. I guess you can improv it but it's just not the same.
I'm a singer and I hate when people are like "sing for me!" Just because our body is our instrument does not mean we can or want to sing on demand. There is a lot of preparation to be done as a singer as well.
I have to say I'm glad I'm playing flute as a hobby/non professional gig. After watching 100's of vids on flute playing and what musicians go through all I can say is they have to have a strong backbone and know how to hustle hard to make it in that career. Not saying it can't be done, but I feel less pressure to enjoy playing without worrying about where my next paycheck comes from (although I still do to some extent). I probably won't be nearly as good as a professional flutist even after years of practice due to not knowing what to practice and starting that path early in my youth, but I'm glad you and other professional flutists (yes you are professional regardless of impostor syndrome (I have this too with my own career which is in IT)) are helping us aspiring musicians with our journey along the way which I'm very thankful for. Keep making videos and I'll keep watching.
pracrastination is incredibly real omg
Awesome video Joanna!!
I just found your channel a few days ago and i am really, really impressed. You are very funny and a great musician!
Thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy all my videos! :D
No Problem! :D
I love your channel! Thanks for making these wonderful videos for us. :)
Pracrastination. I feel personally targeted.
I'm so bad at practcrastination especially as a multiple instrumentalist, I will practice everything but what I should be lol
Airic Cook I play piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, French horn and self teaching flute, and when I go to practice flute I NEVER want to practice it and I'll play everything but it
Thank you so much for this video !
I’m no musician. I simply happened to stumble upon this video by chance. I’m glad I did. Very interesting to hear your take on the life of a music pro. Thank you for sharing your hard-earned wisdom. I’m now a subscriber.
I Just started to follow you, and I already love you!! You (and your videos) are so positive and I really agree with you with the most of things you talk about. (even I have played flute Just 1 year)
Love your channel!
Wow, this extends and generalizes far beyond playing an instrument. It's a path of life with some very deep psychological insights. I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing. :)
as a saxophonist, i am in love with your channel !!
Thank you very much for these videos. Some I connect to more, some I just like as a musician, some I don't connect to, whatever. As a teacher, performer, conductor about to join the unions and go pro, I am thankful that I can I hear from your perspective and get insight just to the mindset. What's special is not my skill but who I am? Maybe you just calmed me down just a bit :)
Can you do a video about how to feel after a bad performance, whether it be a solo or ensemble, and how to cope with it? If that makes any sense. BTW, your videos are so helpful
My flute professor just mentioned this same thing to me last Thursday because I had two performances on Monday and Tuesday that I thought I did very poorly. The thing that we talked about is that we make ourselves think that we do way worse than we actually do. I have the worst habit of thinking that I am the worst player after every performance that was probably just a little off. I think performing musical instruments in general has to do with more than just how you play a piece, but how you convey emotions before and after the piece, even days later. I think the best advice for your question would be to tell yourself that you did the best that you could at the time, and to take the performance and learn from it rather than regretting it. Thanks :)
You are showing the truth!!! Thank you for making me realise this!!!
You are so honest, thanks for the video ❤️😊
It's funny that this video actually makes me want to go practice XD
I loved this video!
Thanks for the video!! JustAnotherFlutist!! Could you look at gemeinhardt step up flutes from Flute center of New York.. Maybe try the Galway Crusader Headjoint? I would really appreciate it.
Thank you for making videos.
You're absolutely welcome! ^_^
What if there was a model flute that allowed you to press the low B key with your LEFT pinky beside the G#, like how the keys on a clarinet let you play low E.
So you could trill.
Mark Gaddie that's a great idea
Mark Gaddie this exists from many companies. Haynes and Powell used to make them in the 40s-80s and Louis Lot made some too. Keep an eye out for one!
Maybe that was why they wrote the trill in Joanna's music because they thought everyone had one of those flutes.
I was thinking that being a professional musician would be all rainbows and sparkles too. I'm not a professional music, but I would like to be 5 years from now if I can. Thank you for the information.
Hey Joanna ! Next time when you make a review video on different instruments,can you review a couple different student/beginner piccolos? It would help me a lot because I have to play piccolo in marching band and I'm not sure which one to get,I've tried a couple and I'm having no luck with finding "the one" .thanks a lot Joanna! I love your videos
If you make money doing it you are a professional!
I pracrastinate all the time... I play alto sax, and I convince myself that playing Hedwigs theme will TOTALLY help me learn the Recitative and Allegro for my chair placement...
thank you miss, for decreasing my stress and anxiety
one time in wind ensemble we had a really obnoxious low c to d flat 16th note tremolo thing going on and we attempted something similar hahaha. the end result was that my friend ended up taping down one of the keys on the foot joint and pulling the tape off after that section of the piece. it was crazy hahaha
I'm in eighth grade and I play the flute I love all of your videos and your an amazing flutist.
This is very similar to a course that we have now at UBC music...these words are so wise
I love your videos!!! I'm a flautist/tubaist, and I was wondering if there are any channels like yours for tubaists? (P.S. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop watching your videos. 😂 Your content keeps me practicing and motivated.)
I absolutely pracrastinate!
I play bassoon in band, but find some excuse to be found working away on a flute or piccolo, often times not even playing, but working on another flute's mechanism.
For example, I am supposed to be working on music for a concert on Tuesday. What have I been working on?
A vintage, musty flute.
What was I working on last week during my practice time? Sousa's Stars and Stripes forever piccolo solo!
Why? I will likely never perform that!
I also conveniently schedule practice time at times when my ADHD medications wear off. Wow. That's a great idea.
😂😂😂 That's how you know you're being a true musician! #pracrastinatorsunite
Oh and on the subject of the "play button"
Yesterday I was voluntold by the choir teacher that I would be playing flute for one of the song in the choir concert on Thursday.
Great.
She gave me the music, and said, "You probably won't need to practice this over the weekend. The women's choir, who you will be playing with find it very easy."
Wonderful advice. Somehow, as a student, I already get "pro treatment," that is, being asked to play, and expected to play anything.
Daaaaaaaaaaaarn, it's definitely a bit tough when ANOTHER musician does this to you!!!
A friend of mine told her I was good at the flute, so I guess that means I am ready to play at any time.
Not that I don't enjoy it.
It might get me a chance actually to be a replacement for pro musicians that the school usually hires for drama productions, but instead I would be in pit orchestra.
Zachary Coronado Me too I play the trumpet but I am constantly on my flute. But I prefers flute though so maybe that's the reason y? I guess
Amen! My piano teacher told me that I have to fight for opportunities and a composer that I met who was the president of Manhattan School of Music said "Don't piss anyone off because if you do then you won't get jobs" :)
I pracrastinated last night...I so glad that I now have a name to this now AND that professional musicians do it too!!!
Hahahaha, YES, if you play a musical instrument, chances are you DO pracrastinate!! #pracrastinatorsunite
I stumbled upon your channel as I'm starting a music school in China and I love it! What's your heritage?
Interesting !!!
I've recently found out about a gizmo to put on the flute to make it sound better, the lefreque. I'm very curious if it actually works. I see so many different opinions who swear by it and others that call it snake oil. Can you get one or two to try and give an honest opinion before I spend my money? Please! I'm very curious
Emilio Montes-Pace yes yes yes please review the lefreque!
I noticed the Trevor Wye Books at the back :3
I am currently in high school and studying piano AND trombone, but I would like to quit trombone to focus on piano for college, since it's my primary instrument. I've known my trombone teacher most of my life, and I was wondering what your perspective was on how to tell a teacher you don't want to study with them anymore. Thanks.
Maybe you should try the Pomodoro Technique to help with the pracrastination. Needless to say there's a phone app to help with this. Thanks for sharing the reality from the other side of the fence with us all.
i love this :D
Could you please list the Trevor Wye books you are using and maybe make a video which ones you recommend and how you practise with them? Thank you.
Can you do a video on lefreques?
"Your personality is actually what dictates how ... your professional career ... (Funny face) ... Goes"
I loved that jajaja and I'm not sure of the reason of that face
10:25
I'm planning on starting a teaching studio in my junior year of high school, but i'm having trouble deciding on rates. Advice?
Maybe google the rates for other flute teachers in the area that are at your level and go from there? :)
I performed with this church one semester in college and most of the flute players were older than me. I encountered two issues. One we weren't allowed to take our music home. I actually got permission to take it home a few times just so I could make copies. How am I suppose to practice if I don't have the music. They just expected us to know how to play everything perfectly off the top of our heads. Two all the other flutes (there was only three of us) played everything up an octave and it didn't sound good. It didn't fit and left me confused. Plus one lady was rude af and got rude with both me and my friend multiple times. I even threw sass back at her once. But I realized how little I fit in that setting and chose not to return after that semester. Which is sad because I loved playing in a band setting.
I'm here !
WOOT!
Given that my job involves sitting at a desk typing away on a computer keyboard, being a musician sounds infinitely more exciting than the stuff that I do.
Sounds an awful lot like being a professional photographer. lol. It may seem like we spend all our time with a camera in our hands, but in reality, most of the time is spent on the computer processing images, marketing ourselves etc. :) I am a clarinet student and I actually spend more time practicing my clarinet than I do taking photos... :P
LOL so trueeee. I graduated with a general music degree, played handbells my entire life (and flute), got asked to sub for a Christmas Eve thing for handbells with literally no idea which bells I was playing and didn't get the music till right before rehearsal and all the director said was "Oh, here's the music, don't know what bells we need you on, we'll let you know when we play during the service, but you got this because you're a music major". I was so mad because at LEAST let me see the music.
That's when I realized I was considered a "professional". I felt like it was such a joke lolll
mikiiimouseee turns out, being a music major has little to do with prepping for being a professional musician. The pro world is focusing on music and booking. Think about a music degree. How much of a music degree actually preps you for the professional world? Lol
While I'm sure there are very intricate pieces of music that are a challenge for professionals I would like that is you have your master's most music found in a typical church hymnal could be played cold (correct me if I'm wrong).
I'm guessing another element of professionalism is being able to play a piece well even when you don't like the music. Have you ever been in a situation where you really, really didn't like the music but gave it your professional best?
A professional musician is someone who makes a living solely by playing music.
Makes no difference how good or bad,
educated or not, whether you practice or not.
What is a good piccolo for someone who is ready for a piccolo?
I just did a piccolo comparison/review last week! :D Check it out!
JustAnotherFlutist I will, and can't wait until you do the next flute review!:)
Haha, same! The next one should be interesting ;)
Who did you study with in your undergrad? :)
Ps- very excited for next weeks video topic!
Aye!!!
EYYYYYYYY
Omg I'm sooooo excited for the next FCN flute review 😍
Hehe, so am I!!
Funny how I've always wondered...do professional musicians actually get tired of playing? Since it requires so many hours of studying and practising and then rehearsals, It's so much stuff!! I'm always afraid that I may get tired of playing, since I enjoy music so much. People usually say that if you love your job you'll never grow tired of it but...how true is that?
It goes both ways, honestly. Some days you tire of your craft. Some days you're addicted. There has to be a conviction about what you do that is so strong that it drives you through those days when you tire of your craft. Once you find that conviction though, you'll have the strength to push forward on the days you don't feel like doing anything at all. :)
How about the audience? Is it supposed to be spectacular and sparkles and glitter for them?
Lol I totally pracrastinate
You went and pressed her key, haha, hilarious, the thing is my flute doesn't has a low B key, sad...
That's not sad, it's just a different footjoint! ;) #cfootjointlove
Yea, so I had decided my next flute must include the low B key.
Sounds awesome! :D
If you go to my channel page, you'll see a "review" section. There's an Altus that I reviewed there, go check it out! :D
Thank you~
Hi
Hello!
So noboby should become a pro musician?
Harrison Loeffler that’s not what she’s saying. She’s just pointing out the things many people don’t know about being a professional
I am a clarinet player in school, am I the only one that gets annoyed whenever someone talks about how short our performances are or the people that complain that they have to hear us perform and every time my brain goes to the many months it took to assemble that performance!!!
well, it’s a compliment!
i’ve once had an hour long concert, in a reaaaaally professional environment, and my mum still came up to me and told me it was too short.
It’s usually because they want more, and they think it would be a good compliment!
my opinion. there are two ways to become legitimate as a 'professional musician': one is God gave you a crazy amount of talent, usually being a child prodigy, then growing up. and the other is being very good, then getting degrees from college.
2 3
I usually just watch the videos you play. Because the ones you talk to, I do not understand
I do not speak english
I play trombone
Actually, I would say that you paid for your "professional" title, by getting your BA and then Your MA, and even your DMA that no one else is insane to go in debt for the rest of their lives for!!!(just kidding) But seriously, you did go in debt not just purchasing that ridiculously over priced piece of metal, wood, plastic, whatever instrument you chose during your music education may be made of, but you also went in debt paying for the hours of instruction that comes with that "PROFESSIONAL" title. As all musicians know, when they start out, you start teaching/tutoring even before you actually have your degree (usually starting when you're still in high school, preparing to living in the adult world) and you realize, you need to earn a living. So, why not just use your talent as soon as you can? So you start doing gigs. But then you realize, that you feel you cannot call yourself a "Professional" musician, because you do not even have that BA under your belt and you feel like a fraud. And you feel that if people see that you do not have these credentials behind your name, then you must be a fraud. So, you splurge on your first degree as a BA student... And you've upgraded your instrument. Now, you see that there are other people in your field talking about $$$... You could possibly earn more if you have the MA behind your name. This will also allow for you to write your own lesson books, and get paid even more $$$... So you splurge and get your DMA... Now you're screwed, because people need a doctor, but you don't hold a medical doctorate, so you let them know that you can at least perform at their funeral... NO, I'm just kidding again! Calm down!!! But, you deserve the title of PROFESSIONAL, because you put the long hours and hard work into earning those degrees. Like I say, I cannot call myself a PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN, because my degree isn't in Music. I call my self a music veteran because of the number of years that I have been playing with out a degree. Right now, the only degree I hold is a Travel & Tourism degree. So, I could be called a professional travel agent or professional tour guide... But now I am back in school working on obtaining my BS in Sociology... What the HELL am I thinking!?!? I don't know... I was working on a BA in Business, but now I'm onto a whole new thing. Talk about going into debt. This is now my forth major change. I was going in originally for a BA in Business, then BS in Computer Software Engineering, then back to BA in Business, now I'm back to a BS in Sociology. Just call me a PROFESSIONAL student!!! I don't know if I have time at this point to drop everything and get a BA in music!!! I cannot remember $#!+ now, because I'm so freakin' old!!! Since signing up for piano in primary at my church... I've done lost my mind. My fingers cannot even move freely like they did before I turned 40... What's going to happen when I turn 50? I'm screwed!!!
IMO, all it really takes to consider yourself a professional musician is if you make most of your income performing music. That's it.
EARLY
SO EARLY!!
JustAnotherFlutist OMG YOU ANSWERED!!!! So I am playing flute and I'm pretty "good" but I have a question. When I play PICCOLO I have to tilt the head joint forwards me to make a sound. Are there any tips you can tell me??
Can you have another job while being a musician?
Your cute!
... ☹️ Sorry just had to let it out