How To Pursue Your Musical Ambition In The UK

Music is one of the world’s most precious art forms and is in fact one of the oldest. Music is even used to scare off pirates in Somalia, and yet pursuing a musical ambition is scuffed upon by most scholars and academics.

Fear not, as today’s article is all about how to pursue your musical ambitions while living in the UK.

Practice Makes Perfect

Yes, you’ve heard it over and over and you’ve probably even heard of the research behind the 10,000 rule, but unfortunately, it is true. There is no quick route to mastering your instrument of choice or perhaps producing. Only with blood, sweat and tears can one achieve mastery in their craft.

After all, a music career these days will depend on your musician skills as well as being a “showman”, therefore having the skills to make and play music while giving a show is no easy feat… Practice!

Plan Out Your Living

If you’re like most musicians you’ll know money doesn’t come easy and gigging is hard work. When it comes to following the ambitions you also need to account for living costs which might mean having to work a tough job to pay the bills while also finding time to practise.

Students look to borrow immediately to get into school. This is done in order to give themselves a few years of peaceful practising without the hassles of work or bills. Taking out a loan to follow your musical endeavours can be risky but schools give networking and gig opportunities which can really help set you up or at least get you pointed in the right direction.

Nonetheless school or no school it’s essential to plan out your days and make sure you have time for practice, work/school and social time for a healthy lifestyle.

Get Out There

Too often we see talented musicians stuck in their rehearsal spaces, although this is great because it means you are practising, it’s essential to practise playing in front of crowds! The most common excuse is “oh I don’t have a band”, well surely you must start looking for one or at least engage in jamming sessions at many local clubs and pubs.

After Fear Factory lost their vocalist do you think they just sat there hoping a new vocalist will pop up? Of course not, they went out there looking for a new bandmate they can click and work with and in fact, Fear Factory will announce a new vocalist by next February.

The moral of the story is get out there and enjoy playing music to the masses, well perhaps not the masses but the 20 something people at the pub. Nonetheless, what’s the point of music if not to engage and communicate with other people in a musical fashion?

Enjoy What You Do

This is the most essential tip for following your musical ambitions. It’s essential to remember why you want to do music in the first place, don’t get too caught up in all the business side of things. Also, be sure to take it easy on yourself, we musicians tend to be very self-conscious about our playing and even the greats suffered from stage fright once upon a time.