I’m someone who still feels relatively new to the world of being a musician, so when it comes to writing a piece for a forum like this it can seem a little overwhelming. I can relate to many of the things that have been written about on here – feeling like an imposter; learning how to juggle different aspects of work; working out how best to define success. My route towards working in music full-time has been a roundabout one, and I’m definitely still learning the ropes. Basically, I find that most days involve me having to push myself to do new things, which I’m often reluctant to do (at least initially). There’s a resistance that has to be worked against, whether internal or external. So I thought I’d share some thoughts around that, in hopes that it might prove helpful to somebody reading.
I’ve got a stammer, and it’s one of the main reasons it’s taken me the best part of thirty years to end up working in the area I think I’m best suited to. When I was in primary school I would enter competitions such as the Mòd for singing and playing the fiddle; the problem was, before I even got to singing or playing my piece, I was told I had to introduce myself and say what I was going to play first. I think this is somewhat standard practice for competitions – but I wouldn’t know, because I haven’t done any since! By the time I got my words out, I was in no state to perform, either shaking uncontrollably or having forgotten most of what I’d practised. I enjoyed the music, but I just couldn’t do the talking part.
Read the whole blog (it is great!) here https://www.traditionalmusicforum.org/blog-post/?newsid=22191