I have been a musician since I was 14. I am now 20. I have a part-time job, and help out with chores around the house. I try to do my part in exchange for my room and board. But my parents want me to get a degree, in order to be financially secure and safe in the future, when my musical aspirations inevitably fail. :)
I adore what I do. Music is all I care about. I cannot waste my youth in a school doing work I couldn't care less about. I cannot grow old and pretend I care about an awful day job I need just to pay for a rotten apartment. Fortune favours the bold, and I will go nowhere in life if I do not take risks.
What do you think I should do?
2007-07-25 07:24:04 · 17 answers · asked by KurtR 2 in Family & Relationships ➔ Family
Your aspirations are admirable, but they won't put food on your table when your parents get fed up with keeping you.
Why not get some qualifications first, they're never a waste of time.
You can pursue your music at the same time can't you?
2007-07-25 07:29:29 · answer #1 · answered by jet-set 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Look at the top 20, they're people who have hits. Out of that 20 maybe 2 will have another hit and it's likely none of them will still be around in ten years time. There are 6 billion people on the planet. Figure out the odds.
Much as you love music and much though I'm sure you're very good, you are not the next big thing. You are not Elvis 2 or even another Oasis or - god forbid - another Rihanna.
Get an education. It is simply not possible that there is nothing out there that interests you except music, there have got to be other things you like and there must be one in there that can but food on the table.
Living as the struggling musician will give you some good stories to tell but mostly it is just a lot of worry about food and bills and there is nothing enjoyable or glamourous about that.
2007-07-25 08:15:12 · answer #2 · answered by Elle Dee 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A great many wonderful musicians do not work in that industry because there isn't enough work to go around. Thats a fact of life. Your parents are aware of this and so to be on the safe side, you do need to have other skills so that you can thrive and survive whatever is happening. I would also remind you that awful day jobs are what got you from being 0 to 20 years and to turn around and say you couldn't do it is both insensitive and immature. You may well find that before your musical career takes off, you need to get a job and your parents would like it not to be working in macdonalds hence the degree. There are plenty of qualifications related to music which are practical too so a compromise could be reached. And take a risk, get a job, get your own apartment and find out what its like to live in the real world instead of sponging off people who have to do awful jobs just to keep you.
2007-07-25 08:38:20 · answer #3 · answered by AUNTY EM 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I knew then what I know now.... I would
Study something like Medical Technician or Respiratory Therapy or something like that where I could have a decent, well-paying day-job and play my music at night - working on it so that one day it would support me.
But I didn't. I played music just the grasshopper in the Grasshopper and the Ant fable. Now I'll be 50 years old and although I am one heck of a good musician, I make 6 an hour as a short-order cook in a greasy spoon in some little known town just off the interstate.
But hey, don't let me stop you from working on your dreams.
On the other hand, you sound like a whiny crybaby who is also quite spoiled. So if I were your parents, I'd tell you to let your music support you and insist you move to Nashville or Memphis or NYC or LA.
2007-07-25 07:39:26 · answer #4 · answered by Barbara B 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't give up - have you seen the recent article about the group Queen? One of the band members is going back to school to finish his Ph.D in astromony! That' great!!! There are many different types of jobs you can get and still go to school - bartending, being a wait-person, teaching instruments (what you play).
check out the colleges that have some type of music program. No matter what, you'll be learning something about different types of music.
That's right, you won't get anywhere if you don't take any risks. So what about if you don't get anywhere, and end up broke and down in the gutter? What 'cha gonna do then? Use your brain! The music industry has a lot to offer! Writing songs, teaching, engineering, playing in bands, production, managing, etc. Just think about it. Don't wait until later to learn something new.
2007-07-25 08:32:20 · answer #5 · answered by Weezilmom 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe in chasing after you dream so that you will never blame anyone or have any regret later in life. But, your parents are worry bout' you. They want to know that you will be able to fend for yourself when they are not around anymore. Is their job and dream. Since you like music so much. Why don't you study something that has to do with music? Get a degree in that. It might even bring you closer to a dream. I am sure there are many out there. If not, just get a degree in something else that u like besides music. Then that can be your plan B if you music career do not work out. At least then you can tell your parents that you can take care of yourself. And do talk tot hem bout' your plans. Let them know you have a plan.
2007-07-25 07:44:05 · answer #6 · answered by jianing_86 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They want you to get a good education you Moron, something you don't have at present. Musicianship develops early and if you were any good you would be making a living at it by now. Your full of bullshit with all that talk about wasted youth. What are you doing now in your youth? Working part time and writing to the world telling it how stupid you are. Go to University, if you qualify. You can do that and music as well and at the end of it you will have made great friends and become a more aware person.
2007-07-25 07:40:14 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm with most of the answers on here - you won't stop being a musician if you go to college you just swop the part-time job for a bit of study. If you do something music or arts related you will also get to meet loads of other stimulating, artistic, musical people that you can swop ideas with and really get the music juices flowing.
Then if you do make it big you'll have the pleasure of sharing it with some really good mates too. Very few musicians I know (and I know a few) have done it alone, everyone has to have their inspiration, people to pick them up when things go bad, people to support them and universiy life with it gigs, ents nights, societies, balls etc is the perfect place to hone your talent and get noticed - you gotta be in it to win it - very,very few people get spotted in their bedroom!
2007-07-25 08:20:46 · answer #8 · answered by Leapling 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your music wont feed you unless you do something with it. Why not go to university and study something useful for a music career? Meanwhile you will have lots of contacts to start up a band or whatever you want to do.
Parents are happy
You get a good education (which is worthwhile even if you do stay in the music field)
You are still able to follow your desires.
2007-07-25 07:29:38 · answer #9 · answered by jeanimus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is so hard for you I know because we have been through this with my son, he should have gone to uni but he stayed with the band, he worked for a firm of solicitors as a clerk, he did so well they offered to pay for him to become a solicitor....he stayed with the band, he worked as a personal trainer having done a private course (paid for by us) he did very well at it and thought about appying to the University Hospital to train to be a physiotherapist, he was accepted....he stayed with the band - he is now 27 years old and working as a scaffolder because it's good money and he can still stay with the band.....he loves it, he's happy, the band is excellent they only play their own music. He wouldnt change a thing.
2007-07-25 07:40:56 · answer #10 · answered by ffiondove 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋