BECOME A FUNDAMENTALIST / JUST SAY NO! By Don Regan

I know your thinking the professor has finally lost his mind but I assure you that this is not the case. My mind was lost many years ago though I still maintain a certain degree of lucidity. This is also not a political, religious or social commentary even though I do not believe in any form of prohibition, such as any recreational activity that one might engage in that harms no one.

No, today I will deal with the aspiring musician. I can see it all now, the aspiring musician watches Behind The Music, and says, “this is the life for me”. NO! This is but a figment of your imagination and if you believe everything you see on TV you will end up in the Twilight Zone. As Dean Wurmer said to flounder in Animal House, “being drunk and stupid is no way to go through life”. Dreams are great but you must have the tools to make that dream possible. Then, the aspiring musician thinks, “If only I had this effect I could be like Hendrix”. NO! This is absurd. You will never be like Hendrix and believing that any effect will do this shows that you have the I.Q of a pencil. Then he thinks,” if only I could play these particular songs I would be great and everyone would love me”. NO ! This does not make you a musician or popular it makes you a jukebox and believe me your friends would rather listen to their IPod. “But what about these really fresh clothes?"

NO! The clothes do not make the musician. They are just the tinsel you add to the tree. Despite what the media and your peers have told you becoming a musician will only come from DISCIPLINE..

OOOOOHHHHHH NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Yes that’s right my friends you heard right the dreaded D word. “Professor, does this mean that I should be beaten profusely till I’m black and blue”? Or “Professor does this mean I should practice until my fingers bleed?” No to either question . Although……. no pain, no gain.

Discipline starts with FUNDAMENTALS. Without fundamentals the aspiring musician is like a rudderless ship. It’s the Enterprise without Dilithium crystals. It is essential to ones musical development. As my father always said, “You need the right tools to do the job right."

While all the elements of the 2nd paragraph are part of the solution, they, by themselves, are not the final solution. LEARN MUSIC. The mechanics and the theory. How and why music works. Whether you do this through the guidance of a teacher, or through your own self-discipline and study. Just get it done. Everyone’s sojourn is different.

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