2 Traits You NEED to Become a TOP Musician

it's not normal you know what we do there's just no room for everybody so if you don't give it all up to do this you won't survive what does it take to become a top level musician how much practicing what types of sacrifices need to be made and what are the two most important qualities that the best musicians have that help maximize their potential and propel them to the top a lot of people misunderstand what's involved in being a professional musician in this video we're going to talk with some of the best classical musicians in the field to find out what their lives really look like the reality is that professional musicians have some of the most peculiar Lifestyles that are repetitive demanding and unpredictable what I want to help share to the world are the details buried in their daily routines that helps set the best apart from the Rest by partnering with hamburg's world famous El solomoni Concert Hall I got to spend a day with one of the resident ndr alphalimari orchestras violinist backstage at the hall itself so I'll get to show you all of the details behind getting and maintaining a job at one of the most prestigious orchestras you have to have this Focus you know and really being harsh on yourself of okay what do I need to fix like what do I need to work on to be the best I also interviewed an exceptional pianist friend of mine about how she keeps up with the demands of a heavy performance schedule combined with a full-time teaching position you do have to go in with the mentality of if I'm not the best musician that I can be what's the point many people think that all a musician needs to do is practice a ton and have talent this is true but it's only the tip of the iceberg [Music] Maddie vinecore is one of the violinists in the ndr elphilimorni orchestra this is the resident Orchestra at the El filomoni in Hamburg to get a job at an orchestra like this one musicians trained for years on end then must win at the auditions I went into every audition I've ever done with the goal to win you know not for the experience just I I wanted to win that job but I also think it's just as important to be realistic with yourself there are so many factors with auditions and professional orchestras that are completely out of your control my dream if you're told like little Maddie like 15 years ago that she was going to be in a professional Orchestra doing it full-time you know you know she would have been very happy so can you break down where your focus is you got to be focused at all times on the conductor because he's kind of controlling most of it but also my section of leader here depends on where we are in the music sometimes we have our cues written in here here's where the food comes in so that's where I'm about to come in now and sometimes we have the Rhythm and we have to focus on ourselves to be as stable as possible but also in tune with whoever is following us when I started my job here it was kind of like throwing a baby in water and kind of a sink or swim situation mostly just with the language so in Maddie's case being in Hamburg means that she's living far away from most of her family and friends who are in the United States as an orchestral musician you can't always choose where you live and that's something that you should be aware of if you want to go down this path and the freelance musician is bound to a lifestyle of frequent travel that is really rough on the body this is my friend Tanya gabriellian one of the best and busiest pianists I know though her training in many ways was not too different from that of an orchestral musician her lifestyle is very different she was just appointed head of keyboard at the Royal Irish Academy of Music which means she has to move to a new country while keeping up with her busy freelance concert schedule what's your upcoming schedule like I fly to Minnesota for a concerto two days I fly to San Francisco to open the San Cisco and National Peanut Festival two days fly to DC to pick up a suitcase fly to Ireland to dump off a suitcase to take a flight the next morning to Hamburg for a festival there and then straight to Leipzig and cold it's like three consecutive days for concerts go to Ireland try to find a place to live in like three days before I go to Scotland for another concert and then school starts the next day your immune system dealing with stress constantly all the time it's toxic to our bodies now what about practicing you could practice 10 000 hours with your brain somewhere else and it doesn't mean anything you should be able to get what you want to get done in like four hours a day if you're getting ready for a audition or a competition I mean of course there are times where if you're in a time crunch you might have to push that up to six or eight hours a day these numbers are in fact very common and not only that most classical musicians start training at a very early age usually around the ages three to six I started piano when I was three I started violent when I was four I did my first piano competition when I was four for piano you're stuck from a young age in a room by yourself you have once weekly lessons I don't know anyone at the age of four who wants to practice seven hours a day but you're sort of put on this path of you know succeed succeed succeed you know you have to build these muscles from a young age and they have to develop for some people it requires a certain kind of schooling I had a lot of friends who were homeschooled I went to public school I'm very thankful for that I learned a lot there but it was very very hard to balance you know a public school in New York education and also try to go for this career as a violinist once I graduated from high school I knew what I wanted to do you and I love playing violin and I was ready by the time I was 18 and going to college I was ready to be like okay time to focus on this time to like really dive into the craft and the Art of being a violinist this type of training also prepares musicians like Maddie to handle the workload involved during an average concert season we have a full week of playing of rehearsing and then two or three concerts in the weekend a day off maybe two days off and then the next program starts and if it's a hard program like a new music you have to start practicing for the next program and while you're also practicing the current program while I was backstage at the elf phone money I was also able to interview a top level soprano who is there getting ready to perform that evening my name is Barbara Burke and I'm a singer a soprano and Berlin radio choir now vocalists are notorious for having really strict routines so I made sure I asked her what her daily schedule was like I had breakfast and afterwards I did some little yoga then I with my technical warm up and then I practiced a little bit and afterwards I went to the rehearsal here now I will have some dinner with friends afterwards I will relax a little bit and round about six o'clock in the evening I will prepare for the concert I will put on my dress I will put on some makeup and sing a little bit more and be here in time for the performance tonight are you stressed out by any of these elements the most difficult thing for me is to get enough sleep if I have a concert in the night I'm not home until 11 so I have to be very careful about that and also to live a healthy life that means to have good food and to drink enough not to drink alcohol not to smell that's for me very important do you deal with nerves at all yes of course it's easier when you do lots of concerts the first concert in the season is always very interesting because you're more nervous than in the coming concerts now let's get into the two qualities that I think all top musicians have the first one is the commitment to be the best I'm choosing this one because it encompasses so many things involved in pursuing Excellence as a musician so it really involves having the drive to continuously get better and better being observant so that you know what types of skills you need to work on and acquire also having this commitment enables you to get Beyond different setbacks and difficulties during your music career I see this a lot in students where they don't have that drive to push themselves a little more and if you don't have that drive it's not gonna happen like it's just it just won't also that ability to endure discomfort and persevere through adversity now this brings me to the second quality which is adaptability and I'm choosing this one over so many other qualities that can easily be considered super important for a musician to have because so many things are unpredictable in a musician's Life by being flexible to all kinds of changes both in the short term and the long term I think a musician becomes well equipped to figure out solutions to complex problems everything from learning how to acquire a new technique moving to a different city for your job and most importantly learning how to cope with all kinds of mental stress and setbacks involved in being a musician I had a lot of success but then the times that it didn't work out I was destroyed I was crushed I couldn't play I couldn't bring my I couldn't get out of bed and so it took me a while to figure out that as important as it is to have this drive and this hard-working mentality it is also important to just get back up on your feet when it doesn't work out now you may have noticed that none of these two qualities are inherently Muse music based and that's because I think that having the music skills and talent is just a given it's an entry point and from there there is so much hard work involved and so many things that you really just need to sacrifice and put up with in a way to make music your career so it's really not for everyone and just because you have so much love for music or talent I don't think it means that it will Propel you to the top so now it's your turn to let me know in the comments what do you think of these points what has your experience been like as a musician and as always thank you so much for watching and subscribing thank you so much to Alpha money for making this video possible and thank you also to my patrons on patreon for your continued support

Channel: Nahre Sol

Views: 218,201

Keywords: piano, music composition, harmony, music theory, nahre sol, classical music, improvisation, pianist, film scoring, jazz, modern music, virtuoso, music school, music training, performance, high performance, high performers, best musicians, elbphilharmonie, concert pianist, orchestra musician, how to audition, how to practice

Id: dbe6zR5lu50

Length: 10min 35sec (635 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2023