How To Make It As An Artist | Luther Mallory | TEDxStMaryCSSchool

[Music] to be singled out feels weird because you have everybody's attention and then you have to figure out what you're gonna do with it it's the act of finding yourself suddenly separate from everyone else you don't fit out you don't fit in when you're being singled out you should try it try it here somebody catch this ball here we go here we go here we go and then just stand up just stand up and then just sit down see most people do not want that to happen to them like if I was in this audience and the guy just threw the ball I'd be like do not throw that ball to me because I hate being singled out I hate it and yet somebody just shoved me on this stage and said hey Luth there's like 800 people out there you've never met now you should talk to them and I was like okay and then my critical brain was like okay but what if they think your idea is bad and I was like well then I'll face rejection and then my critical brain was like why would that ever be worth it and I'm like I guess if a few people like the idea then I'll get a chance at connection the only reason the risk would ever be worth it is for connection and connection means being understood not just heard but understood there's a very vague and slightly embarrassing term that artists and musicians use making it everybody wants to make it well I've worked with hundreds of artists over the last few years and I always ask everybody what would making it mean to you and everybody always says the same thing connection want to change somebody want to change the world make impact and nobody ever says I want to get famous and make 40 million dollars but that's what making it means to most people but most artists don't think that way most artists want to change people and then 40 million dollars and getting famous is like a super great thing that can have to you if you get good at the important thing which is connection but it starts with connection and to connect it requires this risk thing right here and the more I choose to risk the more harshly you judge me so you watch this [Music] [Applause] see isn't that weird how that changes everything about what you feel about me everything is different now the barrier to connection is risk you got to travel through risk to get to connection I can't say to you I want to show you my idea but you have to promise to like it and that's how you make it as an artist connection but kids don't care do that like young kids don't care they don't fear risk and we were we were all once really young kids so who told us to start fearing risk better question is who has been telling you who you are and who you should be for your whole life when you were a kid life was about if you were lucky at least a little bit about discovery and exploration and adventure and recess one of the greatest losses in adulthood is loss of recess recess was proof that kids are crazy kids are crazy recess was a war zone recess is what kids to when adults are not involved this is what they choose these skipping songs talking about masu from Alabama sitting on a rock or eating Betty Crocker that's a song written by children with no help from adults that's what they do theirs they don't fear risk until something inevitably happens that makes them start to fear risk and that's a tragedy when I was in grade five I was the last kid to start wearing jeans okay at the beginning of grade four everybody moved to jeans from jogging pants sign of maturity end of grade five I'm still rocking jogging pants and they're not cool anymore and I'm like no no no no no I'm not doing jeans no plus mom just got me like new gray jogging pants that were super killer because I said kick butt on the thigh and so I'm at recess and I'm in the line to go in and Jason Pierce is also in the line and Jason Pierce he looks at my face and he looks down at my jogging pants and then he laughs in my face and for the first time in my life I heard this voice in my head that went what's happening what's going on and I answered the voice I said Jason Pierce hates my jogging pants and the voice said while you're wearing jogging pants everybody else is wearing jeans move to jeans we won't have this issue what are you a baby still is that what's happening and I was like it was the first time I ever experienced this voice in my head that was condescending and terrible to me like a mean voice in my head it was the birth of self-consciousness it was the awakening of the critic the incessant shattering voice in my head that meant to judge me so I went inside I told the teacher that I was sick I faked sick I called mom she took me home for the day I faked sick because I felt so self-conscious my jogging pants and then the the the true tragedy happened the next day I wore jeans to school I sold out I'm serious I chose to fit in it was gross I sold out I gave up my individuality and as you move through life more and more people show up to tell you who you are and then you accidentally believe them like everybody does like middle of high school somebody goes hey hey you know pretty soon that this is all on you right like pretty soon you're gonna have to know what you're doing in this world what's your purpose is you know you're gonna have to figure out your skills it's all on you pretty soon how to make your own grilled cheese sandwiches you don't have to buy winter tires at some point some horrible thing like that and and this Ryles the critic up the critics going now the critic is going okay so what's the skills what are we doing what is happening after high school what's going on have the fortnight hours been worth it what's going on and there's this is very very heavy loss of innocence and the critic just gets more and more sort of terrible and then it stresses you out and then calculating and measuring and thinking start to take over adventure and exploring and discovering until they do and you become a dull and adult version of your kids cell because the critic is in charge now thinking your way through everything to try to keep you from more pain and Jason Pierce was the first person without even knowing it because Jason was my friend he didn't mean any harm who's the first guy to tell me who I am and then I believed him without even knowing it Oh see that's very interesting because if I just lost an AO out there not that many people gonna pick it up but a lot of you too a lot of you don't mind being singled out most people usually wait to the second or third AO and the billion am I gonna do an AO yeah I'll do an AO you got to figure out if it's gonna be a thing but most people first day oh no not taking part I don't think so that's how it works there's a there's a billy goat over there somewhere your punishment for fitting in your punishment for fitting in and risking nothing is your loss of nju individuality your loss of uniqueness your loss of the stuff that actually makes you special when you choose to fit in and risk nothing you become sort of part of the landscape like nobody's gonna decide about you at all and that's every artists nightmare if you don't love me then at least hate me just decide and we are all artists when we choose to share and risk rejection for the chance at connection the chance of making it whatever making it means to you we're all artists when we do that if you've never been an artist on stage as a musician you don't know this but there's a guy and he's called front row guy and he's at every show every music show and he stands in the front row arms crossed dead eyes and he stares at the performer and he's at every show on earth any show happening now he's there as the same guy the same guy because the gods of success have put this guy there to test artists to rile up the critic as a symbol of all of the rejection that you're going to face so when the artist sees ro guy the critic comes in and goes oh he hates your face in your music and your clothes this is the most embarrassed for us we should try to win this guy over and that's the mistake because of the way you win over front row guy is you have to understand that you cannot control the beliefs and feelings and thoughts of another human being the way to win over front row guy is to realize that he's just part of an audience and his only job is to judge the art so the way you beat front row guy is you don't compete with him you just let him be who he is but who has been telling you who you are and who you should be for your whole life because everybody's got a Jason Pierce and ever he's got a front row guy people telling you your whole life culture Society people going that's not a good dream no you shouldn't do that no that can't work now now risk nothing risk less wait to clock in it like everybody else but there's somebody in this audience that doesn't want to go to university and is afraid to tell their parents and there's somebody who wants to start a business and it feels too risky and there's somebody who wants to move to Japan or LA there's somebody who needs to leave a toxic relationship there's somebody this audience who wants to tell their friend that they no longer wish to identify as male or female there's somebody in this audience who is deeply weird and wants to show people how weird they are but the risk feels too heavy well neither you nor your critic has any control over the thoughts and feelings and beliefs of any of the people or external factors involved on your path to making it whatever making it is to you you can't control any of it so you have an artist's choice to make it choose to share choose to be singled out choose to risk rejection for the chance at connection the great irony of being an artist who has identified with the critic and the critic is in charge is that neither life nor art is about thinking it's about feeling this is something we knew as kids and then we forgot so the only way to control is to let go let go of the critic come back to feeling remember what it feels like to be free and risk everything for the chance a connection and that's how you make it as an artist [Applause] [Music] thank you [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 59,797

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Entertainment, Art, Arts education, Dreams, Music (performance), Music (topic), Self improvement

Id: qWd4WdBu28M

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2019