There are two main types of music learners: Those who learn music for the enjoyment and love of it and those who choose to take it up as a degree and as a career because of their passion for their craft.
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What Makes Music so Special?
Music is a powerful force in the world. It is a unique mode of communication, capable of expressing emotions and conveying inspiring and universal messages. It can be used to convey complex concepts and ideas, as well as serving to bridge gaps between people from different backgrounds. Music can bring communities together, inspire creativity, and create a feeling of joy.
The hurdles that are not spoken of :
Learning music can be a challenge. Becoming proficient in any musical instrument or style takes dedication and hard work. Many students opt for traditional music tutors to help them learn the fundamentals of their chosen instrument and its theory and performance techniques.
This route requires patience, as it may take months or even years before the student can progress to more difficult levels.
Students passionate about music may wish to pursue it as part of their academic studies by taking it in a higher education institution or through an Arts Stream. This provides a comprehensive learning experience encompassing music history, theory and performance. It is also a way for students to connect with like-minded musicians and learn from their experiences.
The Rewards :
No matter which route students take, the rewards of learning music can be immense. As a result, more and more people are deciding to embark on this journey each day, bringing joy to the world through their musical creations.
The challenges of learning music are real, but with effort and guidance, students can succeed. Music making and music learning may seem to be a huge deal. However, music tutors can provide a valuable resource to help students reach their full potential in learning music.
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Now, Let’s Identify the Difficulties that Music Learners would Possibly Face
The Theory :
Firstly, although unnecessary, it is important to learn basic music theory before becoming decently well at music. Many of us might know friends who know how to play songs without understanding the theory behind the songs, but the reality is that not all of us will be able to do that. Music education has a huge role to play in excellency.
When we first listen to music before studying any theory, we may be able to intuitively understand certain things, such as chords, harmonies and scales, but without learning music theory, we will not be able to understand them fully. Simply learning which notes are harmonised is not enough. We must also know they harmonise.
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Professional Development :
Music theory is vast, and learning just the basics may be difficult. However, this is essential for musical skills to be attained easily and for professional development. Thus, many face the dilemma of trying to learn music theory or songs without the theory.
Music teaching is challenging, and even more difficult to help students step out of their comfort zone to explore art. Music pedagogy is constantly being revised, and the pedagogical approaches are altered to meet the needs of every student.
Teaching music is slowly becoming easier as music teachers are trained differently. Many teachers are starting to become a source of inspiration for their students these days.
The Time it Takes :
Learning music is very time-consuming. Initially, many might think that learning music will be a good hobby to pass the time and be a good party trick or skill to impress your friends and family.
Learning basic songs like a happy birthday or Twinkle Twinkle to play on the piano will seem very easy and may motivate you to continue trying to learn slightly harder songs. However, the harder the songs get, the exponentially harder to play/sing.
For singing, violin, cello, trumpet and instruments where a particular note may be hard to hit, it can be very easy to get sloppy and completely out of tune. For instruments such as the flute, piano, guitar and so on, it can be very easy to hit the wrong note again, potentially ruining the song you are playing.
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Knowledge and Focus :
Like mastering an art form, it takes a lot of focus, knowledge, and discipline to improve one’s craft in music. There may be numerous challenging circumstances, but students must gather the courage to face them head-on.
The only way to play without mistakes is to put in an effort not only in learning the song fully but also in practising countless times once learnt to ensure you remember how to play it perfectly. This also makes it very frustrating when you mess up, which is why many give up learning musical instruments early on.
Identifying the fundamental problem and crafting a targeted approach to solve the issue can only be done by great music teachers.
The Cost :
Thirdly, some of the above problems can be solved by hiring a music teacher to help with practice and maintain a consistent training schedule. This is where the third challenge may arise. Learning music may be expensive. However, the above also greatly depends on which instrument you choose to play.
Singing only requires your voice, while for playing the violin, you will need to invest a significant amount to buy a good quality violin so that you’re playing will sound decent well. Buying a good quality instrument will require a lot of money.
Although this may be a problem for casual players, it is even bigger problem for music students trying to make it their career. This initial investment is very necessary for their development, and not all may be able to afford this head start. Now let’s cover the challenges explicitly faced by those who wish to play music seriously as a career.
Societal expectations :
Society’s expectations and outlook on musicians are not ideal. Everyone will enjoy a good concert, but when their own child says that they want to pursue a music education, many parents may hesitate to let their child achieve their dream.
Music education is currently not a priority in our society, and most parents consider it purely as a hobby, not a viable career option. Education systems do not give much importance to the arts excluding specialised schools such as SOTA.
This results in extremely high expectations of those who want to pursue music as they are now required to succeed to justify their decision. This also leads to the next point.
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Achieving success :
It is difficult to be a successful musician unless you are extremely good at what you do. Good practice and depth of subject knowledge are essential. Only if you are above a certain skill level will you be able to perform in concerts and slowly build up your reputation.
Many budding musicians may dream of playing/singing a solo in front of a concert hall with hundreds or thousands of music enthusiasts watching them. However, the truth is that for most pursuing music it requires a lot of effort and time to reach that stage.
There are counterexamples to this, especially considering all the prodigies such as Chloe Chua, a talented violinist from Singapore who has participated in international competitions since age 8.
These prodigies have been putting in an immense amount of effort and time throughout their life, with some even starting at three years old. For those who unfortunately have only gotten into music later in their life, it will be a very tall task to reach that level in the same amount of time.