Although I know the title of this article sounds like it could be taken from a book about musicians, I accept it because it is true. Your musical identity will disappear if you neglect your career and stop writing music and putting effort into it. Your financial health and relationships will suffer if you spend too much time touring and not enough time in your music studio. Musicians need balance because it allows them to live in a large, dynamic environment. This balance allows for a fulfilling and ambitious career and vital aspects of a musician’s life that are not musical. You can’t have it all, especially when you consider balancing music careers with a day job, mortgage payment, and marriage. No! No! Balance is crucial.
Define your goals
When you’re on tour, writing an album or pitching your music to playlists and blogs, what do you do? Although it may sound strange, this is a serious question. The answer that you give, regardless of whether you are aiming to become a pop star or just because sharing and creating music is what makes you happy (that’s mine, too), should be the anchor that guides you in defining all your musical goals. You’ll be better able to determine realistically how much time you can dedicate to music-making once you have a clear idea of what you want.
Music vs. everyday life: A balancing act
It’s now time to find a balance between your musical goals and other priorities in your life. The best way to get the most joy in music is to just sit down and create it. Although I enjoy performing, songwriting is my main focus. My musical goals are more manageable than musicians who want to become the next big musical star. No matter what your goals are, you must find a way to work with them.
Your life shouldn’t revolve around music. Like all art, the music reflects and dissects the world. To make music that resonates with people, you must have a life outside of music. Let’s take the goals we talked about earlier, and break them down into achievable weekly tasks. How much time can you devote to music each week, taking into account your daily life? This information can be used to create a schedule. Before you say that you aren’t the type of person who sets a schedule, remember that music is a great way to make time for everything. You can strike a balance by learning to fight for your musical passion and other good things in your life.