If A Tree Falls In A Forest...
Last night, Amy and I engaged in a spirited conversation about what makes for a breakout mainstream artist. Ed Sheeran and BTS were the main vehicles for our conversation.
Is Ed Sheeran really that special? I don't find a single noteworthy or interesting thing about him or his music. And yet, Amy happily sings his songs, while I begrudgingly complain.
It is my belief/hypothesis/theory that talent alone is no recipe for success. I also believe that talent is a quarter a dozen. That is to say, while not every single human has talent worth paying attention to, it's more prevalent than we assume. I have remarked in the past that there are plenty of legitimately talented people in the world who will never be known for their talent except to a few friends and family simply because they did not make it a point to play on a stage in front of strangers.
I believe the far greater determinant of success is drive and determination. I may scoff at the many bands and performers who grace music venues, get millions of views on YouTube, and don't have “the talent that I do.” But they're doing that, and I'm writing this blog post. They had drive and determination.
I've been told I'm “very talented”. Friends have described me as “one of the most talented people they know” when they introduce me to other people. Why has that label been put on me?
I suspect it's because I publicized my talent. I spent much of my life playing and performing music. And by performing, I mean playing in front of strangers on a regular basis.
In high school, I played in a jazz quartet with my friends at coffeeshops around town. We actually gigged. We made money playing in front of strangers.
In college, much of my public performance stopped. I played bluegrass with a high school friend who went to the same college as me, and I think we had intended on playing around, but church got in the way. I met some guys in a band who needed a keyboardist and played one night with them, and then never again because my pastor told me not to do it. So I spent a good amount of time writing songs in my room. I'm not sure if I had intended to make them public and get my name out there. Church would've gotten in the way, I suppose.
After college, much of my “performing” was leading worship in front of a congregation for a year.
And in my later young adult years, I spent 3 years playing in an unknown local indie band and the farthest we drove to play was Chattanooga. Pretty stinking cool by one measure, and a massive failure by another.
In 2019, my acoustic guitar lies behind me in a case collecting dust. My electric guitar is in its case, along with my amp and gear, in the guest bedroom collecting dust. My neighbors and many of my coworkers don't know I'm musically talented. New friends I've made in the last few years don't know I'm musically talented.
Maybe talent is only really talent when you have drive and determination.