The flame of youth and the harsh realities of life

[DoubleBlade]

Have you all wondered when you first started getting involved in music and you wished that you wanted to become a professional musician "touching the hearts of your listeners" through your music and stuff like that. But as time goes by you grow up, enter the professional workforce, get married have kids etc, didn't you look back and tell yourself ,"Geez....I was really naive back then!"

I noticed that such super idealistic mindsets usually happens during the teenage years of growth. I mean its fine to be idealistic but we also have to be practical at times.

We can't possibly have idealistic thoughts of fusing every single genre of music in the music dictionary together when your band cant even keep in time etc nor can we have idealistic thoughts of charging people unrealistic rates for your band to perform at their event when your band has only been around for 2 months etc?

I was once like that during my angsty youth days. Wanted to pursue a full time course in music because music was like my life to me and stuff like that but after studying for almost 3 years in a local polytechnic pursuing a non music course, I guess the realities of life have finally got hold of me.

Gone are the days when I wanted to pursue a full time career in music because we all know that we are living in meritocratic Singapore where academic certificates are much preferred over musical certificates.

The flame of youth I must say.....

 

[skyxlancer]

i prefer to say the education system and the environment in singapore.. i suppose many of the great drummers started out thr wit this flame of youth u are talking about..

 

[DoubleBlade]

Yup agreed but not to the extend of being too impractical with our dreams.

 

[HarrisonYeo]

dam , i hope i wont live reality and live my dream

 

[AEnimic]

Threadstarter,I'm nearing my 3rd year in Poly too..the love to spread music never faded. You might have the case of following the trend? No offence,it's when you see your friends play in bands then you want..then after so long you start to lose the fire to play music.

 

[DoubleBlade]

Not really I still am into music. But its all about having unrealistic objectives in your passion for music.

You want the band to be famous, that's fine with me but expecting the band to achieve superstardom in less than 6 months....now that's being too impractical.

 

[Cloudsky]

I think one good way to have a solid foot in reality is to hang out with actual professional musicians, they would certainly paint a different picture for you.

 

[Mortichro]

if you wanna have a career in music... go to malaysia..

well everyone has a dream to become a rock star and live your life in euphoria but well to every surrealism comes reality so i guess that having dreams is ok but taking it serious in this country will lead you to your downfall.. not unless you are a super genius and be the best here..

 

[panz3rr]

Its all about the spirit lah bro. I mean, if u want to make a band and become famous, don't try in Singapore. Its all about the feel of the music. Play what you want to play. If people like it, good. If they don't, doesn't mean you have to stop because someday it might reach out to certain groups of people. The saying goes "you never know your luck ah bro." And threadstarter your idea of proffesional musician has been accomplished by quite a bunch. They are doing well in pubs etc.

Playing original music and making it a full-time career is another issue.

I'm not saying it can't be done. One good example would be Impiety. They played what they like, and till this very date, they are still running strong crucifying the world.

Reality is, its F...ckin hard to make it in Singapore, but when there is a STRONG will there is a BLOODY way man!

Thats my honest opinion ah. Great success don't come easy. Need alot of hardwork man!

I find your post demotivating to the bands out there who want to try. No offense, but thats what i think lah bro.

Cheers!

 

[AEnimic]

^ cheers to that.
Reality doesn't necessarily mean you need to just give up.
Yes,we're driven by our dreams...once you let go off those dreams,I guess you start to become like threadstarter. I am not saying I would be a musician ALL MY LIFE,but I would like to see where it will bring me.

 

[THOA]

I think the threadstarter has posted something very real, and I applaud him for that. I do not think he is demoralising or is giving up on music. Have you clicked on that myspace address attached to his signature? He is STILL doing music. This thread is for the purpose of opinion and point-to-ponder.

I am well past my days of being a teen, so I live in such a reality that I have to think about feeding myself as well as paying bills and taking care of my family. Unlike Aenimic, I discovered music only after I graduated from poly, so I was in a position where I have to face the real world at a time when a passion is beginning to take place. But of course, even in my poly days there are some other dreams that I have.

But now it's just work, and music. There are certain sacrifices I have to make, and certain expectations on me that I have to NOT live up to. And quite honestly, it can be rather depressing. You get judged or questioned alot by those who do not understand your passion, even by friends and family. And sometimes it does make you wonder if it's all worth it.

It's really easy to say that you are really living your passion and all others who chose to give up along the way are just following a trend. But we live in a society where the "right" and "stable" way of life is pretty much determined in this mold: Birth, school, job, marriage, family, death. Trust me, when you start to work, you will realise how hard it is. Its even harder when you are married. And by the time you have children, what do you do with what little time you have for yourself?

Kudos to everyone here who still feel the "flame of youth" in you. But reality check: you want to keep that flame burning? Work hard be prepared to destroy a few things that is important to you. I'm sure that bands like Impiety would agree.

 

[DoubleBlade]

I'm cool with it. No worries.

Just to clearify myself, I'm talking about people having dreams of being professional musicians but sometimes they fail to take into consideration the harsh realities of life. I'm not saying that your band can't make it and stuff like that but there are also other committments in life which you have attend to apart from music and that's when the harsh realities of life sets in.

Yes you want have dreams of being a professional musician, by all means work hard to to the point of neglecting your schoolwork or studies etc. Studies are equally as important and sad to say we are living in Singapore where academic certs matter.

 

[panz3rr]

yea work hard at both music and a career tt can bring income. i think thats the safest in Singapore.

 

[FluxUs]

well even after donkeys years wasting my life away on all aspects of music i.e. listening/consuming, bands, org gigs etc I am STILL doing it despite the obvious lack of 'mass' acceptance and reward but why? Bec deep down in our jaded old souls we still love to rock and roll and kick ass. And nuthin' give u that kick more than just being a part of musik, regardless of wat day job or familiy commitments you have you still just GOTTA do it. Call it madness, stupidity watever but you can't stop da rock, watever form it eventually takes............

Yes you might think you're fed up and jaded and done w da scene but the fact we're still on this forum just goes to show.............

 

[shinobi]

but there are singaporeans who can do it what.

the thing is, as much as they are good musicians, they are also proficient in whatever profession that they have dedicated much time and effort to. singaporeans are a relatively well-educated and qualified bunch (its just the unwillingness for companies to contribute to CPF that causes many jobs to go to foreigners).

so you are as good a lawyer, doctor, accountant etc as much as you are a good musician. the choice is simple. for the hundreds of successful professional musicians in other countries, there are tens of thousands of others who don't make it. in local context, that probably reduces to 1 or 2 bands (which is what we see today). as such i don't see anything unusual about the situation in this countries.

and if youth is a flame, then NS is a bucket of cold water

 

[cheesegrater]

If you love music, go ahead.. play. But you still need a degree and a job.

Let's face it, the music industry here is shit. We have so many awesome bands that aren't moving. Let music be your passion, but not your career.

 

[plainsman]

the market here is too small for top bands to earn really big money.

but given the greater population, you would have more people who fail to make the grade.

if say, 1 band out of a 100 in singapore managed to make a name.

in US, it might be more like 1 in 10000



at the same time, if reality of life means being able to support oneself to have a fairly comfortable life (ie. not hand-to-mouth existence) without luxuries like 4Cs, i think it IS possible to achieve that in SG.

The top people, income-wise in sg music industry still do make quite comfortable money.

in terms of top earners as contemporary/popular music, i think steph sun bought a house some time ago. i think its possible she made at least 1-2mil since she started.

for good songwriters, producers, top instrumentalists, annual incomes over 6 figures (100k pa) is not a surprise.

of course, many of the ones who make it clear anything between 30-60k.



comparing to top in other professions like law, architecture, medicine, it definitely pales. some general practitioners i know earn easily 1 million a year.

but if u're doing what you love and you can give up that benz or country club membership, you might still make the EC (lol!)

bear in mind, have to work as hard (and equally as smart) as in other fields.

it is definitely more difficult to have a strong work ethic in artistic field. different people will have different take on good music, for me it comes from putting earnest effort in your craft, staying humble and hungry and then finally, allowing yourself that bit of style and self-indulgence.

cheers

 

[rottenramone]

its not that difficult as long u stay hungry.

and try to stay near the cliff edge too lest u get bored.

 

[blueprintstudios]

my say in this is that, yes i love that flame of youth thing to live the dream and with each day pass that reality rat race is starting to outrun my dreams. but I still don't give up and i tell myself i'm willing (and I CAN) to work hard big time to live both reality and dreams.

to add on what the threadstarter said, to you dreamers (in a good way) , you will feel the pinch when you've realised regardless of reality or dream, it isn't going to be just about you. and i'm talking about family. wife and kids. y'know. their future's going to depend on you, the man. suddenly you wished there were more than 24 hours in a day, or you could split yourself into clones and delegate each life task done. you know you've got the strength, but time isn't your best friend.

so do re-consider how passionate you are about your dream, imagine how much strength you really wanna put in and multiply that imagination by 3 times. cos it'll hit you like a train and you'll tell yourself "wth man, I didn't think it would be THIS HARD!"

so my fellow dreamers. and may the flame within you burn like a real mofo, live both dream and reality. you only got 1 life. what's it worth?

50¢ worth.

 

[pf]

I guess it depends on how passionate one is about music and how hungry is.

I don't know if it's a blessing or not.....but during my poly days, I dreamt of being a very good accountant and earning big bucks. Hahaha....

Then nearer to the end of my uni days, I realised I was studying too much. But it was good. I got a stable job and made enough money to start having music lessons. My family couldn't afford it when I was small.

I guess I'm in a different league. But its good to have dreams when you're young. No matter what the aspiration is.

Some of the youths I met nowadays got their energy sucked out by school that they are merely existing. That's sad.