I had an interesting time reading this article.

Personally, I relate to this article a

lot, on so many levels. Although my experience of critics in music and music education
has been very limited because of all the years in which I had been homeschooled by my
mother, I find my experiences as a musician outside of home extremely similar to some
of the scenarios Dawe has mentioned in the article.
Any careers of music challenges a musician’s stress-taking skills. No matter what
role you play throughout your life, whether it is a student, a performer, a teacher, or
even a critique, there are always things of your insecurities. I love Schafer’s quote
“​allowing people to become creative does not require genius; it requires humility”​ . Too
often, every one of us experience mental hardships. We always feel like we need to do
the best at everything and anything. From the technical struggles of hitting the right
notes to the internal debate of “should I really be doing music?” and “why do I suck at
this so much?”, we constantly feel like we are doing the worst within our abilities. I
especially loved the part when Dawe talks about auditions and how the pressure feels
like we need to impress somebody. Any music student’s journey of learning consists of
evaluations. On a certain level, that mindset is telling us to “impress our teachers”,
“impress our audience”, “impress our critics”, and just everybody in general. I often also
question myself being like “who am I trying to impress?”. As a singer, it has been my
growing pain. Because with my body as my instrument, if a note slips out half a
semitone off the key, it is my problem. I would be the one who messed up. It is funny to
say this out loud and I am just realizing how stupid that is as I type my thoughts into
literal words. How did things become so hard?? I assume everybody in this field has
great passions for music and love making arts with whatever instruments they have. But
how can something that brings us pleasure and life at the same time cause us so much
misery? Are we trying to impress others or are we trying to impress ourselves?
Vulnerabilities can exist in so many different forms and affect you in so many different
ways. Have you ever questioned “why? Was I really that good?” while standing on stage
receiving an award? I have. For too many times. Even at times of success, I still had that
little voice inside of my head making me question myself. Should I work on making it
stop so I can live with sanity? Or should I be grateful that it is always there, to encourage
greater developments in my career?
In terms of music education, I totally agree with Dawe’s point of view. Music
educators should always encourage a safe space for students to grow, learn, and make
mistakes without feeling the shame. Music is something that has to do with one’s life
experiences, and some of their deepest thoughts, Being told you have a bad song idea
hits you a million times harder than getting a big red cross on a math question. It is
something spiritual, intimate and fragile. Educators, students, and even just audience
members should always be mindful of that, and handle others with care. Humility is the
only healthy way of musical growth, and successes.