Mentoring plays a significant role for us whose professions revolve around the arts and other related industries. Even those who pursue a college education will usually mention some mentor as a key to their growth.
I was under a number of music mentors, there are those who helped me understand the art of creating music and there are those who provided me the opportunity to polish my craft.
Amongst those who taught me music, I had four private piano instructors between age 9 and my sophomore year of college. Each mentor helped me become what I am now, but there is 1 mentor that stood out among others. My three mentors are more concentrated on technique while my mentor in highschool focused on my talent for songwriting since she herself is a songwriter as well. Rather than just take me through a program, she took an appeal in me as a musician and wanted to develop me as an artist.
As a composition major in college, I also had private instruction with two composition teachers-and again, 1 of the two stood out as a music mentor. He took notice of my strengths and weaknesses as a songwriter, and challenged me in particular ways to help me develop. He was not just a teacher, but also a personal coach, willing to work with my human side, my attitude concerns and my meltdowns in the process.
On the other hand, I also met mentors who never taught me something but instead they gave recognition to my talent and gave me the chance to use it and improve it. I spent a lot of time in church music settings as a young man, and several of the musical and spiritual leaders in those settings gave me access to musical instruments and recording equipment, let me play on the music team (even as a youth), allowed me room to make shortcomings, and even found me other places to play. These people were my private cheerleaders, but even more than that, they had a role in building a foundation of success under me.
There are 2 things I seem to recall when I think about my music mentors. First of all, regarding the mentors themselves-the ones who affected me most were the ones who took a personal interest in me and in my growth, both as a musician and as a person. Second, I realized that in the course of my development as a musician, I learned more from my mentors than my college education..Even though some of my teachers and mentors were in the college scenario, it was the personal attention that helped me develop in music, far more than the classes, homework or tests. College was helpful in my development, but my mentors in music were pivotal in my development.
This article was added on Sunday 27 June, 2010.
