Just At The Beginning of A Musician's Journey - But The First Steps Are The Most Important

in #music7 years ago

Everybody's got to start somewhere. For me, with music, that is now. 


Well, professionally, that is. As you can see here 

I have always had a soft spot for music in my heart. And some fat cheeks that you just wanna pinch. That's because I was really lazy growing up. This fact happened to come between me and music, as my parents tried to teach me so many instruments, and it was just too much work for me back then. Trumpet - Sold it. Tenor horn - let it rust in the basement. Guitar - my teacher told me he doesn't know if it's laziness or stupidity, but I'm not fit at all for it. At least now I know it was definitely laziness, because even when I'm teaching it myself, my Ukulele playing is getting better and better!

But singing - What more does a lazy, flamboyant, annoying kid want than making music that you don't have to train your hands for for years? I was the radio replacement on every car ride, whether others wanted to hear it or not!

My mum has been in the same house with me for the first 18 years of my life, so I can image why after a while she got tired of it. From her, all I got was an eye-roll and a sigh whenever I started serenading while cleaning the dishes. So for most of the time, I assumed that I wasn't really good at it at all. Didn't care, did it anyway!

Well, except when some people started to tell me that they liked my singing and wanted me to sing something for them, then I usually was like

So, for many years, I wasn't sure what to think about my own singing.

Until last year.

During my third year at university, I started spending a lot of time with musicians, and I realized how much creating music made me happy. I also got a little bit more comfortable about my singing after experienced musicians wanted to do music with me. The most motivating moment was probably when I was in a local Jazz club at a jam session, and I met a former instrumentalist for Chet Baker. After he told me that I should give music a try, I finally had the courage to tell myself, "what do I have to lose?" So, I did the craziest thing one could do in this situation. I auditioned for "The Voice".

I never watch TV, so I was first told about the concept when a close friend showed me videos about it on Youtube. She told me that there were auditions taking place during the next month, one of them right around the corner.

This post would probably get way to long if I described the whole experience. But long story short:

commercial photography locations

I got through the first TV round.

I did sing on a couple of weddings and on smaller events before this, but through my participation, I have got and still am getting opportunities to sing in front of many people, and I am so grateful for every time I get on a stage. But I realized that I have to invest a lot of time and effort to be able to live from music. It is a risky path, but one I am willing to take.

Currently though, I am finishing my Bachelor's degree in language studies, my second passion. I got to the second round on the show, and that was more than I ever hoped for. In fact, it would have been bad for me to get to far into the competition, because I would have had to stop my studies for it. So, for now, I am trying to focus on finishing my last semester, but that doesn't stop me from pursuing my music!

I have been writing lyrics for a long time now, and I am currently working on finishing and recording some songs. But since that can be quite costly, I spend a lot of my musical energy on covering, as you could see during the last week. In fact, to sum this up, I have one more short cover just for you guys! I did it on a recent trip to Paris, I hope you enjoy :)

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Hey there, welcome to the Steemit community
Hope you have a great time here bro
Looking forward to reading more of your post
I'm new here as well feel free to check out my page and follow also...
Cheers

Hey thanks man! Appreciate it! :)

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@WishMaiden

Wow, thank you so much!! This made my day!^^

Hey @dee-jay what a great story, it has a good feel, and your voice is so sweet. Enjoyable read about your quest reaching for the stars and all while you study hard! Thanks so much for being a part of "Center Stage", wishing you all the best in the coming days ahead. Up-voted and Re-steemed! :)

Thank you so much! This post literally pays my rent, so crazy :D So glad I wrote it for your competition! Maybe I'll even win it^^

I really like your article! Had a smile the whole way through, love that cute as picture of you shakin those maracas, like a PRO! hehe. It was good to have some more insight into you as a muso, you have my up-vote :)

Haha my maracas solo was mad back then! Thank you soo much, this reaction to my post is so crazy :D

Wow bro i'm impressed not only are you educated but a very talented musician as well. I hope you get everything you want out of this life and I will enjoy seeing you doing big things in the future. UPVOTE!

Thank you so much man! Really appreciate the kind words! :)

Welcome dude! Here's to pursuing what brings you joy. 🍻

Thanks man! And just read your story as well, so great to know that there are musicians on here that have seen the good and the bad sides of this career. And there's just 5 months age difference between us, so that makes everything even more relatable :)

I'm a former blue collar musician myself. I spent a lot of time touring the various dives and bar rooms across the United States, mostly in the south and mid-Atlantic states. It is a risky business but you've clearly got your head screwed on correctly. You have a vetted alternative in your college studies and you have proof-of-concept to demonstrate your potential for success!

I had very little. My little band was regionally known for a while and running out of very sketchy barrooms with $20 in our hands typified our experience. Though I failed commercially as a musician, I can tell you this; I regret nothing! I saw more places, met more people, and experienced more things than I would have ever had access to had I not spit in the face of hard reality and chased a long shot dream. I don't have as many things as the next person, but I have riches they drool over when I tell them a story or two from my rambunctious past. That's called losing the battle but winning the war.

Remember that part as you go forward, that the ride and the people you meet on the track are what comes first and I promise you cannot lose.

Wow man, thank you for your long and motivating comment! It's sad to hear that some musicians didn't get appreciated the way they should have, but I'm very glad you can look back on it with a big smile! No matter how this ends for me, rich or poor, that is the main goal! :)

Absolutely beautiful post. All the best with your future in music! 👊🏼

Thank you very much man! Appreciate it! ^^

Awesome post @dee-jay
I enjoyed every bit of it. I guess you enjoy what you do. Just catch your fun here. It's a great community. I'm already addicted !

..Followed! and pls do stay in touch.

I love it! Thanks man! :)

You're welcome

hi fellow steemer thank you for the post. I want to know for a post how much days sttemit pays to the author? 30 days???
Resteemed+followed+upvote

It takes 7 days! :)

I want to say that total hoe many days steemit pays for a post 7 days or 30 days?

Congratulations @dee-jay!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:

  • Upvotes - Ranked 4 with 133 upvotes
  • Pending payout - Ranked 1 with $ 524,29

Cool, thanks man! :)

Keep singing and living the dream @dee-jay use your steem dollars to live your passion and sing until you can't stop.

This post helps me so much! Might soon be able to buy myself a good busking speaker from Steem, that would be the coolest ever! Thanks so much for the support man^^

nice post. upvoted and following.. hope u will do @ika497

Thanks man! :)

bro, here i posted an informative video. hope its very helpful for u. pls upvoted it dear
https://steemit.com/life/@ika497/this-nine-tips-may-save-your-life-1-day

:) what a great story, keep writing music bro!!

Thank you man, surely will! :)

Hii sir , follow me @bangjal and see my content :)
I have followed you ;)

Hey, thank you for the follow! :) I am looking at every commenter's profile anyway, and I think most active Steemers do the same, so it's probably best if you just focus on your good content, the followers will come for that! ;)

Welcome to Steem! Great first post, you certainly have a great story with music. We're glad you were able to find your way through vocals. It's even cooler that you got on TV! Thanks for sharing. Upvoted and followed.

Thank you so much! Really appreciate the nice feedback! :) And so cool that you're teaching young ones about cryptocurrency! Keep up the good work as well! :)

Great post! You have a great voice🎤 keep up the great work and best of luck with your songs🎶
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Thank you very much man! And I really appreciate the dank minion gif :D

I always felt that my singing skills were only second to my gardening skills. I pretty much kill any plant I touch...

Well that's what I thought for most of my life as well! Why don't you record something and let us hear it?^^
But I get the plant thing, I have brutally starved multiple plants on my balcony as well... :D

Nice written! all da best in your journey!

Music is life!

Do follow me @boommusix too!

Hey man, thanks for the resteem and the nice words! ^^ Do you do music? Asking because of your name. I couldn't find any, just resteemed content :/

Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.

Wow good luck to you, great music and you choose a very good location for that video 🎼🎶

Thanks man! Yeah I thought why not sing the most french song ever in front of the most french scenery ever :D And thanks for the story about the 10 Cent Ether guy :D but I mean, 99% that was an inside job!

This is one of my all time favorite songs. Great rendition! Keep it up.

Really? Aw so cool man, makin' dope RnB AND rapping, but still listening to this kind of music, definitely got my follow :D

Songs like La Vie en Rose (in my opinion) is what some of the worlds greatest music derives from. Keep it up, u got talent.

Welcome to Steemit @dee-jay!

Your cover is really great, love the location too. And you're a leftie? Yay! So am I (I play guitar).

I'm still new myself. Checking out some of the great content here on Steemit. Looking forward to interacting and posting a lot of cool, valuable stuff here!

I will be posting my 'IntroduceYourself' post shortly. Just waiting for a vid I'm having made for it, I want to do it well (I'm excited!)

Well you know how to use memes well, so you're already off to a good start! And yeah man, lefties unite! :D Post that thing! See ya on the trending page soon hopefully ;)

Welcome to Steemit DJ. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do! :-)

Welcome to Steemit @dee-jay!
I'm a bot-helper, and I'm created to help. Congratulations on the registration on Steem - you really like it here!
Unfortunately, I can not make an upvote of your record - my steem power is still small. But in the future I will come back and do it. If you like me, make an upvote of my comment and follow me.
Your upvote will allow you to give more money to new users, such as you. Let's make Steem better together!
I follow you, and I hope you will follow me.
All the money I earn will be donated to charity.
Steem on!

Hello bot. I'm an asshole. Nice to meet you.

Beautifully said @lenerdo ! <3

Wow! Thanks for the good mood)))

Come on guys, you can't do this to me! I just posted, went to bed and woke up with a 500 dollar post! That's pretty much most of what I need for a month :D This is crazy! <3

my name mam @mamm....i come from Thailand.... , i just new here and hope you have fun and share more post and hope we can be friend enjoy about our post...so my Englisg is't very well, but will try the best for that....
so should be nice if we are follow each another and vote... i will follow you and vote, have a nice day dear. and see you soon dear ^_^

Thank for sharing ❤❤❤

Thank you for the support, even though it is a copy-pasted message that you sent to dozens at the same time. I can only recommend that you take the time to actually look at some content people post on here, there's some real talent here! Perhaps you'll get motivated to post about your talents or stories as well :)

I just want to introduce myself.

Thank you .

welcome
to learn more about submitting a story on steemit click the link below
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@presino/how-to-submit-a-story-on-steemit#comments

Your awesome man thanks, please follow and upvote me and I will follow and upvote you

That was a lot of fun to read, @dee-jay. Great story! Best of luck on your journey and welcome to the community :) Cheers from Salt Lake City.

Hi @dee-jay! Welcome to Steemit. Cool! You were on The Voice! I have thought many times about auditioning. That would be a lot of fun. Steemit has OpenMic contests every week. You should get in that. Here's some information: Open Mic. Following you.

Congratulations @dee-jay
You took 74 place in my Top 100 of posts