Frustrated with the Music Biz??? Good!

By Carla Lynne Hall, The DIY Diva (more articles from this author) 2001-06-07

Comment | Email | Print | RSS

"No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction, whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others"- Martha Graham

The film Farewell My Concubine tells the story of two famous Chinese actors who grew up in a government orphanage which trained them in theatre arts. The popular discipline in this orphanage was whipping. Not just any kind of whipping. The kind where you lean over a post and receive unending whelps with a rod by an unsympathetic master, the same one who taught them their performance skills. One day the two boys manage to run away, and sneak into a circus. They take turns sitting on each other’s shoulders to see the professional circus. They are both so moved by the talent of the players, that they begin to weep. During this emotional scene, one asks the other, "How many beatings does it take to be this good?" This performance changes their life. They RUN back to the orphanage, and beg to be taken back. They are fully prepared for the beatings that they expect to get. Instead, the master of the orphanage whips the remaining orphans as the boys watch in horror. The other orphans were being punished for letting the boys go in the first place...My good friend Lorraine Stewart and I mention this movie often when discussing the music business. It never fails that each week we have some wall that we are trying to scale, or some opinion that we are trying to change. We are forever knocking on doors that do not want to open. The beginning of this year has been particularly difficult since we both have started the year DETERMINED to run things. But it finally dawned on me. We’re SUPPOSED to feel this way. Not because we’re gluttons for punishment, but because we’re actively working towards something. If you’re not frustrated, that means you’re not working hard enough towards your goal. If you’re sitting comfortably on your ass, watching TV every night, stuffing yourself with chocolate, what is there to be frustrated about? If you have a job where you can half step all-day and still get paid a decent salary, you’re not going to be frustrated. Anything worth having is worth the discomfort. This frustration goes hand in hand with the hunger for success in any goal. I’ve come to believe that frustration means you’re on the right track. Before Thomas Edison finally invented the light bulb, he had tried 10,000 attempts. Someone later asked him if he thought that he had failed 10,000 times. His answer was no, but he now knew 10,000 ways it wouldn’t work. If he would’ve given up after, say, 999 times, we probably wouldn’t have given him a hard time. His friends would have forgiven him, but we wouldn’t know who he was today.

Home » Career Tips » Frustrated with the Music Biz??? Good! Permalink: http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=3812 Email | Print | Comment | RSS

back | top