Popular opinion says that some people are born with creative brilliance — a gift for melody, a way with words, or brilliant command of a musical instrument. What about the rest of us?
Decades of research suggest that brilliance isn’t born; it’s made. What we think of as “genius” is actually something that any diligent beginner can achieve… eventually.
But what about musical prodigies?
We tend to worship our geniuses, and put them up on pedestals.
Take the composer Mozart for example. People revere him as a prodigy because he was already good at the keyboard and violin by the time he was five years old. But actually, Mozart’s early abilities have a simple explanation.
Mozart’s father was an expert music teacher who sacrificed his own career to teach the child. Mozart is praised as a genius for composing original works by age eight, but on closer inspection those early “compositions” are just assembled from pieces of music written by other composers. Mozart may have been quite good as a youngster, but he still didn’t manage to compose an original masterpiece until he’d spent over sixteen years in training.
Jazz great Miles Davis was one of the most influential composers, bandleaders, and musicians of the 20th century. Did that achievement come easily? No. Davis studied music at the Juilliard School. In his spare time, he’d do things like study scores written by French composer Maurice Ravel. He worked hard.
Carole King recorded her album “Tapestry” in 1971. It’s still considered one of the greatest albums ever recorded. By the time she wrote “Tapestry”, though, King had been playing the piano for 25 years, and had already been writing songs professionally for 13 years. As a child, King didn’t sit down at the piano and immediately begin composing hits — one of her first performances was in a school talent show.
Look closer into the story of any “born genius”, and you’ll find lots of practice and experience. The greats aren’t superhuman — they just work hard.
You’ve got nothing to prove
Waiting around for your hidden talent to be discovered won’t make you a better songwriter. Only actively working to improve your skills will make you a better songwriter.
It’s as true of songwriting as anything else: In your early days of learning anything new, don’t worry too much about proving your talent — worry about improving your talent.
You may not become a virtuoso overnight — nobody does. But if you spend a little time and effort every day to improve your skills, rest assured that yes, you can improve a little at a time. These small changes add up.
The greatest songwriters in the world are just normal people who’ve spent years acquiring their “talent”. They made mistakes, they wrote really bad songs, they sang off-key. Slowly, with lots of practice, they corrected these weaknesses and slowly got better.
So can you. Keep practicing.
Creative Commons image courtesy of starmanseries