I think everyone has something special that they can offer as a musician, it’s just building the other skills up to highlight that innate thing. For me it’s always been the writing side of things that comes most naturally (or at least pouring myself into that kind of work comes naturally).
Unfortunately, I think many music educators are ineffective at teaching students who lack developed time, pitch, or tone production understandings. Sort of like how great athletes tend to make poor coaches.
For instance, I had a crap ear for years which my teachers would either never mention or just say, “It will come with time.” Finally, after picking up the bass (where there’s nowhere to hide a bad ear) my new teacher gave me a few exercises, a solfege book, and the suggestion that I pray to m.f.ing god to find the strength to figure it out because that was the kind of mettle it was going to take.
