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Music isn't a competition.

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#122
If your a competitive person, then you may take music competively. If you couldn't care less about competition you will be passive on the subject of competition. Sometimes it's the competition that make us better. Being a former athlete and life long musician I see competition and welcome it. It pushes me to be a better player. And at the end of a night of gigging, we are still friends and appreciates everyones talent.
 
#126
lermgalieu said:
Sorry, but I think even Swedish guys are capable of doing this as well. No need to go out of your way to insert full-country judgments into your posts.
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I have been observing this (and commented on it!) a long time. As I frequent various boards, in three languages, I see a clear trend. Friends and colleagues have made very similar observations.
 
#127
It's a double edged sword. Music is art and the beauty of art is in the senses of the listener/beholder/etc so I'm not a fan of award shows that "judge" art.

However, in the hustle and grind, music is competitive. Bands similar to the ones I was in were competing for the same gigs, and even at gigs we were "competing" with each other because if we upstaged our musical rivals, patrons were more likely to buy our merch and support us online.

The alt-metal band I played in often preferred to play shows in more podunk areas of upstate NY because people would drive up to two hours to a show, since there was little to do. We always played for massive crowds out in the sticks. On the other hand, our Philly gigs were lukewarm at best, because the city always offers a bazillion cool things to do and we were in competition with that.

And since our alt-metal band had a female singer, if ever we were on a bill with another female fronted band, it's was like a musical cat fight. Women get competitive with other women for attention, and when you have two bands with charismatic center-of-attention frontwomen...

The punk scene was unique in that if another band got a gig we were vying for, they'd pay it forward and bring us on a bill at one of their future shows. Scene unity was big and we wanted to be supportive of each other within the competitive music environment.
 
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#128
AlexanderB said:
I have been observing this (and commented on it!) a long time. As I frequent various boards, in three languages, I see a clear trend. Friends and colleagues have made very similar observations.
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I've heard/seen plenty of bigoted people try justify saying bigoted things because of "clear trends" they've observed. I'm sure most of them surround themselves with people that also share the same worldview and help reinforce each other.

I mean, you could recognize that you said something that was bigoted, and apologize for making a mistake (as humans do from time to time), or you could try to dig the hole deeper...but hey, you do you.

Have a pleasant day.
 
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#131
If your approach to learning a musical instrument is that of a hobbyist, who is only interested in "playing for fun", then you will have the luxury of not having to compete. On the other hand, if you want to achieve your potential (whatever that might be), and you want to perform in public (whether for remuneration or not), you will be competing with other musicians. And most importantly, you should be competing with yourself to try and always improve.
 
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