I'd Do These Seven Things, If I Were Starting Out in Music Today....

Or in writing or visual arts or any other creative field

At some point during my teenage years, I decided I wanted to be a jazz musician. But I didn’t have a coherent plan.

I just spent a lot of time at the piano. And when I wasn’t sitting at the keyboard, I listened to jazz—on records and in concert. I also read jazz magazines and books at the local public library (which had a subscription to Downbeat).

But here’s what I didn’t do:

• I didn’t get a music degree.

• I didn’t take any lessons after the age of 18—and never had a single jazz lesson.

• I didn’t try to get gigs.

• I didn’t network with influential people in the music business.

• I occasionally glanced at a music textbook, but never really studied one.

• I didn’t learn anything about music technology (except how to plug in my Fender Rhodes).

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I never thought about music as a career, even though having a successful music career was my highest aspiration.

What in high Hades was I thinking?