I recently met a singer who told me something I had never hear before. He said “don’t trust your musician influences.” In this case he was related to that influence, his uncle. While what and who our influences are important, it’s also important to never let anyone stand in the way of your dream.
Famous Singers
The Subject of this story, we’ll call him Blake, wanted to be a famous singer, and his uncle was a professional musician when Blake was a teenager. One afternoon at a family picnic Blake asked his uncle to listen to him sing, “I want to be a singer” he said. His uncle then said not in a mean way, “there are a lot of great singers in the world but I’m not sure you one of them”.
Feeling deflated Blake went on to believe that he wasn’t a good singer.
Singing In The Shower
As time went on Blake still enjoyed singing but he just sang in private. The words from his uncle even kept him out of choir at school and church. He didn’t focus on it, his life went on, he get went to college, got a job, got married, etc. but when it came to singing, he did it alone and never shared his old dream. As a person he was normal but as a singer he was not.
Why Playing Video Games Might Change Your Life
In 2010 Blake was asked by a nephew of his (he was now an uncle) and he was all ready to have some fun when he realized the game. It was a singing game on the Nintendo WII system. He then said, ” no, I’m not going to sing and make a fool out of myself” but upon persistence agreed to play. After all, it was just he and his nephew in the room.
When the song was over there was a strange silence in the room. He hadn’t noticed that his family had entered the room, that his nephew had was staring at him, that his brother had tears in his eyes. Blake broke the silence “whats up, was It that bad?”
It wasn’t bad at all his family told him. They asked him how he could sing so beautiful and where this had come from. His brother started to weep.
Don’t Trust Your Musical Influences
Sometimes the people we love and respect the most don’t know their impact upon you. A word or two in the wrong perspective can shape a person. In this case, it made Blake forget his dream. Now, 4 years later, he’s perusing it again. Blake is singing at church and recording with a band. He’s not bitter about not following his passion earlier, instead he focuses on finding it later. His advise, “follow your heart and not the words of others”.
* this article is based on a true story of a musician I met while traveling over the summer of 2014.
