By Elizabeth Erenberg

1.  The music world, much like the other parts of the “real world” has a lot of what I call the You Absolutely Never Know Syndrome (YANKS).  Everything, in some way or another, can always come back around later.  If you play your cards right, this should be a serendipitous thing; chances for you to “yank”  opportunities.

2.  The joy and the struggle, and perhaps the joy in the struggle, is that you really have no control over anything but yourself; how you react to things, how you treat people, how much effort you put into your success, and how much you believe in your potential to achieve it.  You might think, “I have many great skills, in some cases more than Harvard grads, and I am about the hardest worker there can be.  So why is it so hard to survive?”  The hard things, like trying to make a living and be taken seriously in a world full of music professional skeptics, high unemployment, in general, etc.., are completely unfair yet completely ubiquitous. But you think, “Who cares?  For the amount of money I paid for school and the amount of my soul I put into it, things should be a little better.  This is not my fault.”

3.  Then, old Saturday Night Live characters like Stuart Smalley have real messages that can be very effective. As can real-life people who overcome extreme adversity with shining colors.  Or remembering those who struggled just like us, and even worse than us, but who came through . Now that's the impact of a positive attitude. 

4.  Yes, a music degree can get you a decent job. Of course by “you” in this little lecture, I am talking about me.  Coming out of NEC I was a little confused as to what my path was.  I wasn’t feeling so great about traveling all over to audition for orchestras that I had about a .0001% of passing the first round to potentially be in a group that had the professional satisfaction of prison guards, and might likely eventually go bankrupt. I wanted and still want to retain the joy that brought me to music in the first place.  So, for the time being, a combination of things sounded good to me – teaching, playing, and other administrative or creative work would be good things for me to start exploring the next steps while getting on my feet. Last month, when I got hired to be the Coordinator of Music Events at Tufts University (a job in my field that utilizes my creative and administrative AND musical skills), I realized that things were never actually that bad.  Even before I got the job, I had enough students and occasional playing gigs to survive by working hard. The only thing I was really doing wrong was freaking out.  My new “real job” doesn’t stop me from being a flutist.  In fact, I feel more motivated now to practice and go forth with my performing endeavors than ever before. 

5.  Sometimes, to put things in perspective, ask yourself:  Where were you x amount of time ago, and how did you get to where you are now?  Has the past unexpectedly come back and reveal itself in the present and made you into who you are now, and how can you use that to get to where you want to be?

Now that I’ve revealed my secrets, time for you to reveal yours.  What are lessons you’ve learned?