Australian reader Jemma shares her experiences as a young singer/songwriter... along with her tips for other aspiring musicians!
Jemma says:I’m a thirteen year old singer songwriter from Australia. In this post I’m sharing some of my experiences of the song writing, recording, producing and promoting processes!
Right now, I’m producing my fourth music video, ‘Who Am I Today’. I wrote the song, I’m singing and playing piano for the recording and hiring other musicians play in it too. I’m also starring in the video.
How did I get started? I was obsessed with the Spice Girls as a kid and I decided I wanted to be a pop star at age five! As I’ve sung since I could talk, played piano since I was five, written music since I was ten and played guitar since I was eleven, wanting a career as a musician isn’t illogical. Last year I created a YouTube channel and uploaded my first music video, ‘Grandma’s Garden,’ on January 6th this year.
Since then I’ve made two more music videos, ‘Robin Redbreast’ and ‘Rise Up’. My videos are on YouTube. Check ‘Rise Up’ out at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8wS98nzLTM
If you’re an aspiring musician too, here are seven tips I can give you:Don’t be a musician when you’re older, be a musician now! ‘Making it’ as a musician is easy to dream about but harder to do; it’s better to start young and compete with older people than to start older and compete with young people!
Make time for your musical pursuits. I know it’s hard to do but if being a musician’s your dream, make it your reality! Have a spare hour where you watch television, play games, listen to other people’s music? Allocate half that hour to music practise, songwriting, or producing!
- If you’ve written a song, play it to family or friends and ask them these questions afterwards: Do you like this song? What’s it about? What did it make you think of? How’d it make you feel? If they like the song, know what it’s about and connect to it then it’s a good song. A few days later, ask them these questions: Do you remember what my song’s called or what it’s about? Do you remember any lyrics? Do you remember the tune? If they remember a lyric, a bit of the melody and its title or subject, it’s a great song.
- When recording music, have a short rest every couple of recordings – you’ll have to do many takes before you record ‘the one’ and you don’t want to get tired!
- When co- writing, co- producing, co- directing, etc., be open to your co-worker’s ideas, but make sure your ideas are heard too!
- There’s no such thing as the perfect song, recording or video! Accept your ideas as being flawed. In fact, love your ideas because they’re flawed!
- Be nice to people as they can help you! Make as many friends as possible, get as many contacts as you can – even if they can’t help in the creating of your music, they can help by watching your videos, playing your songs and sharing your music with other people!
Cathy says:
Wow, that's great advice Jemma! Are YOU an aspiring musician or songwriter? If you have any advice or tips, COMMENT BELOW!
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