2 – Training

One of the greatest cautionary tales you’ll see out there is the artist who thinks that talent and good looks alone will lead to a long life of opportunity, money, and fame. That’s not artistry, that’s just a need for attention and notoriety. Until social media and cell phone technology became the great equalizers, all of these people quickly faded in comparison to the people who put in the time to understand the craft and cultivated their talent. It’s becoming more apparent on the various reality shows and especially in auditions, that the people who just wing it eventually fall away to the people who have had some training, or are used on these shows for other reasons.

Just to be clear, training doesn’t mean you have to take a class or find the best school to teach you how to be an artist. The type of schooling is contextual to the particular discipline you’re interested in; Dancing requires training, actors inherently become better actors with training, and singing helps you manage and not wreck your instrument. Art schools will absolutely round you out in different mediums and disciplines. You might even find courses in writing screenplays, but it’s not as common to find courses in standup comedy, balloon twisting, or chainsaw sculptures of bears and dolphins. The important paradigm to focus on here is that saturation and community will be your greatest allies to develop a foundation in the arts. However you find it, putting in the time to study those who are doing what you want to do – and study WITH them – is what will separate you from people who rely on talent alone, and in turn you’ll have a creative vocabulary that will grow as you mature. Give me a person who works hard and knows what they’re doing over a person who wings it, every time.

A lot of this study and research is done at home, alone, and thanks to the internet you have various resources that will show you what others do, but mostly what you will end up doing a lot of once you find your groove is ambition, repetition, miscalculation, and resolution. There’s a term in music theory that creates tension in a progression of chords or notes, and then releases it with a resolution. It’s that moment of discovery, but the way to get there, the way to build a deep and rich foundation, is by following your heart and making a lot of mistakes. You never stop growing that way, and you always have the freedom of going in any direction as you discover. You’ll gain a lot more by trying everything and making mistakes on your way to finding a few things that work than you would by sticking to only known ways of doing things. It’s good for carrying traditions forward, but not good for transcending art and finding your voice.

This is what the pursuit is, after all, why we discovered and learned to develop our own talents. Everyone communicates, but artists transcend normal spoken and body language. Artists relay something on a much deeper level, suffer to some extent for it, and spend the rest of their lives in the pursuit of discovering who they are, which sets them apart from everyone else. This journey of self-discovery and deep, personal communication in whatever art form you choose is only realized through practice, repetition, study, and training. Whether you keep it for yourself or share it with others, you have the potential to learn a lot about yourself by expanding your vocabulary. It can be scary to come out of your comfort zone, but the benefits completely outweigh the consequences, and the better you know yourself and build your foundation, the less you can be judged. Opinions are okay, and an audience is entitled to feel however they feel, but digging in and coming from a place of authenticity will put that in perspective. People may have unique opinions and points of view, and everyone’s an expert on talent of course (please read that sarcastically), but regardless of where anyone is coming from, everyone respects hard work.

If your training gets you out of the house and amongst peers, you’ll find a lot of support, and probably unexpectedly so. Everyone will be in the same place, working hard, looking for some sense of improvement, which is hard when you’re going at it on your own. You’ll find context out in the unknown, which is super valuable and scary at the same time, but usually peers or an instructor will be able to tell you if your skills are translating to the viewer or listener. They can’t tell you if you’re a better artist, but they can tell you if you’re a good communicator. Not everyone grows or advances at the same time or rate, so it’s important to keep in mind that you’re on your own journey, and the more unfamiliar your surroundings are, the more you learn.

So go ahead and be a voracious student of the art. It can only enhance your understanding of it and illuminate the places you’ll go with it. You’re growing and changing as a person every day, and your feelings and thoughts become more profound and complex with time. It only makes sense that you continue to use the language of your craft and expand your ability to communicate with it. It’s funny to understand that the deeper you go into this study, the simpler and more direct your message becomes. THAT is ultimately the best measure of success for an artist.

Now, once again, the training and study may be so satisfying for you that you can spend a life of self-discovery and not aspire to do anything else with it. Certainly, people study religion and read their scriptures for meaning their whole lives, and that in itself is a life well spent. Even if you invest yourself deeper and move on to other levels of your career, this study will always be with you.

Never, ever stop learning.

If you’re curious enough to go deeper down the rabbit hole, read on. No, as a matter of fact, whether or not you’re going to commit to the next level, there’s more to come soon.