Experience is the Best Teacher

0

Sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture is a good way to learn about philosophy, history, English literature and perhaps law. However in the creative sphere, classroom learning can be somewhat overrated. For musicians, filmmakers and other artists, the best way to learn is by doing.

This means if you want to be a filmmaker you need to make films. If you want to be a musician you need to write, play and record music. If you want to be an artist you must paint, sculpt or whatever it is you wish to do. No amount of classroom lectures or sitting and pondering can teach you what you need to know. In the creative fields, experience truly is the best teacher.
The Beatles left Liverpool for Hamburg in the very early ‘60s as a ramshackle but gifted group of young musicians. They returned a professional rock & roll outfit, set to conquer the world. How did they get there? Experience. They played seven days a week, several sets a day and learned to be professional.

Before getting the chance to direct his breakout film, “Reservoir Dogs,” Quentin Tarantino had written and sold several screenplays, which had never seen the light of day.

Prior to getting the recording contract that lead him to becoming an “instant” success, Jimi Hendrix had toured all over the U.S. for years as a “sideman” backing up acts like the Isley Brothers and Little Richard.

So-called “overnight successes,” don’t happen by accident. These people have often labored for years in the shadows. When opportunity came knocking, they were prepared.
If you want to carve out a career in a creative field, you need to get out and do it. There are no want ads to answer or job placement services. You learn by doing and you create your opportunities largely on your own.

Contacts and connections are of course important when it comes to succeeding fields like music, film or art. However contacts and connections aren’t made sitting in one’s room contemplating what you’d like to do. Nor are they likely to be made sitting in a classroom hearing a lecture.

The act of creating and producing work is more likely to lead you to the people you need to know to “make it” in the business. Whether they be producers, gallery owners or concert bookers, the only way to find them is to create your work and put it out there.

And stick with it. Instant success is usually an illusion that hides years of effort. People who achieve true instant success often have no measure of its’ value and blow it anyway. Talent is important to succeeding in any creative field. However perseverance and dedication are what you need to see things through when everyone else you know has given up their dreams and advised you to do the same.