You can have two individuals, with similar musical technical



ability, play the same exact notes on a guitar and receive

completely different reaction from the audience. You can also

have musicians who train day in and day out and become

extremely good at technically manipulating their instrument

but when you hear them play, they hardly evoke any emotional

reaction in the audience. On the other hand, you have the

other kind of musicians, who may either be technically good

or not, but their delivery always triggers a palpable

emotional reaction in their audience. So what is the element

that makes the difference?.

Maybe we can begin to answer that by following it with these

questions. Does the great musician really need an instrument

to become one?. Or, to phrase it another way, does the

instrument have anything to do in creating a great musician?.

The answer is, as you might have guessed is, not really. The

instrument is purely incidental, in fact, a great musician

can merely whistle and get a favorable audience reaction.

Why? because they are born with the internal knowledge of

the universal language of music, also know as, the gift of

music. The possession of that knowledge or talent is the

critical difference between the great musician versus the

instrumental player. The great musician usually has a clear

connection with the musical language within themselves,

making it easy for them to express it. To the extent they

can tap into that energy the greater they can reach the

audience. The not so great musician, on the other hand, has

a blurred connection, if at all. You can play your instrument

till you drop dead, if the notes are not connected to your

internal language of music you are merely playing notes, not

music.

The unfortunate difference between the language of music and

any other language is that, you cannot learn it. If you are

born with it, you can learn how to better tap into it, if you

are not born with it however, you might as well take up

Spanish. For those born with it, practicing your music should

involve great attention to the connection of yourself to the

language of music as much as the time spent with your

instrument developing your technique. By that I mean, in order

to tap into the energy of music easily, you will have to spend

a great deal of time taking care of your physical, mental,

emotional and spiritual health as opposed to just concentrating

on your instrument. Ultimately, it is your usefulness, in terms

of inspiring and touching your audience that makes you a great

musician.