This Month's Topic: Education

Well, here it is - the end of summer and time to get back to school. I know this makes you all very very happy. Okay, maybe not very very but, happy. I hope you are.

I know you may know this but I want to talk a little about education and what it will mean to you as a musician and as a person. I know everyone is always telling you how important a good education is, and I am no different. If you plan to pursue music as a career I believe that you need to be educated about a lot more things than just music. Actually - learning about other things will help you musically if you can believe that! No, this is not a ploy to make you interested in education - it is a fact.

The things you read about and learn in school can and will help you to be more creative musically. When you are reading about places and things you have never seen it helps you to use your imagination. Imagination is a great thing for a musician. When you are creating you want to imagine the scene - the scene that you are writing about. The lyrics, what are they saying? So you imagine the thing you are talking about and see the story in your mind.

You learn how to do this in school. Even when you are sitting there daydreaming, you are imagining yourself being somewhere else and you can actually feel the the essence of the place you are imaging in your mind. That is how you should create music, you should imagine yourself saying these things to someone and their reaction to it. This way you are in the zone you need to be in to use all your creative juices to get your point across.

School also teaches you discipline and as a musician you will need plenty because just like in school there is a time for study and a time for recess. When you look at all the things that school teaches you you will see how at some point time you will have to call on these things in your musical career.

Take Math for instance. You will need to know how to add, subtract, divide and do percentages if you want to keep up with your money. Yes, we play because we love it but it is still a business and you will provide a service so you should get paid for it. So, know how to count your cake (money). English is good because not only will you be able to speak well, when you write songs you will know how to punctuate and use phrases that make sense. I don't want to see you guys on television and I can't understand what you are talking about. LAUGH! Learning to read well will help you when you become a big star and have 50 page recording contracts to sign! Geography is really helpful when you are on the road - you know where you are!!! Science is the art of discovering new things and that is what we do in music - we discover new techniques and new ways to express ourselves. You also need gym so you can be physically fit to endure the grueling life on the road.

So, I am saying all this to say, get as much education as you can. It will be very helpful to you in your musical career. I know it may not seem like you need general education to be a great musician but it does help you in more ways than you know now.

I am not trying to lecture you on education! I just feel that it is an important thing and I'm glad I stayed in school (yes, I thought about dropping out of high school to go on the road, and my mother said ok, you can drop out but if you do I'm taking away your guitar! That took care of that and looking back I'm glad she was so smart!). I got to go on to college and still be a performing artist, and that's something I'll always appreciate. There's room for education and for playing when you're young - you can get plenty of both!

Remember you only get to be a kid once. Enjoy this time and enjoy school and use everything you learn to help you become a better musician and a better person.

Who loves ya? Me

Peace, Nick

P.S. Forward this newsletter to your friends or sign them up yourself by sending an email to jazz@nickcolionne.com. You can also sign up on line at my website, www.nickcolionne.com or on my MySpace page, www.myspace.com/nickcolionne. Adults welcome, too.