A Musical Pep Talk for Fall

For many, the late summer and early fall means back to the fall/spring grind – either as a student, teacher, administrator, or performer.  Sometimes we need a pep talk and reminder about why music is important and vital in our society.

Last year, I came across these statistics from Nielsen, where they indicate that “93% of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week jamming out to their favorite tunes. In fact, 75% of Americans say they actively choose to listen to music, which is more than they claim to actively choose to watch TV (73%).”

Knowing how popular TV is in the country, those stats really astounded me.  But they also made me realize how important music is to our society, our communities, and our economy.  Given these numbers, shouldn’t there be ample opportunities for musicians to find and create opportunities to make music and get paid for it? I think musicians need to be creative, flexible, and smart – but those are traits that musicians often embody.  So go out there and make it happen!