For musicians, this includes not getting into orchestras, (or not even getting an audition in some cases, as recently happened to me!) not winning competitions, not not getting gigs, not having a successful chamber music group, and not getting into a good school or getting scholarships. The best-quality instruments cost a lot of money too, and require constant maintenance. Without a good job, not all musicians can afford a good instrument.
Injuries can become major setbacks for us too. RSI (repetitive stress injury) affects so many musicians, preventing them from practice and improvement. And the road to recovery is often a long one.
And even when we've reached a very high level and gotten our first degrees, it is difficult to find employment. Musicians often go for audition after audition, or keep entering competitions without success. The competition is fierce. Every musician out there wants to live their dream of performing for their living, and to get a job you've got to show that you've got something no one else has. Often you've only got minutes - or even seconds - to prove this...make a mistake at the beginning of an orchestral audition and you may well have blown it, because there'll be quite a few others who didn't make that mistake. Doesn't matter that you CAN play it perfectly, if it doesn't go well on the day, in those few seconds. Pressure? Definitely.
We all (even non-musicians) have to learn to deal with failure. We cannot let our disappointments define us and obsessively question everything that happens: chances are, you won't find out the real reason why you didn't get an audition or position, and many factors could have taken part in the final decision. Don't let it get to you, and don't let those setbacks make you question everything about what you do and how you do it. Just try to learn (from your personal experience of the situation, if you can't get feedback) for next time, so you can feel more confident when you try again.
Finally, remember that we do what we do because it's such an integral part of our lives, a passion that we can't bear to give up. Doing something else is not an option for us, even if we have the ability.
If we forget this, or if at some point it stops being true, then it's impossible to continue. But if we remind ourselves of why we are musicians and stay true to our dreams, hopefully that will give us the drive to keep working at it and trying our hardest and eventually reach success. Never give up - there will always be another chance, another audition, another competition, and all we can do is can make sure we're better prepared for the next one.
We can all adopt a better mindset towards failure if we heed the following advice from the American industrialist Henry Ford:
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."
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