Why You Should Show Respect To Other Musicians

So here’s my beef: Bad musicians who bash on the talent of other musicians at open mic. As I write this, I am listening to two guys who just played a set knock the guy up now simply because he’s fumbling a bit; he had to tune up his guitar and did not have the best banter.  You’re going to bash him for that when you took fifteen minutes to set up with all of your gadgets and still were not all that impressive? 

 What really irks me about their comments is that these two chuckleheads could not sing in key, they had bad pitch and while they were not terrible, they certainly had no right to make fun of the guy; he was far better than they were!

Open mic is where you learn how to perform and often, it’s when you get up in front of people for the first time. Now, if you have to tell other people how much the other guy sucks, is that just your lack of confidence in your own ability? It seems that demeaning another artist in public is only done by those with little talent or people who think more highly of themselves than they have a right to.

I’ll admit I am not a huge fan of Justin Bieber or Green Day’s music; I find it both amateurish and uninspiring. Having said that, I will admit here and now that even though I will most likely criticize both of them at some point in the future for what I consider methodical and unchallenging songwriting, I will say both Bieber and Armstrong have some talent, otherwise they wouldn’t be as popular as they are. I may not think their music has merit, but a lot of other people will disagree with me and well,lets face it, they are far richer than I for making their music. In other words, they have a following and they do not need the approval of anyone at open mic nights.

The kid at the coffee shop does not have this advantage. He is clearly just starting out and he needs encouragement. Yes, he’s raw and needs practice but he’s trying, he has potential and he had the testicular virility to get up in front of people he doesn't know and sing. How we treat this performer will either encourage him or discourage him and in this age of mass produced garbage, (cue Justin Bieber reference) we need all the fresh young talent we can find!

These two hacks chose to attend an event where A: they are allowed to play without proving themselves, and B: It is expected that some will be bad in which case you have the option of leaving. Have some respect for the performers and if you really want to challenge someone’s talent, go up and kill it onstage. Prove yourself or shut up. That’s what I do but I’ve been performing for a long time and I've worked hard at being good. Like I said, I’m not the best, but I dont make fun of amateurs at open mic either. 

You may be asking me at this point, “If the kid can’t handle criticism now, how will he ever handle it later on?” My answer is you have to build up confidence first before you can adequately handle criticisms, you need experience and open mic is designed to hone your chops while getting out in front of people. Yes, negative and mean spirited criticism hurts me too but I can channel that into my performance and it took time to develop that skill.

I have learned one thing: Real professionals will not put down other performers; at least, not in public. Even though I detest pop country, I can’t knock the talent of the performers, or their musicianship. Besides, it will prevent people from wanting to work with you if the perceive that your ego is bigger than your talent. Again, you will go much further if you show respect to your fellow musicians rather than ridicule them in public. Besides, I truly gifted musician does not need to put down anybody because their performance speaks for itself.

Again, to those kids who felt the need to make fun of the performer while he was on stage, I suspect hat you are unaware of your own shortcomings and need to re evaluate your own talent, and perhaps work on your vocals a bit more before deciding that someone else deserves your keen insights on tuning.

My advice to that kid is this: do not listen to haters who have no constructive criticism. If the other performers are laughing at you, they are either insecure in their abilities or flat out hacks. Either way, have no desire to improve their craft. No, in their mind, they are awesome, and will never improve beyond their sub standard abilities. You however, did just fine regardless of needing to tune up between songs. Even the best of us has that problem. And you made the attempt to connect with your audience, while those two did not. They clearly thought they were God's gift to open mic, and they were not. So play hard, enjoy yourself and  remember guys like that are not better than you, they just want everyone to think that they are.

I would like to know your opinion.  Leave a comment below!