You can't beat experience, in any field

As I may mentioned before, I am now working in a pub round the corner from my house in Southampton. One of the best things about working in a pub is the people you get to meet, of course, that does exclude the ones who have had a few too many pints and hurl glasses at you. But still, when working behind bar you do get to meet some really interesting people. Around two weeks ago, I was working the bar at said pub, and I guys came out to chat to me whilst he smoked. As we got to chatting he told me he worked as an engineer on the railway, after asking what I did, I told him I was a student studying music. It was at this point that he said something very thought provoking, that has been playing on my mind ever since that evening. He said “I don't have any qualifications, I learnt my trade on the job, and now, people hire me on my experience because they know that I have seen it all and I know what I'm doing. You can't beat experience, where ever you go”. That statement has really stuck with me these last few weeks, particularly the last bit “you can't beat experience, where ever you go”.

Before I go any further, I should point out that I am by no means trying to argue that qualifications are redundant! I am thoroughly enjoying my degree and I have learned so much from studying at Solent, I wouldn't be anywhere near the standard that I am at without uni. Qualifications also say a lot about a person, they will tell us how committed somebody is to their field, how hard they work, what they are good at, what areas they are knowledgeable in. However in saying all this, one could also argue that experience of one's field will give them an advantage over somebody with qualifications but little experience. This may not be true for all industries, but it is irrefutably true for the the music industry. I'm not the only one who say's this, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of my tutors, Pat, voiced the question “what will you do when you finish your degree? Because you can hardly walk up to The Rolling Stones and say, I have a degree in Popular music, can I be in your band?”. I believe that Pat has hit the nail on the head with that Rolling Stones comment, because that is what the real world is like. As much as my degree will help me improve my playing, and greatly improve my understanding of music and the music industries, it can only prepare me so much, for life in the real music industry. The people who really know what they're talking about are the people already out their doing it, working the sessions, doing the tour, “living the dream” as we budding musicians like to call it. And it is these people, who will get the work, because they have done it before, they will know what to do, and more importantly, the record label/sound engineer/ promoter will know, that they know what to do.

This is not to say, that people on degree courses in music, will not make it in the music industry. Our degree actually gives us a huge advantage in the sense that we are being “trained” for life in the industry. So when we do go out on our own, we will at least know, to a certain extent, what to expect. My point in this article is that, as much as I am going to score as highly as a can, a degree in popular music is going to do me loads of favours in the music industry in terms of qualifications. But what it does do, is prepare me for the really music world, and gives me a broad knowledge of music, and just a little bit of a kick start into my career. Which is why I would recommend further education to anyone, no matter what your field.