What If the Map You Were Given Wasn’t Meant for You?
If you’ve ever taken music lessons, chances are you were handed a certain roadmap.
It might’ve looked something like this:
- Pick an instrument (or have one chosen for you)
- Practice scales
- Learn to read music
- Play what’s written
- Try not to mess up
- Repeat
For some people, that path works just fine.
But it didn’t work for me when I took my first music lessons, and maybe it didn’t work for you.
I started piano as a kid. I learned to read music and play pieces exactly as written. There was a sense of accomplishment in getting it “right.” But something felt off. There was a whole world inside me — melodies, rhythms, half-songs and fragments — that wanted to come out. I didn’t have words for it yet, but I knew I wasn’t just supposed to replicate someone else’s music. I wanted to create.
In that conventional path, creativity wasn’t exactly forbidden — but it also wasn’t the focus.
Sure, classical training includes composition, but usually at the higher tiers — for the students who’ve made it past the gatekeepers of technique, theory, and performance. Expression and originality were something you earned after proving you could follow the rules.
No one ever said, “What do you hear in your head? What do you feel in your body?”
It was all about interpretation, precision, performance.
But not exploration. Not curiosity. Not your own voice.
Over time, that does something. It made music feel a little less alive. Like I had to choose between doing it “right” or doing it real.
Maybe you’ve felt something like that, too.
You followed the instructions. You tried to fit in the box. You showed up with the best intentions — but the map they gave you didn’t lead to the kind of music (or life) that lights you up inside.
The map wasn’t wrong. It just wasn’t yours.
There’s another way. One that begins with who you are — not who you’re supposed to be.
A path that honors your intuition, your voice, your way of making beauty in the world.
That’s the path I walk with people now. One step at a time.
You don’t need permission to begin again.
Just a little curiosity, a little trust — and maybe a guide who believes in what’s possible when you finally follow your sound.
If that speaks to something in you, let me know your experience in the comments below. (I’ll read it!)
Also, there are a couple ways you can explore more:
You can read about my approach to Soul-Centered Instrumental Music — how it’s different from the usual methods, and why that matters — right here.
Or, if you’re feeling ready to dip your toes in, you can take a look at music lessons with me and see if it feels like a fit.
Wherever your path leads next, I hope it brings you closer to your own sound.
Thanks for reading.
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