Reddit mentions of The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life

Hi Isaac, I'm a graduate student in music education who has taught music in public schools for a number of years. Like you, I too started out as a Suzuki student. I started violin when I was four years old and transitioned reading sheet music when I was in about fourth grade, give or take. It was a struggle for a while but eventually I made it through. However I was fortunate enough to take lessons from age 4 until I earned my undergraduate degree.

Something I've noticed from personal experience and from talking with others, our improvement as musicians is not linear. We learn new techniques and practice, then we plateau for a while, then we learn much more things again, and we plateau once more. Looking back, I believe plateau'd towards the end of high school and early college. It wasn't until my junior year of college when I had another professor who taught me a lot of helpful practice strategies which greatly improved my performance. I graduated college and became a music teacher and didn't have much time to practice my violin. Then after a while, I began to notice that I can play things I haven't been able to do before. I started to learn new ways to teach technique, which I began to use on myself, which helped improve my playing again. I found myself improving and now I hit another plateau. I don't have any research on this, it's just something I noticed.

Quitting will not help you. If you enjoy playing the violin, then you should stay with it. Another question is, "what do you want to do when you graduate?" Do you want to continue with music? Or do you have another career path in mind? If it's the former, I would think realistically on your choice of major (performance, education, composition, what?). If it's the latter, there's no reason to quit!

If you want some reading, here's my personal philosophy of music education.

If you want some more reading, here's a number of articles on why music is important and what we can do to advocate for music and for ourselves.

I had a student who was extremely intelligent and big on academics. When he was a sophomore, I was sure I was going to lose him to more academic electives such as AP courses. However he stayed in orchestra throughout high school. I knew that he was a straight-A student and that staying in orchestra actually negatively impacted his GPA (see Ted Talk), however he kept with it. I asked him his senior year why he chose to say. He said he enjoyed music, he found orchestra stimulating, he saw that I took music seriously and he wanted to do the same, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. I knew he was speaking truth because his culminating project topic was something along the line of, "Music Education and it's Effect on Standardized Math Scores." He even presented it to the school board at a public board meeting. He didn't go to college for music, but I know it's something he'll keep with him for the rest of his life.

If you want to keep playing, then you should. If it's offered at your school, then take it if you're not already in it! The only reason for you to NOT continue with music is if you honestly do not see a benefit. However, if you love it, then stick with it. I can't tell you how many times I have heard grown adults say that they wished they never quit. Don't let your parents put you down.

Another suggested reading for you - The Art of Possibility by Zander and Zander. You mentioned your parents saying, "You'll never be as good as the other," if these words are emanating in your mind, I suggest you read this book. It will change your whole perspective. Zander even has a TED talk that is worth watching.

I see I have written a short essay. It grinds my gears that your parents are being so discouraging, I have seen this happen to too many students and I have made it my mission to help students overcome this and stick to what they believe in. If you need any other help, feel free to PM me.

TL;DR If you enjoy playing the violin, then don't quit.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend his book, "The Art of Possibility. It's a great read on new perspectives for looking at life and music.

Rosamund & Ben Zander - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Possibility-Transforming-Professional-Personal/dp/0142001104 - I don't know how you listen to your audiobooks but I listen to mine for free on two different apps - OverDrive and Hoopla, for which I need a local library card. Hoopla, from my library, provides this book for free. Hope that helps.