Friends And Music, do your friends understand your dedication to music? Options

[zongyi]

Nearly all my friends are aristocratic people.
Their niche areas are singing, dancing, acting in dramas, operas and musician.
I'm glad that I'm fortunate enough to have nice friends with the same interests as me.
They often compliment me on my piano skills and music knowledge.
Instead of looking at me like some "alien", my friends envy me.
So, I grateful for such great friends!

[Petite Joueuse]

What I find amazing is that people are often quite willing to take on board the fact that a swimmer or an athlete needs to put in lots of hours of practice. For example, I teach a girl who wants to be in the next olympics (equestrian stuff!). All of her friends think it is totally normal for her to go horse-riding before and after school most days, and to spend most of her weekends doing events.
Yet somehow these people don't think that a seriously-ambitious musician might need to put in the same number of hours of practise (both solo and in groups/orchestras).

As a (proud) Mum, I am sooooooooo glad that my daughter has a group of friends which includes dancers, musicians, sporty-types and actresses - they all have their "thing" that they are serious about, and they accept the need to devote time to these skills.

Please don't do what I did....dropping music as a teenager because I thought I didn't have enough time! Keep going - follow your passion! Music will never let you down.

[Deborah]

ClarinetCymraeg, have a look at the Music geeks and nerds thread which ran a while ago. You'll find there are alot of us in the same situation, surrounded by people who don't understand.

[WelshClarinet]

Don't worry I'm never going to give up music 'cos of my frineds.

Will try to get better ones as my friends all want to be hair dressers when they are older and do not understand me. Thank you for all the advice.

Will make them all jealous when Im famous and respected and they are homeless and going to AA meetings!

Thanks

WelshClarinet

[maggiemay]

Don't worry I'm never going to give up music 'cos of my frineds.

Will try to get better ones as my friends all want to be hair dressers when they are older and do not understand me. Thank you for all the advice.

Will make them all jealous when Im famous and respected and they are homeless and going to AA meetings!

Thanks

WelshClarinet

That's the spirit. Actually - I suspect they are already a bit jealous - because you have something special that they don't understand. Keep hold of the thought that you have that something. And drop in here to the forums from time to time - plenty of us here who don't run with the crowd!

[Annetta]

Hiya,

Yeh I get that problem, my friends used to support me but not any more, they have become lazy and I have picked it up more. They are always telling me to stop practicing but if I did stop practicing and didn't do it at all then that defeats the point in having an instrument and a private tutor if all you are going to do is turn up to your lesson and thats it.
No carry on with what you are doing. You are doing what you think is best and that is all that matters.

Hope this helps, I'm in the same position but I get a lot of support from my teachers which is great!

Annetta

[sphiff]

My friends have learnt to accept my 'obsessive' moments when it comes to music. They just learn to listen to my occasional rants about a new piece or put up with my perfectionism. But come to think of it, I'm not the worse one. I've got a friend who's totally 100 percent music obsessed and they have to deal with him too so it's enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[Beth Chordal Sequence]

I don't really have that problem anymore because I am at a music school now!!! But at my previous school, for 2 and a bit years I was branded a geek and everyone was really horrible because I was always doing music etc and then I found a group of amazing people who even though none of them are musicians all joke about my obsession in a friendly way and support me. Though I'm at a music school now, I still see them all when I go home. Don't worry - it will get better!!

[Braceface flautist]

I have very little in common with most of my friends actually, besides superficial (but great!) things like shopping. None of them are into music, or even literature which is something else I like a lot. They are way more into getting drunk etc. than me but in general I find them fun to be around so I just try and avoid talking about music and stuff. It does kind of annoy me when they're not really interested in something that's such a major part of my life, but hopefully at university I'll meet people more like me. They get a bit cross when I spend lunchtime practising instead of having lunch with them; I have to try and remind myself that they might like to see me once in a while. I feel kind of guilty that I know if I had to choose between them and music, they probably wouldn't be first.

[Kate]

As much as I love all my friends, I worked out about 2 years ago that they may listen to me rabbit on about music, but they aren't very interested - so I stopped talking about it. they were round at mine for my birthday last week and my Mum mentioned something and my friends were like "Kate you don't tell us anything!". I can't win either way (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) I don't know about when I go to Uni... I might get stir-crazy if I only socialise with musicians...