Sharing screenshots of your GPA, transcript, etc. online is tacky. Why are you showing off your grades like they’re going to be pinned on your mother’s fridge? No one cares if you got a 4.0, least of all me. The only people who are allowed to brag about their grades to me are my siblings when we’re bullying each other about comparing grades because we’re evil like that. That’s it.

A once-in-a-generation talent will never be rewarded in a professional level competition. The way jury panels work with scoring and evaluating performances forces the competition scene to choose the most smooth-brained, non-offensive, yet mechanically clean performance you will ever see in your life. It’s boring. And it’s offensive to me. I crave newness and I would love to see a person do absolute batshit insane tricks onstage, but classical music doesn’t reward that at all and it’s such a loss. (more on this later perhaps)

Repertoire requirements are a relic of the past. Abandon them. I understand why, in an audition or job-based setting, musicians should be able to demonstrate a variety of playing styles in order to show versatility. And this is important! But systems that have these rigid requirements where you must play X Y Z pieces, ugh…it’s so boring. Must you play the judge’s favorite piece? Girl, let me play my favorite piece. Once you’ve leveled up enough, there’s no need to inundate with side quests anymore. Do your thing, every quest is a main quest.

Expecting advanced level musicians to only work on advanced level repertoire is a recipe for losing joy in what you play. I had to learn this the hard way during my gap year, but my teachers (whom I have a deep respect and appreciation for) saw my raw skill and talent and honed my skills so sharply by working on some of the hardest pieces known in the solo piano canon. Crying over a piece of music that every other person would consider to be so unattainable is just not worth it. I had to rediscover why I loved music in the first place by playing easier music. It also (surprise) helped me rebuild confidence in myself, when I was constantly getting beaten down by these freakishly hard pieces.

If you want a doctoral level degree (DMA, PhD), DO NOT GO TO A PERFORMANCE SCHOOL/CONSERVATORY. I was warned of this by a bassoon professor in 2019, and I agree with his take. Conservatories are specifically designed to hone PERFORMANCE skills, not TEACHING skills. I roll my eyes when I see someone getting a DMA degree at a conservatory because nowhere in their programs do they guarantee you’ll be given ample experience to polish your teaching skills. The potential for networking isn’t really worth it unless you learn how to work a room and get your connections in (which btw, conservatories rarely if ever teach you how to do).

If you are on your fourth degree, don’t do it. GO HOME. THREE IS ENOUGH. FOUR IS A HARD LIMIT. STOP AND GO HOME. I know a lot of people who go for a second master’s, second performance diploma degree, something else, whatever. Not everyone’s journey is like mine, I get that. But I am aware of some people who stay as long as they can in school to try and get a job in higher ed and I’m like…it’s not worth it. You will feel so old and tired and the kids will get younger and younger while you’re still doing homework in your mid thirties or older.

Musicians who post daily practice videos? I see you. Unfortunately, I do not share your sentiments in recording every single interaction and posting it for others to see. If you do it as some kind of private journal/archive, sure. Gym influencers are kind of the same idea, everyone loves a good before and after. But if you think I’m gonna listen to you post your scales and warmups as a 100 day practice challenge….eat my cellulite-covered, dimply big fat ass.

I HATE PEOPLE WHO BRAG ABOUT PRACTICING MORE THAN 5 HOURS DAILY. You know what that tells me? You never learned how to practice effectively. Either someone didn’t teach you or you just think sitting in a practice room twiddling thumbs constitutes as practicing. That’s like bragging that you wrote emails for five hours. It took me 30 min to do what you did in two hours. Min max your work, get in and get out.

People who clip their fingernails/toenails in a public practice room and leave the clippings? DEATH. Death to all of you. DISGOSTANG.

Competition winners make some of the worst teachers. Some of the worst lessons/masterclasses I’ve ever had in my life were taught by competition winners. Reason being: if you’ve spent your entire life working on yourself, only to be presented with someone with supposedly less experience than you asking for tips on how to get to your level, do you really think handing them an overleveled weapon is going to help them? Throw them in the lvl 100 bossroom when their level reads 10? No sir. “Just do what I do and you’ll be fine!” WRONG. These people have fundamentally forgotten about the grind it takes from 1-100, because they’re looking forward at 101, 102, etc. and that grind is much easier in comparison. And EFF these stupid idiot baka competitions who ask competition winners to come teach masterclasses. Nowhere in the competition did they put a teaching round, where they’re evaluated on how well they teach. If they did, they’d learn immediately how shitty their teaching skills are. It’s like asking a well trained dog, how did you get your fancy leash? Dog don’t know leash. Dog only know how to do trick and get treat. Dog no have survival skill, dog only know warm home and nice owner (teacher) and food (music). Home dog is not familiar with feral untamed dog’s game.