Self-Awareness: What music can teach us about self-awareness

A common phenomenon among musicians is that when we hear recordings of ourselves, we tend to hear versions of our ideas that sound different from how we remembered playing them. And as such, this disconnect between our intentions and reality—which isn’t exclusive to just the world of music—compels me to peel back a few layers on this issue to offer a perspective on why this happens and how to address it.

Since all decisions are informed by a point of reference, it’s important that we stay critical of the substance of those references, as such a critique is in fact the bedrock of self-awareness. For example, all musicians will naturally latch onto the broader strokes of music at the expense of the finer details if no one ever articulates the value of those details to them. And the longer it takes to identify those details, the longer it will take to move past the trivializing stages of the musical heroes they seek to reference during their performances (I’m suddenly reminded of how I used to approximate my father’s style of dress when I was 11 years old). So if I were to draw a target around this issue of self-awareness—and in this case, for how someone sounds on their instrument—the bullseye would look like one or more critical questions that have yet to be entertained that relate to those fine details. And since it’s the job of every artist to learn how to articulate their point of view within their artistic endeavors, means that they’ll need a compelling set of reasons (for themselves) for why they make the choices they make. But it’s through the stress-testing of ideas through questioning that will allow them to feel confident that the intent behind their ideas will in fact be interpreted as intended. And in the specific case of music, that refers to the execution of an idea to sound in reality the way it was intended to sound. And if you’re not used to having to “defend” your point of view (even if just in your own head) for why you play the ideas you do, that uncomfortably vulnerable feeling will persist either until you clarify your belief system, or choose different associates who won’t challenge you to elevate yourself in this way.

So again, self-awareness is ultimately about having enough regard for yourself and others to take a substantive look at the quality of the questions you typically entertain before making decisions.

Suggested Takeaways…

a) Another critical element to self-awareness is motive. And it’s through the constant practice of improving the quality of our questioning that the true nature of motives are identified.

b) The impact of the broad strokes in music are always reflective of the quality of the smaller elements at work. The better the quality, the bigger the payoff.

c)  Self-awareness comes from caring enough about yourself and others to maintain a critical eye towards the line of questioning you habitually entertain, so as to become increasingly more appropriate in your responses within all situations.