It’s no longer the survival of the strongest or the wisest musician; it’s now the survival of the smartest musician.
The quote below…
“I’m not competing with anybody; I’m in competition with myself”
…should sound familiar to you. I’ve said it to myself and to the hearing of other people so many times, and I’ve also heard it on several occasions. True as it may sound, this quote cannot be used in all life situations.
Let’s look at the relationship between life and competition.
The Competition
In life, two chief factors that are associated with the survival of living things are cooperation and competition. In cooperation, living things survive through combined effort while in competition, living things strive to thrive.
There are so many biological and non-biological examples that can lend credence to competition and cooperation, but we’re not going into all of that.
Even though cooperation is more enjoyable than competition, competition is [directly or indirectly] an integral part of our life as humans. There’s competition between living things. Plants are competing for sunlight, space, etc., while animals are competing for food, water, shelter, etc.
When there is scarcity of resources in the environment, the competition intensifies because every living thing has a streak of survival and tends to compete with other living things for available resources.
Attention: I’m aware that competition in its extreme state can be destructive. Therefore, take note that the use of the term competition here does not refer to an unhealthy competition.
Irrespective of your field of endeavor, you have competitors. If you’ve ever seen where musicians are auditioning for the position of a keyboardist, bassist, drummer, music director etc., you’ll agree with me that we all at one point or the other in our lives undergo competition.
Just in case you don’t believe, check out this situation…
Assuming that you’re a keyboardist and you’re attending an audition in a few weeks.
“Now I’m not just talking about any audition; this is the type that would make you a member of a notable world-class band that each member’s annual income ranges from $400,000 to $700,000 yearly.”
If you get to the venue of the audition and see 312 other folks who are interested in that position, what are they there for? Are they there to cooperate with you to make sure that y’all get hired or are they there to compete for that same spot?
Truth be told, any band that advertises for a position in a band on Facebook that you and 312 other people are interested in has [directly or indirectly] put you in competition with 312 other people. The competition here is what is commonly known as “the survival of the fittest” between you and 312 others.
The Survival
I take issues like survival seriously because of the limited opportunities in a world with over 7 billion people. There are a variety of factors that have governed the survival of humans. However, we’ll be taking a look at these three:
- Strength
- Wisdom
- Intelligence
…in today’s lesson.
Survival Of The Fittest
I came across the phrase “the survival of the fittest” years ago when I was growing up. I understood through research that it was first used by Herbert Spencer – a 19th century English philosopher.
In “the survival of the fittest” strength is important. For example, due to the fact that the cat is stronger than the rat, the cat will always survive. Eventually, if cats are in competition, the strongest cat (which is the fittest) would survive.
Survival Of The Wisest
Although there are applicable situations for the survival of the fittest, however, survival is not always for the fittest. This explains why people who do blue collar jobs are not the richest people on earth.
Survival of the fittest probably worked in the stone and bronze ages with the primitive. However with enlightenment, civilization, etc., things turned around. People who were wise gradually gained control and dominated the strongest people.
To be relevant in the age of the survival of the wisest, you need to have information. Anyone who has an understanding of what is to be done, how it is to be done, and why it is to be done has more chances of surviving local or global competition.
I’m talking about an age where learning music is associated with going to school to learn how to read sheet music, and the understanding of the underlying theories of music, principles of harmony, melody, rhythm, form, etc.
The survival of the wisest is a generation where the custodian of information in any field of endeavor is considered ultimate. In the hey days of the survival of the wisest, everyone made an effort to go to school or do self-study at least to be exposed to information.
Survival Of The Smartest
In recent times, survival is no longer for the wisest because things have tilted to quick-witted intelligence. It you have the ability to think, respond and act quickly and effectively, then you have all it takes. Take a look at this comparison…
“The payphone vs the smartphone”
The payphone and the smartphone have one thing in common – they aid communication between people. However, the smartphone is mobile, lighter, convenient, and has lots of other features – from browsers to the camera, a gallery, phone book, calculator, etc.
There’s been a decline in the use of the payphone across several parts of the world because people of this age believe in smartness. Payphone companies are losing out to their smartphone competitors because people now have smarter ways of communicating via their smartphone on social media (Facebook, twitter, etc.)
Believe it or not, we’re living in an age of the survival of the smartest. There are smarter ways of learning how to play the piano and sounding better than those who have been playing for years even without learning how to read sheet music or going to obtain a degree in music.
We’re living in a generation of wise people; everyone is informed. Believe it or not, with the lots of people who know something about everything or everything about something, it’s now the survival of the smartest.
Final Words
There are many strong and wise approached to music learning out there. However, considering that we live in an age where the smartest survives, you also need the smartest method available.
Jermaine Griggs, the smartest music teacher known to millions of musicians across the globe has given the world a tool that makes music learning easier, convenient, faster, and effective. This witty invention is known as the song tutor.
If you’re interested in gaining an edge over the strong and wise musicians out there, then you need to check out the song tutor. Here are some of the features of the song tutor…
Turtle Speed Technology: This lets you slow down any song to your desired speed.
Built-In Song Browsing: This feature helps you find songs on the internet with your song tutor.
Virtual Piano Zoom: You can zoom in the virtual keyboard and learn on bigger screens.
Key Transposer: With this function, learning any of your favorite songs in any key of choice or in all 12 keys just got easier.
“Yes! I’m Interested In The Song Tutor”
Enough has been said already. It’s the survival of the smartest and the choice is yours to make to either get smart or risk losing out in the competition.
See you at the top!
Chuku Onyemachi
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