Music in success

In my professional experience, I have noticed that high profile people were often musicians: at Devoteam our branch director was a violinist, and in Orange she was a pianist.

I believe that playing music is an important advantage for those seeking success in their career.

The first skill acquired by a musician is discipline. As opposed to what a lot of people think, natural gift only doesn't make a good musician, but practice, exercises and eternal hard work. I can't but think of Charly Parker (AKA Bird), the virtuoso saxophonist who developed the Bebop current in Jazz. Bird used to practice up to 15 hours a day for several years in the 30s in order to achieve his ingenuity.

Secondly, playing music in public allows you to develop public speaking skills, self expression and stress management which results in gains in self confidence.

Another consequence of music is unleashing creativity. Some practices in music, like composing and improvisation, just sharpen creative thinking skills. It's the skill of continuously exploring new worlds of sounds and rhythms.

Finally, ensemble playing is a great field for developing relational and teamwork skills. The key of playing with others is listening to them, in order to know when to start, when to stop, when to solo, when to follow, when to be piano and when to be forte. Music teaches you to appreciate silence as much as music itself. You learn how to listen to others while playing, and continuously how to adapt yourself to others in real time for succeeding all together the piece of music.
I noticed that musical activities are more and more used in corporate team building; Once I had the occasion to participate in a team building activity through Brazilian Batucada: we witnessed a enormously strong cohesive energy forming around us!