Top 5 Strict Music Critics or Are Mummy and Sound Engineer Always Right?

Getting out in front of people with the results of your creative efforts is a heroic act in itself. However, for many people, it is a zen-like task for life to process the opinions, advice and recommendations that one receives even in the most unexpected moments. The saying "everything in moderation" applies to the question of whether or not to allow oneself to be influenced by these critical opinions. If you follow them too much and just try to follow someone else’s ideas, you become a musical sissy that, for lack of your own opinion, would gradually be formed into a shapeless lump with no taste or smell. And if, on the other hand, you don’t pay any attention to the opinions of those around you about your music, you may miss an interesting observation that you wouldn't have thought of on your own, and which would be a good idea to consider. What types of people like to test us deeply in the search for that balance?

1. Family

Let’s start from childhood. They say that mummy and doctor are always right. And they also say that we often dare to be more critical of our loved ones than we would be of strangers – this is also true of judging someone’s art. Of course, it would be lovely if all parents respected and supported their children as individuals to whom they give creative opportunities in childhood but don’t judge them. But you know, many parents project their ideas, life dreams (including unrealized ones) and priorities onto their children in a significant way. And that’s when we can hear similar ‘pearls‘: "Barunka, when you sing at school, you’d better just open your mouth." Or vice versa: "Don’t mumble, why don’t you sing louder?" Or after you’ve just proudly played your new prog-metal song: "Well, good, good... and now play the Beatles!"

What to do about it? If young children could be advised not to try to please everyone and just look for "their sound" to express themselves, the world would be a nicer place. One can revisit whether it’s natural for your voice to sing at the top of your lungs, or in a whispery bedroom-pop style, or what genre you’d actually like to play any time later.

2. Teachers

And we’ll stay with adult power for a while. Times may be changing towards open communication of one’s needs, but for the time being, as a child, one usually doesn’t have much choice about who, what and how they are taught – often not even in music class, so there is a certain risk of becoming disgusted with certain subjects (or musical instruments). The stories from the entrance exams to the music school, where a six-year-old is condemned for not being able to sing after the teacher played folk songs on the piano and the child just didn’t know they were supposed to join in, or where a child is assigned an instrument only based on vacancies in the teaching staff (while supposedly "not having the talent" for others) are legendary.

And the possibilities of how fate can shuffle your artistic ambitions continue in the upper grades. Records of pub debates with musicians, artists and actors about how, as performers, they were literally "fucked up" by a single teacher in college, and their cruel statements or teaching methods (while another unsupportive teacher also taught them nothing, but at least did not destroy their self-confidence) would make a novel. The good thing is that after being released into the "real" world after studying, one has more opportunities to evaluate when a teacher is not a good fit and when they need to change the music tutor.

3. Sound engineer

Ok, so you’re an adult, ideally, you’ve managed to keep your identity as a musician and even have a band. Let’s go out into the field and immediately correct the saying above like this: Mum and the Sound Engineer are always right. The person from behind the mixing desk who has the power to make your musical performance a listening delight or woe has heard a lot in their lifetime. Maybe even travels as a sound engineer with specific bands. Maybe they even have their band. Either way, they often have a very detailed opinion on just how your music should and shouldn’t sound, how you should rearrange your songs, and even how to dress and present yourself on stage – after all, this person has spent an entire evening with you and your sound and can hardly be expected to be neutral.

If you have the courage, urge and time, feel free to ask them for their opinion – they’ll be glad someone cares. Or they may even tell you during the sound check without asking. In any case, it can be beneficial – even though you may be put off by the sound engineer’s erudite suggestions, you may come back to them years later and think that there was something to them and that the person wasn’t actually off base about something. That happens, too.

4. Barman

And we’re moving on. Bartenders – they are like the SuperStar judges on ice – shake, don’t stir... Like sound engineers, bartenders have seen and heard a lot during their shifts. They have to endure both obscure and often commercial music events in their club, and still satisfy the drinking whims of customers in the noise based on the gesticulation and lip-reading. They provide a service, and they have power at the same time.

No wonder then that they really think they know it all when it comes to choosing bands and their quality. If you’re "lucky", you’ll even hear their opinions in quiet musical passages. Ok, it’s not very professional, but you at least get to know where you stand as a performer in the dramaturgy of a particular venue and its target group.

5. The inner critic

And then there is the last nail in the coffin of your musical ego: a set of internalized aesthetic criteria and demands that attack the fragile soul of musicians at the most vulnerable moments, the moments of emotional debilitation. The inner critic is like a parent, a teacher, a sound engineer and a bartender, all in one – it knows exactly when your intonation has been out, when you’ve failed to build a solo, when your timing has fallen apart and when your inventiveness in song lyrics has reached an artistic low (as in ’handle/sandals‘). And of course, it will tell you if other musicians are so much better than you and… screw you. If this critic were to write a review of your music, you would be soaked to the skin.

Don’t listen to it. What it’s whispering to you is not constructive feedback on how things could be done differently or better, but mere knocking down and destructive criticism. Don't let your inner critic have a say, especially during composing but also when recording and especially not at a concert. It doesn't mean you become a pretentious, arrogant idiot. Just confront your insecurities and give yourself space – for mistakes and creativity.