Reflections on Music as Service

by Jacob T. — One way to bridge the disconnect between musicians and the true value of their craft.

by Jacob T., guest contributor

Nothing quite brightens my day like being engaged in light conversation with a stranger, only for them to catch me completely off guard with a delightfully earnest comment about music. I think of the taxi driver who quoted Nietzsche’s “without music, life would be a mistake”; the new neighbour who broke off into the most sincere tangent on what music truly means to him; and the many other interactions I can recall where my counterpart has unexpectedly delivered a beautiful remark on how healing, nourishing, and sustaining music has been to them.

Those conversations point to two critical phenomena: that an ineffable and immeasurable appreciation for musical expression is fundamental to the human experience; and that a vibrant musical tradition is one of the cornerstones of our shared cultural fabric. And yet, the reality of participating in this tradition continuously leaves many musicians feeling isolated, burned out, and utterly detached from precisely those intrinsic qualities that make musicianship such a touching and worthwhile practice.

So what gives? The prevalence of such a dichotomy begs serious questions of a society so resolute in its esteem for the importance of music to our collective well-being. Though the root causes of this issue are beyond the scope of this piece, I would like to point to a less-discussed paradigm that may be needlessly pushing musicians directly into the very conditions that enforce this damaging disconnect.

The paradigm in question is a baked-in notion of what it means to be a musician in this day and age. A narrow definition, that I will refer to in this piece as being an artist. Simply put, artist refers to the default pathway for a modern musician – write songs, record songs, release songs, perform songs.

I want to be very clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing becoming an artist. At its best, this role has the potential to be extremely rewarding, and I am personally endlessly grateful to the many artists whose works have touched my life in often profound ways. However, I cannot help but notice that there appears to be an inherent dissatisfaction that invariably follows most of my friends who have chosen this career path.

A brief chat with any artist will reveal a score of ingrained forces undermining the dignity of their work. Forces like a notoriously exploitative music industry, a rising cost-of-living crisis, and even the innate lack of feedback from the void into which you cast songs crafted with the utmost love. Equally insidious is the requirement that today’s artists spend time worrying about algorithms, metrics, and content. These are poison pills built into the unspoken artist contract that can put even greater distance between you and the emotional weight of the music you are creating.

As such, it is fair to wonder: if these are the rules of engagement for the obligatory ‘game’ you must enter to be successful as an artist, is it even worth playing? At a minimum, choosing to participate in the ‘game’ should be an active decision rather than the default path that musicians feel they must follow if they want to be a professional.

Many of these thoughts became personally acute when I made the decision to walk away from environmental nonprofit work in favour of pursuing some form of career as a musician. I was anxious that concentrating on becoming an artist did not align with my strengths and intentions as a musician, so I took some time to explore alternative avenues of professional musicianship. Fortunately, one experience in particular provided many of the answers I was looking for: playing solo piano gigs in retirement homes.

What started off as a neat way to get additional paid gigs quickly snowballed into something much greater when it became apparent that something about these performances felt markedly different to any other gig I had ever done. This was most overt in the sincerity of the feedback I would receive, often highly emotional, and expressing a depth of gratitude I had yet to receive elsewhere. 

As I took on an increasing amount of this work, I tried to distill what specifically was so impactful about this form of musical expression in hopes of formulating a more concrete concept to take away from this discovery. What I landed on was the idea of music as service.

In short, music as service is an ethos that puts shared, in-person moments of connection at the forefront of your musicianship by seeking out (paid) roles that add tangible community value. This approach is powerful because it sidesteps many of the forces responsible for the artist’s disconnect and gets right to the heart of that all-encompassing appreciation for music.

Above all, there is purpose in service – purpose that binds you to others and affirms your value to broader society. Very few things in this world have the power to build community like music can, which is why leaning into an identity of service can grant meaning to your musicianship far beyond the notes that you play. The nature of music as service demonstrates that many of the struggles facing musicians are far more tied to the career of an artist than the intention to have a career built from artistry.

For me, right now, it’s retirement homes, but the realm of service is limitless! Teaching, music therapy, cover bands, busking, worship, music camps, accompanying theatre – there are countless ways to break out of the artist mold and place service at the centre of your musical practice, or alongside it.

I am a musician. But I am not an artist. Not really, anyway. And learning to welcome that distinction has been pivotal to finding my place in this world, while reinvigorating my inspiration and saving my mental health in the process. We musicians can get boxed in by an increasingly narrow view of what it means to express a craft deeply laden with tradition and community value. So I ask you the following question: what would it mean for you to embrace music as service? You might be surprised at just how transformative the answer could be.

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